Acts 11 Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Acts 11:1-18

1 The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticised him 3 and said, ‘You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.’

4 Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story: 5 ‘I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. 6 I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. 7 Then I heard a voice telling me, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

8 ‘I replied, “Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.”

9 ‘The voice spoke from heaven a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” 10 This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.

11 ‘Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. 12 The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, “Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. 14 He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.”

15 ‘As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 17 So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?’

18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, ‘So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.’

A. Find Out:

1.  What happened when Peter went back to Jerusalem? v.1-3
2. So what did Peter do? v.4
3. What did he first recount? v.5-14
4. What did he also tell about? v.15
5. What did he remember & conclude? v.16,17
6. What was their conclusion? v.18 

B. Think:

1. What had obviously been the fear in Jerusalem?
2. What does this indicate about the church there?
3. Yet what was the outcome of Peter’s story telling?

C. Comment:

The word soon gets out about what has happened at Caesarea and when Peter arrives back at Jerusalem, he finds that not everyone is happy about it. It is obvious that there were Christian Jews there who still held onto the necessity for circumcision, still holding onto a very Jewish form of Christianity, and they were not happy that a large group of Gentiles seemed to come into the church.

So Peter explains what happened, how God had directed him to go, by vision and by the Spirit, and then what had happened when he had been preaching. His conclusion is excellent: if God gave them, when they believed, the same as he gave us when we believed, then who am I to go against God. When he says this, they all agree and rejoice that Gentiles are saved the same way as Jews.     

The big lesson here is that the truth is not to be feared. Peter had gone against the way most believers thought was right, yet he had been sure it was at God’s leading. When God turned up, he was vindicated. All he had to do was tell it and leave the result up to God. If other people react badly to us when we tell the truth of what God has done, when it goes against their belief system, they are responsible to God for it, not us! God will hold them answerable to Him. 

D. Application:

1. Trust in the truth and to God vindicating you.
2. How people respond to the truth is not our responsibility.

Passage: Acts 11:19-30

19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. 20 Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

22 News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

27 During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) 29 The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

A. Find Out:    

1. How far had persecuted believers gone and to whom? v.19
2. Yet who had gone from where to where with what effect? v.20,21
3. Who was sent, how was he described & what did he find? v.22-24
4. So where did he go, who did he get & what did they do? v.25,26
5. What did Agabus prophesy? v.28
6. What did the believers there do? v.29,30

B. Think:

1. How had the church spread and to whom?
2. Why had Saul been in Tarsus? See 9:11 ,30
3. Why did Barnabus bring Saul?

C. Comment:

So much information in so few verses. The Jerusalem persecution had spread the Gospel far and wide, but mainly to Jews. However, Jews afar off, not so traditional as the Jerusalem Jews, had taken the Gospel on to Gentiles. In Antioch especially, it had borne much fruit and the church was well established there.

It was a Jew, originally from Cyprus (see 4:36), who was sent to see what was happening in Antioch. Now Barnabus had already shown himself to be a main of faith and encouragement when he accepted Saul when he first came to Jerusalem (see 9:27). Now he’s chosen to go to Antioch as the church’s representative. Saul had been sent home to Tarsus after the upset at his preaching in Jerusalem, and so when Barnabus arrives in Antioch and sees the need, he straight away thinks of a man who would be good to teach in this situation. Saul comes to mind, so he sends for him so the two work together there in Antioch teaching the church, an ex-Levite and an ex-Pharisee, both men well-grounded in Scriptures, both men full of faith and wisdom. No wonder the church grew and was well established with “great numbers of people”. Next when great need is foretold and the church there seeks to meet it, who is sent, Barnabus and Saul. What a team!

D. Application:

1. God takes the most unlikely people and transforms them.
2. God uses their abilities and talents for His purposes!