Acts 11

1 – 3

The apostles and the believers in Judea heard that non-Jewish people had accepted God’s teaching too. But when Peter came to Jerusalem, some Jewish believers argued with him. They said, “You went into the homes of people who are not Jews and are not circumcised! You even ate with them!”

God never told the Jews not to eat with Gentiles. We see here that the Jewish Christians were still thinking that they had to obey the laws of the Pharisees.

Most of them were not racists but they were confused about what to do. They may have remembered that Jesus told them to bring the Gospel to the Jews first. They needed to remember that Jesus also said to go into all the world. Matthew 28:19

Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions: “Do not go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans. Matthew 10:5

4 – 11

So Peter explained the whole story to them. He said, “I was in the city of Joppa. While I was praying, I had a vision. In the vision, I saw something which looked like a big sheet coming down from heaven. It was being lowered to earth by its four corners. It came down very close to me, and I looked inside it. I saw animals, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds.

I heard a voice say to me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’ But I said, ‘No, Lord! I have never eaten anything that is unholy or unclean.’ But the voice from heaven answered again, ‘God has made these things clean. Do not call them unholy!’ This happened three times. Then the whole thing was taken back to heaven. Right then three men came to the house where I was staying. They were sent to me from Caesarea.

Peter is defending himself. He says, “This was not my idea!”

12. The Spirit told me to go with them without doubting. These six believers here also went with me. We went to the house of Cornelius.

He wanted witnesses so that he could defend himself later.

13 – 15

He told us about the angel he saw standing in his house. The angel said to him, ‘Send some men to Joppa and invite Simon Peter to come. He will speak to you. The things he will say will save you and all your family.’ When I began my speech, the Holy Spirit came on them just as he came on us at the beginning.

He says, “I did not touch them by laying hands on them to receive the Spirit.” Jews were not supposed to touch non-Jews, or they would become unclean. Peter did not go because he understood that these people would be saved

16 – 17

Then I remembered the Words of the Lord. He said, ‘John baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit!’ God gave to them the same gift that He gave to us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. So could I stop the work of God? No!”

Some say, “God did not it do it the way I wanted Him to do it!” We might as well get used to that idea! It is always a good idea to tell people to go and ask Jesus about things they do not understand.

18. When the Jewish believers heard this, they stopped arguing. They praised God and said, “So God is allowing the non-Jewish people also to turn to Him and live.”

But there was still no close contact with non-Jews. God is patient and He is getting them used to the idea. Paul later told Peter to be careful about trying to make others live by Jewish laws.

When I saw that they were not following the truth of the Gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions? Galatians 2:14

19 – 21

Many of the believers were scattered by the terrible things that happened after Stephen was killed. Some of them went to places as far away as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. They were telling the message to others, but only to Jews.

Some of these believers were men from Cyprus and Cyrene [Libya]. When they came to Antioch, they spoke also to Greeks, telling them the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. The Lord was helping the believers. And a large group of people believed and turned to the Lord.

Some Bible teachers think that the sons of Simon, who was forced carry the cross for Jesus) were known as great preachers. Maybe they had planted seeds in their home country? See Acts 13:1.

A man walking by, named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus' cross. Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus. Mark 15:21

Greet Rufus, whom the Lord picked out to be His very own. Romans 16:13

22 – 24

The church in Jerusalem heard about all of this, so they sent Barnabas to Antioch. Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and full of faith. When he reached Antioch and saw how God had blessed the people, he was glad.

He encouraged all the believers in Antioch. He told them, “Never lose your faith. Always obey the Lord with all your hearts.” Many people became followers of the Lord.

He was telling them to follow the Lord with their hearts, not just their minds. He was saying, “Make a decision that you are going to stay with the Lord or you will be pulled back into the world!”

25. Then Barnabas went to the city of Tarsus to look for Saul.

Barnabas knew that Paul was sent to the Gentiles. When we know somebody has a gift for a certain job we should encourage them in it.

26. When he found Saul, he brought him to Antioch. And for a whole year Saul and Barnabas met with the church. They taught many people there. In Antioch the followers were called Christians for the first time.

The name Christian was supposed to make fun of the believers. The Roman writer Juvenal said that the Christians were like garbage that came from the rivers of Antioch to Rome.

27 – 28

About that time some prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them was named Agabus. He stood up and spoke with the help of the Holy Spirit. He said, “A very hard time is coming to the whole world. There will be no food for people to eat.” (This happened when Claudius ruled.)

There are records of this famine in the history books. This same Agabus later told Paul that he would be put in jail. Acts 21:10

29. The followers all decided to help their brothers who lived in Judea. Each one planned to send them as much as he could. 30 They gathered the money and gave it to Barnabas and Saul, who brought it to the elders in Judea.

We see that the Gentile church wanted to show the Jewish church in Jerusalem that they loved them. They sent as much as they could. They were not told to send a certain percent.