They then who had been scattered abroad through the tribulation that took place on the occasion of Stephen, passed through [the country] to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one but to Jews alone.
Stephen's death set off violence in Jerusalem, and the believers who fled took the message with them. Two things stand out: the gospel spread because believers were driven out, and even so they spoke only to their own people.
Commentators see the violence after Stephen's death as the tool God used to move the message out of Jerusalem.
Here we find the first general persecution, which, in God's hands, served to scatter the seed of the gospel... While all the Christians are scattered by the persecution, the apostles remain in Jerusalem. It is the crowd of Christians scattered by the persecution who preach the gospel in Palestine, and later among the Gentiles... It was not the settled plan of man, nor the spiritual zeal of the apostles. It was the fury of the enemy which, according to the wisdom of God, first spread the gospel outside the gates of Jerusalem.
The people speaking here are ordinary believers on the run, not officials.
True order was never higher than then; yet no apostle raised his voice to ask, "By what authority do you preach?"... He alone sent them, and He alone blessed their work. What authority can rival His?
Scripture never gives their names.
God has taken particular care not to name them, perhaps so that we should not credit them with a deeper grasp of His mind than was really due. The great fact was there, and simple-hearted labourers were the ones to whom God gave this mighty and profound impulse by His Spirit.
They carried the message hundreds of miles, but only to fellow Jews.
Their Jewish training and education had taught even the first converts at Jerusalem to limit their thoughts of the grace of God to people of their own race. So when they were scattered "because of the persecution that arose over Stephen," they spoke the word to no one except Jews... Knowing the Lord's mind about who should hear the message matters as much as knowing His mind about the message itself. Every preacher of the word of God should weigh this, for it is the very condition of having His presence and blessing.
What broke the pattern was background, not rank.
At first these preached only to Jews, travelling northward to Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. Some of them, however, were from Cyprus and Cyrene, and so were Hellenists — Jews who lived outside their own land. These did not have the same reserve as the Jews from Judea.
The three names mark a real route out of Jewish territory.
Phoenicia — the coast of Northern Syria, south of Tyre and north of Sidon. It is a narrow strip of land in the south, reaching to the Lebanon range in the north-east. The Phoenicians carried on great trading enterprises, and their ships brought in the produce of foreign lands.
The last name on the list marks a turning point.
Acts 11:19 begins the account of the new order of things that marks out the ministry of Paul.
The account steps back here to an unofficial beginning that ran alongside the official one.
God took care that the gospel should reach the Gentiles first in a way that was completely informal. Yet the highest church authorities were there to start and approve its opening with the seal of the whole apostolic body in Jerusalem. The work among the Gentiles began without even a clear purpose or definite understanding on the part of those who carried it on. Nothing was visible except the loving zeal that knew the desperate need of the Gentiles, and the immeasurable power of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus... So it seemed good to God to begin Gentile Christianity through men of comparatively little account in either the world or the church, before there was the smallest contact between Peter and Cornelius. So the highest order ever set up in the assembly on earth could not boast.
- Driven — the fury of the enemy first carried the gospel outside Jerusalem. It was not the plan of man or the zeal of the apostles.
- Unnamed — those driven out preached with no appointment, and no apostle questioned their right. God kept their names back, so no one would credit them with more insight than was due.
- Limited — training and upbringing kept them speaking to Jews only. The ones who went further were Jews raised abroad, with less reserve.
- Routed — they went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, out along a coast built on trade. With Antioch begins the new order that marks Paul's ministry.
- Informal — God began the work among the nations through people of little account. The formal opening through Peter came alongside it, so the highest order could not boast.
But there were certain of them, Cyprians and Cyrenians, who entering into Antioch spoke to the Greeks also, announcing the glad tidings of the Lord Jesus.
Persecution had scattered the believers, and most of them told the good news only to fellow Jews. At Antioch a few of them crossed that line, and God left their names out of the record.
Some translations read "Hellenists" or "Grecians" here, meaning Jews who spoke Greek. Commentators point to the better text, which reads "Greeks":
Because of the persecution these men of Cyprus and Cyrene had gone everywhere, and among other places to Antioch. Until now they had preached the word to none but the Jews. Now they took courage and spoke — not to the Grecians, for this had been done long ago, but to the Greeks, preaching the Lord Jesus. Those they addressed were really Gentiles. The word "Grecians" does not mean "Greeks." It means Greek-speaking Jews, who had heard the gospel long before, as the cases of Stephen and Philip show.
