Acts 11:19 - Meaning and Application

Here we have the planting and watering of a church in Antioch, the chief city of Syria. Later, it became one of the three leading cities in the empire, after Rome and Alexandria. Antioch stood where Hamath or Riblah had stood in Old Testament times. Luke, the writer of this history, and Theophilus, to whom he dedicated it, may both have been from Antioch. That may be why Luke gives special attention to the success of the gospel there, and also because Paul first became widely known there.

The first preachers of the gospel in Antioch were believers scattered from Jerusalem by persecution. That persecution began about five or six years earlier, at the time of Stephen’s death (Acts 11:19). They traveled as far as Phoenicia and other places, preaching the word. God allowed them to be persecuted so they would be spread through the world, like seed sown for him, and would bring forth much fruit.

What the enemies meant for harm, God turned to good. Jacob’s words about the tribe of Levi, “I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel,” became a blessing instead of a curse. The enemies meant to scatter and destroy these believers, but Christ meant to scatter and use them. In this way, the anger of man was made to praise God.

Those who fled persecution did not flee their calling. They avoided suffering for a time, but they did not avoid service. In fact, they stepped into a wider field of opportunity than before. Their persecutors hoped to stop the gospel from reaching the Gentile world, but instead they helped speed it on. They did not intend that, nor did they understand it.

When believers were driven out of one city, they went to another, but they carried their faith with them. They carried it not only for their own comfort, but to share it with others. That showed they were not escaping because they were too afraid to suffer. They were escaping so they could remain ready for further service.

They kept pressing forward, because they saw that the Lord was blessing their work. After preaching successfully in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, they went beyond the borders of Canaan into Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Syria. The farther they traveled, the more danger they faced, yet they kept going. Their motto was, in effect, “Farther still.” They did not spare themselves any effort, and they did not fear danger, because they were serving such a good Master.

At first, they preached only to Jews who had been scattered into those regions and had their own synagogues. They had not yet understood that Gentiles were to share in the same inheritance and belong to the same body. So they left the Gentiles where they were, unless they would become Jews and enter the church that way.

They especially focused on the Hellenist Jews, here called Grecians, who were in Antioch. Many of the preachers were from Judea and Jerusalem, but some were born in Cyprus and Cyrene, like Barnabas and Simon. They had been educated in Jerusalem, and as Greek-speaking Jews, they took special interest in those of their own group at Antioch. To them they preached the Lord Jesus. That was the constant subject of their message, and it is still the right center of Christian preaching, Christ, and him crucified, Christ, and him glorified.

Their preaching had wonderful success (Acts 11:21). First, it was attended by divine power. “The hand of the Lord was with them.” Some understand this to mean that God enabled them to do miracles to confirm their teaching. The Lord was working with them, and he confirmed the word by signs that followed (Mark 16:20). By those signs, God gave witness to them (Hebrews 2:4).

But it may also mean the power of God’s grace working in the hearts of the hearers. Miracles may have been seen by many who were never converted. But when the Spirit opened the mind and bent the will to the gospel, that was a day of power. Then people came willingly under the banner of the Lord Jesus (Psalm 110:3). The hand of the Lord was with them to bring home to people’s hearts and consciences what the preachers could only speak to the outward ear. The word reaches its true goal when the hand of the Lord goes with it and writes it on the heart.

People truly believe the report of the gospel when the arm of the Lord is revealed with it (Isaiah 53:1), when God teaches with a strong hand (Isaiah 8:11). These were not apostles, but ordinary ministers, yet the hand of the Lord was with them, and they did great things.

Second, much good was done. A great number believed and turned to the Lord, far more than anyone would have expected, given their outward disadvantages. People of all kinds were moved and brought into obedience to Christ. They believed, that is, they were convinced the gospel was true and accepted God’s witness about his Son.

The proof of that faith was that they turned to the Lord. Since they were Jews, they were not turning from idols, but they were turning from trust in their own obedience to the law and resting only on Christ’s righteousness, the righteousness that comes by faith. They also turned from a loose, careless, worldly life to a holy, heavenly, spiritual life. They turned from worshiping God in outward show and ceremony to worshiping him in spirit and in truth.

They turned to the Lord Jesus, and he became everything to them. This is the work of conversion, and it must be worked in each of us. It is also the fruit of true faith. All who sincerely believe will turn to the Lord, for whatever we say, we do not really believe the gospel if we do not gladly receive Christ as he is offered to us in it.

The good work that began in Antioch was then carried on to greater maturity, and the church became strong and flourishing through the ministry of Barnabas and Saul. They built on the foundation already laid by the earlier preachers, and they entered into their labor (John 4:37, John 4:38).

The church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch to care for this new church, support the workers there, and help give the cause of Christ a good name. They had heard that the gospel was being received in Antioch (Acts 11:22). The apostles kept up interest in the work in other places, and news of many conversions soon reached Jerusalem. Those in the highest places in the church should care about those serving in lower places.

They sent Barnabas quickly, asking him to go and help these promising beginnings. He went as their representative, to rejoice with them over the spread of the gospel among both preachers and hearers. The trip was long, but he was willing to make it for the sake of public service. Barnabas likely had a special gift for this kind of work. He was active, friendly, and happy to be moving from place to place doing good, and God gives different gifts for different kinds of service.

Barnabas was deeply glad to see that the gospel was growing, and that some of his own countrymen from Cyprus, where he was from (Acts 4:36), had helped bring it about. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad (Acts 11:23). He took time to observe not only their public worship, but also their ordinary life in homes and everyday conversation. Where God’s grace is present, it will show itself, as a tree is known by its fruit. When we see that grace in others, we should recognize it, give God the credit, and rejoice in it. We should be especially glad to see God’s grace where we did not expect it.

