Broadcast Word: Lesson 7

Followers of Jesus, the Christ, Get a New Name

A lot of things have happened since the ascension of our Lord. Thousands have come to the knowledge of the truth. The Word is spreading all over the world.

Saul is now in Tarsus, his hometown. Luke takes a few chapters to tell us about a particularly important event. Peter is told to minister to the Gentiles. Of all things, a Jew socialized and ate with Gentiles. That would have made him unclean! Yet, Luke tells us something that will revolutionize the Jews and their thinking. What does Acts 10:35 say concerning Peter and what he learned.

Read Acts 11:1-18

Verse one tells us that news travels fast, even in Bible times. What was the initial impression of the church members at Jerusalem about Peter’s affiliation with the Gentiles?
Peter defended himself by telling the account of the vision and how the Lord instructed him to go to the Centurion’s household.
- What was the significance of the various animals listed in verse six?
  - Genesis 9:4 _________________________
  - Leviticus 11:4 ________________________
  - Leviticus 11:13 _______________________
  - Leviticus 11;41 _______________________
- How does the Lord answer Peter’s concern about eating unclean things?
- Peter begins to tell his story to the Jerusalem church leaders as to how the Spirit of the Lord was present in the house of the Centurion. Explain in your own words Peter’s explanation as to why he was with the Gentiles?
- Verse seventeen says, “who am I to think that I could oppose God?” And after that statement, the Jerusalem church accepts the Call of the Gentiles. Why is this event important here in light of Paul’s future missionary trips?

Read Acts 11:19-26: Antioch of Syria Becomes an Important City

The Stephen event and subsequent dispersion was the best thing that happened to the Church. The first few verses are a great mission story. Why? And why did this event make Antioch different?
The Jerusalem church became aware of what great things were happening at Antioch. Who did they send to check things out?
How does Luke tell us how Barnabas found the state of the church when he arrived? How do you see evidence of grace working in your church?
Barnabas was excited about the ministry there in Antioch. Jews and Greeks shared common faith in the same Lord. Great things were happening; and many came to the knowledge of the truth. Where did Barnabas go to get help? And who did he bring to Antioch?
Verse twenty-six gave the believers a new name: CHRISTIANS.
The church at Antioch was very mission minded. The paragraphs below state that they were the church that commissioned Paul and Barnabas. They were the church that saw a need in Jerusalem and sent aid. Using Antioch, explain how we should be like-minded. And how is your church carrying out missions in its ministry efforts?

Antioch of Syria

ANTIOCH (an’ tih ahkh) names two New Testament cities one of which was home to many Diaspora Jews (Jews living outside of Palestine and maintaining their religious faith among the Gentiles) and the place where believers, many of whom were Gentiles, were first called Christians.

The largest city of the Roman Empire after Rome in Italy and Alexandria in Egypt. Because so many ancient cities were called by this name, it is often called Antioch on the Orontes (River) or Antioch of Syria. Antioch was founded around 300 B.C. by Seleucus Nicator. From the beginning it was a bustling maritime city with its own seaport. It lay about 20 miles inland from the Mediterranean in ancient Syria on the Orontes River nearly three hundred miles north of Jerusalem. Many Jews of the Diaspora lived in Antioch and engaged in commerce, enjoying the rights of citizenship in a free city. Many of Antioch’s Gentiles were attracted to Judaism. As was the case with many of the Roman cities of the east, Antioch’s patron deity was the pagan goddess Tyche or “Fortune.”

In the New Testament only Jerusalem is more closely related to the spread of early Christianity. Luke mentioned Nicholas of Antioch in Acts 6:5 among the Greek-speaking leaders of the church in Jerusalem. The persecution that arose over Stephen resulted in Jewish believers scattering to Cyprus, Cyrene, and Antioch (Acts 11:19). In Antioch the believers were first called Christians (11:26), and it was to Antioch that Barnabas fetched Saul (Paul) from Tarsus so that they could teach this mixed congregation of Jewish and Gentile followers of the Lord. At Antioch the Christian prophet Agabus foretold the famine that would shortly overtake the Roman world (11:28). The disciples responded with the work of famine relief for the church in Jerusalem, directed and carried out from Antioch. The church at Antioch felt the leading of the Holy Spirit to set aside Barnabas and Saul for what was the first organized mission work (13:1-3). Barnabas and Saul left for Seleucia (also known as Pieria, Antioch’s Mediterranean seaport) to begin their preaching. The church at Antioch heard the reports of Paul and Barnabas on return from their first missionary journey (14:27) and likely their second missionary journey (18:22). This was a missionary effort to both Jews and Gentiles, about which Paul says in Galatians 2:11 that he had to oppose Peter to his face at Antioch.

Read Acts 12

This chapter in Acts shows us that persecution did not stop even though its chief persecutor, Saul, jumped to the other side. King Herod (Agrippa I) was prominent in his persecution.

History: The Herod Dynasty

The Herod Dynasty began with Herod the Great who ruled from 37-4 B. C. It was he who had the babies killed searching for the new Jewish king born in Bethlehem. When he died, he divided his rule to three of his sons: Archalaus, Antipas and Philip. Archalaus was king over Judea; Antipas was tetrarch over Galilee and Perea; and Philip over the northeastern districts. It was Herod Antipas who had John the Baptist beheaded and before whom Jesus went during Holy Week. Herod the Great’s grandson, Agrippa I was king over Judea from 41-44 A. D. Agrippa II was the Herod to whom Paul appeared in Acts 25. Agrippa II was the last of the Herodian dynasty.

Claudius, the Roman emperor mentioned in Acts 11:28, was the fourth Roman emperor. He succeeded Caligula in 41 A. D. Claudius was accommodating to the Jews early on but later banished them from Rome (Acts 18:2). Christians were included in this edict, as they were considered to be a Jewish sect.

Lessons Learned for Today

From today’s readings, we have seen how God used a great Jewish man, Peter, to appear to the Gentiles through the godly man, Cornelius. We have seen how Antioch became the “mission center” of the church, not Jerusalem. Using today’s lesson as a backdrop, what lessons can we learn today?

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