The verse names Cyprus and Cyrene but not one man. Commentators take that silence as deliberate:
It was love, it was spiritual instinct, in the heart of those who evangelized, whose very names are unknown. God has taken particular care not to name them, perhaps so that we should not attribute to them a deeper perception of His mind than was really due.
No office, appointment or recognised standing appears anywhere in the account:
It is remarkable how all this discredits official position. We do not know the name of a single person used in the work. Paul, the great apostle to the Gentiles, is still little known in his home city. Barnabas is not yet on the scene. God is acting in open sovereignty, using whatever instruments He will.
Peter had needed a vision before God could send him on this errand. These men needed no sign at all:
Great workman as Peter was, he needed God to step in with a vision to send him. These unnamed men took up the same work in their confidence in His grace, without any vision or sign at all. It seems to have been the working of divine grace in their souls, and nothing else. At first they were more timid; they spoke only to Jews. Little by little the power of the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit filled them with longing for the needs of others. The Gentiles were sinners: why should they not dare to speak to the Gentiles?
Their service might have looked irregular to others:
These men might have been despised as irregular workers. Yet they were in the current of the same work of God, even if they knew nothing of it, except by divine instinct.
To Jews the preaching had been that Jesus is the Messiah. With Greeks the title changes:
Most of them still had the Jews only in their thoughts. They preached the Messiah, crucified and risen from the dead, and they preached Him to Jews only. But there were some who went beyond that... His title of Messiah applied above all to the Jew. The Jew had the holy writings, which announced the coming of the Messiah. But when we consider Him from the point of view of His Lordship, then all other distinctions vanish. He is Lord of the Jew, but He is equally Lord of the Gentile.
That title makes a claim on the hearer:
They proclaimed His glory and called on men everywhere to submit to Him as the One whom God had made supreme over all.
The verse says only that they "spoke":
Those simple and true-hearted men, divinely led, could not hold themselves back. Greeks must hear the message of that salvation in which they rejoiced. They probably spoke Greek themselves, so no language barrier stood between them and Greeks. The historian says they spoke. That gives the impression that they worked by ordinary conversation, not by set preaching.
This unplanned conversation started the church that would send Paul out to the nations. Looking back over the whole stretch of the book, one writer draws the lesson for every generation:
Samaria evangelised, Gentiles admitted into the kingdom, Greeks converted at Antioch: such is the record in brief... and all carried out without apostolic direction or human authority. The Holy Spirit opened up fields of labour independently of human direction. What He did then we may count on Him to do still.
- Scattered — persecution drove these believers out, and at first they spoke only to Jews.
- Crossed — the better reading is "Greeks": real Gentiles. Greek-speaking Jews had heard the gospel long before.
- Nameless — God kept every name out, so no man could take the credit. No office or appointment appears in the story.
- Lord — to Greeks they preached the Lord Jesus, not the Messiah. Under that title Jew and Gentile stand alike.
- Antioch — ordinary conversation turned Greeks to the Lord there, with no apostle directing it. The Spirit still opens fields this way.
And [the] Lord's hand was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
At Antioch the gospel reached Greeks for the first time. The preachers were ordinary believers whose names are unknown, and this verse gives the credit for the result to the Lord's hand.
One writer reads this phrase as the Lord's approval of what these men did, and points out who they were:
And notice: the word does not merely record the fact. The Lord approves what they did. "The hand of the Lord was with them." Ordinary Christians first preached the gospel to the Gentiles. The grace of God moved them to share with others the blessing they enjoyed themselves. They sought to establish the authority of Christ over mankind and to glorify His name. This narrative shows an important principle.
That blessing comes with a condition — agreeing with the Lord about who should hear the message:
Fellowship with the mind of the Lord about the people who are to hear the message is as important as fellowship with His mind about the message itself. Every preacher of the word of God should weigh this well. It is the absolute condition for securing His presence and blessing.
