Apostle and Two Companions Above a Harbor TownBible World
13:3Acts 13:3
And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
At Antioch the believers ministered before the Lord with fasting, and after further fasting and prayer they laid their hands on Barnabas and Saul and sent them away to the work to which God had called them. They did this in obedience to the Holy Spirit commanding that the two be separated for that work, and those sent went forth as sent and commissioned by the Holy Spirit. The laying on of hands added no new grace or ministerial power and imparted no virtue by the act itself, but was the seal of the church upon God's work, publicly designating them to the office God had chosen and asking His blessing upon them in it. It was their solemn dedication and ordination, the beginning of their first missionary journey among the Gentiles, formally authorizing them to teach, baptize, and organize churches with full ecclesiastical authority. Their experience is recorded for churches today, teaching that those set apart after fasting and prayer and by laying on of hands receive the Holy Spirit as the sacred endowment and secret of power, and the same presence will go with all who labor with God in humble prayer and surrendered will.
Antioch Setting And Action
The setting is the work at Antioch, the metropolis of Syria, a populous center of extensive commerce that brought people of various nationalities together. It was favorably known as a resort for ease and pleasure because of its healthful situation, beautiful surroundings, wealth, culture, and refinement, yet in the days of the apostles it was a city of luxury and vice. A company of believers was formed there after disciples driven from Jerusalem by persecution traveled as far as Phenice and Cyprus and Antioch preaching the word, usually confined to Hebrew and Greek Jews found in nearly all cities. In that place the gospel was gladly received.
The church at Antioch ministered before the Lord with fasting, and after further fasting and prayer laid hands on Barnabas and Saul and sent them away to the work God had called them to. The devout prophets and teachers in the church joined in this solemn dedication through fasting and prayer and the laying on of hands. The believers laid hands on those being sent out and then commissioned them for their work.
The sending was done in obedience to the communication of God by the Holy Spirit commanding that Barnabas and Saul be separated for the work to which He had called them. Those sent went as ones sent forth by the Holy Spirit, who directed and commissioned their mission. In sincere devotion and humble, earnest prayer brought into close communion with Christ, the church heard through God's providence the call to separate them and then sent them as delegated messengers.
The act was a solemn dedication and public setting apart for their field of labor among the Gentiles. It was their ordination and the beginning of their first missionary journey. It illustrates earnest seeking of God and a solemn, prayerful commissioning for service.
Meaning Of Laying Hands
Both men had already received their commission from God himself before this ceremony. The laying on of hands added no new grace or qualification for ministerial work and conferred no immediate power to do any and all ministerial work. It imparted no power, virtue, or grace as if virtue lay in the act itself, and did not at once fit or qualify them for every kind of ministry.
It was merely the seal of the church upon the work of God, an acknowledged form of designating them to the appointed office to which God had chosen them. It publicly designated them for their appointed work, recognized their authority and divine appointment, and set the church's approval upon God's work. By laying on hands the ministers at Antioch asked God to bestow His blessing upon the apostles in their devotion to that specific work to which they had been called.
The form was significant to Jews, because a Jewish father laid his hands reverently on the heads of his children when he blessed them. The hand of one with priestly authority was laid on the head of an animal devoted to sacrifice.
Authority For Gentile Mission
The fasting, prayer, and laying on of hands at Antioch formally dedicated Barnabas and Saul to God for their special work among the Gentiles and then sent them out to it. This solemn public setting apart authorized them to teach, to baptize, and to organize churches. It publicly recognized their divine mission as messengers specially chosen by the Holy Spirit for a particular work. The ordination invested them with unquestionable authority and full ecclesiastical authority from the established church of God, placed their work above challenge, and made their ministry among the Gentiles less open to challenge.
This provision was made because in departing from Jewish exclusiveness they would be exposed to suspicion, prejudice, and jealousy. Their doctrine would be subject to the charge of heresy and their credentials as ministers of the gospel questioned by many zealous believing Jews, difficulties God foresaw and provided for. The recognition of their divine appointment was made fully known to the brethren in Jerusalem and in Antioch. The appointment marked a new and important stage and epoch in Paul's life as one separated for the gospel and called to be an apostle. He regarded this ordination as the beginning of his apostleship in the Christian church and later dated it from this event.
