Acts 13 commentary

ACTS 13 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
1 ow in the church at Antioch there were
prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called
iger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been
brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.
BAR ES, "The church that was at Antioch - See the notes on Act_11:20.
Certain prophets - See the notes on Act_11:27.
And teachers - Teachers are several times mentioned in the New Testament as an
order of ministers, 1Co_12:28-29; Eph_4:11; 2Pe_2:1. Their precise rank and duty are
not known. It is probable that those mentioned here as prophets were the same persons
as the teachers. They might discharge both offices, predicting future events, and
instructing the people.
As Barnabas - Barnabas was a preacher Act_4:35-36; Act_9:27; Act_11:22, Act_
11:26; and it is not improbable that the names “prophets and teachers” here simply
designate the preachers of the gospel.
Simeon that was called Niger - “Niger” is a Latin name meaning “black.” Why the
name was given is not known. Nothing more is known of him than is mentioned here.
Lucius of Cyrene - Cyrene was in Africa. See the notes on Mat_27:32. Lucius is
afterward mentioned as with the apostle Paul when he wrote the Epistle to the Romans,
Rev_16:21.
And Manaen - He is not mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament.
Which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch - Herod Antipas, not
Herod Agrippa. Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, Luk_3:1. The word translated here as
“which had been brought up,” σύντροφος suntrophos, denotes “one who is educated or
nourished at the same time with another.” It is not used elsewhere in the New
Testament. He might have been connected with the royal family, and, being nearly of the
same age, was educated by the father of Herod Antipas with him. He was, therefore, a
man of rank and education, and his conversion shows that the gospel was not confined
entirely in its influence to the poor.
And Saul - Saul was an apostle; and yet he is mentioned here among the “prophets
and teachers,” showing that these words denote “ministers of the gospel” in general,
without reference to any particular order or rank.
CLARKE, "Certain prophets and teachers - Προφηται και διδασκαλοι. It is

probable that these were not distinct offices; both might be vested in the same persons.
By prophets we are to understand, when the word is taken simply, persons who were
frequently inspired to predict future events, and by teachers, persons whose ordinary
office was to instruct the people in the Christian doctrine. These also, to be properly
qualified for the office, must have been endued with the influence of the Holy Spirit; for,
as but a very small portion of the Scriptures of the New Testament could have as yet
been given, it was necessary that the teachers should derive much of their own teaching
by immediate revelation from God. On prophets and teachers, see the note on Act_11:27.
Barnabas - Of whom see before, Act_11:22-24.
Simeon-Niger - Or Simeon the Black, either because of his complexion, or his hair.
It was on reasons of this kind that surnames, surnoms, name upon name were first
imposed. Of this Simeon nothing farther is known.
Lucius of Cyrene - See Act_11:20.
Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod - Our margin has given the
proper meaning of the original word συντροφος, a foster-brother; i.e. Manaen was the
son of the woman who nursed Herod Antipas; and the son, also, whose milk the young
Herod shared. Of a person whose name was Manaen or Menahem, and who was in the
court of Herod, we read several things in the Jewish writers. They say that this man had
the gift of prophecy, and that he told Herod, when he was but a child, that he would be
king. When Herod became king he sent for him to his court, and held him in great
estimation. It might have been the son of this Menahem of whom St. Luke here speaks.
Dr. Lightfoot has shown this to be at least possible.
GILL, "Now there were in the church that was at Antioch,.... This was Antioch
in Syria, where was a Gospel church, and where the disciples were first called Christians;
from whence Saul and Barnabas had been sent to Jerusalem, with a supply for the poor
saints there, in a time of famine, and from whence they were now returned: and here
were
certain prophets and teachers; who were both prophets and teachers, though these
are sometimes distinguished; who had both a gift of foretelling things to come, as
Agabus and others, and of explaining the prophecies of the Old Testament, and of
teaching the people evangelic truths; these, at least some of them, came from Jerusalem
hither, Act_11:27.
As Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger; the former of these was a Levite,
and of the country of Cyprus, who sold his land and brought the money to the apostles;
and who was first sent hither by the church at Jerusalem, upon hearing that many in this
place believed, and turned to the Lord, Act_4:36 but of the latter no mention is made
elsewhere; by his first name he appears to be a Jew, who by the Romans was called
Niger; very likely from the blackness of his complexion, for that word signifies "black":
and so the Ethiopic version interprets it:
and Lucius of Cyrene; who very probably was one of the synagogue of the Cyrenians,
and seems manifestly to be one of the men of Cyrene, that went abroad upon the
persecution raised at the death of Stephen, Act_6:9 he is said to be bishop of Cyrene;
some take him to be the same Lucius mentioned in Rom_16:21 and others think he is the
same with Luke the Evangelist:

and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch: or his
foster brother. The Syriac version calls him Manail, and one of Stephens's copies
Manael, and the Ethiopic version Manache, and renders what is said of him, "the son of
king Herod's nurse"; which accounts for their being brought up, nourished, and suckled
together: the name seems to be the same with Menachem, or Menahem, a name frequent
with the Jews; there was one of this name, who was very intimate with Herod the great,
and was in his service, though before he was vice president of the sanhedrim: the
account that is given of him is this (z):
"Hillell and Shammai received from them (i.e. from Shemaia and Abtalion, who were
presidents before them), but at first there were Hillell and Menahem, but Menahem
went out, ‫המלד‬ ‫,לעבודת‬ "into the service of the king", with fourscore men clad in gold---
Menahem was a very wise man, and a sort of a prophet, who delivered out many
prophecies; and he told Herod when he was little, that he should reign; and after he was
king, he sent for him, and he told him again, that he should reign more than thirty years,
and he reigned thirty seven years, and he gave him great riches.''
Of this Menahem, and of his going into the king's service, mention is made elsewhere
(a): now though this Menahem cannot be the same with Manaen here, yet this Manaen,
as Dr. Lightfoot conjectures, might be the son of him, and called after his name; who
might be brought up with the son of Herod the great, here called the tetrarch; and who
was Herod Antipas, the same that beheaded John the Baptist: and Saul; who afterwards
was called Paul.
HE RY, "We have here a divine warrant and commission to Barnabas and Saul to go
and preach the gospel among the Gentiles, and their ordination to that service by the
imposition of hands, with fasting and prayer.
I. Here is an account of the present state of the church at Antioch, which was planted,
Act_11:20.
1. How well furnished it was with good ministers; there were there certain prophets and
teachers (Act_13:1), men that were eminent for gifts, graces, and usefulness. Christ,
when he ascended on high, gave some prophets and some teachers (Eph_4:11); these
were both. Agabus seems to have been a prophet and not a teacher, and many were
teachers who were not prophets; but those here mentioned were at times divinely
inspired, and had instructions immediately from heaven upon special occasions, which
gave them the title of prophets; and withal they were stated teachers of the church in
their religious assemblies, expounded the scriptures, and opened the doctrine of Christ
with suitable applications. These were the prophets, and scribes, or teachers, which
Christ promised to send (Mat_23:34), such as were every way qualified for the service of
the Christian church. Antioch was a great city, and the Christians there were many, so
that they could not all meet in one place; it was therefore requisite they should have
many teachers, to preside in their respective assemblies, and to deliver God's mind to
them. Barnabas is first named, probably because he was the eldest, and Saul last,
probably because he was the youngest; but afterwards the last became first, and Saul
more eminent in the church. Three others are mentioned. (1.) Simeon, or Simon, who for
distinction-sake was called Niger, Simon the Black, from the color of his hair; like him
that with us was surnamed the Black Prince. (2.) Lucius of Cyrene, who some think (and
Dr. Lightfoot inclines to it) was the same with this Luke that wrote the Acts, originally a
Cyrenian, and educated in the Cyrenian college or synagogue at Jerusalem, and there

