Now in these days prophets went down from Jerusalem to Antioch;
Antioch was a young church, and Barnabas and Saul were teaching there. Then prophets come down from Jerusalem — which raises two questions: what was a prophet in the early church, and why did the new work need a visit from the old centre?
The account gives no date. One writer notes that the historian leaves the timing open, and sets these visitors beside the teaching already going on in the city:
He was a prophet, named Agabus — a prophet in the ordinary sense of the word, that is, one who foretells future events. At what precise moment he visited Antioch is not stated. The historian leaves it undetermined. "In these days," he writes, leading us to conclude that while Saul and Barnabas were happily engaged in teaching, Agabus and others appeared in the city.
These men travel down from Jerusalem, and the tie holds. The new Gentile church did not stand alone:
As yet all is linked with the work at Jerusalem, although extending now to the Gentiles... Still everything takes place in connection with Jerusalem, from where some prophets come down and announce a famine. Sending relief to Jerusalem shows and strengthens the links between the flock and Jerusalem as a centre. Jerusalem was the religious capital of Judaism — and of Christianity too, if we look at Christianity as beginning with the Jewish remnant who believed in Jesus as the Christ.
These men did not stay in the city that knew them. Their journey shows how God means His gifts to be used:
The end of this chapter lets us see how freely servants of God, such as prophets, moved between the various churches. Gifts are granted in the church to be used in a universal way, not merely a local one.
The traffic then ran the other way. What Antioch had received in spiritual things it repaid in practical ones:
Here the Gentile believers in Antioch give back for the spiritual gift they received from the Jewish believers in Jerusalem, by sending relief for their material needs. This passage beautifully shows how different members of the same body act in harmony. And this is not confined to one place; it shows in the way believers in different places walk together.
Prophets appear here for the first time in the Christian company. One writer weighs how large that gift was, and how small a part prediction played:
This is the first time the New Testament mentions Christian prophets. Yet they seem not to have been few in number, and in the list of gifts Christ gave to the Church they stand second only to the apostles themselves. Prophecy also, as we shall find elsewhere, is in a special way characteristic of Christianity... Prediction was never more than a fairly small and changing part of it.
Another writer draws a line between the revealing of new truth and the character of that ministry:
A large part of the Old Testament prophet's ministry was given to bringing the mind of God concerning the state of the people and calling them to repentance. It was not only foretelling but also forth-telling. So it was with the New Testament prophets. Special revelation has completely passed away with them. But we still have the prophetic character of their ministry, and "the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation" (1 Corinthians 14:3). How much of this may be sought today to real profit.
Antioch already had two able teachers. It welcomed the prophets as well, and acted on what it heard:
It is a joy to see this. The free activity of the Spirit began the work and founded the assembly in Antioch. That same free activity was no more uneasy at the special gifts ministering among them than it distrusted what the Lord had done through simple believers evangelising as they could. It was not Barnabas and Saul only who laboured there, but prophets came down from Jerusalem... How deeply interesting is the faith and love that responded to this! It was no charity appeal. They did not wait for a call from saints already impoverished by their generous love after the great Pentecost. They believed in the coming scarcity, and thought of the saints in Jerusalem as truly "one body."
- Linked. The prophets came down from Jerusalem, so the new Gentile church at Antioch stayed tied to where the work began.
- Loaned. Servants of God moved freely between churches. A gift given in the church is for everywhere, not for one place only.
- Listed. Christian prophets appear here first. Among Christ's gifts they stand second only to the apostles, and prediction was always the smaller part.
- Living. Prophecy was forth-telling as much as foretelling. Special revelation has passed away, but its character remains: upbuilding, encouragement and comfort are still worth seeking.
- Loving. Antioch trusted the warning and gave before anyone asked, counting the saints in Jerusalem as truly one body with themselves.
and one from among them, by name Agabus, rose up and signified by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine over all the inhabited earth, which also came to pass under Claudius.
Prophets come down to Antioch from Jerusalem. One of them, Agabus, announces a coming famine before there is any sign of it. Luke records the warning and its fulfilment. The verse raises two questions: what was this gift, and what did the believers do with it?
Agabus appears only twice in the New Testament. Both times he speaks of trouble ahead. What marks his message is not his own insight but its source.
A prophet who came from Jerusalem to Antioch. He foretold "a great famine over all the world," which "took place in the days of Claudius." Acts 11:28. He also foretold that Paul would be bound at Jerusalem and delivered to the Gentiles; which also came to pass. Acts 21:10. In the first passage Agabus "signified by the Spirit" that there would be a great famine. In the second he said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit." This shows that the prophetic spirit in man was under the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit, who now dwells in the Christian.
Agabus is called a prophet. The gift behind that word covered far more than predicting events.
