Acts 11:27

ἐν ταύταις δὲ ταῖς ἡμέραις, and in those days, i.e. during the year when Barnabas and Saul were labouring in Antioch, and the Church increasing there rapidly in consequence.

προφῆται, prophets. That there should be prophets in the Church was but the fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel which Peter had quoted in his Pentecostal sermon (Acts 2:17). We cannot gather from the N.T. records any clear description of what office is to be understood by the word ‘prophet.’ The men to whom it is applied are sometimes occupied in preaching and explaining the word of God, and sometimes have the power of foretelling future events, as Agabus did here. See Acts 13:1; Acts 15:32; Acts 19:6; Acts 21:9-10; Romans 12:6; 1 Corinthians 12:10; 1 Corinthians 12:28-29; 1 Corinthians 13:2; 1 Corinthians 13:8; 1 Corinthians 14:6; 1 Corinthians 14:29-37; Ephesians 2:20.