Acts 11:30

The church leaders chose Barnabas and Saul to carry the gift to Jerusalem. There they gave it to the "elders" (Gr. presbyteroi). This is the first use of that word in Acts. It can refer to older men chronologically (cf. 1 Timothy 5:1) or to officers in the church (Titus 1:5). Probably the latter meaning is in view here since official leaders would probably have been responsible to distribute the gift. Evidently the apostles had set up elders as they had "the Seven" to facilitate the ministry there. Elders were common in Jewish synagogue worship where they served as overseers. As time passed, this organizational structure became normal in Christian churches as well.

The visit to which Luke referred here probably took place about A.D. 46 when Judea suffered from a severe famine. [Note: Josephus, Antiquities of . . ., 3:15:3; 20:2:5; 20:5:2.] This so-called famine visit to Jerusalem is probably the one Paul referred to in Galatians 2:1-10. [Note: Bruce, Commentary on . . ., p. 244; Marshall, The Acts . . ., p. 205; Longenecker, p. 405; Neil, p. 146; Witherington, p. 375.]

As the Jerusalem church had ministered to the church in Antioch by providing leadership and teaching, the Antioch church now was able to minister to the Jerusalem church with financial aid (cf. Galatians 6:6). Luke probably included this reference to this relief to illustrate, among other things, the strength of the Gentile church outside Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria.

"The summary of the establishment of the church in Antioch presents an important new development, both geographically and ethnically. The gospel reaches a major city of the empire and finds a ready response from people of Greek culture, including Gentiles. The narrator pulls together threads from the preceding narrative, especially chapters 2 and 8, and weaves them into a tapestry to describe the new phase of the mission." [Note: Tannehill, 2:146.]