first receiving the gospel. (3.) Manaen, a person of some quality, as it should seem, for
he was brought up with Herod the tetrarch, either nursed of the same milk, or bred at
the same school, or pupil to the same tutor, or rather one that was his constant colleague
and companion - that in every part of his education was his comrade and intimate,
which gave him a fair prospect of preferment at court, and yet for Christ's sake he
quitted all the hopes of it; like Moses, who, when he had come to years, refused to be
called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Had he joined in with Herod, with whom he was
brought up, he might have had Blastus's place, and have been his chamberlain; but it is
better to be fellow-sufferer with a saint than fellow-persecutor with a tetrarch.
JAMISO , "Acts 13:1-14:28. Paul’s First Missionary Journey: in company with
Barnabas.
Act_13:1-3. Barnabas and Saul, divinely called to labor among the Gentiles, are set
apart and sent forth by the church at Antioch.
The first seven chapters of this book might be entitled, The Church among the Jews;
the next five (chapters eight through twelve), The Church in Transition from Jews to
Gentiles; and the last sixteen (chapters thirteen through twenty-eight), The Church
among the Gentiles [Baumgarten]. “Though Christianity had already spread beyond the
limits of Palestine, still the Church continued a stranger to formal missionary effort.
Casual occurrences, particularly the persecution at Jerusalem (Act_8:2), had hitherto
brought about the diffusion of the Gospel. It was from Antioch that teachers were first
sent forth with the definite purpose of spreading Christianity, and organizing churches,
with regular institutions (Act_14:23)” [Olshausen].
there were ... certain prophets — (See on Act_11:27).
and teachers; as Barnabas, etc. — implying that there were others there, besides;
but, according to what appears the true reading, the meaning is simply that those here
mentioned were in the Church at Antioch as prophets and teachers.
Simeon ... Niger — of whom nothing is known.
Lucius of Cyrene — (Act_2:20). He is mentioned, in Rom_16:21, as one of Paul’s
kinsmen.
Manaen — or Menahem, the name of one of the kings of Israel (2Ki_15:14).
which had been brought up with — or, the foster brother of.
Herod the tetrarch — that is, Antipas, who was himself “brought up with a certain
private person at Rome” [Josephus, Antiquities, 17.1, 3]. How differently did these two
foster brothers turn out - the one, abandoned to a licentious life and stained with the
blood of the most distinguished of God’s prophets, though not without his fits of
reformation and seasons of remorse; the other, a devoted disciple of the Lord Jesus and
prophet of the Church at Antioch! But this is only what may be seen in every age: “Even
so, Father, for so it seemeth good in Thy sight.’ If the courtier, whose son, at the point of
death, was healed by our Lord (Joh_4:46) was of Herod’s establishment, while
Susanna’s husband was his steward (Luk_8:3), his foster brother’s becoming a Christian
and a prophet is something remarkable.
and Saul — last of all, but soon to become first. Henceforward this book is almost
exclusively occupied with him; and his impress on the New Testament, on Christendom,
and on the world is paramount.
CALVI , "Here followeth an history, not only worthy to be remembered, but also

very profitable to be known, how Paul was appointed the teacher of the Gentiles; for
his calling was, as it were, a key whereby God opened to us the kingdom of heaven.
We know that the covenant of eternal life was properly concluded with the Jews, so
that we had nothing to do with God’s inheritance, forasmuch as we were strangers,
(Ephesians 2:12;) and the wall of separation was between, which did distinguish
those of the household from strangers. Therefore it had profited us nothing, that
Christ brought salvation unto the world, unless, the disagreement being taken away,
there had been some entrance made for us into the Church. The apostles had
already received commandment touching the preaching of the gospel throughout the
whole world, (Mark 16:16,) but they had kept themselves until this time within the
borders of Judea. When Peter was sent to Cornelius, it was a thing so new and
strange, that it was almost counted a monster, [prodigy.] Secondly, that might seem
to be a privilege granted to a few men extraordinarily; but now, forasmuch as God
doth plainly and openly appoint Paul and Barnabas to be apostles of the Gentiles,
by this means he maketh them equal with the Jews; that the gospel may begin to be
common as well to the one as to the other. And now the wall of separation is taken
away, that both those who were far off and those which were nigh hand may be
reconciled to God; and that being gathered under one head, they may grow together
to be one body. Therefore Paul’s calling ought to be of no less weight amongst us,
than if God should cry from heaven in the hearing of all men, that the salvation,
promised in times past to Abraham, and to the seed of Abraham, (Genesis 22:17)
doth no less appertain unto us at this day, than if we had come out of the loins of
Abraham. For this cause is it that Paul laboreth so much (772) in defense and
avouching of his calling, (Galatians 1:17;) that the Gentiles may assuredly persuade
themselves that the doctrine of the gospel was not brought to them by chance,
neither by man’s rashness, but, first, by the wonderful counsel of God; secondly, by
express commandment, whilst that he made that known to men which he had
decreed with himself.
1There were in the church. I have declared in the fourth to the Ephesians,
(Ephesians 4:11) and in the twelfth of the First to the Corinthians, (1 Corinthians
12:28,) what difference there is (at least in my judgment) between doctors and
prophets. It may be that they are in this place synonyma, [synonymous,] (or that
they signify both one thing,) so that this is Luke’s meaning, that there were many
men in that church endowed with singular grace of the Spirit to teach. Surely I
cannot see how it can hang together, to understand by prophets those which were
endowed with the gift of foretelling things; but I think rather that it signifieth
excellent interpreters of Scripture. And such had the office to teach and exhort, as
Paul doth testify in the fourteenth of the First to the Corinthians, (1 Corinthians
45:37.) We must mark Luke’s drift: Paul and Barnabas were ministers of the
church of Antioch; God calleth them thence now unto another place. Lest any man
should think that that church was destitute of good and fit ministers, so that God
did provide for other churches with the loss of it, Luke preventeth this, and saith,
that there was such store there, that though it did help others, yet did there remain
sufficient for the use thereof; whereby appeareth how plentifully God had poured
out his grace upon the Church, whence rivers, as it were, might be deducted and
carried into diverse places.

So even in our time God doth so enrich certain churches more than others, that they
be seminaries to spread abroad the doctrine of the gospel. It must needs be that
Manaen, who was brought up with Herod, came of some noble family. And this doth
Luke recite of purpose that he may set forth to us his godliness who, despising
worldly pomp, had coupled himself to the simple and despised flock of Christ. He
might, indeed, have been a principal courtier if he had been ruled by ambition; but
that he may wholly addict himself to Christ, he refuseth not to change those smokes
of honor with [for] reproach and ignominy. For if we consider in what state the
Church stood then, he could not give his name to the gospel, unless he should make
himself subject (773) to common infamy. Therefore the Lord meant to teach us, by
his example, to despise the world, that those may learn with a valiant and lofty mind
to despise the world, who cannot otherwise be true Christians, unless they cast away
those things which are precious to the flesh, as hurtful lets and hindrances.
BARCLAY, "Acts 13:1-52; Acts 14:1-28 tell the story of the first missionary
journey. Paul and Barnabas set out from Antioch. Antioch was 15 miles up the
River Orontes so that they actually sailed from Seleucia, its port. From there they
went across the sea to Cyprus where they preached at Salamis and Paphos. From
Paphos they sailed to Perga in Pamphylia. Pamphylia was a low-lying coastal
province and they did not preach there because it did not suit Paul's health. They
struck inland and came to Antioch in Pisidia. When things grew too dangerous
there they went 90 miles further on to Iconium. Once again their lives were
threatened and they moved on to Lystra, about 20 miles away. After suffering a very
serious and dangerous attack there they passed on to Derbe, the site of which has
not yet been definitely identified. From Derbe they set out home, going back to
Lystra, Iconium and Antioch in Pisidia on the way. Having this time preached in
Perga in Pamphylia, they took ship from Attalia, the principal port of Pamphylia,
and sailed via Seleucia to Antioch. The whole journey occupied about three years.
The Christian Church was now poised to take the greatest of all steps. They had
decided, quite deliberately, to take the gospel out to all the world. It was a decision
taken under the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit. The men of the Early Church
never did what they wanted to do but always what God wanted them to do.
Prophets and teachers had different functions. The prophets were wandering
preachers who had given their whole lives to listening for the word of God then
taking that word to their fellow men. The teachers were the men in the local
churches whose duty it was to instruct converts in the faith.
It has been pointed out that this very list of prophets is symbolic of the universal
appeal of the Gospel. Barnabas was a Jew from Cyprus; Lucius came from Cyrene
in orth Africa; Simeon was also a Jew but his other name iger is given and, since
this is a Roman name, it shows that he must have moved in Roman circles; Manaen
was a man with aristocratic connections; and Paul himself was a Jew from Tarsus in
Cilicia and a trained rabbi. In that little band there is exemplified the unifying

influence of Christianity. Men from many lands and many backgrounds had
discovered the secret of "togetherness" because they had discovered the secret of
Christ.
One extremely interesting speculation has been made. Simeon not improbably came
from Africa, for iger is an African name. It has been suggested that he is the
Simon of Cyrene who carried Jesus' Cross (Luke 23:26). It would be a thing most
wonderful if the man whose first contact with Jesus was the carrying of the Cross--a
task which he must have bitterly resented--was one of those directly responsible for
sending out the story of the Cross to all the world.
BE SO , "Acts 13:1. There were in the church at Antioch certain prophets and
teachers — Some of them, it seems, the stated pastors of the church, and some only
occasionally resident there: Paul and Barnabas were of the latter. Manaen, who had
been brought up with Herod — His foster- brother, now freed from the temptations
of a court. As they ministered to the Lord — Which all diligent faithful teachers do:
for while they minister to the church in praying and preaching (both which are here
included) they minister also unto the Lord, being the servants of the people for
Jesus’s sake, (2 Corinthians 4:5,) and having a continual regard to him in all their
ministrations; engaging in, and prosecuting them from a principle of love to him, in
obedience to his will, and with an eye to his glory. And fasted — Religious fasting
should not be neglected, in our ministering to the Lord; it being both a sign of our
humiliation and a means of our mortification. It was not, indeed, much practised by
the disciples of Christ, while he, the bridegroom, was with them; yet, after he was
taken from them, they abounded in this duty, as persons who had well learned to
deny themselves, and to endure hardness. The Holy Ghost said — amely, by
immediate revelation, but in what way communicated we are not informed.
Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them —
amely, the extraordinary work of preaching the gospel among the Gentiles — This
was not ordaining them; Saul was ordained long before, and that not of men,
neither by man, Galatians 1:1. At his conversion he was expressly called to preach to
the Gentiles; and that call was renewed at the time Jesus appeared to him during his
trance in the temple: but at what time Barnabas was called by the Holy Ghost to this
work, is not said. And when they had fasted and prayed — A certain day being
appointed for the purpose; and laid their hands on them — A rite which was used,
not in ordination only, but in blessing, and on many other occasions. It was here
intended to be a solemn token of their designation to their important office; they
sent them away — Dismissed them from Antioch, with all the most affectionate
marks of Christian friendship, and fervent desires for the success of their ministry.
COFFMA , "An alternative outline of Acts makes just two divisions in it, the first
twelve chapters, and the rest of Acts beginning here, with the first section containing
material related to the apostle Peter, and the last division having material especially
related to the apostle Paul. This is quite logical, in fact; for from this chapter until
the end of it, Acts presents the missionary efforts of the inimitable Paul.
Acts 13 records the beginning of what is usually called Paul's first missionary

