ACTS: Church on Mission | Lesson 11 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points
Read Acts 11.1-30
INTRODUCTION / CONNECTIONS / CONTEXT
1/ This lesson is a continuation, commentary, and consequence of our last lesson. In that lesson, Peter had gone to the household of the Gentile Cornelius and preached the Gospel to them. They, the Gentiles, believed in Christ upon hearing His Gospel, and they were saved. Upon believing, the Holy Spirit fell upon them as a visible evidence that God had accepted them on the basis of their repentance from sins and faith in Christ. And in so doing, had made them equal members of the family of God, the New Covenant community, and the churches of the saints. This was equally stunning to Peter and the Jewish brothers who accompanied him as it will be to these Jerusalem church members when Peter reports it to them. That also is the basis for the title of this lesson: “You did WHAT? … God did WHAT?” The “You did WHAT?” question is from ch 11.3. The “God did WHAT?” question is answered in ch 11.15-18.
2/ So since this chapter and lesson will include quite a bit of repeating and rehearsing what happened in the last ch 10 lesson, I want to take this opportunity to give you again some interpretive principles I have been pointing out as we have been making our way here through Acts. I haven’t included them in the Lesson Notes, but I’ve been writing them on the whiteboard to point them out you. But what I want to do here is write them out in words so we can at least have a written record of them to refer back to. Because these chapters 10-11 are prime illustrations of these three interpretive principles. All of us know, and we have often heard, how the Book of Acts is book of ‘transitions’ from Old Covenant teachings and practices to New Covenant life. That transition actually began with the ministry of John the Baptist as he introduced Christ and His ministry. Peter will even allude to that here in ch 11.16. Jesus also said “For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come” [Matthew 11.13; Malachi 4.4-6]. Then Christ came and fulfilled all the Law and the Prophets and announced and inaugurated the New Covenant – which was sealed and ratified with His death and resurrection. So now the New Covenant age has begun. And with the Gospel ministry now going out from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth – including Gentiles – the proclamation and practices of the churches must change their ways of thinking, living, and ministry. Change is always hard, but these changes the churches must make now are not just unsettling – they are traumatic. As Brian J. Vickers writes in the ESV Expository Commentary: “This new reality is difficult for Peter and will prove to be a major sticking point in much of the rest of Acts and in many of the NT epistles. There will be recriminations, long speeches, pleas, a major council, riots, false accusations, and general confusion over what is revealed in Acts 10.” But this is what Christ has accomplished and commanded us to proclaim and practice.
3/ So what are these ‘transitions’ we are witnessing, not just in the Book of Acts, but also in all the Gospel ministry of the churches and the rest of the writings of the New Testament going forward:
- Conversion of Covenants: by ‘conversion’ we mean ‘changing from one to another’ – in its substance, nature, form, use, function, and purpose. That is how we use the word ‘convert’ all the time [think of Fahrenheit to Celsius; all sorts of measurements from English to metric; etc.]. What we are witnessing here is the conversion of the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. Think of all the numerous incidents and references to the conversion of covenants just in this lesson alone…
- Convergence of the Ages: all of the prior ages had been preparing the world and the Kingdom of God for this New Age that is coming. The age which is commencing with the first coming of Christ and being enacted here in the Book of Acts is the precursor to the yet to come perfect and eternal fulfillment of the New Age which will be realized when Christ comes again to bring in the New Heaven and New Earth.
- Confluence of the Scriptures: a ‘confluence’ is the merging, gathering, meeting, or coming together of smaller streams into one main and larger stream. Like numerous creeks, streams, and smaller rivers come together at a juncture of confluence to form a main and larger river. What we are witnessing here in the Book of Acts [and indeed beginning with the ministry of Christ – witness the numerous references “that the Scriptures might be fulfilled”] is the confluence of all the Old Testament Scriptures that prophesied, portrayed, pictured, and pointed to Christ and His fulfillment of them all. The apostles have been amazed over and over, just here in the Book of Acts, as they witnessed the confluence of so many numerous Scriptures being fulfilled before their very eyes – they were on-the-scene, first-hand, eyewitnesses and participants of that Scripture confluence. As we say, they watched with wide-eyed wonder, awe, and amazement as they ‘saw it all come together.’ Think of Luke 24.25-27, 44-48; Acts 1.20 / 2.16-21, 25-28, 34-35 / 4.24-26 / 7.42-43, 48-50 / 8.32-35 / and here in our immediate context, 10.43.
