Kisah Para Rasul 11:17-26

11:17 Therefore if God ¹  gave them the same gift ²  as he also gave us after believing ³  in the Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴  who was I to hinder ⁵  God?” 11:18 When they heard this, ⁶  they ceased their objections ⁷  and praised ⁸  God, saying, “So then, God has granted the repentance ⁹  that leads to life even to the Gentiles.” ¹⁰ 

Activity in the Church at Antioch

11:19 Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen ¹¹  went as far as ¹²  Phoenicia, ¹³  Cyprus, ¹⁴  and Antioch, ¹⁵  speaking the message ¹⁶  to no one but Jews. 11:20 But there were some men from Cyprus ¹⁷  and Cyrene ¹⁸  among them who came ¹⁹  to Antioch ²⁰  and began to speak to the Greeks ²¹  too, proclaiming the good news of the Lord Jesus. 11:21 The ²²  hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed ²³  turned ²⁴  to the Lord. 11:22 A report ²⁵  about them came to the attention ²⁶  of the church in Jerusalem, ²⁷  and they sent Barnabas ²⁸  to Antioch. ²⁹  11:23 When ³⁰  he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain true ³¹  to the Lord with devoted hearts, ³²  11:24 because he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a significant number of people ³³  were brought to the Lord. 11:25 Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to look for Saul, 11:26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. ³⁴  So ³⁵  for a whole year Barnabas and Saul ³⁶  met with the church and taught a significant number of people. ³⁷  Now it was in Antioch ³⁸  that the disciples were first called Christians. ³⁹ 

[11:17]  ¹ tc Codex Bezae (D) and {a few other Western witnesses} here lack ὁ θεός (Jo qeo", “God”), perhaps because these scribes considered the Holy Spirit to be the gift of Christ rather than the gift of God; thus leaving the subject implicit would naturally draw the reader back to v. 16 to see the Lord Jesus as the bestower of the Spirit.

[11:17]  ² sn That is, the same gift of the Holy Spirit.

[11:17]  ³ tn Or “gave us when we believed”; or “gave us after we believed”; or “gave us who believed”; or “gave them when they believed the same gift as he also gave us.” The aorist dative plural participle πιστεύσασιν (pisteusasin) can be understood in several different ways: (1) It could modify ἡμῖν (Jhmin, “us”) or αὐτοῖς (autois, “them”). Proximity (it immediately follows ἡμῖν) would suggest that it belongs with ἡμῖν, so the last option (“gave them when they believed the same gift he also gave us”) is less likely. (2) The participle could be either adverbial or adjectival, modifying ἡμῖν. This decision is primarily a contextual one. The point Peter made is not whether or not the Gentiles believed, since both groups (“us” and “they”) had believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. The point was whether or not the Gentiles received the Spirit when they believed, just as Jewish Christians had received the Spirit on the day of Pentecost when they believed. Translated as an adjectival participle, πιστεύσασιν only affirms the fact of belief, however, and raises somewhat of a theological problem if one realizes, “Would God have given the Gentiles the Spirit if they had not believed?” (In other words, belief in itself is a theological prerequisite for receiving the Spirit. As such, in the case of the Gentiles, it is assumed.) Thus in context it makes more sense to understand the participle πιστεύσασιν as adverbial, related to the time of belief in connection with the giving of the Spirit. (3) The participle πιστεύσασιν as a temporal participle can refer to action antecedent to the action of the main verb ἔδωκεν (edwken) or contemporaneous with it. Logically, at least, the gift of the Spirit followed belief in the case of the original Christians, who had believed before the day of Pentecost. In the case of Cornelius and his household, belief and the reception of the Spirit were virtually simultaneous. One can argue that Peter is “summarizing” the experience of Jewish Christians, and therefore the actions of belief and reception of the Spirit, while historically separate, have been “telescoped” into one (“gave them the same gift as he gave us when we believed”), but to be technically accurate the participle πιστεύσασιν should be translated “gave them the same gift as he also gave us after we believed.” A number of these problems can be avoided, however, by using a translation in English that maintains some of the ambiguity of the Greek original. Thus “if God gave them the same gift as he also gave us after believing” is used, where the phrase “after believing” can refer either to “them” or to “us,” or both.

[11:17]  ⁴ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[11:17]  ⁵ tn Or “prevent,” “forbid” (BDAG 580 s.v. κωλύω 1.a). Peter’s point is that he will not stand in the way of God.

