Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

11:19 The persecution that arose over Stephen (see 8:1, 4) caused believers to be scattered and led to the spread of the word among Jews in various outlying regions. Phoenicia was in the area of present-day Lebanon, its primary cities being Tyre, Sidon, and Ptolemais. (For Christian communities there, see 21:3-7.) Cyprus was 100 miles (161 km) off the coast. The primary language of these areas was Greek, as it was for Antioch (modern Antakya), the largest city of the area and capital of the Roman province of Syria, with a population of a half million or more. Only Rome and Alexandria were larger in ancient times. At Antioch, an island bearing a palace and a hippodrome stood in the middle of the Orontes River. Bridges connected the island to the main city. In the first century the main city contained an aqueduct, baths, two theaters, temples (e.g., to Artemis and to Herakles), the Pantheon, and the Kaisareion (a basilica dedicated to the imperial cult). Prior to Paul's arrival, an earthquake in 37 b.c. had devastated Antioch, but the emperor Gaius (Caligula) helped rebuild it. Antioch periodically hosted Olympic-style games. Its great colonnaded and marble-paved road had been sponsored in part by Herod the Great. speaking the word to no one except Jews. These people had not yet heard about the events of 10:1-11:18.

11:20 men of Cyprus and Cyrene. They were Diaspora Jews, natives of the nearby island of Cyprus and of the northern African region of Cyrene (see note on 13:1). There is ample archaeological evidence of Jewish inhabitants in these areas. Hellenists here means not just people from Greece but Greek-speaking Gentiles who lived in Antioch. (See notes on 6:1 [where "Hellenists" are Greek-speaking Jewish Christians] and 9:29 [where "Hellenists" are Greek-speaking Jews].) Some of the Greek-speaking Jewish Christians who settled in Antioch began witnessing to the Gentiles.

11:21 The hand of the Lord was with them is another reminder that this remarkable expansion of the church came about only by God's power, not by human wisdom or skill.

11:22 they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When the "mother church" in Jerusalem heard of Antioch's witness to the Gentiles, they sent Barnabas to validate the new outreach, much as they had sent Peter and John to approve the Samaritan mission (8:14).

11:24 full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. This does not describe a single experience but a general characteristic of Barnabas's life. The persecution by Herod (12:1-19) and Herod's death (12:20-23) would have been inserted at this point in the narrative if Luke had been writing everything in exact chronological order, because Herod died in a.d. 44 (see 12:23), and Paul apparently stayed in Tarsus until a.d. 45, when Barnabas went there and summoned him to Antioch (11:25-26). But Luke here departs from strict chronological order because he is telling the story of the church in Antioch. He continues on this topic until v. 30 and then turns to discuss what happened to Herod at "about that time" (12:1). Cf. notes on Gal. 1:18; 2:1.

11:26 Paul had gone to his native Tarsus (v. 25) after his conversion (9:30). As a Diaspora Jew, he was particularly suited for the Gentile outreach. His year of participation in this mission in Antioch (probably in a.d. 45) prepared him and Barnabas for a much greater mission that would follow (13:1ff.). The fact that the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch probably reflects a label applied by the unbelieving public in Antioch and shows that the disciples were beginning to have an identity of their own apart from other Jews. Cf. also 26:28 and 1 Pet. 4:16.