4/ So with those interpretive principles in mind – as they were certainly in the minds of these Acts apostles and Jewish church members – let’s begin now the follow-up report that Peter will deliver to these fellow Jewish members of the Jerusalem church about his recent encounter with the New Covenant work of Christ among the newly-saved Gentiles in the household of Cornelius…
I / vv 1-3 / “You did WHAT?”
‘Circumcision party’ members of the Jerusalem church criticize Peter for fraternizing with Gentiles at the house of Cornelius
1/ Keep in mind that Peter has been absent from Jerusalem for some unspecified period of time as he “went here and there among them all” [that is, the regions surrounding Jerusalem] teaching, strengthening, and establishing the churches of the numerous new believers [ch 9.32-10.1]. His cities of ministry had included Lydda, Joppa, and Caesarea. So the brethren in the Jerusalem church weren’t with him to witness what he had been doing – only getting reports as they filtered back to Jerusalem. But then they “heard that the Gentiles also had received the Word of God.”
2/ This didn’t sit well with some of the members of the Jerusalem church who were still of the same kind of parochial, provincial mindset Peter himself had up until the visions he had received from Jesus. So as soon as he got back to Jerusalem, they called Peter in ‘to clarify’ what they had heard. There were some among them whom Luke calls “the circumcision party.” This means that they were still holding onto the belief that one couldn’t be a full-fledged, equal member of the faith community without being circumcised and converting to their Old Covenant practices. Peter had done the unthinkable [as Peter himself had acknowledged to Cornelius in ch 10.28. This exclusive ‘us only, our kind only’ way of judging, accepting, and excluding others is what Jesus converted him from by the visions He gave him. But these disgruntled brothers “criticized him saying, ‘You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.’” This is the “You did WHAT?” question. “This goes against all our traditions! We have never done it this way before! You have repudiated and broken all the rules of our tribe! You have gone rogue – off the reservation!”
3/ Peter perfectly understands as he will explain in the next section. This is why he initially rejected what Christ was commanding him to do in the vision: “You want me to do WHAT?” But, to Peter’s credit, he did – he went to Cornelius’s household and did what Christ had commanded him to do. That’s what he sets out to explain in his response…
II / vv 4-18 / “God did WHAT?”
Peter reports and repeats again what God did through him when the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles
1/ Here is what Peter “began and explained to them in order…” NOTE: every statement Peter will make here is a testimony that “GOD DID THIS! This was not my idea! I didn’t initiate any of what I have done!” Every statement and expression will be traced back to GOD! Look and listen for all the ways Peter explains this was a ‘GOD THING’!
- vv 4-6 / “I was praying to GOD as we all do – at the appointed times we all keep. GOD showed me this vision ‘FROM HEAVEN– FROM GOD’ of something like a great sheet with all sorts and species of animals, both ‘clean’ and ‘unclean.’”
- vv 7-10 / “GOD spoke with His voice commanding me to ‘get up, kill, and eat’ them…indiscriminately. Without making any kind of distinction whether I considered them acceptable or unacceptable. I refused in keeping with our ancient traditions of pure and untainted associations. But THE VOICE rebuked me, telling me that by refusing to eat what He had made clean, I was violating His own saving purposes [as he will understand immediately upon obeying]. And this same exchange between me and THE HEAVENLY VOICE was repeated three times!” God is more stubbornly insistently upon our obedience to His preferences, purposes, and plans than we are to hold on to our own!
- vv 11-14 / “And wouldn’t you know that ‘Behold, at that very moment’ three men were standing at the gate of the house where I was staying. They had come from the Gentile city of Caesarea. ‘And THE SPIRIT told me to go with them – making no distinction.’ These six good, faithful Jewish brothers went with me. And that’s why ‘we entered the man’s house.’ And then, that’s when the Gentile man, Cornelius, told us that he, too, had been praying to our GOD. He saw AN ANGEL OF GOD who told him to send to Joppa, ask specifically for me by name, and ‘he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’”
- vv 15-17 / “And we were just as shocked and amazed at what we witnessed…as you are hearing about it! “As I began to speak, THE HOLY SPIRIT fell on them just as on us at the beginning!” I know! Just like The Holy Spirit fell on us Jews on Pentecost, He fell on them…GENTILES – making no difference or distinction! And, in that instant, as I witnessed this New Covenant demonstration of God’s saving everyone – anyone – who calls on the Name of the Lord, “I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’” So, you tell me, what was I supposed to do? Was I supposed to say, ‘No, Lord, you can’t do this! We’ve never done it this way before! This is not in keeping with our traditions! They are not our kind!’ No! ‘If God gave the same gift to them as He gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?’”
