Luke now leaves the “acts of Peter” for the time being. He will return to them again in chapter 12, after which, except for a brief reappearance in chapter 15, Peter passes out of the narrative and Paul becomes the focus of attention. The author’s purpose in these present chapters (8 to 12) is both to tell the story of the church’s early expansion (exemplified by certain carefully selected events) and at the same time to prepare the ground for the story of the Pauline mission. Thus he has given an account of the conversion of Paul and of the preaching to Cornelius that demonstrated the legitimacy of Paul’s later work. And now he tells of the founding of the church in Antioch, which became the springboard of that great missionary thrust into the Roman Empire.

Again we must acknowledge tha…