Acts 11:19

Scattered abroad. What now follows is a continuation of ch. 8:1-4. There has been a digression to tell the story of Philip’s work with the Samaritans and the Ethiopian, of Saul’s with the Cilicians, and of Peter’s with Cornelius and his household. This digression prepares the reader for the narrative that now follows, which tells of the conversion of Greeks to the gospel.

Persecution. Or, “tribulation.” Reference is to the persecution in which Saul had taken an active part (see chs. 8:1; 9:1, 2).

About Stephen. The death of the martyr was followed, as ch. 8:1-4 shows, by a fanatical outburst against the Christians in Jerusalem. This resulted in a dispersion of many believers. Philip labored in Samaria and Caesarea. Others went to Phoenicia, to the cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Ptolemais, and were probably instrumental in founding the churches mentioned in chs. 21:3—7; 27:3. In Cyprus the way was prepared for the later work of Barnabas and Saul (see ch. 13:4-13). See Persecution and Expansion of the Early Church.

As far as Phenice. That is, Phoenicia, the district in which were the important cities of Tyre and Sidon (see Vol. II, pp. 67-69).

Cyprus. See on ch. 13:4.

Antioch. Here is the first-mentioned contact between the infant Christian church and the capital of Syria. Following Rome, Alexandria, and Ephesus, Antioch was the greatest city of the Roman Empire, and long a chief Christian center. Perhaps Nicolas, the proselyte of Antioch (ch. 6:5), had returned to proclaim his new faith. The entrance of Christianity there was of great importance. Located on the Orontes River, some 15 mi. (24 km.) inland from the port of Seleucia, Antioch, founded by Seleucus Nicator about 300 B.C. and named after his father Antiochus, had grown in wealth and importance to be the leading city of Asia. The world acclaimed its men of letters and literature. To one of them, Archias, Cicero made a famous oration. Juvenal recognized the influence of Antioch upon Roman life and taste by declaring: “What fraction of our dregs come from Greece? The Syrian Orontes has long since poured into the Tiber, bringing with it its lingo and its manners, its flutes and its slanting harpstrings” (Satires iii. 62-64; Loeb ed., p. 37).

Antioch had a large colony of Jews, in honor of whom Herod the Great built a marble colonnade that ran the length of the city. Antioch was headquarters for the Roman prefect, or propraetor, of Syria. Christianity found itself at Antioch in closer contact with Greek culture than at Jerusalem or Caesarea. Here also it encountered heathenism in its most tempting and debasing forms. Its groves to Daphne were famous for their voluptuous, idolatrous worship. It was an amazing victory that the church was able to make Antioch one of its principal headquarters.

To none but unto the Jews only. Or, “to no one but Jews.” This, of course, was to be expected from those who had left Jerusalem before the conversion of Cornelius had occurred, or had become generally known. They had not been informed, as had Peter, that the time had come to carry out Christ’s prophetic command to its fullest extent (ch. 1:8). The singling out of the Jews is apparently noted in contrast both with the preceding narrative concerning Peter and Cornelius and with the following statement of missionary labors.