2/ After hearing Peter’s testimony to the obvious, undeniable, indisputable work of God in all the ways he had recounted to them, “When they heard these things they fell silent.” You could have heard a pin drop – stunned into silence as they struggled to process what they had just heard from this respected and trusted leader and his six companion brothers who had witnessed it also. Their world had just turned – not upside down, but they were witnessing Jesus turning the world right side up! And Peter was transparently testifying how his whole perspective and worldview had been converted to line up with God’s.
3/ “God did WHAT?” And then, when they saw it and ‘got it,’ “they glorified God, saying, ‘Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life!’” The room erupted with shouts of ‘Amen! Glory to God!’ They gladly recognized and credited God as the One who had created and carried out this salvation encounter with the Gentiles! They joined in with praises and celebrations of God’s Grace! Now Luke doesn’t tell us whether this celebration was unanimous. Were there some of ‘the circumcision party’ that refused to join the others? We don’t know. But we do know what Jesus was teaching them through what He had given and done through the Holy Spirit. And we also know what we, too, should learn about what our own responses should be to the same movements of God among all the other even maybe ‘different’ kinds of people we have in our networks of acquaintances and associations.
4/ And, on another theological note here, that phrase “God has granted repentance that leads to life” teaches us how the work of salvation is solely and wholly a work of God’s sovereign Grace. The very repentance and faith by which we turn to Christ away from our sins and trust in Him to be saved from them is the ‘grant’ or gift of God’s Grace. If you go back and read ch 5.31, it was the same sovereign Grace of God “to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” Whether it is Jews or Gentiles, salvation is all of God.
III / vv 19-26 | Luke gives another summary report of the Gospel outreach to the Hellenists at Antioch – further advancing the Acts 1.8 commission mandate
1/ vv 19-21 / “Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen [ch 8.1, 4] traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the Word [Gospel of Christ] to no one except Jews.” This was in keeping with their ancient, traditional customs of social associations. “But some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus.” This is so significant on at least two levels: [1] these believers were already more open to accepting Gentiles. This term ‘Hellenists’ [or ‘Grecians’] always means ‘Greek’-influenced people. Sometimes it refers to Jews who had lived among Greek speaking communities. Here it refers to Gentiles. They migrated from Jerusalem with a burden and passion already in their hearts to evangelize their Gentile neighbors; [2] the center of Gospel outreach activity and outreach is now shifting from Jerusalem to a more Gentile-oriented trajectory to fulfill Jesus’ missionary mandate in Acts 1.8. Luke is now introducing, charting, and narrating how that shift is developing. He will pick it up again in ch 13 after a brief account of the Jerusalem church activity in ch 12. Jesus was working with them to advance His New Covenant Kingdom and churches. “And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.” This is yet another one of Luke’s numerous markers showing the numerical growth of believers, except that now, it is among the Gentiles!
2/ vv 22-24 / Once again, these reports of Gentile conversions came to the attention of the Jerusalem church, and once again they sent representatives to assess what was being done in the Name of Christ and the Gospel. This was not to judge them on the basis of ethnicity, nationality, or cultural status, but to verify that it was, in truth, the work of God. It was! And, once again, they chose Barnabas. We have already met Barnabas in chs 4.36 & 9.27. He was a true ‘son of encouragement’ and always interested in the peace and unity of the Gospel community. When he arrived in Antioch, he could see that God was doing what was being done there! “When he came and saw the Grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.”
3/ vv 25-26 / Saul was in Tarsus, having been sent back to his home city from Jerusalem for his own safety after his life had been threatened in Jerusalem [ch 9.26-30]. Barnabas had been his advocate to the Jerusalem church then, and he wanted Saul now here in Antioch. “So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people.” This was going to be the personal and spiritual bond-forging experience between these two Gospel missionaries that will be the catalyst for their future widespread ministry among the Gentiles ‘to the end of the earth’ which we will follow when we get to ch 13. It was in Antioch that “the disciples were first called Christians.” This name is by far the most common name by which we are identified by ourselves and others. It is found only three times in the New Testament: Acts 11.26; 26.28; 1 Peter 4.16. It means ‘little Christs,’ and seems to have been attached to these early believers because of their passionate devotion to Christ and their likeness to Him.
IV / vv 27-30 | Agabus foretold the great famine that was coming – financial relief is sent to the Judea brethren
1/ Meet Agabus. We will meet him again in ch 21.10. He was a well-respected prophet in the Jerusalem church. The Lord revealed to him events that were coming upon them. Here it is a widespread famine we will hear about again in ch 18.2.
2/ But this prophetic announcement gave the predominately Gentile membership of the Antioch church an opportunity to “every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.”
~Dave Parks 