Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible · Acts Kapitel 11

Acts 11:2. They that were of the circumcision contended with him,— How good an argument soever this may be against the supremacy of St. Peter, it is none against the inspiration of the apostles; for it only proves that some who did not well understand the principles on which they acted, took upon them, without reason, to arraign their conduct; and consequently didnot, in this respect, pay a becoming deference to them. It plainly shews how little deference was paid to any uncircumcised persons, whatever profession they might make of worshipping the God of Israel.

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Acts 11:3. Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised,— Saying, wherefore— διατι — did you associate and eat with the uncircumcised? See Genesis 44:4.Luke 2:49; Luke 2:49.

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Acts 11:4. But Peter rehearsed the matter, &c.— But Peter beginning, opened to them the matter in order. As it is probable that they were only some of the Jewish converts who questioned St. Peter about what he had done, he might, no doubt, have overborne them by urging his apostolical authority, and referring them tothe miracles by which it was established: but as he could with no great propriety blame them, because he himself, till of late, had been as bigoted to the Jewish nation as any of them, he treats them in the most gentle and condescending manner, laying before them the reason of his conduct, and appealing to their judgments, whether, in such circumstances,hehad not acted according to the divine direction; herein giving a most amiable example of humility and condescension, which it would be the glory and happiness of Christ's ministers to follow in circumstances which bear any resemblance to this.

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Acts 11:5. I saw—a certain vessel descend, &c.— I saw—somewhat descending, in the form of a great sheet. See on ch. Acts 10:11. It is generally supposed, that in this sheet all sorts of creatures, clean and unclean, were represented, promiscuously mixed together; but some expositors are of opinion, that they were only of the sorts prohibited by the law; because, say they, there would have been no room for St. Peter's scrupling to eat, had he seen any creatures there but what he apprehended to be prohibited by the law: but his expression of nothing common or polluted and unclean, may lead us to conclude, that the apostle, according to the Jewish principles, conceived the clean animals to be polluted by their intermixture and communication with the unclean.

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Acts 11:14. Who shall tell thee words,— Who shall teach thee what is necessary for the salvation of thyself and thy family.

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Acts 11:17. Forasmuch then as God gave them, &c.— Since therefore God has granted the same gift to them as to us, &c.

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Acts 11:18. When they heard these things, &c.— When they had heard St. Peter's apology, they were silent, and acquiesced, turning their accusations of theapostle into praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God, who had granted unto the devout Gentiles, through Jesus Christ his Son, all the privileges of the gospel; and had received them into the Christian church equally with the believing Jews, without their being first circumcised and brought into subjection tothe whole law of Moses. But though these particular persons now acquiesced, yet this was the foundation of the grand controversy in the apostolic age; for we shall find, as the history proceeds, that it broke out again with respect to the devout Gentiles, ch. 15: and was afterwards extended to the converts from among the idolatrous Gentiles, as appears from most of St. Paul's epistles: and the attentive reader will there find, how very difficult it was to allay the prejudices of the Jews and Jewish Christians against the admission of the Gentiles, unless they would first, according to the Jewish phrase, become proselytes of righteousness, and of course be circumcised.

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Acts 11:20. And some of them were men of Cyprus— But some of them, &c. St. Peter having opened the door of Christian faith, and laid the foundation of a Christian church among the Gentiles, after God had testified very plainly that it was agreeable to his mind and will,—otherChristians, hearing of this event, took occasion thence to imitate St. Peter's example: particularly, some Jewish Christians of the island of Cyprus and of the country of Cyrene in Africa, travelling in their dispersions to Antioch in Syria, preached the Christian doctrine there, not to the Jews only, but also to the Gentiles; and God blessed and prospered their labours. The Jews frequently called all nations except their own, Greeks, from the time of the Macedonian or Grecian empire, just as the Roman empire was afterwards called the whole world, because it extended over the most considerable part of the then known world. See Romans 10:12. 1 Corinthians 12:13.Galatians 3:28; Galatians 3:28. Colossians 3:11. See also on Acts 11:26.

