Community Bible Study -- Acts
Text of Presentation, Lesson 10, Acts 11:1-12:25
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Community Bible Study -- Acts Text of Presentation, Lesson 10, Acts 11:1-12:25 Click Here to see Lesson 10 Photos . . . Click Here to return to Acts Home Page |
Integration with Gentiles . . . And New Persecution
In the last lesson, Peter had left Jerusalem to travel around, evangelizing and encouraging new churches. It’s not clear if he formally gave up his position as “leader” of the church, but he seems to have left a council of elders in charge, possibly led by Jesus’ brother James (cf Acts 11:30, 12:17). We all know what happens when a leader is absent for a long time – like King Richard and his brother John in the story of Robin Hood – and in future lessons we learn Pharisees are joining the church. This makes sense, because Pharisees believe in the Messiah and resurrection of the dead – but Pharisees are also characterized by strict adherence to the Jewish oral law. Jesus preached vehemently against the legalism of the Pharisees (Matt 23, Luke 11), yet without Peter in Jerusalem to keep the church properly focused . . . well, we’ll see what happens – a little in this lesson, but especially in Acts 15 and later.
Also in the last lesson, Peter took it upon himself to receive a group of “God fearing” Gentiles into the church by baptizing them – after the Holy Spirit spontaneously came upon them in Caesarea,. We can’t argue with Peter’s logic: if God sends the Holy Spirit upon them, God Himself is accepting them . . . so why shouldn’t the church also accept them by baptizing them? But not everyone feels that way; and in this lesson the Jews in the Jerusalem church debate integration of Gentiles into Christian fellowship . . . and I choose the word “integration” deliberately because many of these churchmenbers are just as excited about sharing the church with Gentiles as whites of the 1950’s were about sharing public facilities with blacks.
According to Acts 11:1, news that Peter baptized Gentiles quickly spreads throughout Judea. That’s understandable: it was an extraordinary event, witnessed by six Jewish-Christians (Acts 11:12), each of whom probably had a slightly different perspective on what happened. There must be lots of rumors and gossip!
When Peter returns to Jerusalem, he is called on the carpet by the church elders; there’s no other way to describe Acts 11:2-3. But note: their main criticism is not that Peter baptized Gentiles, but that he “went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them” (Acts 11:3). This charge may reflect the influence of new Pharisee-Christians, because going into the home of a Gentile and having a meal there is a clear violation of the oral law – whereas the oral law does not address baptism of Gentiles!
Peter decides the best defense is a good offense . . . so he launches into a narrative about his vision in Joppa which caused him to conclude: “I now realize . . . that God . . . accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right” (Acts 10:34-35); this made him comfortable visiting with Gentiles in their home. He explains that while he was telling the Gentiles about Jesus, “the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on (Jesus’ Jewish followers) at (Pentecost)” (Acts 11:15); Peter reasons: “So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, . . . who was I to think that I could oppose God?” (Acts 11:17).
This argument seems logical to 21st century western Christians: if we are certain God is speaking to us – in a vision or in a more direct fashion – we’ll do exactly what God says . . . without question. But 1st century Jews believed God turned things over to the rabbis to interpret God’s law . . . so even if God spoke, the rabbis were free to accept or reject God’s advice. A charming – though fanciful – homily in the Talmud describes how the rabbis overruled God in a disagreement over a kosher stove (B. T. B. Mitzia 59b).
Christianity at this time is a subset of Judaism, and everything is viewed through the lens of Jewish tradition. So despite Peter’s thrice-repeated vision from God in Joppa – and its confirmation when 3 men arrived as promised – Pharisee-Christians in Jerusalem don’t accept this as the final authority. They feel at liberty to debate whether or not to endorse Peter’s conclusion about Gentiles based his vision . . . and whether or not Peter was right to baptize Gentiles, even if that clearly seems God’s intent (following Peter’s argument that the church should accepts Gentiles if God accepts them). I suspect there was much more discussion and debate than is recorded in Luke’s brief summary in Acts 11!
