In the church, as in most translations, is rendered “in the local church” by Moffatt, because the same type of construction appears here as was discussed in 5.17. It is important, however, in translating church not to give the impression that this is a building. In some languages it is even necessary to employ “among the believers who worshiped Jesus at Antioch.”

In the present context prophets seems to be used of persons whose duty it was to proclaim the Christian message, while teachers, a word which occurs only here in Acts, were persons who apparently had the responsibility of instructing the Christian converts in the beliefs and duties of the Christian faith. In this type of context prophets may be spoken of as “those who preached the Good News” and teachers may be “those who taught the believers.”

Black translates a Greek word brought over from Latin and means “dark complexioned” or “black” (“Niger” as used in many translations holds no meaning for the reader). Lucius (from Cyrene) should not be confused with Lucius mentioned in Romans 16.21; and there is no evidence to connect him with Luke, the author of Acts.

Who had been bought up with translates one word in Greek which is often used as a title for a boy who had been brought up as the companion of a prince (this is the basis for “foster brother” of Moffatt and Phillips); but it may have the general meaning of “intimate friend,” as is shown by its use in the papyri, and that seems to be its significance here.

A term for governor (Greek “tetrarch,” literally “ruler of a fourth part”) may simply be the same as “ruler,” unless it is necessary to specify the area over which such a person rules, in which case one may use “ruler over a province.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .