Acts 11:27

Now in these days there came down prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be a great famine over all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius.

Prophets ... There were an undetermined number of prophets in the first age of the church, the same ranking next in authority to the apostles themselves (1 Corinthians 12:28), presumably having come in possession of their gift through the laying on of apostolic hands. They are mentioned again by Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:28, also in Ephesians 2:20,4:11.

Agabus ... is again mentioned in Acts 21:10. The event of his prophesying the famine in the reign of Claudius is helpful in fixing the chronology of the events here narrated. "Claudius reigned from A.D. 41-54."[38] He is the only emperor to have been named twice in the New Testament, here and in Acts 18:2; the latter instance referring to his expulsion of the Jews from Rome. Lewis is of the opinion that he is also alluded to in Acts 17:7.[39]

A man of great promise at first, Claudius degenerated in office, outraging his subjects by a marriage to his own niece,[40] the shameless Agrippina, whose son Nero succeeded Claudius when the latter was poisoned, according to Tacitus, by Agrippina. The famine mentioned here which was prophesied by Agabus is also mentioned by Josephus as occurring in 44-48 A.D., during which period he relates how "Queen Helena purchased and imported grain and figs to the distressed in Jerusalem.[41]

Luke's respectful and even friendly mention of the emperor makes it certain that at the time Luke and Acts were written, there had not been any outbreak of persecution of the Christians by Rome, meaning that they were written in the early 60's, at the very latest; for the quinquennium of Nero lasted until A.D. 59.

[38] Jack P. Lewis, Historical Backgrounds of Bible History (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1971), p. 144.

[39] Ibid.

[40] Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 5, p. 781.

[41] Jack P. Lewis, op. cit., p. 144.