Pattern For Sending Workers
Antioch gives the standing pattern for commissioning gospel workers: after inquiry of God, fasting and prayer, and under the Holy Spirit's guidance and sanction together with the sanction and approval of the brethren, those set apart are commissioned by the laying on of hands and then sent to devote themselves to God's work. That setting apart is not to rest on human judgment alone, but waits for unmistakable evidence of the Holy Spirit and His manifest tokens. God's chosen ministers, in union with the church, are to decide who is fit to go, recognizing men who have proved their fitness and publicly affirming their calling before they go out to serve.
Only those who have proved their fitness are to be set apart, as a safeguard against false teachers and a means of preserving unity. The same order governs the sending of Christian workers from post to post under divine authority, with the laying on of hands and sending away to an appointed field of labor. In that appointing, the laborers themselves must know the best fields in which to work, and fathers and mothers must be consulted before the field is appointed. The home family is not to be left distressed for want of a father's judicious influence to discipline and train his children, for God does not have men ruthlessly sent to fields far away from their families. Men with families can work better where they can remain with them, while those without families can go to distant fields more conveniently.
Those truly set apart in this way have something to carry, the burden and weight of the message, and give unmistakable evidence of their calling. That evidence is a burden and yearning for souls outside the truth that will not let them be content merely to travel among the churches of believers, but drives them to strike out into new places and new ground where the truth has not been preached. There they labor on through want and privation, give full proof of ministry, convince souls, and bring out individuals or a company into the truth as fruit of labor. They do not enter into other men's labors or build on another man's foundation, while those who only think they are called are altogether too easy in doing so.
The church must therefore be careful to know the Lord has laid the burden on men before encouraging them into traveling labor, leaving them to work their way along and letting God fit them for the work through hardships, severe trials, and experience. They are not to be hurried into the field before the Lord has prepared them, lest they be spoiled and hurt by too much encouragement, and no one should be encouraged or pushed into traveling labor by human judgment. Those whose principal burden is their own support, who travel from place to place accomplishing nothing and leave the church lower instead of benefited and built up, are deceived about their calling. Those who can exhort and pray with freedom in conference meetings are needed in the church and should fill their place there rather than be urged into a vineyard work they do not understand and have no experience in.
Those whom God has not called to devote themselves entirely to teaching the truth should not throw themselves on the church as called and chosen messengers to travel from place to place or state to state unless they have a special message or special errand from God, for the churches are generally just as well off without such visiting. They can still assist in the work and do errands for the Lord, and have a duty to baptize or administer the ordinances when ministers are absent. Otherwise they should be careful of their time and labor with their hands the thing that is good to supply their own necessities, which gives better success.
Promise And Present Application
The Antioch experience stands on record for the instruction of churches today. The laying on of hands marked Barnabas and Saul as especially set apart, and the Holy Spirit given to disciples thus set apart for service is the sacred endowment and the secret of power for such workers. The same presence of the Holy Spirit, with angels working, will go with everyone who labors together with God by seeking His counsel, humbling the heart, praying much, and constantly surrendering the will to His will and guidance.
At Antioch sincere devotion and humble, earnest prayer brought the church into close communion with Christ, so that through God's providence they heard the call to separate Barnabas and Saul and then sent them as delegated messengers. What the Lord did then through them He is waiting to do today, and with even greater zeal, fervor, and measure of the Holy Spirit. Increased wickedness demands a more decided call to repentance, and the end of all things is at hand. Every one shining with present truth is to be stirred with compassion, reflect light, and do what the apostles did in telling redeeming love, while God still fits men to stand in their lot and place and sends them out.
The same pattern of prayer with fasting and the laying on of hands that sacredly sets workers apart for their duty applies to missionary physicians. Their work includes spiritual ministry and is largely spiritual, so those chosen to serve as missionary physicians are to be set apart as sacredly as ministers of the gospel are set apart. Prayer and the laying on of hands accompanied setting people apart and sending them to their work, and the laying on of hands and prayer belong to the work of the true medical missionary.
This setting apart strengthens them to remain at their assigned sanitarium and institutional work rather than leave for private practice or withdraw into private practice. It keeps any selfish motive from drawing them from duty and calls for diligent and understanding seeking of the Lord in a time of solemn responsibility. When the Lord is allowed to work upon human hearts a great and grand work is accomplished.