journey. First, there was the formal commission which sent Barnabas and Saul on
their way (Acts 13:1-3); then there is the account of their efforts on the island of
Cyprus (Acts 13:4-12); next is the record of John Mark's defection and the
movement of Paul into Asia Minor (Acts 13:13-16); then follows the record of Paul's
address in Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13:17-43); and the record of still another sermon
in the same city on the sabbath day one week later (Acts 13:44-52).
ow there were in Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers,
Barnabas, and Simeon that was called iger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen
the foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. (Acts 13:1)
The group of men whose names appear here were very important, due to their being
not only teachers but "prophets," both of these designations belonging to the whole
group mentioned here, concerning whom Dummelow said:
The gift of prophecy especially distinguished the apostolic from the sub-apostolic
and later ages. It was widely diffused, being exercised by private Christians. ... It
generally took the form of inspired exhortation or instruction, but was sometimes
predictive .... Friendly relations existed between Antioch and Jerusalem, the latter
church sending accredited prophets and teachers to Antioch to aid in the work of
evangelization.[1]
The men named in this verse were official prophets, having the gift in its fullest
extent; and they were regarded, along with the apostles, as being the foundation
upon which the church was built (Ephesians 2:20). The chief product of Christian
prophecy is the inspired ew Testament.
Barnabas ... heads the list here. He was the uncle of John Mark who wrote the
gospel and a brother of Mary whose home was the scene of Peter's reunion with the
church mentioned in the last chapter. Further comment on Barnabas is given under
Acts 9:27.
Boles, following the exegesis of Alford, Meyer and others, thought that the
placement of the Greek particle indicates that the first three of this list were
prophets and the last two teachers;[2] but the name of Saul, which occurs last,
happens to be the name of the greatest of the ew Testament prophets; and
therefore it is more accurate to view all five of these as both prophets and teachers.
Simeon that was called iger ... If the phrase "of Cyrene" may be understood as a
modifier of both Simeon and Lucius (next named), it would add probability to the
supposition that this man is the same as the Simon who bore the cross of Jesus and
was the father of Alexander and Rufus (Mark 15:21). " iger" means "black"; but
there is no greater necessity for making this term a description of Simeon's physical
appearance than there is for alleging that Shirley Temple Black is BLACK, this
being one of the commonest names in history.
Lucius of Cyrene ... This person has "by some been falsely identified with St.
Luke."[3]

Foster-brother of Herod ... The Greek word thus rendered is not found elsewhere in
the ew Testament; and the meaning is somewhat ambiguous, scholars listing no
less than three possible meanings: (1) Manaen's mother had been Herod's wet-
nurse; (2) Manaen had been brought up as Herod's foster-brother;[4] (3) Manaen
had been a playmate of Herod.[5] In any event, a very close connection with the
tetrarch Herod is indicated.
And Saul ... Luke's placement of this name last emphasizes the relative importance
of these men at the beginning of the first missionary journey, enabling us to see
more clearly the dramatic rise of Paul as the greatest missionary of ew Testament
times, or of all times.
[1] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible ( ew York: The Macmillan
Company, 1937), p. 833.
[2] H. Leo Boles, Commentary on Acts ( ashville: Gospel Advocate Company,
1953), p. 199.
[3] A. C. Hervey, The Pulpit Commentary, Acts (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishers, 1950), p. 401.
[4] J. R. Dummelow, op. cit., p. 834.
[5] A. C. Hervey, op. cit., p. 401.
COKE, "Acts 13:1. ow there were in the church—at Antioch— The last verse of
the foregoing chapter ought to have been the first of this; for ch. Acts 12:24 finishes
the history of Herod's death, and the effects which it had upon the Christian
church; and then, Acts 13:25 a new history is begun, which is carried on in the
present chapter. Some have conjectured that iger mentioned in this verse, was
Simon the Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, who was compelled to bear
the cross after Christ; for it is very probable that he was called, iger, as being of a
tawny or black complexion, as the Africans generally are. The only objection to this
is, that Lucius, who is next mentioned, is called a Cyrenian by way of distinction
from the other, as if he had been the only Cyrenian there present. But this Simon,
called iger, might be a native of some other part of Africa. Whoever he was, the
Romans most probably had given him the surname of iger. This is one instance out
of many, of St. Luke's Latinizing, where he preserves even the Latin termination.
Manaen, probably, from the circumstance here mentioned, was a person of some
rank and condition. Josephus mentions one Manaen, an Essene, who had foretold to
Herod the Great, while he was a boy, that he should be a king, and who was
afterwards in high favour with him; and some have thought this was his son.
CO STABLE, "There were five prominent prophets and teachers in the Antioch
church at this time. The Greek construction suggests that Barnabas, Simeon, and
Lucius were prophets (forthtellers and perhaps foretellers), and Manaen and Saul

were teachers (Scripture expositors). The particle te occurs before Barnabas and
before Manaen in this list dividing the five men into two groups.
"A teacher's ministry would involve a less-spontaneous declaration and preaching
than that of the prophets, including instruction and the passing on to others of the
received apostolic teaching (... 1 Corinthians 12:28-29; Ephesians 4:11). This was
how the church taught its doctrine before the use of the books that later became a
part of the T." [ ote: Bock, Acts, p. 439.]
Barnabas (cf. Acts 4:36-37; Acts 9:27; Acts 11:22-30) seems to have been the leader
among the prophets and teachers. The priority of his name in this list, as well as
other references to his character qualities, suggests this. Simeon is a Jewish name,
but this man's nickname or family name, iger, is Roman and implies that he was
dark skinned, possibly from Africa. The Latin word niger means black. Some
people think this Simeon was Simon of Cyrene (in orth Africa), who carried Jesus'
cross (Luke 23:26). There is not enough information to prove or to disprove this
theory. Lucius was a common Roman name; Luke was his Greek name. He was
from orth Africa (cf. Acts 11:20). It seems unlikely that he was the Luke who
wrote this book. Since Luke did not even identify himself by name as a member of
Paul's entourage, it is improbable that he would have recorded his own name here.
Some scholars believe that this Luke was the writer, however. [ ote: E.g., John
Wenham, "The Identification of Luke," Evangelical Quarterly 63:1 (1991):32-38.]
Herod the tetrarch refers to Herod Antipas who beheaded John the Baptist and
tried Jesus (Mark 6:14-19; Luke 13:31-33; Luke 23:7-12). Saul was evidently the
newcomer (cf. Acts 7:58 to Acts 8:3; Acts 9:1-30; Acts 11:25-30). This list of leaders
shows that the church in Antioch was cosmopolitan and that God had gifted it with
several speakers who exhorted and taught the believers.
"There in that little band there is exemplified the unifying influence of Christianity.
Men from many lands and many backgrounds had discovered the secret of
'togetherness' because they had discovered the secret of Christ." [ ote: Barclay, p.
105.]
ELLICOTT, "(1) ow there were in the church that was at Antioch.—The fulness
of detail in this narrative suggests the inference that the writer was himself at
Antioch at this period.
Certain prophets and teachers.—The two were not necessarily identical, though the
higher gift of prophecy commonly included the lower gift of teaching. The former
implies a more direct message from God, coming from the Holy Ghost; the latter a
more systematic instruction, in which reason and reflection bore their part.
Simeon that was called iger.—The name seems to indicate the swarth-complexion
of Africa; but nothing more is known of him. The epithet was given to him,
probably, to distinguish him from the many others of the same name, possibly, in
particular, from Simon of Cyrene. (See ote on Acts 11:20.)
Lucius of Cyrene.—Probably one of the company of “men of Cyprus and Cyrene”

