Bible Study Lesson for Acts 11:19-30: the Church in Antioch

Read Acts 11:19. Antioch was the third largest Roman city, after Rome and Alexandria. This is where the first largely Gentile local church will be born and from where Paul will set out on his three missionary journeys.

Notice that the majority of the first missionaries preached only to Jews, even though this verse shows that they are traveling in areas populated by Gentiles as well.

Read Acts 11:20-21. Fortunately God softened the heart of some of the Jewish Christians - probably Hellenistic Jews like Stephen and Paul - from Cyprus and Cyrene - who told the good news to the Greek Gentiles, as well.

I want to stop and point out something here which is probably usually overlooked - these men, the ones who built the original foundation of the church of Antioch, are never identified! We don't know their names, and as a result they never receive the fame and recognition on this earth that men like Paul and Barnabas and Peter do. They just do what God calls them to do and God blesses their work. There are and were literally millions of people like these, quietly going about being obedient to the Lord which we will never know their names, on this side of Heaven. Yet what an incredible impact these people make!

I was able to find only one picture of modern day Antioch, but it is supposed to be the first church in Christianity. It is called a "cave church" because it appears to be built out of a hill side. { Show picture from "Great Events of Bible Times" page 169. }

Read Acts 11:22. The last time we heard about Barnabas he was in Jerusalem, after bringing Saul to the apostles to get their approval and acceptance. Read Acts 9:27-30. Saul is now currently in Tarsus. Barnabas, we know, is originally from Cyprus. Sending Barnabas to Antioch apparently was part of the Jerusalem church's policy of sending leaders out to check on new ministries that come to their attention. We saw this earlier in Acts 8, when they sent Peter and John to Samaria. Read Acts 8:14.

Read Acts 11:23. We don't know what "evidence" Barnabas found when he had time to survey what was happening with the church at Antioch, but it is clear he was pleased with what he found and gives the church his stamp of approval. Perhaps he was able to see evidence of changed lives among the Greeks or was encouraged by their regularly meeting together.

Read Acts 11:24. Luke, the author of this book, clearly likes Barnabas and gives him a glowing report. This was very similar to how Stephen was described. Read Acts 6:5a. Like Stephen, Barnabas clearly has the gift of evangelism for many more people come to Christ during his visit to Antioch.

Read Acts 11:25-26. Barnabas wisely understood that the new believers at Antioch needed sound teaching and that was not something he could do by himself. You don't just bring someone to Christ and then leave them there: they have to be grown and taught and discipled. So Barnabas goes to Tarsus and brings Saul back to Antioch to be one of the pastors of this new church. As an interesting note, Luke, the physician, likes to give definite time periods in his writings. Here he says they taught for "a whole year." Later we will see Luke speak of "a year and a half", "three months", etc. This is the sign of a scientific, logical mind, as well as a good historian.

It is here that the believers are first called Christians, which means "belonging to Christ." Whether this was a term of reproach, made up by their enemies or a name adopted intentionally by the believers themselves is unknown.

Read Acts 11:27. This is the first mention of the gift of prophecy in Acts. From other examples in the New Testament we will see prophets preach, exhort, explain, or foretell the future as they will do here.

Read Acts 11:28-30. This prophet Agabus is mentioned only one other time in Acts, and that is in chapter 21 where he predicts Paul's imprisonment about 15 years later. Read Acts 21:10-11. (Doesn't sound like a very fun job, you get to tell people there is going to be a famine and then later tell a beloved colleague that you're going to prison!)

Luke, bless him, unlike any other New Testament author, dates his books by referring to Roman emperors. Because of what we know from ancient history, we can use this to get rough dates of when certain events in the Bible occurred. We know that Claudius reigned from 41-54 AD. He was the grandson of the first Roman emperor, Augustus, and wasn't supposed to ever rule. How he became emperor is very interesting. If anyone is interested, Masterpiece Theatre did a miniseries about Claudius' life called "I, Claudius" which you can probably borrow from your local public library. It is based on two books by Robert Graves, "I, Claudius" and "Claudius the God". It is supposed to be fairly historically accurate.

We have a statue of what Claudius looked like. { Show picture from "Imperial Rome", page 64 } This book talks about Claudius providing a steady, sensible government. I can't help wondering if that isn't why, in part, he became emperor; he provides another few years of stability for the gospel to be preached in the Roman world. (Though he is clearly a pagan through and through; there was a temple built to honor him as a "god.") He will, in Acts 18, have all the Jews expelled from Rome. Read Acts 18:2. In a Roman document from that time we learn the reason for the expulsion: riots have been resulting amidst the Jews because of arguments about someone called "Chrestus". There is good evidence to support that this "Chrestus" was a misspelling of "Christ", though it could be another Jew by that name. It makes Claudius sound like a bad guy, but it is incredibly forbearing and merciful compared to how his successor will treat the Christians.

When his stepson, Nero, takes the throne, within 10 years widespread persecution of the Christians begins. Prior to Nero's reign Christians could not be put to death without a trial because it was against Roman law.

What about this famine mentioned here in Acts? Do we have any historical evidence that this actually occurred? Yes, we do:

Josephus wrote in Antiquities 20 chapter 1.3-2.5: "Herod, the brother of Agrippa who had perished, was allowed to govern over Chalcis. He asked Claudius Caesar for control over the temple along with the sacred treasury, and the ability to choose the high priests, and he was given all that he had asked for."

"Around this time lived queen Helena of Adiabene, along with her son Izates. They both began to follow the Jewish way, turning away from their past lifestyle . . . Her arrival was of great help to the masses in Jerusalem; for there was a famine in the land that overtook them, and many people died of starvation."

"When it became necessary to obtain food abroad, queen Helena sent some of her attendants, with money, to the city of Alexandria to purchase as much grain as possible. She also sent others to the island of Cyprus to bring back dried figs. This whole process happened very quickly, and as soon as they had returned, they handed the provisions out to those who were in dire need of them. Because of this, she left behind a legacy and was held in great respect by the people and the nation at large. And when her son Izates became aware of this famine, he sent a large gift to the leaders in Jerusalem."

Blessings!

Sources
Josephus. Antiquities.
Editors. Compton's Interactive Bible (software)
Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford (notes). The Student Bible. NIV Version
Editors. Imperial Rome.
Editors. Great Events of Bible Times