Acts 11:22-26

11:22 A report 1  about them came to the attention 2  of the church in Jerusalem, 3  and they sent Barnabas 4  to Antioch. 5  11:23 When 6  he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain true 7  to the Lord with devoted hearts, 8  11:24 because he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a significant number of people 9  were brought to the Lord. 11:25 Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to look for Saul, 11:26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. 10  So 11  for a whole year Barnabas and Saul 12  met with the church and taught a significant number of people. 13  Now it was in Antioch 14  that the disciples were first called Christians. 15 

1 tn Grk “Word.”

2 tn Grk “was heard in the ears,” an idiom. L&N 24.67 states that the idiom means “to hear in secret” (which it certainly does in Matt 10:27), but secrecy does not seem to be part of the context here, and there is no particular reason to suggest the report was made in secret.

3 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

4 tc ‡ Most mss read the infinitive “to travel” after “Barnabas.” διελθεῖν (dielqein) is found before ἕως (Jews) in D E Ψ 33 Ï and some versional mss. It is lacking in Ì74 א A B 81 1739 pc and some versional mss. Although the infinitive with ἕως fits Lukan style, it has the appearance of a scribal clarification. The infinitive has the earmarks of a Western expansion on the text and thus is unlikely to be original. NA27 has the infinitive in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

5 sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19. Again the Jerusalem church exercised an oversight role.

6 tn Grk “Antioch, who when.” The relative pronoun was omitted and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek.

7 tn BDAG 883 s.v. προσμένω 1.a.β has “remain true to the Lord” for προσμένειν (prosmenein) in this verse.

sn He…encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord. The call to faithfulness is frequent in Acts (2:40; 14:22; 15:32; 16:39; 20:1-2).

8 tn Grk “with purpose of heart”; BDAG 869 s.v. πρόθεσις 2.a translates this phrase “purpose of heart, i.e. devotion” here.

9 tn Grk “a significant crowd.”

10 sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19.

11 tn Grk “So it happened that” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

12 tn Grk “year they”; the referents (Barnabas and Saul) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

13 tn Grk “a significant crowd.”

14 sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19.

15 sn The term Christians appears only here, in Acts 26:28, and 1 Pet 4:16 in the NT.