The book of Acts informs us that the outreach to the Gentiles began at Antioch. In fact, the persecution of the Church which arose after Stephen had been stoned to death resulted in some of the Jewish Christians fleeing to Antioch. At first, these folks continued to meet with their Jewish brethren and preached the good news about Jesus only to them. Even so, in the course of time, they began preaching their message about Christ to the Gentiles of the city. Moreover, God blessed their efforts and a great many of those folks accepted the message about Christ and came into the Church. This was the first big influx of Gentiles into the membership of the Church after the conversion of Cornelius and his household. When news of what had happened in Antioch reached Jerusalem, the leadership sent Barnabas to investigate. (Acts 11:19-22)
Barnabas was delighted by what he found in Antioch, and he encouraged the new Gentile membership to remain faithful to Christ. He also observed that the message continued to be well received within the Gentile community, and the numbers of the congregation there continued to swell. As a consequence, Barnabas found Paul and invited him to accompany him to the city. Upon their return to Antioch, they continued to find a large and receptive audience among the Gentiles, and they ended up preaching about Christ there for the next year! Moreover, our source tells us that believers were first called "Christians" at Antioch. (Acts 11:23-26)
We are given a couple of references to rulers in this part of the story which help us to date these events. The first is a famine which we are informed took place during the reign of the Emperor Claudius (Acts 11:28), and the second is a persecution which occurred at about the same time during the reign of Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:1). Hence, we know that these events must have happened between the years 41-44 of the Common Era. So, we know that a little over a decade after Christ's ascension to heaven the Church had experienced phenomenal growth and had even expanded into Gentile populations!
Nevertheless, the road to that success had not been a smooth one. The disciples had met resistance at every turn and suffered persecution at the hands of Jewish religious leaders. Herod Agrippa I had even killed James (the brother of John) and imprisoned Peter. The Jerusalem Church, however, petitioned God to protect the apostle, and God sent an angel to rescue him from prison. Moreover, the Church continued to boldly preach the good news about Jesus, and God continued to bless them with growth. (Acts 12:1-24)
After returning to Antioch from Jerusalem, the prophets and teachers of that congregation were instructed by the Holy Spirit to set apart Paul and Barnabas for God's work among the Gentiles (Acts 13:1-3). This blessing inaugurated several years of an extensive missionary effort by the pair. They traveled from Antioch to Seleucia, then sailed to Cyprus and preached the message about Jesus Christ all over that island. Of interest to this account, our source informs us that they continued to use the local synagogues as platforms for their work. While there, they also encountered a pagan magician who sought to obstruct their mission. Paul, however, was having none of it and promptly announced that God would blind the magician because of his evil work. When this happened the Roman Proconsul, Sergius Paulus, was so impressed that he embraced the Christian faith. (Acts 13:4-12)
Leaving Cyprus, Paul and his companions traveled on to Perga in Pamphylia and from there to Antioch is Pisidia. Once again, we find our missionaries going straight to the local synagogue on the Sabbath and preaching about Christ from that platform. Now, our source goes on to inform us that Paul's message about salvation through Jesus Christ so impressed a large part of the audience which heard it that almost the whole city (Gentiles included) turned out to hear him the following Sabbath. (Acts 13:13-44)
Unfortunately, many of the Jews were indignant that Paul's message had elicited such interest from the Gentiles within their city. Indeed, many of them began actively opposing Paul's message and disparaged the Christian missionaries. The reaction was swift. Continuing, we read: "And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, 'It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, 'I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'" And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region." (Acts 13:46-49) Even so, the Jews persisted to such a degree that Paul and Barnabas had to leave the district (Acts 13:50-52).
From there, Paul and Barnabas went to Iconium. Once again, a large number of Jews and Gentiles enthusiastically received their message about Jesus. Once again, the unbelieving Jews tried to discredit the missionaries and their message. Nevertheless, Paul and Barnabas stayed and fearlessly proclaimed the good news about the Messiah. Unfortunately, the missionaries found out about a plot to stone them, but they were able to escape before the mob was able to carry out its wicked design. As a consequence, Paul and Barnabas fled to Lycaonia and focused preaching to the folks around the cities of Derbe and Lystra. Unfortunately, the people who had opposed them at Antioch and Iconium followed them there and tried to stone Paul to death! Fortunately, Paul recovered, and he and Barnabas were able to travel around the region and encourage their converts to remain steadfast in the faith. And, before leaving, they appointed elders within the various congregations to shepherd them in their absence. (Acts 14:1-23)
From there, the missionaries traveled through Pamphylia, down to Attalia, and then sailed back to the city of Antioch where it had all begun. While there, they told the congregation about everything that the Lord had used them to do, and the new congregations which had arisen as a result of their efforts. In short, the effort had been a great success. After Paul's and Barnabas' missionary efforts among the Gentiles of the Eastern Mediterranean, the Church was no longer wholly Jewish. And, while this would be the source of much rejoicing among the saints, it also raised some serious theological questions for both believing Jews and Gentiles. Should the believing Gentiles be required to be circumcised, to keep the Sabbaths, and observe the laws about clean and unclean meats? What was their status relative to Torah? These questions were about to spark a great debate among the brethren in both camps that would only be settled by a great council of the Church's leadership at Jerusalem. (Acts 14:24-28)
No comments:
Post a Comment