'Ac 11:19-26

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A new work in Antioch (Ac 11:19-26)

While the apostles and others were spreading the gospel in various places, an interesting work grew up in Antioch in Syria. Some Christians who had been scattered from Jerusalem at the time of Stephen’s death preached among the Greek population of Antioch and many believed (Ac 11:19-21).

When the leaders of the Jerusalem church heard this, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. This was a wise choice, for Barnabas was from nearby Cyprus and had a much broader outlook than those Jews who had never been outside Judea. He had the ability to understand and help the new converts, and under his wise guidance the church grew rapidly (Ac 11:22-24).

Within a short time there was more work than Barnabas himself could manage. He wanted a helper, but the person had to be of the right sort. Therefore, he did not go back to Jerusalem to look for help, but went to Tarsus to get Saul. The last mention of Saul in the story was ten years earlier (see note following Ac 11:30), and now he returned with Barnabas to help the Antioch church. For the next year they preached and taught, among Christians and non-Christians, with the result that the church grew even more (Ac 11:25-26).

The language spoken in Antioch was Greek. Consequently, when the disciples spoke about Jesus, instead of using the Hebrew word ‘Messiah’ they used the equivalent Greek word ‘Christ’. The local citizens heard the disciples use this word continually and, although it had no significance for them, it gave them an easy name by which to identify this group of religious people - ‘Christ’s people’ or ‘Christians’. Elsewhere in Acts, Christians are called believers, disciples, followers, brothers and saints (or God’s holy people) (see Ac 5:14; 9:1,32; 11:1).

To the Jews they were known as Nazarenes (see Ac 24:5).