Acts #14: The Gospel for the Gentiles is more than a right, a purpose; it is expansion (Acts 11); Patrice Berger

Acts 11

1 The apostles and the brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also welcomed the word of God.

2 And when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised reproached him

3 saying,”You entered with the uncircumcised and ate with them!”

4 Peter proceeded to explain to them in order all that had happened. He says:

5 “I was in the city of Joppa, and while I was praying I had a vision in ecstasy:

an object that looked like a large tablecloth tied at the four corners was descending from the sky and coming towards me.

 6 I looked into it carefully and saw the four-legged creatures of the earth, the wild beasts and creeping things, and the birds of the sky. 

7 Then I heard a voice saying to me:

‘Get up, Peter, kill and eat!’

8 But I said:

‘Certainly not, Lord, for nothing filthy or unclean ever entered my mouth.’

9 For the second time the voice was heard from heaven:

‘What God has declared pure, you do not consider it unclean.’

10 This happened three times, then everything was pulled up into the sky.

11 And suddenly three men sent from Caesarea to me came to the house where I was. 

12 The Spirit told me to go with them without hesitation.

The six brothers here accompanied me and we entered Cornelius’s house.

13 This man told us how he had seen the angel come to him in his house and say to him:

‘Send someone to Jaffa and bring Simon, surnamed Peter; 

14 he will speak to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your family.’

15 When I started to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, like on us at the beginning.

16 And I remembered this word of the Lord:

‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

17 Since God gave them the same gift as we who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to oppose God?

18 After hearing this, they calmed down and began to celebrate the glory of God, saying:

“So God also granted non-Jews the opportunity to change their attitude in order to have life.”

I will resume reading chapter 11 later.

Peter, you are delirious!

– “Hey, but what is this story with Peter?

– It seems that he went to pagans and that he even ate with them!

What is this story?!!!

When he arrives, he has to explain himself!

Misunderstanding happened due to the world that separated them…

You see how strong the cultural barrier between Jews and pagans was!

Note that the first reproaches relate to having entered and to have eaten with the uncircumcised.

Peter’s argument

Faced with the astonishment of the disciples of Jerusalem, Peter will reassure them with the help of three big arguments:

• he was not alone, other Jewish believers were with him;
• he will relate how he was brought into contact with Cornelius;
• and finally what happened is clearly the work of God!

Witnesses

Indeed, Peter was not alone and fortunately, Peter wisely took six witnesses, even more than necessary according to Jewish customs (2-3 witnesses).

In the law

At the time the Jews could only consider a statement if there were two or three witnesses, for example, in Deuteronomy 17:6.

In the church

This common sense and wisdom remained valid in the Church of Christ – Matthew 18:16 and 1 Timothy 5:19

For our inspiration

It is also up to us to be careful not to give access to slander or slander when a person gives “confidentially oriented” information, rarely beneficial for the person.

Witnesses with Peter

This precaution allowed Peter to affirm that what he was going to say was not a personal delirium and that it had really happened!

The story of the facts with Cornelius

Obviously, Peter will scrupulously recount the sequence of events: divine providence and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Same content of speech but said differently

I don’t know if you noticed but it’s almost a copy-paste of some passages from the previous chapter 10.

Almost, because we see that some details are not mentioned because obviously they were not useful and others are added more like an explanation.

Same story and variations

We have exactly the same story, but with variations.

Why am I bothering you with these details? Quite simply because it is a great illustration of texts written differently but which recount exactly the same event as is frequently found in the Gospels (for example the accounts of the resurrection of Jesus which focus on one part or do not say another), and sometimes it troubles us! But the omissions are intentional because some details are not helpful to the author’s purpose. And other twists, some details explain what the author would like to emphasize.

It comes from the Lord

Here, it is particularly evident what Peter adds in the illustration of the Gentiles receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 11

16 And I remembered this word of the Lord:

‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

Peter revives this promise in memory of the other apostles

What he remembered that helped him understand what God was doing with Cornelius and his guests is not told to us in chapter 10. But it was especially important to say it here in the presence of other apostles of Jerusalem who had also heard this promise from Jesus at the same time as Peter!

The Holy Spirit can only be granted by God

This explanatory sentence clearly indicates that if the Holy Spirit came upon them, the disciples (Jews), it was because it came from the Lord! So if the Holy Spirit came on Cornelius and his guests, pagans, it also came from the Lord! This event or accomplishment was therefore only possible by the hand of the Lord!

Clearly, it was not Peter’s direction or influence, but really God who was acting!

The joy of the believers in Jerusalem

And this reassured and rejoiced the believers in Jerusalem: God acts in the same way with them (the Gentiles) as with us (the Jews). It’s still beautiful to see how the believers were happy and not too restrained (more like a concession).

Huge Turning Point in Revelation History

The Gospel for the Gentiles is still a major turning point in the history of the revelation of God’s word: nothing different between Jews and non-Jews.