(Acts 11:20) who had been among the first evangelists of Antioch. On the ground
that Cyrene was famous for its School of Medicine, some writers have identified him
with the author of the Acts, but the two names Lucius and Lucas are radically
distinct, the latter being contracted for Lucanus.
Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch.—Literally, the
foster-brother of Herod. Here we enter on a name that has historical associations of
some interest. In the early youth of Herod the Great, his future greatness had been
foretold by an Essene prophet of the name of Menahem or Manaen (Jos. Ant. xv. 10,
§ 5). When the prediction was fulfilled, he sought to show honour to the prophet.
The identity of name makes it probable that the man who now meets us was the son,
or grandson, of the Essene, and that Herod had had him brought up with Antipas as
a mark of his favour. Both Antipas and Archelaus were educated at Rome, and
Manaen may therefore have accompanied them thither. By what steps he was led to
believe in Jesus as the Christ, we can only conjecture; but it seems probable that the
austere type of life, so closely resembling that of the Essenes, which was presented
by the Baptist, may have impressed him, as he was living in the court of his early
companion, and that, through him, he may have been led on to the higher truth,
and, in due time, after the Day of Pentecost, have become a sharer in the prophetic
gift. The fact that Herod the Great had adorned the city of Antioch with a long and
stately colonnade may, perhaps, have given him a certain degree of influence there.
And Saul.—The position of Saul’s name at the end of the list seems to indicate that
it was copied from one which had been made before he had become the most
prominent of the whole company of the prophets.
PULPIT, "Acts 13:1-15
The invasion of heathendom.
It has been well remarked that Antioch was the true center of direct missions to the
heathen world. An Ethiopian eunuch, and a Roman centurion, had indeed been
gathered into the fold of Christ. But they were both closely connected with the land
of Judah, and their conversion had not led to any further extension of the gospel of
Christ. At Antioch the seed of Christian truth first fell in abundance upon heathen
soil; from Antioch first went forth the preachers of the gospel with the express
purpose of disseminating it among the nations of mankind. It is a deeply interesting
study to mark the various steps by which the providence of God brought about this
great event. There was first the molding of the great soul of Saul into a fitting
instrument for this momentous ministry by the circumstances of his conversion. The
tenderness of heart caused by the memory of his persecution of the Church of God;
the gradual loosening of the ties which bound him to the Jews' religion, through the
bigotry, the distrust, and the repulses of his Jewish countrymen, which drove him
from Jerusalem; the friendship of the kind and sympathetic Barnabas; his enforced
retreat to his native Tarsus, within easy distance of Antioch;—these were the
preparatory steps by which God was bringing about his great purpose. Then, as the
work grew among the Gentiles, Barnabas was sent to Antioch by the Church of

Jerusalem; thence, needing more help, he went to Tarsus and sought Saul and
brought him to Antioch. Then followed a full year's ministry in that great heathen
city. That year brought a rich experience of things sad and of things joyful;
experience of heathen darkness, experience of God's grace; widening knowledge of
the thoughts, the wants, the misery of heathenism; deepening knowledge of the
power of a preached gospel; a further loosening of the strait bands of Judaism as
lettering Christian liberty. And then, when the ground was thus prepared, came the
direct call of the Holy Ghost, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work
whereunto I have called them." And what a work it was! It requires some
knowledge of the degradation of human nature as manifested in all the vileness of
the voluptuousness and impostures of the East, in the incredible and growing
flagitiousness of the once noble Roman character under the shameful profligacy's of
the empire, and of the general spread of vice, oppression, and cruelty in the Roman
world, to take a just measure of the work to which Barnabas and Saul were called.
It was a work of hopeless difficulty if measured by the strength of man; it was a
work of incalculable importance if measured by its world-wide influences and
results—a work than which no greater has ever been undertaken either by man or
for man. To revolutionize the whole relations of man with God; to upset and root
out all the old thoughts of the whole world concerning God and the service of God;
to give a new direction to man's thoughts about himself, about his duty, and about
eternity; to transform human life from sin to holiness; and to do all this by the
power of words,—was the task given to Barnabas and Saul. And they did it. That
we know and love God; that we believe in Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins;
that we live righteous lives; that we have a good hope of the resurrection to eternal
life—is the fruit of the mission of Barnabas and Saul. They invaded heathendom
with the sword of faith, and heathendom fell before their onslaught. O God, raise up
in our days such soldiers of the cross that all the kingdoms of the world may become
the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ!
PULPIT, "Acts 13:1-3
An illustrious Church.
Antecedently it might have been expected that the Church of Jerusalem would
prove to be the most influential and illustrious of all Christian communities, and
that from all lands and ages men would look back to it as the most potent factor in
the early history of "our holy religion." But in this respect it must give place to "the
Church that was at Antioch." This community was remarkable for four things.
I. ITS HUMA COMPOSITIO . (Acts 13:1.) Great names have been entered on
the rolls of many Churches; but very few indeed, if any, could compare with the list
which included the names of Barnabas and Saul, as well as that of a man (Manaen)
who was the foster-brother of Herod Antipas. A Church is influential, not only
according to the number of souls it can count in its communion, but according to the
character of the men who are included in its ranks. A Church which can win and
can train and send forth a most useful minister, or a most successful missionary, or
a most powerful writer, may do a work which, in the balances of Heaven, weighs

more than that of another which has five times its number on the lists. owhere
more than here does quality, character, spiritual worth, tell in the estimate of truth
and wisdom.
II. ITS DIVI E I DWELLI G. The Church at Antioch had "prophets and
teachers" (Acts 13:1). This statement implies that there were those amongst the
brethren who received occasionally such Divine impulse that they spoke under the
consciousness of his inspiration. And to them, or to one of them, the Spirit of God
made known the Divine will that they should set apart two of their number for
special work (Acts 13:2). Evidently this Church was one in which, as in a temple, the
Holy Ghost dwelt. The fact of the indwelling of the Spirit is not, indeed, anything
which is itself remarkable; for no Church of which this cannot be said is worthy of
its name. But of "the Church that was at Antioch" this was strikingly and eminently
true, if we may take this short passage of its history as of a piece with the rest.
III. ITS RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY. We know that Barnabas and Saul "taught much
people" (Acts 11:26); the work of evangelization went on actively at, Antioch. We
may gather from our text—"they ministered to the Lord, and fasted"—that the
Church was diligent in its devotions; not only worshipping when it was convenient
and agreeable to the flesh, but to the extent of self-denial: twice in two verses we
read of the members fasting (Acts 13:2, Acts 13:3). Fasting, for the sake of fasting or
with a view of pleasing Christ, is not enjoined, and both the words of our Lord and
the genius of his religion discourage rather than encourage it. But we shall
undoubtedly do well to pursue our work and to maintain our
worship—"ministering unto the Lord"—up to and within the line of self-control
and even self-denial; not only not giving the reins to our bodily cravings, but
checking these and restricting ourselves beyond that which is positively demanded,
if by so doing we can worship God more spiritually or work more effectively for our
fellows.
IV. ITS OBEDIE T E TRA CE O A APPARE TLY HOPELESS
E TERPRISE. (Acts 13:2, Acts 13:3.) The Church was commanded by its Lord to
send two of its members on the errand of converting the Gentiles, "and … they sent
them away." It was not its part to "reason why," but to obey. Had it reckoned the
likelihood of the case, dwelt on the difficulties in the way of success, measured the
might and number of its adversaries, weighed the strength of two Jews against the
learning, the prejudice, the military forces, the material interests, the social customs,
the evil habits, the inwrought unrighteousness of a bitterly and even passionately
hostile world, it would have hesitated, it would have refrained. But it did not
measure these things. It heard the sovereign sound of its Divine Leader's voice, and
it proceeded unquestioningly to obey. It "sent them away." And they went forth—
those two men—unpracticed in the wiles of the world; poor; unarmed; unequipped
with any forces which, on mere human lines, could avail anything; determined to
preach a doctrine which would be received with the haughtiest contempt, which
would clash with men's strongest interests and smite their most cherished sins;—
they went forth, with the confidence of the Church behind them (Acts 13:3), with
the hand of the Lord upon them, with the hope of his welcome and his reward

before them. It was a splendid action of an illustrious Church, and the nearer we
can approach it in our own times and in our own communities, the dearer shall we
be to our Master and the greater service shall we render to our race.—C.
HAWKER 1-4, "Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and
teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and
Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. (2) As they
ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul
for the work whereunto I have called them. (3) And when they had fasted and prayed,
and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. (4) So they, being sent forth by the
Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.
We enter here upon one of the most interesting records which we have in the word of
God, as it relates to the ordination by the Holy Ghost, to the ministry. And, after
referring the Reader to what hath been already offered, on the Person and character of
the Spirit, by way of Commentary, in this work, (see the 14th, and two following
Chapters [Joh 14; 15; 16] in the Gospel according to John), I very humbly beg his
permission, to enlarge a little more particularly, on this gracious office of God the Holy
Ghost, as it is here set forth, in calling to the work of the ministry, Barnabas and Saul.
It should seem, that in this Church of Christ at Antioch, (from whence Barnabas and
Saul, as related Act_11:29-30 had been sent to Judaea, with their alms for the poor
saints, and were now returned;) there were some, who were called Prophets and
Teachers. By which are meant, I presume, those who ministered in holy things. It was at
one of their public meetings, that God the Holy Ghost spake as is here said. And, as at
the day of Pentecost, he had made an open, and visible manifestation of himself; so here,
he was pleased to renew the token of his divine presence, by a voice, declaring his
sovereignty and power. I beg the Reader not to lose the recollection, that God the Father
did the same, when, by a voice from heaven, he declared Christ his beloved Son, in
whom he was well pleased, Mat_3:17. This revelation of God the Holy Ghost, contains in
it Three distinct, and special acts, in confirmation of his Person, Godhead, and Ministry;
all which merit the Reader’s close attention.
First. His Person, is as clearly proved by the action of speaking, calling, and sending, as
the actions of any Being whatever, can prove, personality and identity. The pronouns,
me, and I, are wholly personal; and are not capable of being made use of any other way.
And as much as we infer, the person of a man, by the actions of a man; so the Person of
God the Holy Ghost is as fairly and fully inferred, by the actions here ascribed to Him.
Secondly. His Godhead must also be admitted, if the authority he here exercised, of
calling and ordaining to the sanctuary service, be (as indeed it must be,) wholly the
province of God. No man taketh this honor unto himself but he that is called of God,
Heb_5:5. The Holy Ghost called Barnabas and Saul to this honor; and consequently
proved thereby, his eternal power, and Godhead.
And thirdly. The service, to which the Lord the Spirit separated and called, and sent
forth Barnabas and Saul, is strongly marked as his service; for he said: Separate me, or
for me, Barnabas and Saul. So again, the Lord adds, to the work whereunto I have called
them. They are not said to be separated to the Lord, or to the service of the Church; but
the Holy Ghost saith, separate me, that is, to my service. As if to shew, that his is the
Almighty ministry in the Church; and all that act in it, act under him, and in his service,
as well as by his appointment, Joh_14:26.
And were it not for swelling the pages of this Poor Man’s Commentary, I should find it

