Literary Context

• 1:1-3 – Prologue

• 1:4-5:42 – The Witness to the Jews in Jerusalem 

• 6:1-11:30 – The Wider Witness
  • 6:1-7 – The Selection of the Servants and the Advancement of the Word
  • 6:8-7:53 – The Arrest and Preaching of Stephen
  • 7:54-8:3 – The Stoning of Stephen and the Persecution of the Church
  • 8:4-40 – The Preaching of the Persecuted Believers in Samaria and Beyond
  • 9:1-31 – The Conversion of Saul
  • 9:32-11:18 – Peter Joins the Wider Witness
  • 11:19-30 – The Beginning of the Church in Antioch
    • 11:19-21 – The Church Born
    • 11:22-24 – The Church Encouraged
    • 11:25-26 – The Church Matures
    • 11:27-30 – The Church Gives
• 12:1-25 – The Transition from the Witness of Peter to Paul

• 13:1-15:35 – The First Journey of Paul

• 15:36-18:22 – The Second Journey of Paul

• 18:23-21:16 – The Third Journey of Paul

• 21:17-26:32 – The Witness of Paul in Jerusalem and Beyond

• 27:1-28:31 – The Witness of Paul in Rome Unhindered

The Literary Setting of Acts 11:25-26

Acts 11:25-26 is a smaller section of the sub-narrative chronicling the beginning and maturity of the Antiochian Church. This sub-narrative is itself a part of a section of narrative in which the Church’s witnesses spread to a broader audience than the Jews in Jerusalem. This church is significant in Acts because it became the first church reportedly to have a membership constituted by both Jewish and Greek believers (v. 21) and is where an even broader mission to the “ends of the earth” originated (13:1-3). Therefore, this passage bears application to the church today primarily by providing an example of the significance of the public teaching ministry in the life, growth, and ministry of a local congregation.