Barnabas also worked to strengthen them in the faith. He exhorted them, and his own name was linked with exhortation, or encouragement, because that was his gift (Acts 4:36; Romans 12:8). As one who comforted and encouraged them, he urged them with all his heart to remain faithful to the Lord. The more he rejoiced in their beginning, the more earnest he was that they should keep going in the same direction.

To cleave to the Lord means to stay close to him, depend on him, and live devoted to him. It is not enough to begin well, believers must continue firmly in that path. To cleave to him with purpose of heart means to do it with a settled, thoughtful, and firm decision, built on good grounds and kept steady. It is like binding our souls to the Lord, saying, as Ruth did, that we will not leave him or turn back.

Barnabas also showed his good character in this work. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and full of faith (Acts 11:24). He was gentle, pleasant, and easy to get along with, the kind of man who knew how to encourage others. He was not only righteous, but kindly and charitable, as he had shown before when he sold land and gave the money to the poor (Acts 4:37). His natural kindness would not have been enough for this task unless he had also been filled with the Holy Spirit and strengthened by God’s power.

He was also full of faith, both in his own heart and in the fruit of that faith in loving action. Because he believed firmly, he wanted others to believe firmly too. Barnabas was useful not only in building up those who were already believers, but also in bringing others to the Lord. Many people were added to the Lord and so added to the church. Many had already been turned to the Lord, yet more still remained, and there was room for them all.

Barnabas then went to Tarsus to find Saul and bring him to Antioch, so they could work together in the gospel there (Acts 11:25-26). Saul had earlier been sent away to Tarsus, the city where he was born, and had likely remained there doing good quietly. Barnabas took the trouble to look for him and tell him that a wide door for service had opened in Antioch. He wanted Saul to come and share the work with him.

This shows Barnabas’s good spirit in two ways. First, he was willing to labor to bring a useful man out of obscurity. He had once introduced Saul to the disciples in Jerusalem when they were suspicious of him, and now he brought him into a more public place. It is a good work to lift up a gifted person and set him where he can be useful. Second, Barnabas was willing to bring Saul to Antioch even though Saul might outshine him there. Saul was a chief speaker (Acts 14:12), and probably a more popular preacher. Still, Barnabas was content to be less visible if that served the work better. When God gives us the grace to do all the good we can, we should be glad if others, with greater gifts and opportunities, are able to do more. Barnabas brought Saul to Antioch, even if it meant lessening himself, and in that he teaches us to seek Christ’s interests above our own.

We are also told what service was then done for the church at Antioch. Paul and Barnabas stayed there a full year, leading the gatherings and preaching the gospel (Acts 11:26). Christian meetings were often held, and Christ appointed them for his honor and for his followers’ comfort and growth. God’s people in old times often met at the entrance of the tabernacle, and though places of meeting are now many, believers still need to gather, even when it is hard or risky.

Ministers were set over those meetings to guide them in Christ’s name, and everyone under Christ owes them respect and support. Preaching is one part of a minister’s work when he leads the church. He is not only to speak to God on the people’s behalf in prayer and praise, but also to speak God’s word to the people by opening Scripture and teaching them the knowledge of the Lord.

It is a great encouragement when ministers have a chance to teach many people. It is like casting a net where there are many fish, in hope that more will be gathered in. Preaching is not only for those outside the church, to bring conviction and conversion, but also for those inside, to teach and build them up. A rightly ordered church must have its teachers.

The church at Antioch also received a mark of honor: there the disciples were first called Christians. It is likely they took that name themselves, whether by some formal action of the church or by common use in prayer and preaching. Since Paul and Barnabas stayed there so long, were greatly followed, and met no opposition, the Christian assemblies there may have become more notable than elsewhere. If there were to be a mother church over all others, Antioch would have a stronger claim to that honor than Rome.

Until then, those who belonged to Christ were called disciples, meaning learners and students under him, trained to serve him. From this point on, they were called Christians. This may have helped replace the insulting names their enemies had used, such as Nazarenes (Acts 24:5), or followers of that “way,” meant to sound like a strange and doubtful path. It also gave Jews and Gentiles, after conversion, one shared name, which would help them forget old divisions and avoid carrying old rivalries into the church.

The name also honored their Master, and showed they were not ashamed to belong to him. They gloried in being known as his people, just as followers of Plato were called Platonists. They took their name not from Jesus as a person, but from Christ, meaning the Anointed One, which confessed their faith that Jesus is the Christ. Their enemies might use the name to mock them, but they would wear it gladly. If this is to be despised, they were ready to be even more despised.

This name also declared their dependence on Christ and what they had received from him. They did not only believe in the Anointed One, but also knew that through him they themselves had received an anointing, that is, God’s Holy Spirit and gifts for faithfulness (1 John 2:20, 1 John 2:27). God is also said to have anointed us in Christ, that is, to have given us grace and favor through him (2 Corinthians 1:21). So the name Christian points to what believers are and what they have received in Christ.

The name also puts a lasting duty on everyone who bears it. Christians must submit to Christ’s laws, follow his example, and devote themselves wholly to his honor, so that they may be for him a name and a praise. If we call ourselves Christians, we should think, speak, and act in ways that fit that name, and do nothing to shame it. We should also treat other believers as Christians, even if they do not agree with us in every matter. A Christian should be loved and respected because he belongs to Christ.

In this, Scripture was fulfilled, for it was written about the gospel church, “You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will name” (Isaiah 62:2). And of the corrupt and rebellious Jewish church it is said, “The Lord God will kill you and call his servants by another name” (Isaiah 65:15).