Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 11:20

"But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus." — Acts 11:20 (ASV)

At Antioch, some of the Hellenistic Jewish Christians “began to speak to Greeks also.” Did Luke have in mind Gentiles who had no affiliation whatever with Judaism, or did he have in mind Gentiles who had some kind of relationship with Judaism—perhaps “Proselytes of the Gate,” or something like that? Usually Luke speaks of such near-proselytes as “God-fearers” (GK 4936; cf. 13:50; 16:14; 17:4, 17; 18:7). Yet judging by his evident purpose in Acts to present Paul as the first to inaugurate a deliberate policy of a direct approach to Gentiles, one should probably not view these Greeks apart from some contact with Judaism. Peter’s activity in Caesarea was indeed a direct approach to Gentiles, but it set no precedent and established no policy for such an outreach. With the merging of cultures and blurring of distinctives that was taking place in Antioch generally, perhaps even Judaism itself faced some problems in drawing a sharp line between Gentiles who had some minimal relationship with the synagogue and those who were considered near-proselytes.

Whatever their exact status, it seems fair to say that Luke did not look on the Greeks in v.20 as simply Gentiles unaffected by the influence of Judaism and that he did not view the Hellenistic Christians’ approach to them as preempting the uniqueness of Paul’s later Gentile policy. All we are told about the identity of the Jewish-Christian missioners to Antioch is that they were from Cyprus and Cyrene. Perhaps Simeon Niger and Lucius of Cyrene were two of them (cf. 13:1), though Barnabas of Cyprus was not. But Luke does say that the missioners’ proclamation of “the good news about the Lord Jesus” led to a significant response, so that “a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.” And since among that “great number” were both Jews and Gentiles, the Antioch church took on a decidedly different complexion from that of other early Christian congregations spoken of thus far. It was a mixed body of Jews and uncircumcised Gentiles meeting together for worship and fellowship in common allegiance to Jesus of Nazareth (cf. Galatians 2:12).