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Scripture Reading: Acts 11:19-30
In this message we shall cover 11:19-30. In this section of Acts we have the spread of the gospel to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch through the scattered disciples (vv. 19-26) and the communication between the church in Antioch and the churches in Judea (vv. 27-30). First we shall consider these verses in a general way. Then we shall pay particular attention to the Lord’s further preparation of Saul.
Acts 11:19 says, “Those then who were scattered by the tribulation which took place over Stephen passed through as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone.” It was sovereign of God that the scattering of the believers from Jerusalem to other localities through the persecution (8:4) should carry out the spreading of the gospel for the fulfillment of the Lord’s word in 1:8.
According to 11:19, those who went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch spoke the word only to Jews. This indicates how strong the Jewish believers were in keeping their traditions. They would not approach the Gentiles (10:28). This condition continued even after Peter’s preaching to Cornelius, an Italian. It surely restricted the Lord’s move in spreading His gospel according to God’s New Testament economy.
Acts 11:20 continues, “But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and spoke also to the Greeks, bringing the good news of the Lord Jesus.” These men of Cyprus and Cyrene must have been the Jewish believers in dispersion (see 1 Pet. 1:1). Their speaking to the Greeks was a further step of the Lord’s move in spreading His gospel to the Gentiles following what happened in the house of Cornelius in chapter ten and before Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles began in chapter thirteen. Acts 11:21 says, “And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.”
Acts 11:22 tells us that “the account concerning them was heard in the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas as far as Antioch.” Literally, the Greek word rendered “sent out” means to be sent out on a mission as an authoritative representative. Barnabas was sent out from Jerusalem to visit the believers in other places with authority from the apostles, not from the church, because the apostles were there.
Saul was saved by the Lord directly without any preaching channel (9:3-6), and he was brought into identification with the Body of Christ through Ananias, a member of the Body (9:10-19). However, Saul was introduced to practical fellowship with the disciples in Jerusalem through Barnabas (9:26-28). Now Barnabas was sent from Jerusalem to go as far as Antioch to encourage the believers, and he went to Tarsus to bring Saul to Antioch (11:25-26). This was a big step. It initiated Saul into the Lord’s move in spreading the gospel of His kingdom to the Gentile world (13:1-3).
According to 11:23, when Barnabas arrived in Antioch and saw the grace of God, he “rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain with the Lord with purpose of heart.” We have pointed out elsewhere that grace is God in the Son as our enjoyment. This grace is the resurrected Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) to bring the processed God in resurrection into us to be our life and life supply so that we may live in resurrection. Therefore, grace is the Triune God becoming life and everything to us. The grace that was seen by Barnabas must have been the Triune God received and enjoyed by the believers and expressed in their salvation, change in life, holy living, and in the gifts they exercised in their meetings, all of which could be seen by others.
Acts 11:24 says, “For he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a considerable number was added to the Lord.” The Greek word translated “full” is pleres, an adjective form of pleroo according to the usage in Acts here and in 6:3, 5; 7:55; and Luke 4:1. Being full of the Spirit is one’s condition after being filled with the Spirit inwardly and essentially, as mentioned in Acts 13:52.
Acts 11:25 and 26 say, “And he went away to Tarsus to hunt for Saul; and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came about that for a whole year they were gathered in the church and taught a considerable number. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” The Greek word rendered “Christians” is Christianos, a word of Latin formation. The ending ianos, denoting an adherent of someone, was applied to slaves belonging to the great families in the Roman Empire. Those who worshipped the emperor, the Caesar — Kaisar — were called Kaisarianos, which means adherents of Kaisar, the people belonging to Kaisar. When people believed in Christ and became His followers, this caused some in the Empire to consider Christ as a rival of the Kaisar. At Antioch they began to call the followers of Christ Christianos (Christians), adherents of Christ, as a nickname, a term of reproach. That the disciples in Antioch were given such a nickname as a term of reproach indicates that they must have borne a strong testimony for the Lord, a testimony that made them distinct and peculiar in the eyes of the unbelievers.