Could there be other major turning points?

The question we could ask ourselves: could it be possible that there are again other such important turning points in the history of revelation?

This subject has always been present: in fact, from the first years of the Church, several ideas or suggestions have been proposed. We see it in particular through the reading of the epistles which often respond to variants. This response is always the same, the epistles recall the heart of the Gospel. For instance :

No other gospel

Galatians 1

6 I wonder that you turn away so quickly from the one who called you by the grace of Christ to pass to another gospel. 

7 It is not that there is another gospel, but there are people who confuse you and want to distort the Gospel of Christ.

8 But if anyone – even us or even an angel from heaven – preached a gospel to you different from the one we preached to you, cursed be he! 

9 We have already said it, and I repeat it now: if anyone preaches a different gospel to you than the one you have received, cursed be he! 

10 Now, am I looking for favor with men or favor with God? Am I trying to please men? If I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

How to sort?

If we agree that there is no other gospel, how can we practically be sure that a new proposition is biblically based or not?

The whole Bible

Everything that claims to be from the Lord must be consistent with all the texts of the Bible. If anything is really different from the usual message of the Bible, it is clearly something that does not come from God!

Why the whole?

2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture”

Because the Bible is inspired by God

2 Peter 1:20-21

that the bible

The Bible alone is the message of the Gospel

Revelation 22:18-19

I declare it to everyone who listens to the words of prophecy in this book: if anyone adds anything to it, God will add to it the plagues described in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away anything from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part of the tree of life and the holy city described in this book.

These verses are primarily addressed to the book of Revelation, but this principle is found in the content of the Epistle to the Galatians: to take away or add something to the grace of God through Christ, it is no longer the Gospel and it is no longer the action of God.

Christ is the base then the apostles, nothing else

• The whole Bible and nothing but the Bible!
• No other bases than Christ and the apostles as foundations for the Church

Ephesians 2:20

Indeed, no one else of equivalent would be dead and resurrected (except for Jesus), and there is no one who would have been a witness from the beginning of the ministry of Jesus until His ascension (like the apostles – Acts 1: 21-22).

Easy to sort out: it is therefore easy to see that everything that is added to the environment of the Bible is not from God: church traditions, dogmas, Talmud, distorted translations of the Bible (Jehovah’s Witnesses ), Book of Mormons, writings of Ellen White (Seventh-day Adventist) and the likes.

It is easily recognizable as not coming from God, it is often additions, which finally take precedence over the Bible or voluntary omissions or even transformations of the Bible.

The gospel points to Christ and the extension of the gospel is not anthropocentric

Another criterion: the whole of the Bible and nothing but the Bible – no other bases than Christ and the apostles – aims at the extension of the gospel, not anthropocentrism or hedonism.

More particularly the evangelical environment

Obviously, the evangelical environment is not exempt from shifts, I do not really see what the so-called golden rains or golden teeth are doing, as was the case some time ago for the development of the Gospel, nowhere do we have such childish examples in the Bible!

The unique expected event in the Bible

The only expected event that has not yet taken place in the Bible is the return of Christ. Otherwise, no expected event is announced in the Word.

For Jews or Gentiles, the whole Bible talks about it

About the change, that happened with Peter and Cornelius, was expected since the Old Testament and by different servants of God.

It was not a surprise even if in the understanding of Jewish believers at the time, it was very hard to imagine. It’s an accomplishment, not something new out of nowhere. The apostle John, the privileged witness of Jesus Christ, writes in his first epistle to rely on what was transmitted at the beginning:

1 John 2:24-26

24 For your part, retain [therefore] what you have heard from the beginning. If what you have heard from the beginning abides in you, you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is what he himself promised us: it is eternal life.

26 I have written this to you about those who lead you astray.

Acts 11 continued

19 Those who had been scattered in the persecution after the death of Stephen went as far as Phenicia, the island of Cyprus, and Antioch; but they spoke the word only to the Jews.

20 However, some of them, who were from Cyprus and Cyrene, came to Antioch and spoke [also] to the Gentiles to announce to them the good news of the Lord Jesus.

21 The hand of the Lord was with them, and many believed and turned to the Lord.

22 Word of this reached the ears of the church members in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived, when he saw the grace of God, he felt joy.

He encouraged them all to hold fast to the Lord with a firm heart, 24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.

A fairly large crowd joined the Lord.

25 Barnabas then went to Tarsus to fetch Saul. 26 When he found him, he brought him to Antioch.

For a whole year, they attended Church meetings and taught many people.

It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

27 At that time prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and declared by the Spirit that there would be a great famine throughout the earth. It happened, in fact, under Emperor Claudius.

