Acts 11:27

In these days. See Additional Notes on Chapter 12, Note 2.

Came prophets. A fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel, referred to by Peter in his Pentecostal sermon (ch. 2:17), that there should be prophets in the infant church (see Acts 13:1, 2; Eph. 2:20). We cannot, however, gather from NT records a clear description of what this office of the “prophets” was. They were men who possessed a gift of the Spirit, who were sometimes occupied in preaching and explaining the Word of God, and sometimes had the power of foretelling future events, as Agabus did here (see Acts 13:1; 15:32; 19:6; 21:9, 10; Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:10,28,29; 13:2; 14:6,29-37). The mission of the prophets must obviously be taken as a further approval given by the church at Jerusalem to the work that Saul and Barnabas were carrying on at Antioch.