Today the term Christian should bear a positive significance, that is, a man of Christ, one who is one with Christ, not only belonging to Him, but having His life and nature in an organic union with Him, and who is living by Him, even living Him, in his daily life. If, according to 1 Peter 4:16, we suffer for being such a person, we should not feel ashamed. Rather, we should be bold to magnify Christ in our confession by our holy and excellent manner of life to glorify God in this name.
In 11:27-30 we have a record concerning the communication between the church in Antioch and the churches in Judea. Acts 11:27 says, “And in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.” In the New Testament prophets are those who speak for God and speak forth God by God’s revelation, and who sometimes speak with inspired prediction.
Acts 11:28 tells us that one of these prophets “named Agabus rose up and signified through the Spirit that there was about to be a great famine over the whole inhabited earth, which occurred at the time of Claudius.” Claudius was a Caesar of the Roman Empire. In the fourth year of his reign, about A.D. 44, there was a famine in Judea and the neighboring countries.
Acts 11:29 and 30 say, “And the disciples, according as any one of them was prospered, determined each one of them to send things for dispensing to the brothers dwelling in Judea; which also they did, sending it to the elders through the hand of Barnabas and Saul.” Verse 30 indicates that in the early days the finances of the church were under the management of the elders. According to 1 Timothy 3:3, an elder was to be not fond of money. Money is a test to all men. An elder must be pure in money matters, especially since the church fund is under the elders’ management.
In Acts 11:30 we see that the things from the church in Antioch were sent to the elders in Jerusalem through the hand of Barnabas and Saul. Here Saul, through Barnabas, was brought into the service among the churches.
Concerning Saul, God was sovereign in preparing him as another vessel to carry His New Testament economy to the Gentile world. God knew that He needed to prepare such a vessel.
The preparation of Saul of Tarsus to be this kind of vessel began in chapter six of Acts. If we read this book carefully, we shall see that chapters two through six are a section that presents Peter’s ministry for Christ’s propagation. Then in chapter six the preparation of another vessel begins. In Acts 6 we have the choosing of seven men full of the Holy Spirit. Among these seven was Stephen, and Stephen’s martyrdom brought in Saul.
As a new vessel, Saul was produced through Jerusalem. This means that he was not a strange vessel produced apart from Jerusalem.
The first step in the producing of Paul through Jerusalem was Stephen’s martyrdom. When Stephen was martyred, Saul heard a portion of the gospel. He may have heard Stephen say, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (7:56). To be sure, Saul heard Stephen “as he was calling upon the Lord and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” (7:59). Saul also heard Stephen cry with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” (7:60). Even though Saul had rejected Stephen and was approving of his killing, he must have considered Stephen’s words.
Saul was a very intelligent and thoughtful person, one who had received a high education. He certainly must have thought about the words uttered by Stephen when he was undergoing persecution and martyrdom. Through Stephen Saul heard the preaching of the gospel. Therefore, Saul was brought in through the persecution and martyrdom of this faithful one.
After the martyrdom of Stephen, there was a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem (8:1), and Saul was devastating the church (8:3). According to 9:1 and 2, “Saul, still breathing threatening and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to Damascus, for the synagogues, so that if he found any who were of the way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” But while Saul was drawing near Damascus, the Lord came in to deal with him. As He dealt with Saul, the Lord preached to him. If we consider the Lord’s preaching to Saul along with the word spoken by Stephen at the time of his martyrdom, we shall realize that Saul certainly was produced through Jerusalem.
After Saul was saved, the Lord used Ananias to confirm him and to initiate him into the identification with the Body of Christ by the laying on of hands (9:17). The Lord did not send Peter and John to Damascus for this purpose. Instead, He used Ananias, who must have been saved in Jerusalem and then migrated to Damascus. This is a further indication that Saul’s becoming a vessel of the Lord was accomplished through Jerusalem.
