Background
This passage speaks about the effects of the persecutionfollowing the death of Stephen (Acts7:59-60) in spreading the believers to distant places, whilstthe verses after this passage speak about continuing persecutionsand their consequences. The passage comes after Peter has reportedto the Jerusalem church his experiences of Gentiles (non Jews)coming to faith in Joppa with the Holy Spirit being given to thosewho were not circumcised (Acts11:1-18). The passage itself reminds us of the debate withinthe Church about whether the gospel (good news about Jesus) was forJews only and if not, whether Gentile converts should becircumcised. Luke (the author of Acts) describes the hand of theLord being with those who proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles andhow when Barnabas is sent, he saw "the grace of God". Here Luke ismaking a point about salvation being through the grace of Godrather than through obedience to the law.
In verse 26 the term 'Christian' was first used to describe thedisciples in Antioch. Before this the disciples had generally beenknown as 'followers of the way' (eg Acts9:2). There is a lot of coming and going in these verses withpeople travelling to and from Jerusalem. In verse 27 we are toldthat there is a prophecy given by Agabus from Jerusalem about afamine, which Luke says was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.We then notice that the disciples decide to support the church inJudea in a bid not just to be compassionate but also to keep up thelines of communication open. The support is mutual.
We can see that the Church is still in the process of definingitself by asking these questions: Who can be a member? What shouldidentify members in terms of practice (ie circumcision or not)?What should we call ourselves? How should we organise ourselves andkeep in touch? All of these are basic and fundamental questions andthey demonstrate the struggles going on within the fledglingChurch.
To Ponder
- Should the Methodist Church change its name? If so, to what? Ifnot, why not?
- The hymn for today ("Come, all who look to Christ today") suggestedin the Methodist Prayer Handbook speaks of a welcoming church forall. What should this mean, and how far from this are we?