29 The disciples decided to send, each according to his ability, help to the brothers and sisters who lived in Judea.

30 This they did by sending it to the elders through Barnabas and Saul.

Spreading the Gospel Despite Persecution

In His sovereignty, God allowed the persecution of Jerusalem to be, despite the circumstances, a vector for the propagation of the Gospel:

Genesis 50:20

You had planned to do me harm, God changed it for good to accomplish what is happening today, to save the lives of many people.

Gospel directly to non-Jews

There is a spontaneous mutation (a variant of Antioch): indeed, the first believers were Jews and the next circle of believers who came to Christ were Jews of Greek culture or proselytes (pagans converted to Judaism). But here, the Gospel is ultimately directed to the Greeks (apart from what Peter experienced with Cornelius).

The First Church of pagan origin magnitude

From this testimony was born a very large group of believers who therefore saw the light of day in Antioch – in Syria – (the third most important city of the Roman Empire, of course after Rome and Alexandria).

7 years between Pentecost and Antioch?

Time seems to have passed, some evoke 7 years between Pentecost and this moment

Bible Commentary by John MacArthur, Acts Volume 1, Impact editions, p.402-403

Jerusalem Church Tracking

Still, the importance of this community arouses the interest of the leaders of Jerusalem who “mission” a suitable person to go and see this new Church, it is therefore Barnabas.

Barnabas

The book of Acts shows his generosity for the needs of needy believers in the church in Jerusalem, Acts 4:36-37. His involvement in integrating Saul into the Church in Jerusalem Acts 9:27 . And today’s text tells us, Acts 11:24: for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.

(Read Maurice Decker’s book:  Barnabas, you encourage me! )

The obvious hand of God in Antioch: Upon his arrival in Antioch, Barnabas witnesses God’s blessing on this assembly, so witnessing directly to non-Jews is also in the hand of the Lord.

The Counsel of Barnabas

The central advice given by Barnabas was not to follow the prescriptions of the association of churches in Jerusalem (of course, they did not exist, but it is to make a link with our types of assemblies and associations evangelicals), nor to follow such theological current or to subscribe to the Youtube channel of the apostles Peter or John, but to follow the Lord, that is to say, the Lord Jesus.

Nothing but Jesus

The heart, the life of the Gospel, is a person, Jesus Christ:

Acts 4:12 :

There is no salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.”

The content of faith in Jesus

For this anchoring to be deep and real, Barnabas needs to instruct them in what God has left as written, the law and the prophets (the books of the Old Testament), indeed, unlike the other new believers mentioned earlier in the book of Acts, the believers of Antioch had no knowledge of the Old Testament, which was totally different from the previous Jewish or proselyte believers.

Take Time for Grounding in the Word

Hence the need to stay a while to make known and teach the Word.

Adequate teachers

Who better than an ancient learned Pharisee at the feet of Gamaliel

• Philippians 3:5-6
• Acts 22:3

This former Pharisee is Saul!

Search not so obvious

Apparently, Barnabas had trouble finding Saul in Tarsus ( Acts 11:25 “seek”, infers in the Greek original a not-so-obvious search), some believe he was no longer in his original home because deprived. Perhaps also the period of construction of his faith, as some of his epistles seem to evoke (after his conversion, Paul stayed for some time in Damascus, then in Arabia, then in Jerusalem, Tarsus, before being invited by Barnabas at Antioch Galatians 1:17

A Living and Established Faith

Very interestingly, faith attached to the Lord means to believe, to trust, and to base one’s life on Christ.

in the bible

But it is also the content of this faith, it is not invented, it is discovered in what God has left patiently over the centuries. This is what Barnabas and Saul are going to do, they are going to set about showing the believers of Antioch, through the writings of the Old Testament (the New is not yet written), everything concerning Christ.

It costs the assembly of Jerusalem

Finally, the Church of Jerusalem is amputated of rather important members!

• Barnabas could have been recalled for the internal service of the assembly of Jerusalem, considering his qualities and gifts.
• And numerically, the Church of Jerusalem had lost a lot of people (all those who had fled Jerusalem, following the persecution), and finally…

The pagan Church to the aid of the historical Church

What we can notice is that it is finally the Church of Antioch which will come to help the brothers of Judea and Jerusalem during the famine which will affect them hard: as giving is not necessarily a loss!

Two mentions: Christians and elders

Two mentions in this text are common to us.

Christians

This is the first time that the term “Christian” is mentioned in the Bible, in connection with the disciples of Jesus, Acts 11: 26, it means “of the party of Christ” or “Little Christ”, which was more a quip used by the detractors of the Gospel but which still shows that the central link of these people was Christ.

Is this still the case today? Do we see Christ in an obvious way among Christians or we see a religion, an affiliation, or a vague cultural reference? Do we see Christ in us?

The first mention of elders.

It is also the first mention of elders of a local church, in this case, that of Jerusalem: the elders are the leaders of a local assembly 1 Timothy 3: 1-7.

The epistles show the generalization of this service in the local churches.