In Damascus Saul proclaimed in a prevailing way that Jesus is the Son of God and the Christ (9:20, 22). Saul’s preaching was so prevailing that before long he had disciples (9:25). However, in His sovereignty the Lord did not allow Saul to remain in Damascus. Having escaped those Jews who had consulted together to do away with him (9:23), Saul went to Jerusalem (v. 26). He went to Jerusalem because that was the source through which he was produced. However, the saints there were afraid of him, not believing that he had truly been converted, not believing that he was a disciple. “But Barnabas took hold of him and led him to the apostles, and related to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He spoke to him, and how in Damascus he spoke boldly in the name of Jesus” (9:27). Here we see that Barnabas, the son of encouragement, brought Saul into the fellowship of the Body. It was Ananias that identified Saul with the Body, but it was Barnabas who actually brought him into the fellowship of the Body.
Having considered all these matters, we can see that Saul was a vessel produced through Jerusalem. He was not one that was produced apart from Jerusalem. But although he was related to Jerusalem, the environment did not allow him to remain there. Because certain ones were attempting to do away with Saul, the brothers “brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus” (9:30).
In 10:1—11:18 Luke records the spread of the gospel to the Gentiles through Peter. In 11:19 the record goes on to tell us that those who were scattered by the tribulation that took place over Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. Here we see that the migration from Jerusalem went as far as Antioch, where there was a church. The church at Antioch, therefore, was produced through Jerusalem. We need to trace this matter in the record in Acts.
When the account concerning those in Antioch “was heard in the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem,” they sent Barnabas to go as far as Antioch (11:22). Barnabas was sent out to visit the churches in other places.
In 11:19 we see that the scattered saints spoke the word only to Jews. But when some of these saints came to Antioch, they spoke also to the Greeks (v. 20). This is a hint that the trend of the Lord’s spreading was toward the Gentiles.
Luke’s record not only shows the tendency of the Lord’s spread toward the Gentiles, but also reveals how Saul was produced as the vessel to carry out God’s ministry in the Gentile world. Saul was produced through Jerusalem. He was not a new start apart from Jerusalem. Jerusalem’s migration reached Antioch, and a church was raised up in that city. Then Jerusalem sent out Barnabas as an authoritative representative. When he saw the grace of God, he rejoiced. He was happy with the marvelous situation of the church in Antioch. Nevertheless, Barnabas realized that there was still a particular need — the need of ministry. The scattered saints had gone to Antioch for the raising up of a church, yet among them there was a shortage of ministry. Because of this, Barnabas “went away to Tarsus to hunt for Saul” (11:25). When Barnabas found Saul, he brought him to Antioch, and “for a whole year they were gathered in the church and taught a considerable number” (v. 26). This was part of the initiation of Saul’s ministry.
During a time of great famine, the saints in Jerusalem and Judea were in need. Material help was sent from the church at Antioch to those in Judea through Barnabas and Saul (11:29-30). As we have pointed out, this indicates that through Barnabas Saul was brought into the service among the churches. Step by step the Lord brought in Saul. No doubt, he was welcomed in Jerusalem. After fulfilling their responsibility, Barnabas and Saul returned to Antioch.
By the time Barnabas and Saul returned to Antioch, Saul had been fully prepared as a vessel. He was a product through Jerusalem, for he had been prepared by God through Jerusalem. We have emphasized the fact that with Saul we do not have a new start apart from Jerusalem. We stress this matter because it is something the Lord did sovereignly and wisely in order to keep the oneness of the Body.
In the booklet entitled The Divine Stream we pointed out that there is only one stream in the book of Acts. This stream started from Jerusalem and flowed through Samaria to Antioch. From Antioch the stream turned to Asia Minor and then to Europe. The Lord did not have two streams, one starting from Jerusalem through Peter and another starting in the Gentile world through Saul. No, the Lord had only one stream, the stream that started from Jerusalem.
The Lord knew that there was the need of a particular vessel, a new vessel. Peter was not qualified to be this vessel, and Peter could not replace this vessel. The Lord did all things wisely and sovereignly to put Saul, His chosen vessel, into the proper relationship with the church in Jerusalem. As we have pointed out, Saul was actually produced through Jerusalem.
In the first chapters of Acts we see that the Lord used Peter very much. Although Peter was good, the Roman Catholic Church was wrong to exalt him so highly. In chapter six of Acts Peter is silent, and there is no mention of him in chapter seven. In chapter eight, of course, Peter and John went down to Samaria to confirm the believers there as part of the Body. Then in chapter nine Saul, a chosen vessel, is raised up. We have seen that in this chapter we are even told that not long after he was saved Saul had disciples. However, the New Testament never speaks of Peter’s disciples.