[11:18]  ⁶ tn Grk “these things.”

[11:18]  ⁷ tn Or “became silent,” but this would create an apparent contradiction with the subsequent action of praising God. The point, in context, is that they ceased objecting to what Peter had done.

[11:18]  ⁸ tn Or “glorified.”

[11:18]  ⁹ sn Here the summary phrase for responding to the gospel is the repentance that leads to life. Note how the presence of life is tied to the presence of the Spirit (cf. John 4:7-42; 7:37-39).

[11:18]  ¹⁰ sn In the Greek text the phrase even to the Gentiles is in an emphatic position.

[11:19]  ¹¹ sn The phrase over Stephen means in connection with Stephen’s death. See Acts 8:1b-3.

[11:19]  ¹² tn Or “finally reached.” The translations “went as far as” and “finally reached” for διῆλθον (dihlqon) in this verse are given in L&N 15.17.

[11:19]  ¹³ sn Phoenicia was an area along the Mediterranean coast north of Palestine.

[11:19]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “and Cyprus,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[11:19]  sn Cyprus was a large island in the Mediterranean off the south coast of Asia Minor.

[11:19]  ¹⁵ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). This was probably the third largest city in the Greco-Roman world (Alexandria in Egypt was the second largest, and Rome the largest) and was the seat of government in Syria. Five miles away was a major temple to Artemis, Apollo, and Astarte, major pagan deities.

[11:19]  map For location see JP1 F2; JP2 F2; JP3 F2; JP4 F2.

[11:19]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “word.”

[11:20]  ¹⁷ sn Cyprus was a large island in the Mediterranean off the south coast of Asia Minor.

[11:20]  ¹⁸ sn Cyrene was a city on the northern African coast west of Egypt.

[11:20]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “among them, coming to Antioch began to speak.” The participle ἐλθόντες (elqonte") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[11:20]  ²⁰ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19.

[11:20]  ²¹ sn The statement that some men from Cyprus and Cyrene…began to speak to the Greeks shows that Peter’s experience of reaching out to the Gentiles was not unique.

[11:21]  ²² tn Grk “And the.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[11:21]  ²³ tn The participle πιστεύσας (pisteusa") is articular and thus cannot be adverbial. It is adjectival, modifying ἀριθμός (ariqmo"), but has been translated into English as a relative clause (“who believed”).

[11:21]  ²⁴ sn Again, the expression turned is a summary term for responding to the gospel.

[11:22]  ²⁵ tn Grk “Word.”

[11:22]  ²⁶ tn Grk “was heard in the ears,” an idiom. L&N 24.67 states that the idiom means “to hear in secret” (which it certainly does in Matt 10:27), but secrecy does not seem to be part of the context here, and there is no particular reason to suggest the report was made in secret.

[11:22]  ²⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[11:22]  ²⁸ tc ‡ Most mss read the infinitive “to travel” after “Barnabas.” διελθεῖν (dielqein) is found before ἕως (Jews) in D E Ψ 33 Ï and some versional mss. It is lacking in Ì⁷⁴ א A B 81 1739 pc and some versional mss. Although the infinitive with ἕως fits Lukan style, it has the appearance of a scribal clarification. The infinitive has the earmarks of a Western expansion on the text and thus is unlikely to be original. NA²⁷ has the infinitive in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

[11:22]  ²⁹ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19. Again the Jerusalem church exercised an oversight role.

[11:23]  ³⁰ tn Grk “Antioch, who when.” The relative pronoun was omitted and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek.

[11:23]  ³¹ tn BDAG 883 s.v. προσμένω 1.a.β has “remain true to the Lord” for προσμένειν (prosmenein) in this verse.

[11:23]  sn He…encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord. The call to faithfulness is frequent in Acts (2:40; 14:22; 15:32; 16:39; 20:1-2).

[11:23]  ³² tn Grk “with purpose of heart”; BDAG 869 s.v. πρόθεσις 2.a translates this phrase “purpose of heart, i.e. devotion” here.

[11:24]  ³³ tn Grk “a significant crowd.”

[11:26]  ³⁴ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19.

[11:26]  ³⁵ tn Grk “So it happened that” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[11:26]  ³⁶ tn Grk “year they”; the referents (Barnabas and Saul) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:26]  ³⁷ tn Grk “a significant crowd.”

[11:26]  ³⁸ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19.

[11:26]  ³⁹ sn The term Christians appears only here, in Acts 26:28, and 1 Pet 4:16 in the NT.