Acts 11

Peter Explains His Actions

1The apostles and believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received God’s word. 2When Peter went up to Jerusalem, some Jewish believers there criticized him. 3They said, “You went into the house of Gentiles and ate with them.”

4So Peter told them the whole story, starting from the beginning. 5He said, “When I was in the city of Joppa, I was praying and I had a vision. I saw something that looked like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners. When it got to where I was, 6I looked inside and saw four-footed animals, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds. 7Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter, kill and eat.’

8“I replied, ‘No, Lord! I will not! Nothing that isn’t pure and clean has ever entered my mouth.’

9“But the voice spoke from heaven a second time and said, ‘Don’t say something isn’t pure if God has made it clean.’ 10This happened three times, and then the sheet was pulled back up to heaven.

11“Just then three men stopped at the house where I was staying. They’d been sent to me from Caesarea. 12The Holy Spirit told me to go without any hesitation. These six believers here went with me. When we entered the house of the man who’d sent for me, 13he told us how an angel had appeared to him and told him, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon Peter. 14He has a message to bring to you, and you and your whole family will be saved through it.’

15“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them, just as he had come on us at the beginning. 16Then I remembered the Lord’s words: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17God gave them the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. So who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

18When they heard this, they didn’t question or criticize Peter any longer. Instead, they praised God and said, “So then, God has allowed even Gentiles to turn away from their sins and find life!”

The Church in Antioch

19Some of the believers who’d been scattered by the attacks that started after Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, spreading the word among Jews. 20But other believers from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also. They told them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21The Lord’s power was with them, and large numbers of people believed and turned to the Lord.

22When the church in Jerusalem heard about this, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23-24Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. When he arrived and saw what God’s grace had done, he was very happy. He told them all to remain true to the Lord with their whole hearts. Even more people came to know the Lord.

25Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. 26When he found him, he brought him back with him to Antioch. For a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught large numbers of people. It was there at Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

27In those days some prophets came down to Antioch from Jerusalem. 28One of them, named Agabus, stood up and said through the Spirit that there would be a famine all over the world, which happened when Claudius was emperor. 29The disciples decided to send help to the brothers and sisters living in Judea. All of them gave as much as they could, 30and they sent Barnabas and Saul with their gift to the elders.

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