Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 11-13.

I have always assumed that the Believers who went to Antioch and began converting Gentiles did so after Peter had baptized Cornelius because it comes after that in Luke’s account.  However, as I was reading today it occurred to me that the way Luke writes this it could have happened before Peter went to Cornelius’ house.  In any case, it is probable that news of these conversions reached Jerusalem after Peter spoke with the other Believers about what had happened at Cornelius’ house.  I am not sure that there is any significance to that timing, just something I noticed.

Of greater note is what happened in Pisidian Antioch.  When Paul and Barnabas visited the synagogue there they were invited to speak.  From Paul’s introduction his remarks it becomes clear that the Jews there were receptive to Gentile converts.  In addition, those leading the synagogue were initially very receptive to the message preached by Paul and Barnabas.  However, when word spread more widely among the Gentiles than any proselytizing they themselves had previously done, they became jealous.  When they saw how excited the people of the city were to hear what Paul and Barnabas had to say they went from being receptive to their message to trying to counter it.  It reminds me of something which happens all too often in the Church today.  When an energetic, enthusiastic speaker from out of town generates excitement for the Gospel message in ways which the local Church has worked for years to produce, rather than embrace the new enthusiasm all too often we highlight what the new comers get wrong…even if we have to stretch the point to do so.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.