Scripture never tells us who these preachers were. That silence is deliberate:
Was this not very bold? Certainly it was of God, who made use of the circumstances He had arranged for His glory. It was love, it was spiritual instinct, in the heart of those who evangelized, whose very names are unknown. God has taken particular care not to name them. Perhaps He did so we would not credit them with a deeper grasp of His mind than they really had. The great fact stood, and God gave this mighty, deep impulse by His Spirit to simple-hearted workers.
One writer uses this verse to answer a question about who may preach:
A later chapter shows us the ministry of the word in a way that rules out all idea of ordination: "Those who were scattered went about preaching the word." Was the whole Church ordained? But would God approve such a thing? I read in Acts 11:21: "And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord." Apart from the single case of Cornelius, an all-important testimony to the principle of admitting the Gentiles, unordained men began and established the gospel to the Gentiles by their own voluntary zeal. They preached everywhere.
They preached Jesus as Lord, and the response matched the message. Turning to Him means more than changing your mind:
He is Lord, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles... But when we consider Him from the point of view of His Lordship, then all other distinctions vanish. He is Lord of the Jew, but He is equally Lord of the Gentile. They preached the Lord Jesus, and people turned to the Lord. If I turn to the Lord I shall at once admit myself to be under His authority. My place is subjection beneath His mighty Word.
Some older translations split the two verbs: "believed, and turned to the Lord." One writer builds on that wording to link this verse with what Barnabas says soon after:
Notice carefully how the Spirit of God describes their conversion — they "believed, and turned to the Lord." This is very beautiful and instructive. It is the true key to the words Barnabas spoke to them shortly after, and the basis of them — he "urged them all to stay true to the Lord with purpose of heart." This exhortation assumes that they had first "turned to the Lord," and flows from it.
The work at Antioch produced something new:
The results were astonishing, and this was the sovereign power of the Spirit of God at work... At Antioch a work began that was larger than the one at Caesarea. The assembly formed there was mostly Gentile, though it included Jewish believers. So here we see for the first time the unity of Jewish and Gentile believers in the church of God.
- Hand — The verse credits the result to the Lord's hand. Writers read that as His open approval of what these believers did.
- Hidden — God left the workers unnamed on purpose, so no one would credit them with more insight than they had.
- Free — Their preaching came from love and zeal, not from appointment. The gospel reached the Gentiles through unordained men.
- Turned — They preached Jesus as Lord. To turn to Him is to come under His authority, and He is Lord of Jew and Gentile alike.
- Formed — The result was a mixed assembly at Antioch: the first picture of Jewish and Gentile believers united in one church.
And the report concerning them reached the ears of the assembly which was in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go through as far as Antioch
News that non-Jews at Antioch were turning to the Lord reached Jerusalem. The answer was not a letter but a man. Why send him, and what did his visit settle for every church after?
The verse says "the church in Jerusalem." Scripture speaks of one church in a city, however many believers were in it.
What were churches or assemblies? These were local. The apostle could say, "To the church of God that is in Corinth." It represented the whole unity of the body in that place. Even in one place, there could not be two bodies of Christ. In Acts 11:22 we have the assembly that was in Jerusalem, though it was very large; in Acts 13 the assembly that was at Antioch. All Scripture clearly shows there was one assembly in a place, which was God's assembly.
Barnabas came to look and to report. Notice what he did not carry with him.
Still, the new work is not to drift into independence from the old. Jerusalem itself is to acknowledge and accept it, as it accepted the reception of Cornelius and his company at Caesarea. So when the report reaches the Jewish capital, they send Barnabas to go as far as Antioch — a well-chosen representative. He does not go with authority, and he does not try to use any. When the apostles visited Samaria, they had something lacking to supply. Barnabas has no such task among these Syrian brothers. They have clearly received the Spirit, as the believers at Caesarea did, without needing apostles or the laying on of hands.
Others make the same distinction by noting who sent him and for what: the sending was for investigation, and any ministry he did at Antioch was his own gift in exercise, not a commission from a church.
The church at Jerusalem sent Barnabas (Acts 11:22), but this again was on an errand of investigation, and not for ministry. He exercised his ministry, but was not sent by any church for this.
The visit did more than produce a report. It joined the first Gentile church to the place where everything had begun, and no one guarded a territory.
