Syrian Antioch - Springboard For Expansion

by George Prasher, Manchester, England | Category: New Testament Churches Of God | May 1999

From the thirteenth chapter of his graphic account of apostolic activities, Luke gives prominence to far-reaching developments based on the Church of God in Antioch.

Let the location of this city be clear. Situated on the Orontes River, about 350 miles north of Jerusalem it was the capital of the Roman province of Syria; not to be confused with 'Antioch of Pisidia' (Acts 13:14). Syrian Antioch was a celebrated city, with the third largest population in the Roman Empire and having many magnificent temples and other buildings; it was also a thriving centre of communications, commerce and culture.

An early link with the Church of God in Jerusalem is the reference in Acts 6:5 to 'Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch'. He was evidently a Gentile who had related to the Jewish faith and later came to saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Was he among the 3,000 who believed and were baptized on the Day of Pentecost? Whether or not, as he was one of the seven men chosen to organize the distribution of relief to widows in the Jerusalem Church, he must have been a person 'of good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom' (Acts 6:3). Possibly he returned to Antioch and helped to establish a Church of God there; but Scripture gives no detail about the Church in Antioch until Acts chapter eleven.

In this chapter we read that disciples scattered by persecution from Jerusalem travelled as far as Antioch, but spoke the word only to Jewish people, until they were joined by other disciples who belonged to Cyprus and to Cyrene in North Africa. When they arrived in Antioch they began to preach Christ to Gentiles as well as Jews. Luke records the remarkable response: 'And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number that believed turned unto the Lord' (v.21). The record in Acts continually impresses on us the sense of unity and fellowship between churches of God as the work expanded. The evangelists in Antioch were no 'free-lance' preachers. They kept contact with their brethren in Jerusalem who sent Barnabas to Antioch as their representative. 'He was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith' (v.24). Barnabas was a Cypriot by race so would doubtless relate well to fellow - Cypriot believers who were sharing in the work among the Gentiles in Antioch. He had the confidence of the leaders both in Jerusalem and in Antioch, so helped to forge strong links of fellowship between the churches of God in those cities,

Verse 23 of Acts chapter 11 delightfully describes what Barnabas found in Antioch and his ministry there:

Who, when he was come, and had seen the grace of God, was glad; and he exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.

Let us all take that exhortation to our own hearts today, for within and around us there are powerful influences to draw us away from Christ. To see the effect of God's grace in Christian lives is always reassuring, and this would helpfully confirm to Barnabas the genuineness of the new Gentile converts in Antioch.

Barnabas was a man of vision. He saw in the great city of Antioch, with its international communications, an excellent advance base for the further spread of the gospel. The possibilities were great. He decided first to go to Tarsus to find Saul and encourage him to come and share in the work of the Antioch Church. Saul was ideally suited to the situation in Antioch. Although Jewish by race, and deeply taught in the faith of his fathers, he had grown up under the influence of both Greek and Roman cultures, so he understood the outlook of many different peoples. How remarkably God prepares His men for the time and place of special opportunity!

Luke makes an interesting comment in Acts 11:26: '...the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch'. Why so, we wonder? Perhaps because they were marked out by their character and way of life in contrast to the general permissiveness of that society. Many of the populace would doubtless ridicule them, and they would readily be labelled by some name. But if the name was given in this spirit of mockery it was adopted by believers as identifying them honourably with their Lord. Peter wrote that 'if a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name' (1 Pet. 4:16). Today of course the term 'Christian' is sometimes wrongly applied to anyone who happens to belong to a nominally Christian country. It really applies only to those who are truly Christ's through faith in Him.

The Church of God in Antioch had become strong, with an excellent and spiritually gifted leadership, including prophets, evangelists and teachers (Acts 13:1). A deep concern developed for further outreach with the message of redeeming love. Antioch was a cosmopolitan city in which trade and commerce flourished, so that the spiritual needs of other areas would be well known. They were fired with the vision of an expanding Fellowship comprising many churches of God in which believers would serve God and become beacons of light in a desperately dark world. Saul was personally zealous to fulfil his commission from the Lord to 'preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ' (Eph. 3:8).

It was in God's overruling wisdom that the great outreach to the Gentile world in apostolic times should be based on Antioch. There Jew and Gentile disciples worked together harmoniously, leaving behind racial tensions of the past. The Jewish Christians there were not inhibited from associating with Gentiles, as were those from Jerusalem. Their mental horizons were wider, enabling them to enter wholeheartedly into a plan to carry the good news to all nations. They went about the task in wise dependence on the Lord. They prayed and fasted as they waited for His assurance and guidance. It was then that the Holy Spirit said, 'Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away' (13:2,3).

Antioch became the base Church of God from which extensive missionary enterprises were undertaken by Paul and his companions. Those enterprises were to result in the establishment of many other churches of God in the Roman world, and next month (DV) we shall think about one of them, the Church of God in the great Mediterranean port of Corinth.

George Prasher, Manchester, England | May 1999
New Testament Churches Of God