Acts 11

     11:1-3.  Peter saw himself as a “fellow elder” (1 Peter 5:5).  Perhaps more importantly, that is how others saw him also, and they did not hesitate to take issue with him when he broke God’s law, as they had for centuries understood it (3, cf.10:28).  Such a radical departure had to be explained, and it had to be justified, as all new revelation does, by the clear leading of the Holy Spirit in the signs that were given.  Importantly, Peter’s testimony to the visible baptism by the Holy Spirit coming upon Gentiles (15-16) was confirmed by six circumcised brethren (12). Seven witnesses in all! Peter was no mitered vicar of Christ on earth, but at most the first among equals.  He was a presbyter, not a potentate.

     11:17-18.  It was Peter’s defense that this had been God’s doing in which he was but the follower, not the leader.  The others accepted this, but the issue would not really go away so easily for many.

     11:19-26.  Quite naturally, the scattered Jews took the word first to their own Jewish people (19), but those at Antioch began to speak out to the Greeks (20).  Barnabas (the Son of Encouragement, 4:36) not only encouraged the successful work among the Gentiles, but brought Saul from Tarsus to help in the effort, thus beginning his major life’s work.

     11:27-30.  Agabus (see also 21:10) prophesies a great famine, which indeed came to pass in the reign of Claudius.  It was a wise as well as a compassionate move for this growing Gentile church to send relief to their Jewish brethren in Judea.  But Paul always believed such giving was something they should do out of gratitude and equity, not smart politics (cf.1 Cor.16:1-3; 2 Cor.8, 9, esp.8:9, 13-14).