This is the first time the New Testament mentions Christian prophets. They do not seem to have been few in number. In the list of gifts Christ gave to the Church, they come second only to the apostles themselves. Prophecy also, as we shall find elsewhere, is in a special way characteristic of Christianity. No one passes it on by succession. It springs out of close fellowship with God. It discloses His mind, so as to bring souls into His presence... Prediction was never more than a small and changing part of it. Yet prediction is what we find in the prophesying of Agabus, on the only two occasions where he appears in the history.
The phrase translated "all the world" is more exactly the inhabited or habitable earth. One careful translation of the passage brings this out, and also flags a small textual point about the emperor's name.
"and signified by the Spirit that a great famine was about to be over all the habitable [earth]; which came to pass under Claudius." {"Caesar" is added in Text. Rec.}
Luke's note about Claudius ties the story to a datable event. Records outside the Bible describe the same disaster.
Here let us mark the first note of time given us in the Acts. The famine predicted by Agabus came to pass in the reign of Claudius. History outside the Bible tells us that it took place in the fourth year of his reign, which was AD 44... A severe famine struck Judaea and the neighbouring countries in AD 44. It pressed hard on the people of the land. Helena, the widowed queen of Adiabene, was then living at Jerusalem, and she sent to Alexandria for corn, figs, and other food to relieve the suffering. She ministered to the Jews. The Antiochian Christians ministered to the saints in Judaea.
A famine warning invites people to protect themselves. The believers at Antioch heard it and thought about others.
What do these Christians do? Do they say, "We had better lay in a store of corn. We had better save for a rainy day and make sure we are well provided for"? No. They say, "When this famine comes it will go very hard with these dear disciples at Jerusalem. We had better think of our brothers' need and make a collection for them." They were not thinking about themselves. It was not a question of how the famine would affect them. It was a question of how it would affect others.
Agabus did not stay in Jerusalem. His journey shows how the gift was meant to work.
At the end of this chapter we see how freely servants of God, such as prophets, moved between the various churches. God grants gifts in the church to be used in a universal way, and not just a local one. So through Agabus, a prophet from Jerusalem, the church at Antioch heard of a coming famine. It took steps in advance to meet the expected need of the saints in Judaea. This early, the Gentile believers already had the opportunity to show love towards their Jewish brothers.
- Source — Agabus spoke "by the Spirit." Later he said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit." The prophet's mind was under the Spirit's direct guidance.
- Gift — these are the first Christian prophets named in the New Testament, ranked next after the apostles. Predicting the future was only a small part of a gift meant to disclose God's mind.
- Reach — the famine spread far beyond Judaea and struck in the reign of Claudius. That is the first note of time in Acts, around AD 44.
- Response — the believers at Antioch did not stockpile for themselves. They asked how the famine would hit others, and they sent help in advance.
- Result — a warning carried from Jerusalem to Antioch came back as practical love from Gentile believers to Jewish ones. Gifts are for the whole church, not one city.
And they determined, according as any one of the disciples was well off, each of them to send to the brethren who dwelt in Judaea, to minister [to them];
A warning of coming famine reached the young church in Antioch. Before anyone went hungry, the disciples there sent money. Two questions follow. What moved them to give to believers far away? And what set the size of each gift?
No one asked Antioch for money. Judea sent no request, and the famine had not yet started.
How deeply interesting is the faith and love that answered this! No one had preached a charity sermon. They did not wait for a request from believers who were already poor through their own generous love after the great Pentecost, which first saw the church here on earth. They believed the shortage was coming, and they thought of the believers in Jerusalem as truly "one body." Perhaps we may apply 1 Corinthians 12:26 here: if one suffers, all suffer, and as they feel with each other, they also help… It is a blessed thing to act from heavenly motives in earthly duties.
The measure was not a fixed sum, and it was not the same from every person. An older translation also shows what the sending itself was called:
As each of the disciples had the means, they decided that every one of them would send help [literally, for service] to the brothers living in Judea.
That standard also sets a limit. Giving measured by what a person has will not create a new need to solve an old one.
Let their giving be "according to what a person has." There is no thought of meeting one person's need by pushing another into need. That would only lift the burden off one person by laying it on someone else.
The famine would cover the whole world. Antioch stood in its path too, so the disciples were sending away supplies they might soon need themselves.
The coming trouble was to be "a great famine over all the world." So Antioch was in danger as well as Judea, and yet they sent their gifts. That was unselfish love. It is a stronger and longer-lasting bond than church rules, however well meant those rules may be.
Most believers in Antioch were Gentiles, that is, non-Jews. The believers in Judea were Jews. So the striking thing here is which way the money travelled.