At Antioch the believers ministered before the Lord with fasting, and after further fasting and prayer they laid their hands on Barnabas and Saul and sent them away to the work to which God had called them. They did this in obedience to the Holy Spirit commanding that the two be separated for that work, and those sent went forth as sent and commissioned by the Holy Spirit. The laying on of hands added no new grace or ministerial power and imparted no virtue by the act itself, but was the seal of the church upon God's work, publicly designating them to the office God had chosen and asking His blessing upon them in it. It was their solemn dedication and ordination, the beginning of their first missionary journey among the Gentiles, formally authorizing them to teach, baptize, and organize churches with full ecclesiastical authority. Their experience is recorded for churches today, teaching that those set apart after fasting and prayer and by laying on of hands receive the Holy Spirit as the sacred endowment and secret of power, and the same presence will go with all who labor with God in humble prayer and surrendered will.
Antioch Setting And Action
The setting is the work at Antioch, the metropolis of Syria, a populous center of extensive commerce that brought people of various nationalities together. It was favorably known as a resort for ease and pleasure because of its healthful situation, beautiful surroundings, wealth, culture, and refinement, yet in the days of the apostles it was a city of luxury and vice. A company of believers was formed there after disciples driven from Jerusalem by persecution traveled as far as Phenice and Cyprus and Antioch preaching the word, usually confined to Hebrew and Greek Jews found in nearly all cities. In that place the gospel was gladly received.
The church at Antioch ministered before the Lord with fasting, and after further fasting and prayer laid hands on Barnabas and Saul and sent them away to the work God had called them to. The devout prophets and teachers in the church joined in this solemn dedication through fasting and prayer and the laying on of hands. The believers laid hands on those being sent out and then commissioned them for their work.
The sending was done in obedience to the communication of God by the Holy Spirit commanding that Barnabas and Saul be separated for the work to which He had called them. Those sent went as ones sent forth by the Holy Spirit, who directed and commissioned their mission. In sincere devotion and humble, earnest prayer brought into close communion with Christ, the church heard through God's providence the call to separate them and then sent them as delegated messengers.
The act was a solemn dedication and public setting apart for their field of labor among the Gentiles. It was their ordination and the beginning of their first missionary journey. It illustrates earnest seeking of God and a solemn, prayerful commissioning for service.
Meaning Of Laying Hands
Both men had already received their commission from God himself before this ceremony. The laying on of hands added no new grace or qualification for ministerial work and conferred no immediate power to do any and all ministerial work. It imparted no power, virtue, or grace as if virtue lay in the act itself, and did not at once fit or qualify them for every kind of ministry.
It was merely the seal of the church upon the work of God, an acknowledged form of designating them to the appointed office to which God had chosen them. It publicly designated them for their appointed work, recognized their authority and divine appointment, and set the church's approval upon God's work. By laying on hands the ministers at Antioch asked God to bestow His blessing upon the apostles in their devotion to that specific work to which they had been called.
The form was significant to Jews, because a Jewish father laid his hands reverently on the heads of his children when he blessed them. The hand of one with priestly authority was laid on the head of an animal devoted to sacrifice.
Authority For Gentile Mission
The fasting, prayer, and laying on of hands at Antioch formally dedicated Barnabas and Saul to God for their special work among the Gentiles and then sent them out to it. This solemn public setting apart authorized them to teach, to baptize, and to organize churches. It publicly recognized their divine mission as messengers specially chosen by the Holy Spirit for a particular work. The ordination invested them with unquestionable authority and full ecclesiastical authority from the established church of God, placed their work above challenge, and made their ministry among the Gentiles less open to challenge.
This provision was made because in departing from Jewish exclusiveness they would be exposed to suspicion, prejudice, and jealousy. Their doctrine would be subject to the charge of heresy and their credentials as ministers of the gospel questioned by many zealous believing Jews, difficulties God foresaw and provided for. The recognition of their divine appointment was made fully known to the brethren in Jerusalem and in Antioch. The appointment marked a new and important stage and epoch in Paul's life as one separated for the gospel and called to be an apostle. He regarded this ordination as the beginning of his apostleship in the Christian church and later dated it from this event.