Nevertheless, Peter makes a decisive argument when he quotes the one rabbi no Pharisee-Christian can dispute: Jesus himself. Peter says: “I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’” (Acts 11:16). John baptized Gentiles (Luke 3:14), and Jesus affirms him . . . and that’s good enough for the most legalistic Pharisee. Hence, as the meeting concludes, everyone seems to agree:
They had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life" (Acts 11: 18).
But, as they say, “the devil is in the details,” and Acts 15 implies Peter and the Pharisee-Christians agreed to different things.
We discussed last week that circumcision and water baptism were the final steps as a Gentile converted to Judaism . . . and this conversion included a promise to live according to the Jewish oral law. The Pharisee-Christians seem to assume Gentiles who accept baptism are agreeing to be circumcised and to follow the oral law . . . just as if they were becoming Jews. But Peter believes that when God baptized uncircumcised Gentiles with the Holy Spirit, God was saying circumcision and the oral law are not required for Christian fellowship, because his vision from God showed “that God . . . accepts (all) who fear him and do what is right” (Acts 10:34-35). These different assumptions caused a major dispute about church policy, apparent in Acts 15 and the rest of Acts, and reflected in Paul’s letters.
The balance of Acts 11 relates that when Christians fled Jerusalem after the stoning of Stephen, Antioch was a popular destination. Antioch – in what is now southeast Turkey – is the third largest city of the Roman empire, with one of the largest Jewish populations outside Judea. What is unique about the Christians who fled to Antioch is that they not only share the gospel of Jesus with fellow Jews . . . some Hellenized Jewish Christians from Cyprus and Cyrene also share it with their Gentile neighbors (Acts 11: 20). And many Gentiles become believers (Acts 11:19-21)!
Word of this reaches Jerusalem, and the church sends Barnabas – a fellow Cypriot – to check things out (Acts 11:22-23). Barnabas finds “evidence of the grace of God” (Acts 11:23) among the Gentiles, and he brings “a great number of people” to Jesus (Acts 11:24). But Barnabas apparently feels inadequate as a teacher, so he goes to Tarsus to get Saul to give instruction in the faith to Antioch’s new Gentile believers (Acts 11:26b).
Barnabas and Saul seem ideal partners. Barnabas’ name means “Son of Encouragement”; he’s one of those people who likes everyone and is liked by everyone. Saul, on the other hand, is an expert in scripture with a gift of teaching. For a year Saul and Barnabas “met with . . . and taught great numbers of people” (Acts 11:26b); probably Barnabas’ role is evangelism, and Saul’s is instruction.
Notice one factoid buried in Acts 11:26:
The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch (Acts 11:26c)
For simplicity, I have used the word “Christians” to describe early believers – but the name did not actually come into currency until this time in Antioch.
The Jerusalem church also sent prophets to Antioch. Recall the two facets of prophesy: “forthtelling” of the word of God, and “foretelling” of the future. “One (prophet) named Agabus” – remember that name, we’ll meet him again in Acts 21 – excels in foretelling, and he “predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world” (Acts 11:28). Faced with this prophesy, the believers in Antioch take up a collection to help the church in Jerusalem. Why single out the Jerusalem church if the famine is worldwide? Perhaps because members of the Jerusalem church foolishly sold fields (Acts 4:36-37) and other assets years earlier to pay current expenses, and now they are especially reliant upon charity. In any case, Saul and Barnabas take the money to Jerusalem.
This happened around 41 AD, because Acts 11:28 refers to the reign of Claudius, and Acts 12 refers to “King Herod,” who is Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great. Agrippa helped make Claudius emperor, and as a “thank you,” Claudius granted him the kingdom of his grandfather. Agrippa was raised in Rome, and was a “puppet king” totally dependent on Claudius . . . but he is descended from the last Jewish king/priests of the Maccabean period, and to build loyalty among his subjects, he behaves like a devout Jew when in Judea. That's important in understanding the first verses of Acts 12:
King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death. . . . When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also (Acts 12:1-3).