The church in Jerusalem did send Barnabas to Antioch. That church held a special position, as we have seen, since all the apostles were there. But he was not sent there as an evangelist. He went for that church, to visit believers who had already come to know the Lord. They had heard from men who preached, sent out by nothing except persecution. So the first church of the Gentiles and the church in Jerusalem — the church where everything had begun — were identified with each other. There was none of the jealousy that talks about "my field of work." The church in Jerusalem sends Barnabas where others had worked, and Barnabas is more than happy to find Paul. They all had one object: Christ and the good of souls.
The choice was fitting. A cold examiner could have chilled the work; the man sent was suited to judge it fairly and to reassure those who had sent him.
Barnabas then, who was of Cyprus, though a Levite, comes to Antioch on his mission of inquiry. Nor can we imagine one more admirably chosen, if a warm heart devoted to Christ were wanted to judge fairly of the work in Antioch and to reassure those in Jerusalem adequately.
What made him fit was not his office but living faith. That is why he could tell a real work of God when he saw one.
When news of this striking work reached the assembly at Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas — clearly to inspect and report. When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rose above all his Jewish leanings and prejudices. He accepted the work as God's work with all his heart, and joined in helping to minister to the new believers. We gather two things. The Spirit controlled him, and his faith was alive and active, so that he embraced the truth of God's purpose to bless the Gentiles. That is how he detected that the work he had come to examine was a genuine work of grace.
The preachers Barnabas came to inspect held no office. They were ordinary believers, sent out by nothing but persecution.
Let us remember this: the first spread of the gospel among the nations did not come through official preachers. It came through ordinary Christians. No man sent them out; love for Christ moved them. And in the providence of God, the free activity of Christians became the occasion of Paul's mission.
Once endorsed, that city took on a role Jerusalem had held.
Antioch, not Jerusalem, now became a centre for spreading the gospel. It did not depend on apostolic authority. Yet it did not break the unity of the Spirit by forming a separate church.
- News. Word of the conversions reached Jerusalem, and the church there did not ignore it. It sent a man.
- Sent. Barnabas went as a representative on an errand of inquiry; he carried no authority and did not try to exercise any.
- Seen. He was chosen because he could see: a warm heart, living faith, and eyes that knew real grace when it appeared among Gentiles.
- Joined. The visit tied the first Gentile church to Jerusalem, with no jealousy over territory on either side.
- Sent out. Ordinary believers, not officials, began the work. Antioch then became a centre for the gospel, without becoming a separate church.
who, having arrived and seeing the grace of God, rejoiced, and exhorted all with purpose of heart to abide with the Lord;
At Antioch, large numbers of non‑Jews turned to the Lord. News reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to see what was happening. This verse records what he saw, how he felt, and the one sentence of counsel he gave.
Barnabas came to see, and what he saw was grace.
The grace they had received, and were still receiving, from the Lord could be seen. It touched every part of their lives, and Barnabas was glad when he saw it. It is a good thing when the grace of God is seen. There is nothing so delightful to the anointed eye as the grace of God. It pleases the eye and rejoices the heart. There is no sight like it on earth.
Barnabas had no part in this work. Others had preached, and the blessing was theirs.
Barnabas came and at once recognized a true work of the grace of God. God had used others for this, not himself or the leaders in Jerusalem. Instead of being jealous, he was glad, and he helped the work forward by his encouragement. But then he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, so he did not care about his own reputation but about the glory of Christ. The working of God's grace was the great thing with Barnabas, no matter who God used to bring it about.
Barnabas could have taken charge at Antioch. He did not.
He does not come with authority, and he does not try to use any. He has no task, as the apostles had on their visit to Samaria, of supplying anything lacking in these Syrian believers... Barnabas sees the grace of God in them, and is glad, and simply urges them all to cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart — a word that is never out of place. Here it is his character that is described, not his office.
The ESV says "remain faithful to the Lord." Older translations say "cleave to the Lord," and the writers quoted here use that older wording. So what does cleaving look like day to day?
Fruitfulness comes from abiding in Christ. What does that really mean? It may be easier to understand if we put it like this: "Keep close to the Lord! Draw everything you need from Him." In Acts 11:23 a servant of the Lord named Barnabas urged the believers "that with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord." The word "cleave" is also the same word as "abide" in the original.
What sort of purpose did Barnabas call for? The word he used answers that.