Pattern For Sending Workers
Antioch gives the standing pattern for commissioning gospel workers: after inquiry of God, fasting and prayer, and under the Holy Spirit's guidance and sanction together with the sanction and approval of the brethren, those set apart are commissioned by the laying on of hands and then sent to devote themselves to God's work. That setting apart is not to rest on human judgment alone, but waits for unmistakable evidence of the Holy Spirit and His manifest tokens. God's chosen ministers, in union with the church, are to decide who is fit to go, recognizing men who have proved their fitness and publicly affirming their calling before they go out to serve.
Only those who have proved their fitness are to be set apart, as a safeguard against false teachers and a means of preserving unity. The same order governs the sending of Christian workers from post to post under divine authority, with the laying on of hands and sending away to an appointed field of labor. In that appointing, the laborers themselves must know the best fields in which to work, and fathers and mothers must be consulted before the field is appointed. The home family is not to be left distressed for want of a father's judicious influence to discipline and train his children, for God does not have men ruthlessly sent to fields far away from their families. Men with families can work better where they can remain with them, while those without families can go to distant fields more conveniently.
Those truly set apart in this way have something to carry, the burden and weight of the message, and give unmistakable evidence of their calling. That evidence is a burden and yearning for souls outside the truth that will not let them be content merely to travel among the churches of believers, but drives them to strike out into new places and new ground where the truth has not been preached. There they labor on through want and privation, give full proof of ministry, convince souls, and bring out individuals or a company into the truth as fruit of labor. They do not enter into other men's labors or build on another man's foundation, while those who only think they are called are altogether too easy in doing so.
The church must therefore be careful to know the Lord has laid the burden on men before encouraging them into traveling labor, leaving them to work their way along and letting God fit them for the work through hardships, severe trials, and experience. They are not to be hurried into the field before the Lord has prepared them, lest they be spoiled and hurt by too much encouragement, and no one should be encouraged or pushed into traveling labor by human judgment. Those whose principal burden is their own support, who travel from place to place accomplishing nothing and leave the church lower instead of benefited and built up, are deceived about their calling. Those who can exhort and pray with freedom in conference meetings are needed in the church and should fill their place there rather than be urged into a vineyard work they do not understand and have no experience in.
Those whom God has not called to devote themselves entirely to teaching the truth should not throw themselves on the church as called and chosen messengers to travel from place to place or state to state unless they have a special message or special errand from God, for the churches are generally just as well off without such visiting. They can still assist in the work and do errands for the Lord, and have a duty to baptize or administer the ordinances when ministers are absent. Otherwise they should be careful of their time and labor with their hands the thing that is good to supply their own necessities, which gives better success.
Promise And Present Application
The Antioch experience stands on record for the instruction of churches today. The laying on of hands marked Barnabas and Saul as especially set apart, and the Holy Spirit given to disciples thus set apart for service is the sacred endowment and the secret of power for such workers. The same presence of the Holy Spirit, with angels working, will go with everyone who labors together with God by seeking His counsel, humbling the heart, praying much, and constantly surrendering the will to His will and guidance.
At Antioch sincere devotion and humble, earnest prayer brought the church into close communion with Christ, so that through God's providence they heard the call to separate Barnabas and Saul and then sent them as delegated messengers. What the Lord did then through them He is waiting to do today, and with even greater zeal, fervor, and measure of the Holy Spirit. Increased wickedness demands a more decided call to repentance, and the end of all things is at hand. Every one shining with present truth is to be stirred with compassion, reflect light, and do what the apostles did in telling redeeming love, while God still fits men to stand in their lot and place and sends them out.
The same pattern of prayer with fasting and the laying on of hands that sacredly sets workers apart for their duty applies to missionary physicians. Their work includes spiritual ministry and is largely spiritual, so those chosen to serve as missionary physicians are to be set apart as sacredly as ministers of the gospel are set apart. Prayer and the laying on of hands accompanied setting people apart and sending them to their work, and the laying on of hands and prayer belong to the work of the true medical missionary.
This setting apart strengthens them to remain at their assigned sanitarium and institutional work rather than leave for private practice or withdraw into private practice. It keeps any selfish motive from drawing them from duty and calls for diligent and understanding seeking of the Lord in a time of solemn responsibility. When the Lord is allowed to work upon human hearts a great and grand work is accomplished.