THE CHURCH
AT ANTIOCH
Success in any
endeavor attracts our admiration. One highly regarded book among
those pursuing excellence and success is Seven Habits of Highly
Successful People by Steven Covey. In 1998 George Barna
released a book entitled Habits of Highly Successful Churches.
It also deserves wide reading by those who pursue excellence and
success in church ministry.
In the Scriptural
record of the Apostolic church age there is one church that stands
out as a pattern of a highly successful church---the church of
Antioch.
“Now those who
were scattered after the persecution that arose about Stephen
traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the
word to no one but the Jews only. But some of them were men from
Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to
the Hellenist, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord
was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the
Lord. Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in
Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch.
When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and
encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should
continue with the Lord. For he was a good man, full of the Holy
Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the
Lord. Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. And when he
had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a
whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many
people. And the disciples were first called Christians in
Antioch.”
Acts 11:19-26
The
Church in Jerusalem was the mother church of all other churches.
This
was the church of the apostles, taught and commissioned by the
Lord Jesus Christ. It had in its membership the first
believers to be baptized into the spiritual body of Christ. It
was the church looked to for many years by all other churches for
guidance in difficult problems of belief and practice.
The church founded
at Antioch, however, had some special qualities that earned it a
place of highest honor among all the churches of history. We
speak of the church of Antioch in Syria.
Antioch
Was An Important City
When the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great was divided into four
parts, the area of Syria was assigned to Selucas Nicanor. He
built the city of Antioch on the Orontes River ten miles inland
from the Mediterranean Sea. He made it the capital of Syria, and
it became a great commercial city of some 500,000 people. It
became the 3rd largest city of the Roman Empire behind
Rome and Alexandria, Egypt.
The Church at
Antioch Became The First Integrated Church
The church at
Jerusalem did not integrate (accept Gentile believers), and after
many years had only Jews in its membership. It is true that Philip
had gone to Samaria and preached the gospel resulting in many
Samaritans placing faith in Jesus as Savior. (Acts 8) We must
remember that the Samaritans were half Jews. Their ancestors had
intermarried with the gentiles (non Jews) who had been imported by
the nation of Assyria. Philip witnessed to the Ethiopian eunuch,
but that eunuch went back to Ethiopia after his conversion. Peter
went to the house of Cornelius at Caesarea. That family became
believer, but not members of the church of Jerusalem.
The Jewish
Christians who came to Antioch were fleeing from great persecution
in Jerusalem.
Among them were “men of Cyprus and Cyrene”. Cyprus
was an island in the Mediterranean Sea and Cyrene was a province
of northern Egypt. Most Jews living in these places had come to
accept the gentiles of the Greek culture. These Jewish believers
preached the gospel to the gentiles as well as the Jews. “The
hand of the Lord was with them”,---meaning that they enjoyed
the evident favor of God as they shared the gospel of Christ with
these gentiles. We can only imagine what it was like for
believers who were personally knowledgeable of the death, burial,
and resurrection of Jesus Christ to share that message with
gentiles who had never even heard of Christ. We probably cannot
imagine the joy that these gentiles experienced when they realized
that this sacrifice of Jesus Christ made possible their salvation
from the curse of sin. “. . .And a great number believed and
turned to the Lord.” Verse 21.
Although we are
not told in specific words, we can assume that these new believers
publicly confessed their faith in Christ and were baptized as
Jesus commanded in His “Great Commission”. We do note that they
were referred to collectively as “the church” in verse26.
Believers were only added to the church membership after public
confession of faith and believer’s baptism. (Acts 2:41).
The Antioch Church
Experienced Significant Growth Without Ordained Ministers.
We are told that this large number of believers came as ”news” to
the church in Jerusalem. Without an apostle, prophet, evangelist,
or pastor-teacher, a church had been raised up in a predominately
gentile city.
Barnabas Chosen To
Minister To the Believers at Antioch.
The leaders of the church in Jerusalem knew that these new
believers would be facing distractions, temptations, and pressures
to turn away from their faith in Jesus Christ. They chose
Barnabas, “the encourager” to go and minister to them. Barnabas
turned out to be an excellent choice.
When Barnabas came
he saw the grace of God at work in the lives of these
formerly pagan gentiles. The people of Antioch were known
throughout the Roman world for their sensual, carnal, and immoral
lifestyles. Barnabas saw people whose lives had been dramatically
changed. They had not only received Jesus Christ as Savior, but
it was also evident that God had done a miraculous work in their
hearts. They had renounced the drunken and raucous revelry of
their former lives and were now living godly and wholesome lives
that pleased God and bore powerful testimony to their families and
associates.
