J. Randal Matheny 1:33 pm on 2011-04-06
Tags: study Bible notes ( 28 )

Study Bible notes: Acts 11

Read Acts 11 and contribute your notes in a format similar to a study Bible, following the NET Bible. Previous posts on Acts are here. Be sure to check the project description also.

Here’s my outline for the chapter:

Peter’s Justification (1-18)
Antioch: First Called Christians (19-26)
Antioch Contributes to Jerusalem Saints (27-30)

#study-bible-notes

John Henson 2:53 pm on 2011-04-06

Verses 27-30
There’s nothing good about a famine. Famine means hunger, and for Christians it meant not only hunger but also persecution.

There would be Jews in Judea controlling the food supply that would see to it that the price for food would be more than poor Christians could pay, or that food would be rationed to the point Christians would have little or none of it.

God, however, provides an avenue for spiritual growth in every trial (James 1:2). This famine will become an opportunity for other churches to contribute to brotherly relief. Antioch is the first to “exploit” this chance to glorify God.

Antioch, a large city perhaps of a half-million people, was nourished by the Orontes River, a broad, navigable waterway. The city itself was close enough to the sea to benefit from the cool breezes and trade. It had been built as a capital for the Seleucids and had become a city associated with art and architecture.

In this city came Saul and Barnabas, an enabler and an encourager, into a fertile field for the Master. They worked teaching the gospel for a year when the prophet Agabus prophesied the famine.

The church believed Agabus and immediately began making arrangements to help their brethren ― perhaps people they’d never seen ― and appointed the two men to help in the work.

The actions of the church at Antioch were
• Decisive. There were no endless meetings, no hand wringing, no wondering if the Judeans were going to use the money to bet on chariot races. The Antioch church believed the word of God and obeyed, which is the precise definition of faith.
• Loving. They decided to share what they had with those who had nothing. This is
the same thing Jesus did for all of us sinners. Paul, in convincing the Corinthians to join this same work wrote, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although he was rich, he became poor for your sakes, so that you by his poverty could become rich,” (2 Corinthians 8:9).
• Immediate. The Christians at Antioch did not decide to wait to see if the famine would be severe enough to warrant help. They did not wait to see if other churches were going to contribute just to make sure the work was safe. They believed God and they acted. Again, this is what faith is.
• Wise. It is certainly the case that the elders of the Lord’s church at Antioch saw that in helping the starving saints in Judea, they would be doing God’s will, which would please God, draw them closer to their brothers in Judea and help grow the church there and in Antioch. Some churches don’t have elders who can use this kind of vision to see what effect their work can have.
fd4tht 6:18 pm on 2011-04-07

vv.2-4 “So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers took issue with him, saying, ‘You went to uncircumcised men and shared a meal with them.’ But Peter began and explained it to them point by point…” Human virtue is fickle. Here, Peter boldly defended his act of eating with Gentiles. On another occasion, he succumbed under the same circumstances and was rebuked by Paul (cf. Gal. 2:11-14).
We must never consider ourselves above temptation – even one over which we have previously achieved victory.
Peter later admonished fellow-saints, “Humble yourselves…be sober, be vigilant” in the light of Satan’s persistence (1 Pet. 5:6-7).

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Study Bible notes: Acts 11

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