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doubting, being divided in decision making, or wavering between hope and fear. This is
its use here.

Act 11:13 And he shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto
him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter;

Act 11:14 Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.

Act 11:15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning.

Act 11:16 Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized
with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.

Act 11:17 Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on
the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?

All of Peter’s prejudice and religious thinking are gone at this display of the grace and
sovereignty of God concerning the Gentiles.

LEGALISM TEMPORARILY DEFEATED

Act 11:18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then
hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

Legalism is temporarily defeated in Jerusalem. Peter’s recounting of the event helps for a time,
but legalism eventually creeps back in, destroying the church and ultimately Jerusalem itself in
70 A.D. As goes the church, so goes the nation. The men at this conference are silenced
by the words of Peter. The love of God that has confronted Peter is now causing a change in
the thinking of the legalistic Jews.

THE CHURCH AT ANTIOCH (19-30)

A number of the Jews who scattered in chapter 8 have gone to Antioch to start a church. A
revival begins with such an impact that even the believers in Jerusalem three hundred miles
away hear about it. Barnabas understands the grace of God and sees that grace in operation in
the church at Antioch. He is instrumental in bringing Paul to Antioch to instruct the new
converts in the Word of God.

Prophets from Jerusalem arrive in Antioch, and Agabus prophesies about a famine coming to
Jerusalem. The saints in Antioch take up an offering from the church at Jerusalem in response
to this prophecy.

Act 11:19 Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about
Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but
unto the Jews only.

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