no difficult matter to prove, that as the Holy Ghost anointed Christ, the Great Head of
his Church, in his priestly office, when the Spirit was given to him without measure:
Joh_3:34. So all his members, and especially his ministers, from Him derive all the
unction necessary for their high calling, according to the measure of the gift of Christ,
Eph_4:7. But, I must abridge myself of this pleasure, and shall only beg to make a short
observation, (taking occasion, from this ordination of Barnabas and Saul, as here
stated,) on this work of God the Spirit, and on the characters of those men ordained.
I venture to conclude, that so palpable the truth appears, in this history, of the necessity
of the Lord the Spirit’s ordaining, all that are called to any holy function, no one will
question it. And, from the character of those men the Lord here ordained, it will be
equally plain, that God the Holy Ghost calls none to the ministry, but what he hath
before called by his grace. Should any one of my brethren condescend to read these poor
labors of mine, I hope that he will not be offended with the observation. Let the
characters of Barnabas and Saul be well considered, and the point will, I conceive, be
abundantly plain. Of the former we are told, in a preceding Chapter, that he was a good
man, and full of the Holy Ghost, Act_11:24. And, concerning the latter, we know of his
wonderful conversion by the Lord Jesus himself. So that both, were savingly called, and
regenerated, and made rich partakers of grace, before that the Lord the Holy Ghost sent
them forth, to preach grace to the people.
And, indeed, had this not been the case, how should they have suited for the ministry of
Jesus? A man can never speak of the malignity of sin, who hath never in himself felt the
evil of sin, neither been made acquainted with the plague of his own heart, 1Ki_8:38. A
man cannot describe the love, the grace, the mercy, the favor of Jesus, who hath never
felt, or known, those precious things from Jesus in his own soul. But he who hath felt,
and known both; and in his own heart, hath experienced both; will best minister to
others, when from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. This was what made
the Apostles so animated in the service of the Lord. They themselves were awakened,
and their chief bent was as instruments in the Lord’s hand, to awaken others. They held
forth that bread of life, which they themselves had eaten of, and by which their souls
lived. They called the people to the water of life, in Jesus, which they had drunk of, and
found, as Christ had said, that it was in them a well of water springing up to everlasting
life, 1Jn_1:1-3; Joh_4:14. Oh! that all who minister in holy things, were thus first made
partakers of the manifold gifts of God; and proved their ordination, like Barnabas and
Saul, from God the Holy Ghost; in that the word of Christ dwelt in them, by coming with
power from them, and the Lord giving testimony to his truths, and to the word of his
grace, by them. Almighty Lord the Spirit! vouchsafe in this our day, as in those days of
the Apostles, gracious manifestations of thy divine ordination of thy servants to the
ministry! Oh! for that voice to be again heard in spirit, and felt in power, as it was then
sounded: Separate me (multitudes of the true) Barnabas’s and Sauls, for the work
whereunto I have called them!
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "Now there were in the Church that was at Antioch certain
prophets and teachers.
The nature and sources of the narrative
We now lose sight for a time of the Church of Jerusalem and the apostles, and in the
place of Jerusalem, Antioch becomes the centre of Church history. Indeed chaps, 13 and
14 form an independent and self-contained memoir from an Antiochean point of view.
And it has, not without plausibility, been supposed that Luke has here made use of an

original document and inserted it in his book, which document may have proceeded
from the Church at Antioch, or may have belonged to a biography of Barnabas, or may
have been a missionary narrative which Barnabas and Saul had made. (G. V. Lechler, D.
D.)
The first designatory and valedictory service to missionary work
In this text notice—
I. Those members of the Church at Antioch as conspicuous men. They were stars.
Among the thousands connected with the Bible, only a few are named, so they must have
been special noteworthy men:—“Barnabas,” “Simeon, that was called Niger”—black. It
has the same root as negro. “Lucius” of Cyrene, an African settlement. Simeon was black.
He might have been an African; and Lucius was for certain. “Manaen,” brought up with
Herod the tetrarch. It was the old custom to have a sort of adopted child as companion
for young princes, thus forming what would seem a companionship for life. A man who
had lived in court would be a fine man, but his living with Herod throws another light
upon things. He was “brought up” in court—then he had heard John the Baptist thunder
and lighten in his preaching. “Brought up” in court—then he knew John in prison. Was
he one of John’s disciples? “Brought up with Herod.” Then he knew that woman, the
wife of the steward, who ministered so to Jesus. “Brought up with Herod.” Then he was
at the crucifixion when Jesus was “set at nought,” when on bended knees the cruel shout
was raised, “Hail, King of the Jews.” Probably that was the crisis that brought him out.
Now, here we find him among the disciples, not with Herod, but his name written in the
Lamb’s book of life. He leaves the court and goes into the tents at Antioch, struck his
sword, and is here a soldier of Jesus Christ. The Church of Christ is composed of
wonderful variety.
II. We have a new speaker—“The Holy Ghost.” Who and what is the Holy Ghost? No one
can answer. The Holy Ghost never intended that we should. The doctrine of Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost is a tremendous doctrine. We cannot draw a circle round infinity; we
cannot even understand ourselves. How, then, can we understand God? We must leave
the question, for it cannot be questioned. There are two very plain things—
1. That the Spirit is a person, not simply an influence.
2. Not only a person, but a Divine person.
III. We have an important command—“Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work,”
etc.
1. Here is a beginning—the first mission to the heathen. The Acts of the Apostles is a
book of beginnings. We read of the first fear, first hope, first joy, first sermon, first
prayer meeting, the first sinner converted, the first Christians, the first baptism, the
first Lord’s supper, and now the first instance, by order, of men set apart for the
work of missions. There were no Christians in England, in Spain, in Italy then.
Everything then had to begin. And the Holy Ghost said, “Now” is the time to begin.
2. Here is a wise choice. “Now, there were at Antioch in the Church prophets and
teachers.” So Barnabas and Saul were not called away till they could be spared. The
two captains were not removed till the ship was officered. Note, they were the best
men. Not inexperienced or young, but the kind the Holy Ghost requires to send out—
the very Barnabas and the very Saul. The Church may spare Barnabas and Saul now.

3. Here are propitious circumstances. “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted.”
As they were going on in their ministry. It was a special meeting, because they were
fasting. They wanted to know something, and as they were inquiring the Holy Ghost
spake.
(1) The Holy Ghost requires that He Himself should call persons to the ministry
before the Church calls them—“I have called them.” We cannot make ministers or
missionaries. When we call them, we only ratify the call of God.
(2) Those who go should be sent out by the act of the Church.
(3) Missionaries are separated men. Separate from home, separate from the
refinement of life, separate from wealth, separate from those who have watched
them grow into Christians, separate from old companions, separate from the
elders of the Church, separate by the rolling sea, separate by the mountain,
separate by the wilderness.
(4) “Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work,” etc. This work is a work. (G.
Stanford, D. D.)
Prophets and teachers
The two were not necessarily identical (Eph_4:11), though the higher gift of prophecy
commonly included the lower gift of teaching. The former implies a more direct message
from God, coming through the Holy Ghost; the latter a more systematic instruction, in
which reason and reflection also bore their part. (Dean Plumptre.)
Simeon that was called Niger.
The name seems to indicate the swarthy complexion of Africa; but nothing more is
known of him. The epithet was given to him, probably, to distinguish him from the many
others of the same name, possibly, in particular, from Simon of Cyrene. (Dean
Plumptre.)
Lucius of Cyrene.—Probably one of the company of “men of Cyprus and Cyrene”
(Act_11:20) who had been among the first evangelists of Antioch. On the ground that
Cyrene was famous for its School of Medicine, some writers have identified him with the
author of the Acts, but the two names Lucius and Lucas are radically distinct, the latter
being contracted from Lucanus. (Dean Plumptre.)
Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch.—
Manaen
This statement has been interpreted to mean that he was Herod’s foster-brother, and the
Vulgate translates the term by one which signifies “fed from the same breast.” But all
that is implied is that Manaen and Herod were companions in studies and amusements.
In the same household Joanna the wife of Chuza the steward was a believer in Christ.
Thus early had the Word of God been known and acknowledged in a royal court. God