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Acts 11:26. When he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch.— Barnabas might go in quest of Paul, from a persuasion, that, as he was by his country a Greek, though by descent an Hebrew of the Hebrews; that is, descended from two Jewish parents, he would be peculiarly fit to assist him in his great work, especially considering on the one hand his fine accomplishments as a scholar, and on the other his extraordinary conversion, and eminent zeal and piety. Antioch was the metropolis of Syria; for magnitude, situation, and other agreeable circumstances, the third city in the Roman empire, being excelled by none except Rome and Alexandria. It was built by Seleucus, and called Antioch from the name of his son Antiochus. There was a Jewish university in this city, anda great number of proselytes according to Josephus, out of whom was formed a large Christian church, which was looked upon as the mother church of the Gentiles, as the church of Jerusalem was of the Jewish, or of all the Christian churches; and they were likewise the first fruits of the devout Gentiles out of Palestine. The Jewish converts had hitherto been called by their enemies, Men of that way, or sect; Galileans, Nazarenes, and other like names of reproach; and among themselves they had been called disciples, believers, the church, the saints; and to denote the unity and concord which were among them, they stiled one another brethren. But now the Gentile converts at Antioch were called by the name of CHRISTIANS, taking their denomination immediately from their Lord and Master CHRIST himself, just as among the philosophers, the Platonists, Pythagoreans, &c. took their names from their several masters.This name was first given to the converts at Antioch, I doubt not, by divine appointment; for the word χρηματισαι, here used, signifies "to be warned by a divine admonition;" see Matthew 2:12.Luke 2:26; Luke 2:26. Act 10:22 and accordingly Doddridge renders it were called by divine appointment. Dr. Mill has informed us, that the Cambridge manuscript reads this sentence thus; and then they first named by divine appointment, εχρηματισαν, the disciples, CHRISTIANS, in Antioch; whereby is signified, that Barnabas and Saul first gave them the name of Christians; and indeed the common reading, fairly rendered, seems to intimate the same thing: and it came to pass that they assembled, &c. and that they called the first disciples at Antioch by the name of Christians. Barnabas knew how unlikely it was that the church at Jerusalem should allow them the name of brethren, considering how strongly they had been prejudiced against them, and how backward they had been to receive them into the Christian church; though afterwards indeed the appellation of brethren was given them by the church at Jerusalem upon a full and mature consideration of their case. See chap. Acts 15:23. However, as the Jewish Christians could not presently get over all their former prejudices, and allow those Gentile converts to be upon a level with themselves, and as it was nevertheless proper that they should have some name to distinguish them from such of the Gentile proselytes of the gate as had not embraced the Christian religion;—for these, and such like wise reasons, they were called and distinguished by the name of Christians; and if that name was given them by a divine admonition, as we have shewn, it indicates the divine concern for them, and the honour which Heaven put upon them, in dignifying and distinguishing them by so high and honourable an appellation. Witsius thinks it a circumstance of remarkable wisdom, that this celebrated name should arise from Antioch, a church consisting of a mixture of Jews and Gentiles, rather than from Jerusalem, dignified in so many other respects; and that it was a kind of victory gained over Satan, who, from Antioch some ages before, had raised so many cruel persecutors of the church of God.

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Acts 11:28. And there stood up one of them named Agabus,— Agabus prophesied that the famine should spread throughout the whole world, which phrase was frequently used in those times to signify the whole Roman empire, which included most of the then known world. Accordingly, Eusebius says of this famine, that it oppressed almost the whole empire; and that it was recorded by historians most averse to our religion. For instance, Suetonius, in the life of Claudius, says it happened ob assiduas sterilitates,—through a long barrenness. Josephus says, that it raged so much in Judea, that many perished for want of victuals. And Dion Cassius says, that it was a very great famine, and happened when Claudius and Caius Largus were consuls, that is, in the second year of Claudius; though it seems rather to have been that which happened (as Eusebius in his Chronicon, and Orosius, 50. 7. 6 place it) in the fourth year of Claudius. However, I see no sufficient reason to suppose that the phrase throughout the whole world, should not be taken in the strictest sense, and that the famine was not really universal.

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Acts 11:29. Then the disciples, every man, &c.— It had been a custom for the Jews and proselytes, in their several dispersions, to send presents to Judea, and especially to Jerusalem; and the Jews in Judea seem to have expected it, as in some sort their due; particularly we find that Helena, queen of the Adiabenes, and her son Izates, who had lately become proselytes to the Jewish religion, were very generous to the poor at Jerusalem in this ensuing famine; for the queen went to see the temple, and to offer sacrifices there; and finding Jerusalem oppressed by the famine, and many perishing though want, she sent abroad her officers, some of them to Alexandria, to buy corn; others to Cyprus to purchase dried figs; who returned quickly, and distributed food to the necessitous; by which means she laid a lasting obligation upon the whole nation of theJews; and her son Izates also, having heard of the famine, sent a large sum of money to the chief men at Jerusalem. Thus also the Gentile Christians at Antioch, upon Agabus's prediction of the famine, determined to give (every man in proportion to his own ability and plenty) towards a charitable collection for the relief of the Jewish converts in Judea, and especially in Jerusalem, whence the sound of the gospel first proceeded. See Romans 15:25, &c. &c. For "as they were made partakers of their spiritual things, they thought it their duty to minister unto them in temporal things." Thus remarkably does the wise and over-ruling Providence of God adapt the common course of things so, as to subserve his own great and beneficent designs, as plainly appears in the instance now before us. For the reception of uncircumcised Gentiles into the Christian church, had a little soured the minds of the Jewish converts; but, upon this approach of a famine, an early occasion was given for cementing and uniting the Jewish and Gentile converts into one church and body, under Jesus Christ their common Head and Lord; kindness and charity most of all things tending to sweeten men's minds, and beget a favourable opinion of the persons who are so bounteous and liberal: the helping them in their distress, therefore, was the most effectual way to win over the Jewish converts; and the knowing the famine before-hand gave them an opportunity to provide for it. When the church was in its tender infant state, and many had forsaken all to preach the gospel, the gifts of the Spirit, and among them the gift of prophesying, were highly necessary: for such extraordinary difficulties and discouragements could not have been prevented, or over-ruled, without extraordinary helps and directions.

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