Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 11, verses 19-26
19 The gospel being spread into Phenice and Cyprus and Antioch, Barnabas is sent to confirm them, 26 The disciples there are first called ChristiansJohn, Chapter 10, verses 22-30
19 Diverse opinions of him, 24 He proveth by his works that he is Christ the Son of God; escapeth the Jews10
10:22 It was the feast of the dedication - Instituted by Judas Maccabeus, Ma1 4:59, when he purged and dedicated the altar and temple after they had been polluted. So our Lord observed festivals even of human appointment. Is it not, at least, innocent for us to do the same?
10:23 In Solomon's portico - Josephus informs us, that when Solomon built the temple, he filled up a part of the adjacent valley, and built a portico over it toward the east. This was a noble structure, supported by a wall four hundred cubits high: and continued even to the time of Albinus and Agrippa, which was several years after the death of Christ.
10:26 Ye do not believe, because ye are not of my sheep - Because ye do not, will not follow me: because ye are proud, unholy, lovers of praise, lovers of the world, lovers of pleasure, not of God.
10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, etc - Our Lord still alludes to the discourse he had before this festival. As if he had said, My sheep are they who,
- Hear my voice by faith;
- Are known (that is, approved) by me, as loving me; and
- Follow me, keep my commandments, with a believing, loving heart.
- Truly believe (observe three promises annexed to three conditions) I give eternal life. He does not say, I will, but I give. For he that believeth hath everlasting life.Those whom,
- I know truly to love me, shall never perish, provided they abide in my love.
- Those who follow me, neither men nor devils can pluck out of my hand. My Father who hath, by an unchangeable decree, given me all that believe, love, and obey, is greater than all in heaven or earth, and none is able to pluck them out of his hand.
10:28 See note at Joh 10:27
10:29 See note at Joh 10:27
10:30 I and the Father are one - Not by consent of will only, but by unity of power, and consequently of nature. Are - This word confutes Sabellius, proving the plurality of persons: one - This word confutes Arius, proving the unity of nature in God.Never did any prophet before, from the beginning of the world, use any one expression of himself, which could possibly be so interpreted as this and other expressions were, by all that heard our Lord speak. Therefore if he was not God he must have been the vilest of men.
11
11:19 They who had been dispersed - St. Luke here resumes the thread of his narration, in the very words wherewith he broke it off, Act 8:6. As far as Phenicia to the north, Cyprus to thewest, and Antioch to the east.
11:20 Some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene - Who were more accustomed to converse with the Gentiles. Who coming into Antioch - Then the capital of Syria, and, next to Rome and Alexandria, the most considerable city of the empire. Spake to the Greeks - As the Greeks were the most celebrated of the Gentile nations near Judea, the Jews called all the Gentiles by that name. Here we have the first account of the preaching the Gospel to the idolatrous Gentiles. All those to whom it had been preached before, did at least worship one God, the God of Israel.
11:21 And the hand of the Lord - That is, the power of his Spirit.
11:26 And the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch - Here it was that they first received this standing appellation.They were before termed Nazarenes and Galileans.