The word for "purpose" means, from the verb behind it, what I set before myself, and so propose and determine... It is "purpose of heart" in Acts 11:23, and in five other places it describes the purposes of God's heart: Rom. 8:28; Rom. 9:11; Ephesians 1:11; Eph. 3:11; 2 Timothy 1:9.
That decision will be tested.
We must be ready for the test that is sure to come to everyone who confesses the name of Jesus and owns Him as Saviour and Lord. Usually it comes first as a flood of persecution, raised to terrify the heart and crush the spirit. If that does not succeed, the enemy tries to draw the heart away from Christ and lure it into some carefully prepared trap.
Barnabas told them to cleave to "the Lord." Mawson asks why he chose that title.
He did not say "Cleave to the Shepherd" or "Cleave to the Saviour." Why? The Shepherd will cleave to us with an almighty hand. That is how He holds His sheep despite every threatening enemy, and those He saves are safe for ever. But as Lord we must cleave to Him if we are to bear true witness to Him in this world, for all the grace we need is in Him... we are in enemy country, and we must keep close to the base of our supplies.
Barnabas's call rests on something that had already happened at Antioch.
Notice carefully the words the Spirit of God uses to describe their conversion — they "believed, and turned to the Lord." This is very beautiful and instructive. It gives the true key to, and the basis of, the words Barnabas spoke to them soon after — he "exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord." This exhortation assumes that they had first "turned to the Lord," and grows out of it.
- Seen — Grace at Antioch was not a report but a sight. It had changed every part of their lives, and that is what Barnabas looked at first.
- Glad — He rejoiced over fruit that gave him no credit. Christ's glory mattered more to him than his own name.
- Sent, not superior — Jerusalem sent him, and he encouraged instead of commanding. Scripture praises his character, not his office.
- Cleave — The word means to stick close, the same word as "abide": keep near the Lord and draw everything from Him.
- Purpose — Not a mood but a settled decision. Pressure and enticement will both come to test it. And it only makes sense for people who have already turned to Him.
for he was a good man and full of [the] Holy Spirit and of faith; and a large crowd [of people] were added to the Lord.
The church at Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch, and the verse stops to describe him. One small word — for — makes his character the reason so many were added to the Lord.
One writer defines goodness by what fills a person's mind. We become like whatever occupies us.
Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. I wish we had a few more men like that! What kind of man is a good man? The man who is taken up with evil is not a good man, even if he is set on putting it right. What occupies a man affects him. The good man is taken up with good. He will look for what is good in his brothers and rejoice when he sees it. He will help to produce it in them by ministering Christ to them and praying for them.
Scripture uses two different phrases about the Spirit. The difference matters here.
John the Baptist, Elizabeth, Zacharias, the hundred and twenty on the day of Pentecost, Peter, those assembled together, and Paul were filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:15, 41, 67; Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 9:17; 13:9). The six deacons, on the other hand, with Stephen and Barnabas, are said to have been full of the Spirit (Acts 6:3, 5; 7:55; 11:24). Filled with the Spirit is used in both Old and New Testaments of those fitted for special service... Full of the Spirit seems characteristic of the general tenor of the life.
Barnabas came as the representative of the church at Jerusalem. What he did not do with that standing is the point.
He does not go with authority, and he does not seek to exercise it. Unlike the apostles on their visit to Samaria, he has nothing in hand to supply what is lacking in these Syrian brothers. They have plainly received the Spirit, as the believers at Caesarea did, without the need of apostles or the laying on of hands. Barnabas sees the grace of God in them, and is glad, and simply urges them all to cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart — a word never out of place. It is his character that is dwelt on here, not his office: "he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit, and of faith." The effect of this shows in the progress of the work there.
The work at Antioch began without him and without the leaders who sent him. His reaction shows what the verse means by a good man.
God had used others for this work, not him and not the leaders in Jerusalem. Instead of being jealous, he was glad, and he helped the work forward by his encouragement. But then he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and so he did not care about his own reputation but about the glory of Christ... The working of God's grace was the great thing with Barnabas, no matter through whom it was done.
The verse ties what Barnabas was to how many were added. One writer draws out the hard side of that link.
This is the result of the ministry of a man full of the Spirit. Power is shown in results. A man may be accurate and yet cold, without a particle of spiritual strength, and no blessing comes from his constant work. The reason is plain: for believers to be added to the Lord, the servant must, at least in some measure, be full of the Spirit.