We have seen how the disciples in the earliest days at Jerusalem shared everything they had. But at that time they all belonged to one nation, the Jews. This case was different. Many of these givers had once been Gentiles, and they now decided to help those who had been Jews. This was a step forward in putting Christian teaching into practice. The dividing wall of hostility (Ephesians 2:14) really had come down, and they knew it and showed it.
Help ran both ways between these two cities. What Antioch sent was a return, not a one-way gift.
Here the Gentile believers in Antioch give something back for the spiritual gift they had received from the Jewish believers in Jerusalem: they send relief for their material needs. This passage is a beautiful picture of how different members of one body act in harmony. It is not limited to one place. It shows in the way believers in different places walk together.
Why was Judea so poor? In the earliest days in Jerusalem, believers sold property and shared everything. That did not last, and it left them with little when the famine came.
Selling their possessions left many believers very poor when the famine came years later. That opened the way for the relief sent by Gentile churches (see Acts 11:27-30), which did so much to bind together the Jewish and Gentile parts of the church of God.
- Word. They believed the warning, and belief turned at once into action. No one asked them, and no one preached a collection sermon.
- Will. They chose to give at the very moment their own city faced the same famine.
- Measure. Each gave in line with what he had — a standard that never solves one need by creating another.
- Reach. Former Gentiles supported former Jews, showing the old wall between them had come down.
- Result. Spiritual help from Jerusalem came back as material help, and it bound two very different groups into one.
which also they did, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
Acts 11 begins with Peter defending the gospel going to Gentiles. It ends with those same Gentiles sending famine relief to Jewish believers in Judea, carried to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.
No appeal came from Jerusalem. The gift answered a word from God about a famine that had not yet arrived.
How deeply interesting is the faith and love that responded to this! It was no charity sermon. They did not wait for a call from the saints in Jerusalem, who had already been made poor by their generous love after the great Pentecost that first saw the assembly here on earth. They believed in the coming scarcity, and thought of the saints in Jerusalem as truly "one body."
Earlier in Acts, believers had shared goods among themselves — but they were all of one nation. Here the givers and receivers came from opposite sides of an old divide.
We have seen how the disciples in very early days at Jerusalem had all things in common. But all of them were then of one nation, Jews. In this case it was different. It was Gentiles, as many of them had been, who now determined to minister to those who had been Jews. This marked a development in the practical understanding of Christian teaching. The dividing wall between them was indeed broken down, and they were conscious of it, and showed it.
One detail in the warning shows what the gift cost the givers.
The threatened trouble was to be "a great famine over all the world." So Antioch was in danger too, not only Judea, yet they sent their gifts. That is unselfish love. This bond is greater and lasts longer than church rules, however well meant those rules are.
The passage sets the measure for the giving: each according to his ability. Later generations have lowered it.
In those fresh days everyone gave "according to his ability," and how much love — divine love — was expressed in it! How different it is in the many sad days of decline since then! Then it has to be said instead: "everyone a little of his surplus, and the richest in proportion least of all!" The heart that is in a thing, or is not in it, either degrades it or makes it spiritual.
Elders appear here for the first time, and with no introduction. Where they came from, the record does not say.
Saul (as he is still called) and Barnabas become the channels for bringing the contributions to the elders, who have not been named before. We are not told how these elders were appointed, or even whether anyone appointed them formally. Among the Gentiles we know that the apostles chose and installed them, as we shall see a little later. Scripture does not say whether the same was true among the Jews. But we clearly see that some men held this responsible place among them, as others did in the Gentile churches later.
Two things stand out about the men chosen: the order of their names, and that they went together.
They sent it by the hand (some translations read hands, but that letter s should not be there) of Barnabas and Saul. Later on we read Paul and Barnabas, but here at the start of his service he is content to be named last. It is a good thing not to seek first place in our service… I grant you fully and simply that our service is individual. It is to our own Master that we stand or fall. But I would not want to take up any service where I felt I did not have the fellowship of my fellow believers.
Antioch was now a centre of its own. Yet the account keeps turning back to Jerusalem, and this gift is the thread between them.
But it was important that this assembly should not be cut off from the one at Jerusalem, so the account suddenly takes us back to that city. That assembly is still lovingly recognised… Now the fruits of love strengthen the union.
- Warned — a prophet's word, not a plea from the poor, set the giving in motion. They gave on the strength of what God said was coming.
- Weighed — "according to his ability" made each person's own means the measure. Giving sinks when people hand over only what they can spare.
- Willing — Antioch faced the same famine and gave anyway. That is what makes the love unselfish.
- Wall down — former Gentiles supporting former Jews showed in practice that the old dividing wall was gone.
- Welded — the relief tied the new assembly at Antioch to Jerusalem, and the fruits of love strengthened that union.