Acts 11:22

Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. THEN TIDINGS OF THESE THINGS CAME UNTO THE EARS, [ eekousthee (G191) eis (G1519) ta (G3588) oota (G3775), a special Hebraistic phrase, though not elsewhere occurring in this unique form: cf. Isaiah 5:9 (Septuagint); Matthew 10:27; Luke 1:44;...

22._And the tidings. _If this report had been brought before Peter did excuse himself, those good men should have been reproved of many whose ministry notwithstanding God had sealed with the grace of his Spirit; but that superstition was now wiped away out of their minds, forasmuch as God had by evident signs declared that no nation ought to be counted profane. Therefore, they contend no longer, neither do they count it a point of rashness, that some durst preach Christ unto the Gentiles; but by sending help, they testify that they allow that which they had done. Furthermore, this was the cause why they sent Barnabas. The apostles did at that time bear all the burden of the kingdom of Christ; therefore, it was their duty to frame and set in order Churches every where; to keep all the faithful, wheresoever dispersed, in the pure consent of faith; to appoint ministers and pastors wheresoev...

19-24 The first preachers of the gospel at Antioch, were dispersed from Jerusalem by persecution; thus what was meant to hurt the church, was made to work for its good. The wrath of man is made to praise God. What should the ministers of Christ preach, but Christ? Christ, and him crucified? Christ, and him glorified? And their preaching was accompanied with the Divine power. The hand of the Lord was with them, to bring that home to the hearts and consciences of men, which they could but speak to the outward ear. They believed; they were convinced of the truth of the gospel. They turned from a careless, carnal way of living, to live a holy, heavenly, spiritual life. They turned from worshipping God in show and ceremony, to worship him in the Spirit and in truth. They turned to the Lord Jesus, and he became all in all with them. This was the work of conversion wrought upon them, and it mu...

Verse Acts 11:22. _THE CHURCH WHICH WAS IN JERUSALEM_] This was the _original_, the _mother Church_ of Christianity; not the _Church_ of _Rome_; there were Christian Churches founded in many places, which exist to the present day, before Rome heard the Gospel of the kingdom. A Christian Church means a company of believers in Christ Jesus, united for the purposes of Christian fellowship, and edification in righteousness. _THEY SENT FORTH BARNABAS_] It seems, then, that the Church collectively had power to commission and send forth any of its own members, whom it saw God had qualified for a particular work. There must have been, even at that time, an acknowledged superiority of some members of the Church beyond others. The _apostles_ held the _first_ rank; the _deacons_ (probably the same as those called prophets, as being next

THEN TIDINGS ... - The church at Jerusalem heard of this. It was natural that so remarkable an occurrence as the conversion of the Gentiles, and the extraordinary success of the gospel in a splendid and mighty city, should be reported at Jerusalem, and excite deep interest there. AND THEY SENT FORTH - To aid the disciples there, and to give them their sanction. They had done a similar thing in the revival which occurred in Samaria. See the notes on Acts 8:14. BARNABAS - See Acts 4:36. He was a native of Cyprus, and was probably well acquainted with Antioch. He was, therefore, especially qualified for the work on which they sent him....

EXPOSITION ACTS 11:1 _Now_ for _and_, A.V.; _the_ _brethren _for brethren, A.V.; _also had_ for _had also_, A.V, We can imagine how rapidly the news of the great revolution would travel to the metropolis of Jewish Christianity, and what a stir it would maim in that community. It does not appear what view James and the other apostles took. ACTS 11:2 THEY THAT WERE OF THE CIRCUMCISION. At first sight this phrase, which was natural enough in Acts 10:45, seems an unnatural one in the then condition of the Church, when all the members of it were "of the circumcision," and there were no Gentile converts

THEN TIDINGS OF THESE THINGS,.... Of the spread of the Gospel in several parts, and the success of it in the conversion of sinners, especially at Antioch: CAME UNTO THE EARS OF THE CHURCH WHICH WAS IN JERUSALEM; these tidings were brought to the apostles and brethren there, by messengers which the ministers of the word sent unto them to let them know what success they met with; notwithstanding the persecution raised against the church of Jerusalem at the death of Stephen, and the havoc that was made of the members of it, and the dispersion of others, yet it still continued a church, and so it did for ages after: there are reckoned fifteen bishops of it unto the times of Trajan, and the destruction of the city by him, when the Jews were no longer suffered to live in it; and they are these, James the brother of our Lord, Simeon, Justus, Zacchaeus, Tobias, Benjamin, John, Matthias, Philip,...

ACTS 11:22 ou;shj The word ou;shj is read by î74 a B E 33 81 614 1611 1852 2138 _al,_ and is absent from A D H L P most minuscules and the Textus Receptus. Since the present participle w;n is used elsewhere in Acts with the special meaning “the _local_ …” ( Acts 13:1; Acts 28:17), the Committee considered it more probable that copyists would have deleted than added the word here....

CHAPTER 11 _ 1. Peter's Defense in Jerusalem (Acts 11:1)._ 2. The Beginning of the Church in Antioch (Acts 11:19). 3. Barnabas sent to Antioch (Acts 11:22). 4. The Prophecy of Agabus (Acts 11:27). Peter silenced the objections of his brethren in Jerusalem by a rehearsal of his experience. Acts 11:19 connects with Acts 8:4. Antioch comes now into prominence as the great Gentile center of Christianity. A great number believed and turned unto the Lord. Then B

ANOTHER ACCOUNT OF THE EARLY GENTILE MISSION. ANTIOCH. This connects with Acts 8:2. It was the Hellenists at Jerusalem, whose mouthpiece Stephen was, who were driven away at his death. There, they were scattered over Judæ a and Samaria; here, they go further, to Cyprus and Antioch, but preach to Jews only. Some of them, however, men of Cyprus, as Barnabas was, and of Cyrene in N. Africa (_cf._ Lucius of Cyrene, Acts 13:1) took the further step, when they came to Antioch, of addressing the Greeks, not the Hellenists as in AV (Græ cians, _cf._ RVm Grecian Jews), which would mean the Greek-speaking Jews, but the Greeks who were not Jews (p. 768). To them they preached the Lord Jesus. The title Lord is used here with accuracy. It is not much used in Ac. where the history is on Jewish ground; other titles were there th