indeed has had from the first those in all ranks who served Him—Moses, Obadiah,
Daniel, and the “saints in Caesar’s household.” As now, so it has ever been, those with
the same advantages make a different use of them. Manaen, numbered amongst the first
ministers of the Church; Herod, remembered for his part in the murder of John and
Christ. (W. Denton, M. A.)
Manaen
This is the only record that we have of this man. Yet it is impossible not to find a
melancholy interest in the juxtaposition of characters and lives so strangely contrasted.
At the very time that the one foster-brother was prominent among the ministers of
Christ, the other was living in a dishonoured exile with a dark past and a hopeless
future—a fact of daily experience, viz., that the lives of men may begin, in the closest
companionship, and under nearly the same conditions, and yet the end of the one shall
be honour and the other shame.
1. The name Manaen was connected earlier with the Herods. When Herod the Great
was a boy, an Essene of this name, believed to possess prophetic gifts, met him as he
went to school, and reading, perhaps, in his features the signs of an insatiable
ambition and an indomitable will, hailed him as “king of the Jews.” He stood in
somewhat the same relation to him that Ahijah did to Jeroboam. As with the son of
Nebat, so with the son of Antipater, the early prophecy was not forgotten. When he
attained the summit of his power he would fain have attached the prophet to his
court as friend and counsellor. What the identity of name renders probable is that on
the refusal of the old man the king transferred his offer of patronage to his son, or
grandson, and had brought him up as the companion of one of his favourite sons. If
so, the first great event in the life of Manaen must have been the change from the
stern purity of the life of the Essenes to the pomp and luxury of the court of Herod.
Soon this would be followed by a yet greater change. Antipas and Archelaus were
sent to receive their education at Rome, and Manaen would naturally share this
training. He may have heard of the arrival of the “wise men,” and could not have
been altogether ignorant of the Messianic hopes which animated the people. The
very name which he bore (Menahem, the comforter), bore witness of this hope.
2. One so brought up would continue to be attached to the royal household, and
Manaen may have adopted the life and the principles of those with whom he lived.
He may have acquiesced in the king’s incestuous marriage, but we can estimate the
effect which the teaching of the Baptist must have had upon him. Here he saw a life,
like in form to that devotion which he had known in his youth, the reappearance of
the prophetic character, the open and fearless speech, as of a new Elijah, and as we
find traces of the influence of the Baptist’s teaching within the circle of Herod’s
attendants, it is reasonable to think that he too must have come under it.
3. The first trace is in Luk_3:14, where “the soldiers” were literally “men on a march”
to the war with Aretas, the father of the wife whom the tetrarch had divorced in
order that he might indulge his guilty passion for Herodias. The line of their march
would take them down the valley of the Jordan, and so they would pass by the chief
scene of the Baptist’s ministry. From that hour there must have been many among
the attendants of Herod who were disciples of John.
4. The next trace meets us in Joh_4:46, where the word “nobleman” means an
attendant of the king, i.e., of the tetrarch Antipas. I do not assume the identity of this

“nobleman” with Manaen, but I point to it as one of the tokens of the Baptist’s work
as “preparing the way of the Lord,” even among Herod’s followers. The nobleman
thus believed, and Herod’s court now included some who were disciples, not of the
Baptist only, but of the Prophet of Nazareth.
5. The imprisonment of John brought him into yet closer contact with the tetrarch’s
immediate followers. Even Herod himself “heard him gladly.” It is clear from Mat_
11:2-3, that some of the Baptist’s disciples were allowed free access to him, and who
so likely as attendants of the prince? If we believe that every word which our Lord
spoke at such a time was full of meaning, “they that wear soft clothing and are
gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings’ houses,” may have been those
who were halting between two opinions, “like reeds shaken by the wind,” whom it
was necessary to remind that the true servants of God were to be found, not “in
kings’ houses,” but in prison.
6. The narrative of the circumstances of the Baptist’s death includes notice of the
feast of “lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee,” amongst whom must have
been the “nobleman” of Capernaum, and the “steward” of Herod’s household, and
the king’s “foster-brother and friend,” who must have shuddered with an
unimaginable loathing. It was time for them to make their choice.
7. At or about this time, some at least did make it, and among them was she who
“ministered to Christ of her sustenance,” e.g., “Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s
steward.” This she could hardly have done, according to the Jewish law of property
and marriage, without her husband’s consent.
8. It may be that up to this point the foster-brother had continued faithful to the
relationship which that name involved. But soon the course of events brought about
a disruption of it. The ambitious intrigues of Herod Agrippas (Act_12:1-25) enabled
him to assume the disused title of king. This gave him a higher dignity than that of
his uncle the tetrarch, and the pride of Herodias was stung to the quick, and she gave
her husband no peace until he had taken the fatal step of leaving his tetrarchy, in the
hope of obtaining the privilege of regal rank. But the attempt failed, and he had the
mortification of seeing his tetrarchy merged in the kingdom of Agrippa, and was
exiled first to Gaul and then to Spain. The tradition that Pilate also was banished to
the former province, suggests the probability that the two may have met once again
there, to test the value of the friendship which had been purchased at so terrible a
price.
9. About this time we have the first actual mention of Manaen. Unknown as he is to
us, he stood then on the same level as Barnabas, in a higher position than St. Paul.
Whatever his past life had been, it had led him to this. But what calls for special
notice, as showing the tendency of the Baptist’s teaching, is the fact that he is found
at Antioch, not at Jerusalem. The words of the Baptist, “God is able of these stones to
raise up children unto Abraham,” contained by implication the whole gospel of the
calling of the heathen, and Manaen must have seen that they did so. At Antioch, too,
he must have taken upon himself the new name, and to one who had seen Antipas
and Jesus face to face it must have been a joy unspeakable to cast off all connection
with the Herodiani, and to take his place among the Christiani. In him, the
prophetic form of utterance which had reappeared in John after long centuries of
desuetude was powerful. As the disciples of John fasted oft, so he and those who
were with him “fasted” as they ministered to the Lord. From his lips and theirs came
the words which marked out the fittest labourers for the new and mighty work. One
who had begun with the training of an Essene, and the teaching of the Baptist, now

gave the right hand of fellowship to the two new apostles, not of “the twelve,” as they
went forth to their work among the heathen.
10. To such a man the Gentile Church, in its infancy, must have owed much. He
alone of all the earlier teachers of the Church may have sojourned in the imperial
city. From him the Apostle of the Gentiles must have had encouragement and
support, and there is a probability that the debt is even greater. St. Luke’s life as a
Christian must have begun at Antioch, and if so, then he must have known Manaen,
and from him he may have learnt many of the facts of the history of the Baptist, and
the details of Herodian history, of which the third Gospel is so full. Conclusion:
Whatever interest may attach to the juxtaposition of the two names of Manaen and
Antipas, is deepened and strengthened by this fuller study. The danger of the weak
will—untrue to its own convictions, and therefore losing them altogether, or keeping
them only to its own condemnation—the power of earnestness and faith to triumph
over the temptations of outward circumstances and perilous companionship are seen
more clearly. Our inquiries, too, will have added something to the conviction as we
read the Gospels that we are dealing, not with “cunningly devised fables,” but with
true histories, dropping hints, after the manner of all true histories, naturally and
incidentally, suggesting more than they tell, and rewarding those who seek diligently
with new insight into the facts which they record. (Dean Plumptre.)
Manaen and Herod, the different effects of a secular education
It would be natural to expect that children who grew up together under the same
examples and instruction should appear in the same religious character in after life. But
in this case the result was otherwise. One became a minister, the other a libertine.
Manaen was a man eminent for faith and virtue, learning and ability, or he would not so
soon have become a prophet in this celebrated Church. Herod was vicious and
debauched in private life; haughty, cruel, and tyrannical in his government, and was the
murderer of the Baptist. Herod made no virtuous improvement of his early advantages;
Manaen early became religious and escaped the corruptions of the world. Men’s lives are
not always answerable to the advantages they enjoy. The same gospel which is a savour
of life and a rock of salvation to some, is a savour of death and a rock of offence unto
others. The difference between these two men is observed in other families. How is this?
I. There is a great diversity in natural temper.
1. There is in all an inclination to evil, but in a different degree.
2. It is the wisdom of parents to watch the various tempers and propensities of their
children.
II. Different worldly prospects often make a great difference in character and conduct.
1. Herod was of royal descent, and had early prospects of a throne. Manaen had no
such object, and was more at liberty to admit the sober concerns of religion.
2. Different passions and capacities put young men on different pursuits. Some
through natural indolence and diffidence fall so low in their designs that they never
rise. Others are animated by an ambition that proves a snare. Others, again, set out
with a governing aim to please God.
III. The sovereign grace of God must be taken into account. Men are dependent on the
Holy Spirit. He strives with them. Some resist, others yield.

