Acts 11
11
Peter’s Explanation to the Jerusalem Church
1 Now the apostles and the brothers who were in every part of Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision* began to contend with him, 3 saying, “You went to uncircumcised men* and ate with them.” 4 But Peter began and explained it to them sequentially, saying, 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, a certain vessel like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came to me. 6 Gazing intently at it, I was observing it, and I saw the quadrupeds* of the earth and the wild animals and the reptiles and the birds of the sky. 7 And I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘Absolutely not, Lord. For nothing common or unclean has ever entered into my mouth.’ 9 But the voice replied a second time from heaven, ‘What God has cleansed, do not regard as profane.’ 10 And this occurred three times, and everything was taken up into heaven again. 11 And behold, immediately, three men who had been sent from Caesarea to me were present at the house in which we were. 12 And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no discrimination.* So these six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 And he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and invite Simon, who is called Peter, 14 who will speak to you words by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as also on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he would often say, ‘John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 Therefore, if God has given them the same gift as also to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to prevent God?” 18 And having heard these things, they became silent and glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted the repentance resulting in life.”
The Church in Antioch
19 Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution that occurred over Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one, except to Jews. 20 But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, having come to Antioch, began to speak to the Hellenists also, preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 And the report concerning them came to the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas as far as Antioch, 23 who, having come and seen the grace of God, rejoiced, and was encouraging them all to remain loyal to the Lord with single-minded commitment;* 24 for he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great number were added to the Lord. 25 So he went to Tarsus to search for Saul. 26 And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it occurred that for a whole year they gathered together with the church, and taught a great number of people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.
27 Now in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 And one of them, Agabus by name, stood up, and signified by the Spirit that there would be a great famine all over the inhabited world—which took place in the time of Claudius— 29 So the disciples determined, each one of them, according to his resources, to send relief for support to the brothers who lived in Judea, 30 which they also did, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
Notes
3 Greek men, uncircumcision
12 Or without hesitation
23 Greek purpose of the heart
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Copyright © 2026 Michael Adeyemi Adegbola. This Scripture text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