At Antioch the message reached non-Jews as well as Jews. The title given to Christ there makes a demand on everyone who turns to Him.
He is Lord, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles... They preached the Lord Jesus, and people turned to the Lord. If I turn to the Lord I shall at once admit myself to be under His authority. My place is submission to His mighty Word.
- Good — what occupies a man shapes him. The good man looks for good in others and works to produce it in them.
- Full — "full of the Spirit" describes the steady tone of a whole life; "filled" marks people taken up for a special service.
- Character — the verse praises what Barnabas was, not any office he held. He came with no authority to press and nothing to supply.
- Glad — God used others before him, and it did not trouble him. He wanted the glory of Christ, not his own name.
- Added — when the servant is full of the Spirit, fruit follows. And converts are added to the Lord, which means coming under His authority.
And he went away to Tarsus to seek out Saul.
The work at Antioch was growing fast, and Barnabas was the man leading it. Then he left that wide-open field and travelled to Tarsus to find Saul, the man he had once introduced to the believers in Jerusalem.
Barnabas could have held on to a large work. One writer turns his choice into a question for every worker.
Here is another trait that marks this "good man." It marks the real working of the Holy Spirit too, both in sending him to Antioch and now in his going off to Cilicia. Is this how we feel and act when the Master honours us by using us in a large field of service? Do we, in the middle of it, remind ourselves of another who might be even more effective? Or does jealousy still get in the way? Does it still play its dark and deadly part, to the dishonour of Christ and the loss of souls inside and outside?
Barnabas had been encouraging the new believers. His journey shows he knew that encouragement was not enough.
Exhortation, however, is not enough to build up souls in the faith, helpful and necessary as it is in its place... Believers, however, need teaching as well. Now, Barnabas evidently felt that teaching was not his special line of service. Would he, then, keep the converts at Antioch under his influence, limited to his ministry alone? No. He wanted them to advance and be established in the faith. And knowing where to find one qualified to teach, he went off to Tarsus in Cilicia to look for Saul.
Another writer turns that into a rule for us all.
Let us not be selfish in our service; let us recognise our own limitations, and then recognise the qualities and abilities of others.
There is no angel here, and no recorded word from the Spirit.
As there was need in the church at Antioch, he goes and finds him. He had a conviction that this was the instrument the Lord would use for good. So we see this. In some cases we have the angel of the Lord. In others we have the Spirit of the Lord speaking directly. And we also have, simply, the holy judgment of the gracious heart. We must not treat this as a merely human arrangement. It was right, and God recorded it so that we might see it and profit from it.
Barnabas acted on his own reading of the need.
The work is enlarging, and help is needed in this field. Barnabas knows the one whom he introduced to the church in Jerusalem, and he knows what he is... The disciples do not send for Saul. This "good man" judges Saul to be fitted to help in this work.
The verse names one city, and the choice was not random.
Barnabas found Saul in his native city. Saul had gone back there after his first and short visit to Jerusalem, following his conversion. Barnabas seems to have had no difficulty in persuading him to leave that place of learning and help the work forward in the capital of Syria.
There is a lesson here for anyone waiting for a place in the Lord's work.
We may safely assume that bringing Saul to Antioch was his introduction to his mission. We may learn from the way it happened that there is no need to push ourselves into the Lord's work. If we wait quietly on Him, wanting to know nothing but His will, the time will come when our path will be unmistakably shown to us. Saul had waited, even though Christ in glory had appeared to him. Now his directions reached him. They did not come by the extraordinary method of his conversion, but through the invitation of a fellow servant. Saul was in communion with his Lord's mind, and that invitation came to him with the force of a divine command.
Some read a later chapter of Acts as Paul's ordination. One writer answers from this passage.
He had been recognised as a teacher for a long time. We get this in the eleventh chapter... Paul had been preaching and teaching long before what you have recorded in the thirteenth chapter of Acts. So far from that scene carrying the thought that at that moment he was ordained for apostolic work, his own writings set that aside.
- Need. A growing work needed more than Barnabas could give. Teaching was not his line, and he would not limit the converts to his own ministry.
- Humility. He went looking for the man most likely to outshine him. Kelly asks whether jealousy would have kept us working alone.