IV. Reflections.
1. The particular care which was taken in apostolic times to secure men of learning
and ability as public teachers. The unlettered men whom Christ called were trained
by the Master Himself. Paul was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. Timothy from a
child had known the Scriptures; Apollos was mighty in them. Luke, Stephen, and
others appear to have had superior literary abilities. The apostles cautioned
ministers to lay hands suddenly on no man who had not had time to furnish his
mind.
2. The duty of parents to pay particular attention to the different dispositions of
their children. Some must be ruled with great rigour, others with more lenity.
3. The young may here see that no worldly connections, temptations, etc., will excuse
them in the neglect of religion.
4. The young are here cautioned not to abuse the grace of God.
5. Let the young be rational and discreet in forming their worldly prospects. (J.
Lathrop, D. D.)
MACLAREN 1-13, "TO THE REGIONS BEYOND
We stand in this passage at the beginning of a great step forward. Philip and Peter had
each played a part in the gradual expansion of the church beyond the limits of Judaism;
but it was from the church at Antioch that the messengers went forth who completed the
process. Both its locality and its composition made that natural.
I. The solemn designation of the missionaries is the first point in the
narrative.
The church at Antioch was not left without signs of Christ’s grace and presence. It had its
band of ‘prophets and teachers.’ As might be expected, four of the five named are
Hellenists,-that is, Jews born in Gentile lands, and speaking Gentile languages. Barnabas
was a Cypriote, Simeon’s byname of Niger (‘Black’) was probably given because of his
dark complexion, which was probably caused by his birth in warmer lands. He may have
been a North African, as Lucius of Cyrene was. Saul was from Tarsus, and only Manaen
remains to represent the pure Palestinian Jew. His had been a strange course, from
being foster-brother of the Herod who killed John to becoming a teacher in the church at
Antioch. Barnabas was the leader of the little group, and the younger Pharisee from
Tarsus, who had all along been Barnabas’s protege, brought up the rear.
The order observed in the list is a little window which shows a great deal. The first and
last names all the world knows; the other three are never heard of again. Immortality
falls on the two, oblivion swallows up the three. But it matters little whether our names
are sounded in men’s ears, if they are in the Lamb’s book of life.
These five brethren were waiting on the Lord by fasting and prayer. Apparently they had
reason to expect some divine communication, for which they were thus preparing
themselves. Light will come to those who thus seek it. They were commanded to set
apart two of their number for ‘the work whereunto I have called them.’ That work is not
specified, and yet the two, like carrier pigeons on being let loose, make straight for their
line of flight, and know exactly whither they are to go.
If we strictly interpret Luke’s words (‘I have called them’), a previous intimation from

the Spirit had revealed to them the sphere of their work. In that case, the separation was
only the recognition by the brethren of the divine appointment. The inward call must
come first, and no ecclesiastical designation can do more than confirm that. But the
solemn designation by the Church identifies those who remain behind with the work of
those who go forth; it throws responsibility for sympathy and support on the former,
and it ministers strength and the sense of companionship to the latter, besides checking
that tendency to isolation which accompanies earnestness. To go forth on even Christian
service, unrecognised by the brethren, is not good for even a Paul.
But although Luke speaks of the Church sending them away, he takes care immediately
to add that it was the Holy Ghost who ‘sent them forth.’ Ramsay suggests that ‘sent them
away’ is not the meaning of the phrase in Act_13:3, but that it should be rendered ‘gave
them leave to depart.’ In any case, a clear distinction is drawn between the action of the
Church and that of the Spirit, which constituted Paul’s real commission as an Apostle.
He himself says that he was an Apostle, ‘not from men, neither through man.’
II. The events in the first stage of the journey are next summarily presented.
Note the local colouring in ‘went down to Seleucia,’ the seaport of Antioch, at the mouth
of the river. The missionaries were naturally led to begin at Cyprus, as Barnabas’s
birthplace, and that of some of the founders of the church at Antioch.
So, for the first time, the Gospel went to sea, the precursor of so many voyages. It was an
‘epoch-making moment’ when that ship dropped down with the tide and put out to sea.
Salamis was the nearest port on the south-eastern coast of Cyprus, and there they
landed,- Barnabas, no doubt, familiar with all he saw; Saul probably a stranger to it all.
Their plan of action was that to which Paul adhered in all his after work,-to carry the
Gospel to the Jew first, a proceeding for which the manner of worship in the synagogues
gave facilities. No doubt, many such were scattered through Cyprus, and Barnabas
would be well known in most.
They thus traversed the island from east to west. It is noteworthy that only now is John
Mark’s name brought in as their attendant. He had come with them from Antioch, but
Luke will not mention him, when he is telling of the sending forth of the other two,
because Mark was not sent by the Spirit, but only chosen by his uncle, and his
subsequent defection did not affect the completeness of their embassy. His entirely
subordinate place is made obvious by the point at which he appears.
Nothing of moment happened on the tour till Paphos was reached. That was the capital,
the residence of the pro-consul, and the seat of the foul worship of Venus. There the first
antagonist was met. It is not Sergius Paulus, pro-consul though he was, who is the
central figure of interest to Luke, but the sorcerer who was attached to his train. His
character is drawn in Luke’s description, and in Paul’s fiery exclamation. Each has three
clauses, which fall ‘like the beats of a hammer.’ ‘Sorcerer, false prophet, Jew,’ make a
climax of wickedness. That a Jew should descend to dabble in the black art of magic, and
play tricks on the credulity of ignorant people by his knowledge of some simple secrets of
chemistry; that he should pretend to prophetic gifts which in his heart he knew to be
fraud, and should be recreant to his ancestral faith, proved him to deserve the
penetrating sentence which Paul passed on him. He was a trickster, and knew that he
was: his inspiration came from an evil source; he had come to hate righteousness of
every sort.
Paul was not flinging bitter words at random, or yielding to passion, but was laying the
black heart bare to the man’s own eyes, that the seeing himself as God saw him might
startle him into penitence. ‘The corruption of the best is the worst.’ The bitterest

enemies of God’s ways are those who have cast aside their early faith. A Jew who had
stooped to be a juggler was indeed causing God’s ‘name to be blasphemed among the
Gentiles.’
He and Paul each recognised in the other his most formidable foe. Elymas instinctively
felt that the pro-consul must be kept from listening to the teaching of these two fellow-
countrymen, and ‘sought to pervert him from the faith,’ therein perverting (the same
word is used in both cases) ‘the right ways of the Lord’; that is, opposing the divine
purpose. He was a specimen of a class who attained influence in that epoch of unrest,
when the more cultivated and nobler part of Roman society had lost faith in the old
gods, and was turning wistfully and with widespread expectation to the mysterious East
for enlightenment.
So, like a ship which plunges into the storm as soon as it clears the pier-head, the
missionaries felt the first dash of the spray and blast of the wind directly they began
their work. Since this was their first encounter with a foe which they would often have to
meet, the duel assumes importance, and we understand not only the fulness of the
narrative, but the miracle which assured Paul and Barnabas of Christ’s help, and was
meant to diffuse its encouragement along the line of their future work. For Elymas it was
chastisement, which might lead him to cease to pervert the ways of the Lord, and himself
begin to walk in them. Perhaps, after a season, he did see ‘the better Sun.’
Saul’s part in the incident is noteworthy. We observe the vivid touch, he ‘fastened his
eyes on him.’ There must have been something very piercing in the fixed gaze of these
flashing eyes. But Luke takes pains to prevent our thinking that Paul spoke from his own
insight or was moved by human passion. He was ‘filled with the Holy Ghost,’ and, as His
organ, poured out the scorching words that revealed the cowering apostate to himself,
and announced the merciful punishment that was to fall. We need to be very sure that
we are similarly filled before venturing to imitate the Apostle’s tone.
III. The shifting of the scene to the mainland presents some noteworthy
points.
It is singular that there is no preaching mentioned as having been attempted in Perga, or
anywhere along the coast, but that the two evangelists seem to have gone at once across
the great mountain range of Taurus to Antioch of Pisidia.
A striking suggestion is made by Ramsay to the effect that the reason was a sudden
attack of the malarial fever which is endemic in the low-lying coast plains, and for which
the natural remedy is to get up among the mountains. If so, the journey to Antioch of
Pisidia may not have been in the programme to which John Mark had agreed, and his
return to Jerusalem may have been due to this departure from the original intention. Be
that as it may, he stands for us as a beacon, warning against hasty entrance on great
undertakings of which we have not counted the cost, no less than against cowardly flight
from work, as soon as it begins to involve more danger or discomfort than we had
reckoned on.
John Mark was willing to go a-missionarying as long as he was in Cyprus, where he was
somebody and much at home, by his relationship to Barnabas; but when Perga and the
climb over Taurus into strange lands came to be called for, his zeal and courage oozed
out at his finger-ends, and he skulked back to his mother’s house at Jerusalem. No
wonder that Paul ‘thought not good to take with them him who withdrew from them.’
But even such faint hearts as Mark’s may take courage from the fact that he nobly
retrieved his youthful error, and won back Paul’s confidence, and proved himself

