THE BEGINNINGS OF GENTILE MINISTRY

Peter

We see Peter busily engaged in an itinerant ministry of visitation among the scattered christian communities of Judea. His "parish" includes territory much of which is Semi-Gentile. We thus note the broadening range of the gospel message. Suddenly, we observe a dramatic change: the time has arrived for the gospel to cross the barrier separating Jews from Gentiles and to be openly proclaimed to the Gentiles.

Pride and prejudice are reduced not by massive bombardment but by the gentile moving of the Holy Spirit. Melted hearts are the product of the Spirit's work. As a result of this lesson, we will become more conscious of God's working in and through people to build His kingdom. Study Acts 9:32-11:18.]

Peter may or may not (11:20) have been the first to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. Of this we may be sure: he is the first whom God uses to confirm to the Jerusalem church the fact that the Lord saves Gentiles without the cultic requirements of the Judaic faith. Such a fact would open the church's spiritual eye to a new understanding of the Old Testament as it was proclaimed by Christ Himself. He had challenged His hearers to recognize that He had come to fulfill the Law (Mtt 5:17).

When the church recognizes the genuineness of Cornelius' conversion (11:18), it begins the task of gaining a new understanding of the Old Testament and it owns identity as a Christian community. The foundation had been laid by the Lord Himself (Matt 5:17-47; Mark 7:1-23; John 7:19-24).

Antioch

In the first seven chapters of Acts we observe that the church had not been established except in Jerusalem. The persecution initiated by Saul after Stepehen's death had scattered the church to various places. Philip, for example, found himself in Samaria (8:25).

Located 300 mils (500km) north of Jerusalem, the city of Antioch was to become the church's base of operations for missionary activity to the gentile world. With a population of approximately 500,000, Antioch ranked as the third largest city in the ancient world. F. F. Bruce observes that only Rome and Alexandria were larger, and that all three had large Jewish communities.

Antioch was truly a cosmopolitan city. Here Hew and Gentile, Greek and barbarian rubbed shoulders. And as Bruce notes, it was strategically located, a place where Mediterranean civilization met the Syrian desert. It was the cosmopolitan (universal and progressive) character of Antioch which made racial and religious differences so much less important than they would have been in Jerusalem.

Teeming with a diverse population, situated in a river valley surrounded by mountains, possessing the ancient world's best water supply, Antioch was also known for its moral filth. In a city and setting such as this, the gospel takes its greatest leap forward. The early church initially saw itself as the fulfillment and continuation of Judaism. Repentance, faith in Christ, and water baptism had only been added to the requirements for relationship with God. It took Peter's experience at the house of Cornelius to shatter the narrow sectarian theology of the Jerusalem church.

Conclusion

The first growth Jerusalem occured at Samaria when multitudes believed (8:6,12). An Ethiopian eunuch (8:26-40) and Saul (9:1-18) were individuals added to the church. Ater the persecution of Saul, the church multiplied through out all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria (9:31)