The message of
Barnabas was an infusion of spiritual strength that added to their
invigoration. He encouraged them to “purpose in their heart
that they cling tight to the Lord Jesus”. The kind of person
Barnabas was gave validation to what he spoke with his lips. The
Scripture tells us, “…He was a good man, full of the Holy
Spirit and of faith,” (vs 24). These qualities of
Barnabas continue to serve as an example to all in church
leadership.
Barnabas Enlisted
the Teaching Ministry of Saul
Barnabas knew that even though he was gifted to motivate and
encourage that the believers needed to grow in knowledge and
understanding. This was a gift that he did not have, but he knew
someone who did. That someone was Saul of Tarsus who had returned
to the region of his boyhood where the effect of his ministry
continued to reach the ears of the Jerusalem church. (Galatians
1:21-24).
For a full year
Barnabas, the encourager, and Saul, the teacher, ministered to the
church at Antioch. During this year the church was referred to as
“a multitude”.
Believers Were
First Called Christians in Antioch
The language indicates that they were not the ones who began
calling themselves Christians but those who were unbelievers began
to refer to them as “Christians”.Previous to Antioch, believers
were referred to as
“the brethren”
(Acts 1:16; 6:3),
“the church” (Acts 2:47; 5:11; 8:1,3; 11:22),
“the multitude” or “congregation” (Acts 4:32; 6:5);
“believers in the Lord” (Acts 5:14, and
“this way” (Acts 9:2).
Antioch was the
place believers first began to be called “Christians”.
Some have thought
that unbelievers called believers Christians as a name of
reproach. This has certainly been true down through the
centuries. But what has been a name of reproach to some has been
a name of honor to true believers. Informed believers know that
“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the
name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of
those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
(Philippians 2:9-11).
Others believe
that “Christian” was simply coined to designate those people who
are followers of Christ. In the Greek language the word
“Christian” is “Christianos”. The suffix “Ianos” added to
a proper name designated “followers of or partisans of”. It was
given to religious sects, political parties, etc. We note that
the first preaching the believers in Antioch ever heard was about
“the LORD Jesus”. (11:20) Those “who believed turned to the
LORD” (ll:21). Barnabas reinforced this when he exhorted them to
remain true to the LORD. (11:23). We can assume with much
confidence that the conversations of these new believers were
filled with references to “the LORD Jesus Christ.” It would have
been the natural things for unsaved observers to refer to them as
“Christianos”,---followers or partisans of Christ”. The cause of
Christ would be sell served if unsaved observers received the same
impression of believers in our day.
The Church At
Antioch Was The First To Send Missionaries To The Gentile World.
Acts, chapter 12 is an interlude that catches us up on what is
happening at the Jerusalem church. When the story resumes
Barnabas and Saul (Paul) are praying with some prophets in the
church at Antioch and ministering to the Lord. “The Holy Spirit
spoke through one of those prophets and said, “…Now separate to
Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
(Acts 13:2). We then see the church fasting, praying, and laying
hands on Barnabas and Saul and sending them forth to the Gentile
world. We are also informed in verse 4 that they were sent forth
by the Holy Spirit. This reveals the intimate harmony that
existed between the believers of the church in Antioch and the
Holy Spirit of God. Believers should aspire to have this intimate
relationship with the Holy Spirit
The entire last
half of the book of Acts is the story of the missionary ministry
of the Apostle Paul. His name was changed to Paul at Cyprus, the
first stop on their first missionary journey. This mission
journey took Paul and Barnabas up into Asia Minor which is the
land of Turkey today. The 2nd mission journey took
them through Asia and over into Macedonia which is Eastern
Europe. After these mission journeys Paul returned to the church
at Antioch to give his report. The 3rd mission journey
was primarily an expansion of the gospel outreach established in
the first two journeys.
The gospel
ultimately made its way throughout Europe and into Britain, the
islands of the Atlantic and Pacific and on to the Americas.
Each of us who
have become a believer owe a certain amount of debt to the church
at Antioch and all who were faithful in proclaiming the gospel in
many places down through the centuries. There is a sense in which
there is a river of blood that brought the gospel to us. We can
only repay that debt by personally sharing the message of Christ
to others. We can also repay that debt by sending others where we
cannot go with our prayers and financial support.
Down through the
years I have known of several churches with “Antioch” in its
name. I felt that I would have been pleased to have been a pastor
of one of these churches. Though a church with the name Antioch
would be taken as a challenge by Satan and his hosts of demons to
see if they are worthy of that noble name, I would count it the
highest honor to serve in the most lowly areas of that church. It
is my prayer and vision that churches of today will follow the
pattern of the church of Antioch. May believers today be so
Christ-like in their behavior that they will be called
“Christians” by others, and that we will have a vision to win our
friends and family to Christ. And should the Lord tarry His
coming may future generations look back and admire the churches of
this generation.
Copyright © 2005 Thomas E Berry
Scripture quotations from NKJV unless otherwise noted
Copyright © 2008 Truth Helpers Inc.
|