James son of Zebedee is an unfortunate casualty of Agrippa’s efforts to demonstrate his “Jewishness” to the people of Jerusalem. Called “James the Greater,” he was one of Jesus’ original 12 disciples (Matt 4:21-22, Mark 9:2, Luke 5:10-11) and one of the three who witnessed Jesus’ Transfiguration (Matt 17:1, Mark 1:19-20, Luke 9:28). This is the “second round” of Christian persecution – and the first persecution sanctioned by the Romans . . . about 10 years after it was begun by the Sanhedrin. Not a good sign! And when Agrippa sees how much James’ death pleases the Jewish leadership, he arrests Peter – probably while he is observing Passover in the temple. Agrippa intends a public trial and execution after Passover is completed (Acts 12:3, 11), so he can again show “solidarity” with the Jews of Jerusalem.
God also waits until after Passover, leaving Peter in jail while the church fervently prays . . . right up to the night before Peter’s scheduled trial. But then an angel appears: a light shines in Peter’s cell . . . Peter’s chains fall off . . . locked gates open, and the angel leads Peter safely out of prison. Then, on the streets of Jerusalem, the angel disappears.
Peter goes to the home of the mother of John Mark, author of the gospel of Mark, where Christians have gathered to pray for Peter’s release. However, when Peter arrives, they first deny it’s him (Acts 12:12-16)!
Prayer was very important to the Jerusalem church led by Jesus’ brother James; according to Christian tradition (cf Eusebius), James spent so much time in prayer “that his knees became hard, like those of a camel.” Yet although the church is praying for a miracle, they seem unwilling to believe it when it happens! It wasn’t like this in the beginning . . . when the Jerusalem church did such stunning miracles through the power of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, this is the second time an angel has released Peter from jail (cf Acts 5)! Is the church losing faith? . . . or is it possible – as some believe – that Peter and the apostles received a greater gift of intercessory prayer than their successors in the Jerusalem church . . . and things have further decreased until today our gift is pretty small? Yet Jesus instructed His followers to pray assuming our prayers will be answered (Matt 7:7) – and to boldly pray for miracles! Even if prayers for James did not prevent his murder, they shouldn’t lose faith . . . and that same advice applies in the 21st century.
Nevertheless, Peter seems to decide that staying in Jerusalem might test God’s providence one time too many, so he leaves . . . as James and the elders of the church apparently have already done (Acts 12:17). This allows Peter to testify about Jesus for another 20 years, until he is crucified in Rome during the next Christian persecution . . . the one by Nero.
The execution of Peter’s guards for dereliction of duty has always intrigued me. Some people try to read God’s mind . . . saying things like: “A just God wouldn’t do (such-and-such).” These people cite “bad” things in the world as a basis for non-belief because it “proves” God isn’t in charge – or God isn’t just. It’s not popular today to say a “just God” considers Peter’s life worth more than the lives of his Roman guards, who aren’t guilty of the crime for which they are executed – and may have families to care for. It may not seem fair, but we must believe God has a plan – even though we sometimes don’t understand it! And God’s plan is that Peter has more work to do for Jesus.
As Acts 12 comes to an end, God does one more thing to show He’s in charge. The people of Tyre and Sidon (in modern Lebanon) have been quarrelling with Herod Agrippa I – but have now agreed to submit and form an alliance. “Pumped up” with power, Agrippa calls their representatives to an audience in the theater of Caesarea. Always extravagant, he wears glittering robes, and gladly accepts highest accolades from the people: "This is the voice of a god, not of a man," they shout (Acts 12:22). But Agrippa is not a god; and the one true God strikes him down. The year is 44 AD; Agrippa has reigned three short years. He killed James, but not the Christian movement because, as Luke puts it, “the word of God continue(s) to increase and spread” (Acts 12:24)
In the next lesson, Saul changes his name to Paul and begins his missionary journeys throughout the Roman world. Accompanied by Barnabas, he goes to Barnabas’ home of Cyprus . . . then to Pisidian Antioch in central Turkey, where Paul’s speech to Jews and God-fearing Gentiles is his first recorded major speech as a Christian. A pattern emerges in Cyprus which becomes familiar later: the message of Jesus is warmly received, but Jewish Pharisees undertake a campaign of “attack ads,” causing Paul and Barnabas to be run out of town. But they just pick themselves up and go on to another town . . . to continue to spread the gospel.