Long before Paul began his extraordinary mission to the Gentiles, divine providence had already sown the seeds of a new, universal church. Through a series of pivotal events—each more radical than the last—the early Christian movement broke through the ethnic and ritual barriers of Judaism, opening the way for all nations to receive the gospel. From the half-Jewish Samaritans to uncircumcised Gentiles like Cornelius, and ultimately to the founding of the vibrant church at Antioch, the early church’s centrifugal momentum toward the Gentile world reveals the Spirit’s orchestration of history in the service of redemption.
The Samaritan Awakening and the Rise of Simony
Though the apostle Paul would become the foremost ambassador to the Gentiles, the Spirit of God began laying the groundwork before his commission. The first breach in the wall of ethnic exclusivity came through the Samaritans—despised as half-breeds and religious adversaries by the Jews. Under the bold preaching and baptismal ministry of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven deacons ordained in Jerusalem, the Samaritans received the word with eagerness and faith. Their inclusion in the Christian fold was not merely strategic but prophetic, fulfilling the very trajectory Christ hinted at during His profound dialogue with the woman at Jacob’s well (John 4).
To confirm this unprecedented development, the apostles Peter and John journeyed to Samaria, laying their hands upon the new converts and invoking the Holy Spirit. Yet, amidst this spiritual harvest, the church faced its first major internal threat: Simon Magus, a figure of sorcery and deceit. Simon, dazzled by the apostolic miracles, sought to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit with money—a brazen attempt to commercialize divine grace. Peter’s stern rebuke of Simon’s wicked ambition—”May your silver perish with you!”—not only defended the sanctity of the apostolic gift but birthed the term simony, which would later be used to condemn the corrupt sale of ecclesiastical offices throughout church history.
In the eyes of the early Church Fathers, the confrontation between Peter and Simon was emblematic of the perennial conflict between apostolic orthodoxy and heretical distortion. Some even allegorized this clash as the archetypal battle between truth and falsehood, between the purity of the gospel and the seduction of counterfeit spirituality.
The Baptism of Cornelius and Peter’s Revelation
A few years later, between AD 37 and 40, another event shattered the boundaries of Jewish exclusivism. Cornelius, a Roman centurion stationed in Caesarea and a “God-fearing” Gentile who reverenced Israel’s God, received a divine vision instructing him to send for Peter. At the same time, Peter himself was given a heavenly vision that would dismantle his Jewish scruples concerning clean and unclean. These revelations converged in a moment of transcendent significance: Peter baptized Cornelius and his household into the Christian faith, bypassing the rite of circumcision entirely.
This was no small matter. For many of the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem, circumcision was not merely cultural—it was salvific. To receive a Gentile without demanding his entry into the Abrahamic covenant was, to them, an affront to God’s established order. Peter, therefore, was compelled to defend his actions before the assembly in Jerusalem. His testimony, however, was not a mere retelling of facts but a theologically framed defense, carefully adapted to address the deeply rooted concerns of his Jewish brethren. As Dean Howson aptly observed in his commentary (in Schaff’s International Commentary, vol. II), Peter’s account in Acts 11 reveals not only historical detail but rhetorical and pastoral sensitivity.
More than that, the event marked a personal transformation in Peter himself. Having once recoiled at the idea of unclean foods and peoples, he now stood as the bridge between Jewish-Christian tradition and a broader Gentile mission. Through this encounter, Peter experienced his own emancipation from the legalism of his past—a theological breakthrough with implications for the entire trajectory of the early Church.
The Church at Antioch: Birthplace of Christian Identity
Even more consequential for the Gentile mission was the rise of the church in Antioch, the bustling capital of Roman Syria. Founded through the efforts of Hellenistic believers—chiefly Barnabas of Cyprus and the newly arrived Paul of Tarsus—this diverse congregation embodied the fusion of Jewish and Gentile believers in a way unprecedented up to that point. Whereas Jerusalem stood as the mother of Jewish Christianity, Antioch would become the cradle of the Gentile church, the launching point for Paul’s missionary journeys, and a new spiritual center of gravity in Christian history.
It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christians” (Acts 11:26), a name that transcended ethnic and cultural boundaries. Far from being a derogatory term, the name encapsulated the essence of their identity: followers of the Messiah, the Anointed One—prophet, priest, and king. As the title spread beyond Antioch, it came to designate a people defined not by race or law but by their allegiance to the crucified and risen Christ.
Before this term gained currency, early believers had been known by other names, each rich with theological meaning. They were disciples, acknowledging Christ as the supreme Teacher; believers, highlighting their trust in His redemptive work; brethren, affirming their shared status as members of the redeemed family of God; and saints, consecrated to holy service and divine calling. The emergence of the name “Christian,” however, signaled a new chapter—a self-understanding that embraced both unity in Christ and a mission to the world.