- Judgment. No angel, no vision, no summons from the assembly. Just the holy judgment of a gracious heart — and God recorded it for our profit.
- Waiting. Saul was already called by the glorified Christ. Even so, he did not push himself forward. His orders came as a fellow servant's invitation.
- Fruit. This quiet journey opened Saul's mission and set a teacher beside an encourager at Antioch.
And having found [him], he brought him to Antioch. And so it was with them that for a whole year they were gathered together in the assembly and taught a large crowd and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
A crowd of new Gentile believers in Antioch had no teacher until Barnabas went to Tarsus and came back with Saul. Out of their year of teaching came a name the world had never used before.
Barnabas had a growing work in his hands. He went to find a man who might do it better.
Is this how we feel and act when we stand in front of a large field of service where the Master honours us by using us? Do we, while we are in the middle of it, remind ourselves of someone else who might be even more effective? It was not so with Barnabas.
The two men worked together for a year. Neither treated the gathering as his own.
It was Christ's flock, not the flock of either of them, and His love moved them both, as it no doubt moved others too, to care for it. In those days no one said that the assembly was his own. They served in it with more love and holiness, because they always remembered that it is God's, and not man's.
Teaching was the third thing Antioch received, and each stage had built on the last.
Preaching the gospel had been started and carried on by men of Cyprus and Cyrene. Encouragement had its place and produced much fruit after Barnabas first reached Antioch. Now teaching started, and great blessing followed. We read that "they taught a great many people." So these different gifts appeared. Each one was needed before souls could be fully established in the faith, yet they were quite distinct in character.
Several firsts belong to this city.
Antioch was a city second only to Jerusalem in the early history of the church. What Jerusalem had been to the Jews up to this point, Antioch now became to the Gentiles. From then on it held a leading place in spreading Christianity among the nations. Here the first Gentile church was planted. And here our apostle began his public ministry.
The city had a name for inventing insults. This time its habit produced something better than it knew.
The place once so famous for its nicknames was now to give a name that will never perish. It is a name of immeasurable sweetness and blessing, since it connects Christ with those who are His. It was, no doubt, a Gentile title. There would be no particular force in giving it to Jews, for all Jews claimed to be looking for Christ. What a wonderful change for these poor Gentiles to know Christ for themselves, and to be called after Christ! It was all ordered by God.
Neither the Jews nor the believers themselves picked the word.
The Jews certainly did not give this name; the Gentiles invented it. Antioch was famous for its readiness to jeer and hand out names; it was known for its witty sayings. So they coined a new word, "Christianoi" — Christians. It is used only by outsiders. Jews and Gentiles alike were called by this name, so it bears witness to the oneness of Jew and Gentile in Christ.
The neighbours chose the label from what they could see.
The disciples in Antioch were such eager, faithful and true followers of the Lord Jesus that, like Paul, they imitated Him. As the Lord blessed the ministry of Paul and Barnabas in that city, Christ lived in the believers there in a real way. They spoke and acted so much like Him that the world gave them the title "Christians" — which means "of the same character as Christ."
The nickname did not stay in the street.
Here we have the Spirit of God accepting and approving the name Christian as applied to believers. It was first used as a descriptive nickname at Antioch. It came into general use later, and now it is formally accepted by the Spirit of God. We may therefore accept it, and as Christians we glorify God even as Christ Himself did.
So what should believers call themselves?
Instead of the confusion of many names, Scripture gives us only the One Name: the name of Christ. It is a name above every name, the beautiful name, and it is put on all God's people without distinction. They are called Believers, Disciples, Christians, and Saints. But not one of these names is ever used to mark off one part of the Body of Christ from another. On the contrary, they serve as links to bind them all together.
- Grace first. Antioch became to the Gentiles what Jerusalem had been to the Jews: the place where the first Gentile church was planted.
- Then help. Barnabas refused to guard his own field and travelled to Tarsus to fetch the man who could serve it better.
- Then teaching. Preaching came first, then encouragement, then a full year of teaching — souls need all three to be fully established.
- Then the name. Outsiders watched, saw Christ's character in them, and coined a word that covered Jew and Gentile alike.
- Then the keeping. The Spirit adopted the street nickname as Scripture's own name for believers — one name for all, needing no other.