During this retirement of Saul to his native home, the first great
call of the Gentiles had been made through the summons of Simon Peter
to Cornelius. There was manifest wisdom in this arrangement of events.
Though the original apostles were plainly never intended, by providence,
to labor to any great extent in the Gentile field, yet it was most
manifestly proper that the first opening of this new field should be
made by those directly and personally commissioned by Jesus himself,
and who, from having enjoyed his bodily presence for so long a time,
would be considered best qualified to judge of the propriety of
a movement so novel and unprecedented in its character. The great
apostolic chief was therefore made the first minister of grace to
the Gentiles; and the violent opposition with which this innovation
on Judaical sanctity was received by the more bigoted, could of course
be much more efficiently met, and disarmed, by the apostle specially
commissioned as the keeper of the keys of the heavenly kingdom,
than by one who had been but lately a persecutor of the faithful,
and who, by his birth and partial education in a Grecian city, had
acquired such a familiarity with Gentile usages, as to be reasonably
liable to suspicion, in regard to an innovation which so remarkably
favored them. This great movement having been thus made by the
highest Christian authority on earth,――and the controversy immediately
resulting having been thus decided,――the way was now fully open for the
complete extension of the gospel to the heathen, and Saul was therefore
immediately called, in providence, from his retirement, to take up the
work of evangelizing Syria, which had already been partially begun at
Antioch, by some of the Hellenistic refugees from the persecution at
the time of Stephen’s martyrdom. The apostles at Jerusalem, hearing of
the success which attended these incidental efforts, dispatched their
trusty brother Barnabas, to confirm the good work, under the direct
commission of apostolic authority. He, having come to Antioch, rejoiced
his heart with the sight of the success which had crowned the work
of those who, in the midst of the personal distress of a malignant
persecution, that had driven them from Jerusalem, had there sown a seed
that was already bringing forth glorious fruits. Perceiving the immense
importance of the field there opened, he immediately felt the want of
some person of different qualifications from the original apostles,
and one whose education and habits would fit him not only to labor
among the professors of the Jewish faith, but also to communicate
the doctrines of Christ to the Grecians. In this crisis he bethought
himself of the wonderful young convert with whom he had become
acquainted, under such remarkable circumstances, a few years before,
in Jerusalem,――whose daring zeal and masterly learning had been so
signally manifested among the Hellenists, with whom he had formerly
been associated as an equally active persecutor. Inspired both by
considerations of personal regard, and by wise convictions of the
peculiar fitness of this zealous disciple for the field now opened in
Syria, Barnabas immediately left his apostolic charge at Antioch, and
went over to Tarsus, to invite Saul to this great labor. The journey
was but a short one, the distance by water being not more than one
hundred miles, and by land, around through the “Syrian gates,” about
one hundred and fifty. He therefore soon arrived at Saul’s home, and
found him ready and willing to undertake the proposed apostolic duty.
They immediately returned together to Antioch, and earnestly devoted
themselves to their interesting labors.
“_Antioch_, the metropolis of Syria, was built, according to
some authors, by Antiochus Epiphanes; others affirm, by Seleucus
Nicanor, the first king of Syria after Alexander the Great, in
memory of his father Antiochus, and was the ‘royal seat of the
kings of Syria.’ For power and dignity, Strabo, (lib. xvi. p.
517,) says it was not much inferior to Seleucia, or Alexandria.
Josephus, (lib. iii. cap. 3,) says, it was the third great city
of all that belonged to the Roman provinces. It was frequently
called Antiochia Epidaphne, from its neighborhood to Daphne,
a village where the temple of Daphne stood, to distinguish it
from other fourteen of the same name mentioned by Stephanus
de Urbibus, and by Eustathius in Dionysius p. 170; or as
Appianus (in Syriacis,) and others, sixteen cities in Syria,
and elsewhere, which bore that name. It was celebrated among the
Jews for ‘Jus civitatis,’ which Seleucus Nicanor had given them
in that city with the Grecians and Macedonians, and which, says
Josephus, they still retain, Antiquities, lib. xii. cap. 13;
and for the wars of the Maccabeans with those kings. Among
Christians, for being the place where they first received that
name, and where Saul and Barnabas began their apostolic labors
together. In the flourishing times of the Roman empire, it was
the ordinary residence of the prefect or governor of the eastern
provinces, and also honored with the residence of many of the
Roman emperors, especially of Verus and Valens, who spent here
the greatest part of their time. It lay on both sides of the
river Orontes, about twelve miles from the Mediterranean sea.”
(Wells’s Geography New Testament――Whitby’s Table.) (J. M.
Williams’s Notes on Pearson’s _Annales Paulinae_.)
Having arrived at Antioch, Saul gave himself, with Barnabas, zealously
to the work for which he had been summoned, and labored among the
people to good purpose, assembling the church and imparting to all that
would hear, the knowledge of the Christian doctrine. Under these active
exertions the professors of the faith of Jesus became so numerous and
so generally known in Antioch, that the heathen inhabitants found it
convenient to designate them by a distinct appellation, which they
derived from the great founder and object of their religion,――calling
them _Christians_, because the heathen inhabitants of Syria were not
acquainted with the terms, “Nazarene” and “Galilean,” which had been
applied to the followers of Christ by the Jews, partly from the places
where they first appeared, and partly in opprobium for their low
provincial origin.
