Slides: Acts 10-11
Slide 1
10:2
almsgiving and appreciation of Jews who knew him (10:22)
- Devotion, cultural humbling
- God’s interest in “seekers”
“God- fearer”
- Not circumcised, “righteous Gentiles”
- Attested in Josephus, Philo, inscriptions
- Cornelius not yet a full convert to Judaism (10:28)
- Soldiers interested in religion
Slide 2
Household
- Couldn’t “marry”
- “concubines” common
- centurions frequently moved
- Caesarea: troops begged not be be moved
. “relatives”: v. 24
- Wives supposed to share husband’s religion
- “House”: maybe servants or freedmen (10:7)
- cheap slave: 1/3 of regular soldier’s annual pay
- centurions: 15x pay of soldiers
10:3: c. 3 PM—Jewish evening prayer (3:1)
Slide 3
10:9-16 Peter’s Vision
- 10:9: Travel
- Caesarea: about 30 miles N. of Joppa
- Even immediately after 3 PM (10:3)
- All night on foot, or on horses (to be approaching Joppa by noon)—urgency
- Flat rooftops: drying vegetables, prayers
- If under canopy, cooler even at midday than most Palestinian homes
- Not a “regular” hour of prayer
10:10: noon was normal time for a meal in Rome
Slide 4
10:14-16: horrifying diet
10:12: clean + unclean = unclean
Cf. Ezek. 4:13-15:
- Over human dung
- Protests
Maccabees: die rather than eat unclean food
God can declare anything clean
- Incl. Gentiles (10:28)
Slide 5
10:17-23a Receiving the Gentiles
10:17: How to find Peter?
- Joppa a large town
- Simon “the tanner”: near water, tanning district
- Ask directions there
- Outer gate: a man of some means
Slide 6
10:18-22
why “Calling out”?
- Unclean can’t enter (10:28)
Role of HS (10:19; and 8:29)
Peter “went down”
- Outside staircase leading from flat roof
Slide 7
10:23a
Pharisees: concerned about impure table fellowship
Lodging Gentiles overnight!
Tanner maybe less concerned with strict rules
Also Joppa a mixed town
Problem just for stricter members (cf. 15:5)
Slide 8
10:23b extra companions: for witnesses (Deut. 17:6, 19:15).
10:24
Left around sunrise
- 30 miles
- “Following day”: stayed overnight along way (v.30)
- mixed town (perhaps Apollonia, just under ½ way)
“Relatives”
- = “countrymen”
- OR: Cornelius or his concubine local
Slide 9
10:25-26. Homage as if divine- pagans offered to others: 14:11, 28:6
10:27-29
. Devout Jews would not enter idolater’s homes
. apparently extended to any Gentile’s home
. unclean to eat their food or to drink their wine
. prevented dining together at banquets
. Gentiles thought Jews anti-social
Slide 10
10:34-43 Peter’s Message
. Ready to preach as Peter was? Get over prejudices?
. “Doing good”: “benefacting” (rulers, deities)
Jesus anointed (LK 4): model for church (Acts 2)
10:42. In most Jud., God himself is judge (& “Lord of all,” 10:36)
10:43. (prob. general sense: all prophets testify of forgiveness through God’s grace provided in time of the Messiah)
Slide 11
10:44-48 Saved Gentiles
Ready to learn from God’s own activity?
10:44. Interruption
- Common literary device
- Also in real life (interrupting speakers)
10:45-47
- Eschat. HS: for Israel only
- Most Jewish teachers: only most pious
- Same gift (v.47), “for they heard” tongues (v.46)
- Tongues always?
. Not mentioned in 8:15
. is mentioned in 19:6, + prophecy
Slide 12
10:48
- Baptism: public declaration of conversion (w/o circ.)
- Longer Gentile lodging: would compound offense/ reinforce lesson (10:28)
Slide 13
11:1-18 Called on the Carpet
God’s way (with people as priority) sometimes offends church traditions
Slide 14
11:2-3
Circ. to fully convert to Judaism
- Not necessarily to be saved- only most conservative
Natural inference from Gen 17
- Unless eschatological
Ate with ritually unclean Gentiles (10:28)
- Failed to do it in Gal. 2:42
Slide 15
11:16-17
God baptized in HS
- Eschat. Covenant reality to which outward circ. pointed
- Baptism as act of conversion
- God had accepted their conversion
11:18 “even the Gentiles”
Many: righteous Gentiles who kept Noahide laws
No one believed this made Gentiles members of covenant people
Slide 16
11:19-30 The Ministry at Antioch
Rural Galilee to urban Jerusalem to cosmopolitan Antioch
Rapid transition rare: great flexibility
Judaism had adapted to these various settings over centuries
Provided a conduit for Chr’s
Do we feel comfortable moving into new ministry settings?
Slide 17
11:19
Large Jewish communities in Phoenicia, Cyprus (4:36), and Antioch
Thus natural places to settle after 8:1-4
11:20-21
Cyprus and Cyrene
- People like Barnabas, Lucius of Cyrene
Speaking also to Hellenists:
- Vs. Jews, thus Greeks, hellenized Syrians
- Shared larger language, culture
- Hellenist Jews formed natural bridge
Slide 18
Antioch on the Orontes in Syria
- 3rd largest urban center of antiquity (after Rome and Alexandria)
- residents: 100,000-600,000
- 3rd/4th largest city in empire
- headquarters of Rome’s Syrian legion
- brief river journey to Seleucia, its Medit. port city
- religiously: within walking distance of famous cult center of Apollo
- many mystery cults: known for its pagan religious diversity
- pluralistic: upwardly mobile and usually accepted Jewish element; many “God-fearers”
- far less segregated than Alexandria
- some more liberal Diaspora Jews used best in pagan philosophy to witness
- circumcision less issue: King of Adiabene
Slide 19
11:22-24
Barnabas trusted God’s work in people (9:27, 15:37-39)
- Hillel: gentle, took Gentiles where they were at
- Paul more critical
- Example for us
11:25 Tarsus was c. 100 miles to N.
11:26
“Christians”
- Nickname here; charge in 1 P 4:16
- Analogy a political party: “Caesarians”, “Herodians”, “Pompeianians”, etc
- Antiochans known for making fun of people
- Chr’s in 2d century adopted with pride
Slide 20
11:27
Prophets:
- Greek oracles at cultic centers
- But no other prophetic movements (cf. 1 Sam 19; 2 Kgs 2, 4)
Traveling:
- Frequent mobility in antiquity
- Not “wandering prophets”
Slide 21
11:28 Famine
series of Medit. famines devastated agriculture in Claudius’ reign
high grain prices c AD 46
grain shortage in Rome c. 51: Claudius mobbed in streets
Queen Helena of Adiabene bought Egyptian grain “for large sums” (due to famine there) to help Judea (c. 45-46)
Slide 22
11:29-30
Applic,: relief efforts abroad (cf. 2 Cor 8-9)
Sacrifice: famine for Antioch too- but Jerusalem poorer)
Most Jewish relief efforts local (except Helena)
Multiprovincial organizations suspect in Empire
Prepared in advance through prophecy (cf. Gen. 41:33-36)