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Acts 11:27-30

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

27. And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. 28. And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. 29. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea: 30. Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

Acts 11:27-30 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Acts 11:27

Theological / Devotional

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.

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