According to the record in Acts 9, Saul became very prominent in Damascus. But in His sovereignty the Lord brought this prominent one to Jerusalem, where he became a nobody. The believers there would not even recognize him as a disciple. If we had been Saul, we might have said, “In Damascus I was very prominent, and I had a number of disciples. Now I come to you in Jerusalem, and you will not recognize me. I don’t want to have anything to do with you. I shall go back to Damascus and start a new work there.” This is the practice of many of today’s Christians.
Saul surely received mercy from the Lord. Not only did he become a nobody in Jerusalem; the Lord did not allow him to preach in Jerusalem for a long period of time. If Saul had remained in Jerusalem to preach for a long time, he would no doubt have surpassed Peter. Then the saints in Jerusalem might have said, “We are not of Peter of Galilee — we are of Saul of Tarsus.” If we had been there at the time, we might have said, “I am for Saul. Peter helped me in an elementary way, but now I am receiving an advanced education from Saul.” This is the attitude among many believers today.
In Jerusalem Saul was not highly respected or regarded. Furthermore, the Lord raised up an environment that made it necessary for him to leave Jerusalem. Eventually, the Lord’s sovereign hand used Barnabas to find Saul in Tarsus and bring him to Antioch.
After the account of Saul’s prevailing preaching in chapter nine, the record comes back to Peter and his ministry. The record indicates that Peter was still powerful. Peter gave messages in chapters two, three, and four, as well as a brief word in chapter five. When the record returns to Peter’s ministry in chapter nine, two miracles are described — the healing of Aeneas and the healing, or quickening, of Dorcas. Peter was still in the ministry; the Lord was not through with him. In chapter nine Peter was not in Jerusalem, but was stepping out toward Caesarea, where he would use the second key given him by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 16 to open the door for the Gentiles to come into the kingdom of God. On the one hand, we see the Lord preparing the way to produce a vessel for the Gentile world. On the other hand, we see what the Lord did with Peter to unlock the door for the Gentiles.
As we shall see, in Acts 12 Luke’s record again returns to Peter. However, the record does not return to Peter’s ministry but speaks of his imprisonment. The account of his imprisonment indicates that his ministry will be set aside from the spreading of the gospel to the Gentile world. In chapter thirteen we see that the vessel for the Gentile world is fully prepared, and the door to the Gentile world is altogether open. In other words, both the vessel and the environment are ready. In Acts 13 the ministry to the Gentile world begins in a full way. After chapter twelve there is no further record concerning Peter.
We have seen that Barnabas, a believer from Jerusalem, helped in the producing of Saul. Barnabas and Saul went on a journey of ministry together. As they were about to take a second journey, there was a contention between them concerning Mark (15:35-39), and Barnabas separated from Saul. Following that, there is no further record concerning Barnabas. This is a further indication that Saul certainly was the chosen vessel for the Gentile world.
According to the picture in the book of Acts, the Lord has only one stream, the stream that started from Jerusalem, and He did not begin another stream with Saul. The Lord did everything sovereignly and wisely to withhold Peter’s ministry from the Gentile world and to raise up Saul’s ministry for it. May we all see what is portrayed in this picture.
In Acts we see the activity of the Lord’s unique Body. This activity, the flowing of the stream, began in Jerusalem, passed through Samaria, and reached Antioch. From Antioch the stream turned to the Gentile world. In the current of this one stream the oneness of the Body was preserved.
When we come to chapter fifteen we shall see that certain Judaizers from Jerusalem caused trouble in Antioch. This made it necessary for Paul and Barnabas to go to Jerusalem. By going to Jerusalem the oneness was preserved and even strengthened.
It is crucial that we all see the oneness portrayed in Acts and learn to keep this oneness. Otherwise, eventually among us in the Lord’s recovery there may be some new starts, and these new starts will cause divisions. Therefore, we need to see that in Acts the Lord sovereignly kept all the ministries in one ministry and in one current for the one Body in order to keep the oneness of the Body.
