Our Father Receives the Gentiles
Peter is criticized for eating with uncircumcised men, so he retells the vision step by step — our Father made them clean — and the objections stop. In Antioch believers speak to Greeks too. Barnabas fetches Saul, they teach a year, and the name Christians is coined there.
11 1The apostles and brothers in Judea heard that Gentiles too had received our Father's word. 2So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision party criticized him, 3saying, "You visited uncircumcised men and ate with them."
4But Peter explained it to them step by step: 5Praying in the city of Joppa, I fell into a trance and saw a vision: a huge sheet-like object, lowered from heaven by its four corners, reaching me. 6Looking closely at it, I saw four-legged animals, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds.
7And I heard a voice saying to me, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.'
8But I said, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.'
9But the voice answered a second time from heaven, 'What our Father has made clean, do not call impure.' 10This happened three times, and all of it was drawn up again into heaven. 11Right then three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we stayed. 12The Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man's house.
13He told us how he saw the angel standing in his house and saying, 'Send to Joppa and bring Simon called Peter; 14he will bring you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.' 15When I began speaking, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at first.
16Then I remembered what our Lord Jesus said: 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' 17If our Father gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in our Father's way?
18Hearing this, they quieted down and praised our Father, saying, "So our Father has granted repentance that leads to life even to the Gentiles."
Our Father's Family Grows in Antioch
19Those scattered by the persecution over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message to no one but Jews. 20But some of them—men from Cyprus and Cyrene—reached Antioch and spoke to Hellenists too, telling the good news about the Lord Jesus. a a v20 Hellenists: Greek-speaking people, likely Gentiles in this context. 21The hand of our Lord Jesus was with them, and many believed and turned to the Lord. 22The church in Jerusalem heard about this and sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23Arriving, he saw our Father's grace and rejoiced, urging all to remain devoted to the Lord with firm hearts. 24For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a large crowd was added to the Lord.
25So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26finding him, he brought him to Antioch. For a full year they met with the church and taught a large crowd, and in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. b b v26 The name Christians means "those belonging to Christ" — the first time followers of Jesus were called by his name.
27In these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28One of them, named Agabus, stood up and predicted through the Spirit that a great famine would come over the whole world—it happened in Claudius's days. 29The disciples decided, each according to ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. 30And they did so, sending it to the elders through Barnabas and Saul.