The name now first created by the Syrians to distinguish the
sect, is remarkable, because being derived from a Greek word,
_Christos_, it has a Latin adjective termination, Christ_ianus_,
and is therefore incontestably shown to have been applied by
the Roman inhabitants of Antioch; for no Grecian would ever
have been guilty of such a barbarism, in the derivation of one
word from another in his own language. The proper Greek form of
the derivation would have been _Christicos_, or _Christenos_,
and the substantive would have been, not Christianity, but
_Christicism_, or _Christenism_,――a word so awkward in sound,
however, that it is very well for all Christendom, that the
Roman barbarism took the place of the pure Greek termination.
And since the Latin form of the first derivative has prevailed,
and Christi_an_ thus been made the name of “a believer
in Christ,” it is evident to any classical scholar, that
Christian_ity_ is the only proper form of the substantive
secondarily derived. For though the appending of a Latin
termination upon a Greek word, as in the case of Christ_ianus_,
was unquestionably a blunder and a barbarism in the first place,
it yet can not compare, for absurdity, with the notion of
deriving from this Latin form, the substantive Christian_ismus_,
with a Greek termination foolishly pinned to a Latin one,――a
folly of which the French are nevertheless guilty. The error,
of course, can not now be corrected in that language; but those
who stupidly copy the barbarism from them, and try to introduce
the monstrous word, ChristianISM, into English, deserve the
reprobation of every man of taste.
“Before this they were called ‘disciples,’ as in this
place――‘believers,’ Acts v. 14――‘men of the church,’ Acts
xii. 1――‘men of the way,’ Acts ix. 2――‘the saints,’ Acts ix.
13――‘those that called on the name of Christ,’ verse 14――and
by their enemies, Nazarenes and Galileans, and ‘men of the
sect;’――but now, by the conversion of so many heathens, both in
Caesarea and Antioch, the believing Jews and Gentiles being made
all one church, this new name was given them, as more expressive
of their common relation to their Master, Christ. Whitby
slightly alludes to the prophecy, Isaiah lxv.” (J. M. Williams’s
Notes on Pearson.)
While Saul was thus effectually laboring in Antioch, there came down to
that city, from Jerusalem, certain persons, indued with the spirit of
prophecy, among whom was one, named Agabus, who, under the influence of
inspiration, made known that there would be a great famine throughout
the world;――a prediction which was verified by the actual occurrence of
this calamity in the days of Claudius Caesar, during whose reign,――as
appears on the impartial testimony of the historians of those times,
both Roman and Jewish,――the Roman empire suffered at different periods
in all its parts, from the capital to Jerusalem,――and at this latter
city, more especially, in the sixth year of Claudius, (A. D. 46,)
as is testified by Josephus, who narrates very particularly some
circumstances connected with the prevalence of this famine in Jerusalem.
The disciples at Antioch, availing themselves of this information,
determined to send relief to their brethren in Judea, before the famine
should come on; and having contributed, each one according to his
ability, they made Barnabas and Saul the messengers of their charity,
who were accordingly dispatched to Jerusalem, on this noble errand.
They remained in Jerusalem through the period of Agrippa’s attack upon
the apostles by murdering James, and imprisoning Peter; but they do
not seem to have been any way immediately concerned in these events;
and when Peter had escaped, they returned to Antioch. How long they
remained here, is not recorded; but the date of subsequent events seems
to imply that it was a space of some years, during which they labored
at Antioch in company with several other eminent prophets and teachers,
of whom are mentioned Simeon, who had the Roman surname of Niger,
Lucius, the Cyrenian, and Manaen, a foster-brother of Herod the
tetrarch. During their common ministrations, at a season of fasting,
they received a direction from the spirit of truth which guided them,
to set apart Saul and Barnabas for the special work to which the Lord
had called them. This work was of course understood to be that for
which Saul in particular, had, at his conversion, been so remarkably
commissioned,――“to open the eyes of the GENTILES,――to turn them from
darkness to light, and from the dominion of Satan to God.” His brethren
in the ministry therefore, understanding at once the nature and object
of the summons, now specially consecrated both him and Barnabas for
their missionary work; and after fasting and praying, they invoked on
them the blessing of God, in the usual oriental form of laying their
hands on them, and then bade them farewell.
“That this famine was felt chiefly in Judea may be conjectured
with great reason from the nature of the context, for we find
that the disciples are resolving to send relief to the elders
in Judea; consequently they must have understood that those in
Judea would suffer more than themselves. Josephus declared that
this famine raged so much there, πολλῶν ὑπό ἐνδείας ἀναλωμάτων
φθειρομένων, ‘so that many perished for want of victuals.’”
“‘Throughout the whole world,’ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην, is first to
be understood, orbis terrarum habitabilis: Demosthenes in Corona,
Æschines contra Ctesiphon Scapula. Then the Roman and other
empires were styled οικουμένη, ‘the world.’ Thus Isaiah xiv.
17, 26, the counsel of God against the empire of Babylon, is
called his counsel, ἐπὶ τὴν ὅλην οἰκουμένην, ‘against all the
earth.’――(Elsley, Whitby.) Accordingly Eusebius says of this
famine, that it oppressed almost the whole _empire_. And as for
the truth of the prophecy, this dearth is recorded by historians
most averse to our religion, viz., by Suetonius in the life
of Claudius, chapter 18, who informs us that it happened ‘ob
assiduas sterilitates;’ and Dion Cassius History lib. lx. p.
146, that it was λιμὸς ἰσχυρὸς, ‘a very great famine.’ Whitby’s
Annotations, Doddridge enumerates nine famines in various years,
and parts of the empire, in the reign of Claudius; but the first
was the most severe, and affected particularly Judea, and is
that here meant.” (J. M. Williams’s notes on Pearson.)