ACTS 11
Read Acts 11:1-30
News soon reached the rest of the church that Gentiles had received the word of God; and some were shocked and horrified. They thought that the word of God was just for them. After all, throughout the Old Testament times, they were considered to be God’s people (they conveniently forgot that they were supposed to take God’s word out to the rest of the world and be ‘a light to the Gentiles’ (Isaiah 49:6). And when Peter got back to Jerusalem they were outraged. ‘You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them’ (v3) they said in a tone of utter horror as if to say, ’how could you, that is disgraceful’. And so Peter went through all the events of Chapter 10, explaining the vision he had from God about how not to regard anything from God as being wrong, and how God led him into the house of Cornelius The clincher was when he told the church that when Cornelius heard the word of God, he and all the other Gentiles who believed, received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Peter finished by saying, “If God gave them the same gift as he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?” (v17). That convinced those who initially thought Peter was doing wrong. No! He was doing exactly what God told him to. You can’t argue with that, even if it contradicts your long-held prejudices.
Over the last few chapters we have seen the conversion of two completely different people; Saul and Cornelius. Saul was a Jew, Cornelius was a Gentile. Saul was a scholar and a theologian, Cornelius was a soldier. Saul was loyal to God (or so he thought, but actually opposed God’s will), Cornelius was a seeker of God. Both received forgiveness of sins, both received the Holy Spirit, both were baptised and welcomed into the Christian community on equal terms. This is a great testimony to the power of the gospel to reach and convert people from all backgrounds and all walks of life.
The church realised, if somewhat to their surprise, that God treated the Gentiles in the same way as the Jews; that there was no partiality in God’s eyes. From here on, in the Book of Acts, it is Luke’s primary theme to speak about the bringing of Gentiles into the Kingdom of God, and we see the gospel spreading out both geographically and culturally.
The first place Luke draws our attention to is Antioch, one of the most cosmopolitan and important cities of the region. Some of the believers who had been scattered at the time of Stephen’s death wound up there and preached the gospel to the Jews in Antioch. Others came and preached to the non-Jews. The Lord was with them and there was some success. Our old friend Barnabas went there to encourage them, as his name (‘the encourager’) suggested he would (v23). Barnabas brought Saul with him and their presence helped make the Antioch believers so well known in the city that they were known as ‘Christians’, the first time the word had been used.