Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Acts: Chapter 11]
who already had the seal of God upon him. The hour and the man
met when Barnabas brought Saul to Antioch. The door was open and
the man was ready, far more ready than when Jesus called him on
the road to Damascus. The years in Cilicia and Syria were not
wasted for they had not been idle. If we only knew the facts, it
is probable that Saul also had been preaching to Hellenes as well
as to Hellenists. Jesus had definitely called him to work among
the Gentiles (9:15). In his own way he had come to the same
place that Peter reached in Caesarea and that Barnabas now holds
in Antioch. God always has a man prepared for a great emergency
in the kingdom. The call of Barnabas was simply the repetition of
the call of Christ. So Saul came.
11:26 {Even for a whole year} (\kai eniauton holon\). Accusative
of extent of time, probably the year A.D. 44, the year preceding
the visit to Jerusalem (11:30), the year of the famine. The
preceding years with Tarsus as headquarters covered A.D. 37 (39)
to 44. {They were gathered together with the church}
(\sunachth•nai en t•i ekkl•si•i\). First aorist passive
infinitive of \sunag•\, old verb, probably here to meet together
as in Mt 28:12. In Ac 14:27 the verb is used of gathering
together the church, but here \en t•i ekkl•si•i\ excludes that
idea. Barnabas met together "in the church" (note first use of
the word for the disciples at Antioch). This peculiar phrase
accents the leadership and co-operation of Barnabas and Saul in
teaching (\didaxai\, first aorist active infinitive) much people.
Both infinitives are in the nominative case, the subject of
\egeneto\ (it came to pass). {And that the disciples were called
Christians first in Antioch} (\chr•matisai te pr•t•s en
Antiochei•i tous math•tas Christianous\). This first active
infinitive \chr•matisai\ is also a subject of \egeneto\ and is
added as a separate item by the use of \te\ rather than \kai\.
For the word itself in the sense of divine command see on ¯Mt
2:12,22; Lu 2:26; Ac 10:22. Here and in Ro 7:3 it means to be
called or named (assuming a name from one's business, \chr•ma\,
from \chraomai\, to use or to do business). Polybius uses it in
this sense as here. \Tous math•tas\ (the disciples) is in the
accusative of general reference with the infinitive.
\Christianous\ (Christians) is simply predicate accusative. This
word is made after the pattern of \Herodianus\ (Mt 22:16,
\Her•idianoi\, followers of Herod), \Caesarianus\, a follower of
Caesar (Deissmann, _Light from the Ancient East_, p. 377, gives
papyri examples of the genitive \Kaisaros\ meaning also
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