‘profitable to him for the ministry.’
EBC 13:1 TO 14:28, "ST. PAUL’S ORDINATION AND FIRST MISSIONARY
TOUR.
We have now arrived at what we might call the watershed of the Acts of the Apostles.
Hitherto we have had very various scenes, characters, personages to consider.
Henceforth St. Paul, his labours, his disputes, his speeches, occupy the entire field, and
every other name that is introduced into the narrative plays a very subordinate part. This
is only natural. St. Luke knew of the earlier history by information gained from various
persons, but he knew of the later history, and specially of St. Paul’s journeys, by personal
experience. He could say that he had formed a portion and played no small part in the
work of which he was telling, and therefore St. Paul’s activity naturally supplies the chief
subject of his narrative. St. Luke in this respect was exactly like ourselves. What we take
an active part in, where our own powers are specially called into operation, there our
interest is specially aroused. St. Luke personally knew of St. Paul’s missionary journeys
and labours, and therefore when telling Theophilus of the history of the Church down to
the year 60 or thereabouts, he deals with that part of it which he specially knows. This
limitation of St. Luke’s vision limits also our range of exposition. The earlier portion of
the Acts is much richer from an expositor’s point of view, comprises more typical
narratives, scenes, events than the latter portion, though this latter portion may be
richer in points of contact, historical and geographical, with the world of life and action.
It is with an expositor or preacher exactly the opposite as with the Church historian or
biographer of St. Paul. A writer gifted with the exuberant imagination, the minute
knowledge of a Renan or a Farrar naturally finds in the details of travel with which the
latter portion of the Acts is crowded matter for abundant discussion. He can pour forth
the treasures of information which modern archaeological research has furnished,
shedding light upon the movements of the Apostle. But with the preacher or expositor it
is otherwise. There are numerous incidents which lend themselves to his purpose in the
journeys recorded in this latter portion of the book; but while a preacher might find
endless subjects for spiritual exposition in the conversion of St. Paul or the martyrdom
of St. Stephen, he finds himself confined to historical and geographical discussions in
large portions’ of the story dealing with St. Paul’s journeys. We shall, however, strive to
unite both functions, and while endeavouring to treat the history from an expositor’s
point of view, we shall not overlook details of another type which will impart colour and
interest to the exposition.
I. The thirteenth chapter of the Acts records the opening of St. Paul’s official missionary
labours, and its earliest verses tell us of the formal separation or consecration for that
work which St. Paul received. Now the question may here be raised, Why did St. Paul
receive such a solemn ordination as that we here read of? Had he not been called by
Christ immediately? Had he not been designated to the work in Gentile lands by the
voice of the same Jesus Christ speaking to Ananias at Damascus and afterward to Paul
himself in the Temple at Jerusalem? What was the necessity for such a solemn external
imposition of hands as that here recorded? John Calvin, in his commentary on this
passage, offers a very good suggestion, and shows that he was able to throw himself back
into the feelings and ideas of the times far better than many a modern-writer. Calvin
thinks that this revelation of the Holy Ghost and this ordination by the hands of the
Antiochene prophets were absolutely necessary to complete the work begun by St. Peter
at Caesarea, and for this reason. The prejudices of the Jewish Christians against their

Gentile brethren were so strong, that they would regard the vision at Joppa as applying,
not as a general rule, but as a mere personal matter, authorising the reception of
Cornelius and his party alone. They would not see nor understand that it authorised the
active evangelisation of the Gentile world and the prosecution of aggressive Christian
efforts among the heathen. The Holy Ghost therefore, as the abiding and guiding power
in the Church, and expressing His will through the agency of the prophets then present,
said, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them"; and
that work to which they were expressly sent forth by the Holy Ghost was the work of
aggressive effort beginning with the Jews-but not terminating with them-and including
the Gentiles. This seems to me thoroughly true, and shows how Calvin realised the
intellectual weakness, the spiritual hardness of heart and slowness of judgment which
prevailed among the apostles. The battle of Christian freedom and catholic truth was not
won in a moment. Old prejudices did not depart in an hour. New principles were not
assimilated and applied in a few days. Those who hold nobler views and higher
principles than the crowd must not be surprised or dismayed if they find that year after
year they have to fight the same battles and to proclaim the same fundamental truths
and to maintain what may seem at times even a losing conflict with the forces of
unreasoning prejudices. If this was the case in the primitive Church with all its unity and
love and spiritual gifts, we may well expect the same state of affairs in the Church of our
time.
An illustration borrowed from Church history will explain this. Nothing can well be
more completely contrary to the spirit of Christianity than religious persecution.
Nothing can be imagined more completely consonant with the spirit of the Christian
religion than freedom of conscience. Yet how hard has been the struggle for it! The early
Christians suffered in defence of religious freedom, but they had no sooner gained the
battle than they adopted the very principle against which they had fought. They became
religiously intolerant, because religious intolerance was part and parcel of the Roman
state under which they had been reared. The Reformation again was a battle for religious
freedom. If it were not, the Reformers who suffered in it would have no more claim to
our compassion and sympathy on account of the deaths they suffered than soldiers who
die in battle. A soldier merely suffers what he is prepared to inflict, and so it was with the
martyrs of the Reformation unless theirs was a struggle for religious freedom. Yet no
sooner had the battle of the Reformation been won than all the Reformed Churches
adopted the very principle which had striven to crush themselves. It is terribly difficult
to emancipate ourselves from the influence and ideas of bygone ages, and so it was with
the Jewish Christians. They could not bring themselves to adopt missionary work among
the Gentiles. They believed indeed intellectually that God had granted unto the Gentiles
repentance unto life, but that belief was not accompanied with any of the enthusiasm
which alone lends life and power to mental conceptions. The Holy Ghost therefore, as
the Paraclete, the loving Comforter, Exhorter, and Guide of the Church, interposes
afresh, and by a new revelation ordains apostles whose great work shall consist in
preaching to the Gentile world.
There seems to me one great reason for the prominent place this incident at Antioch
holds. The work of Gentile conversion proceeded from Antioch, which may therefore
well be regarded as the mother Church of Gentile Christendom; and the Apostles of the
Gentiles were there solemnly set apart and constituted. Barnabas and Saul were not
previously called apostles. Henceforth this title is expressly applied to them, and
independent apostolic action is taken by them. But there seems to me another reason
why Barnabas and Saul were thus solemnly set apart, notwithstanding all their previous
gifts and callings and history. The Holy Ghost wished to lay down at the very beginning

of the Gentile Church the law of orderly development, the rule of external ordination,
and the necessity for its perpetual observance. And therefore He issued His mandate for
their visible separation to the work of evangelisation. All the circumstances too are
typical. The Church was engaged in a season of special devotion when the Holy Ghost
spoke. A special blessing was vouchsafed, as before at Pentecost, when the people of God
were specially waiting upon Him. The Church at Antioch as represented by its leading
teachers were fasting and praying and ministering to the Lord when the Divine mandate
was issued, and then they fasted and prayed again. The ordination of the first apostles to
the Gentiles was accompanied by special prayer and by fasting, and the Church took
good care afterwards to follow closely this primitive example. The institution of the four
Ember seasons as times for solemn ordinations is derived from this incident. The Ember
seasons are periods for solemn prayer and fasting, not only for those about to be
ordained, but also for the whole Church, because she recognises that the whole body of
Christ’s people are interested most deeply and vitally in the nature and character of the
Christian ministry. If the members of that ministry are devoted, earnest, inspired with
Divine love, then indeed the work of Christ flourishes in the Church, while, if the
ministry of God be careless and unspiritual, the people of God suffer terrible injury. And
we observe, further, that not only the Church subsequent to the apostolic age followed
this example at Antioch, but St. Paul himself followed it and prescribed it to his
disciples. He ordained elders in every Church, and that from the beginning. He acted
thus on his very first missionary journey, ordaining by the imposition of hands
accompanied with prayer and fasting, as we learn from the fourteenth chapter and
twenty-third verse (Act_14:21). He reminded Timothy of the gift imparted to that
youthful evangelist by the imposition of St. Paul’s own hands, as well as by those of the
presbytery; and yet he does not hesitate to designate the elders of Ephesus and Miletus
who were thus ordained by St. Paul as bishops set over God’s flock by the Holy Ghost
Himself. St. Paul and the Apostolic Church, in fact, looked behind this visible scene.
They realised vividly the truth of Christ’s promise about the presence of the Holy Ghost
in the Church. They took no miserably low and Erastian views of the sacred ministry, as
if it were an office of mere human order and appointment. They viewed it as a
supernatural and Divine office, which no mere human power, no matter how exalted,
could confer. They realised the human instruments indeed in their true position as
nothing but instruments, powerless in themselves, and mighty only through God, and
therefore St. Paul regarded his own ordination of the elders whom he appointed at
Derbe, Iconium, Lystra, or Ephesus as a separation by the Holy Ghost to their Divine
offices. The Church was, in fact, then instinct with life and spiritual vigour, because it
thankfully recognised the present power, the living force and vigour of the third person
of the Holy Trinity.
II. The Apostles, having been thus commissioned, lost no time. They at once departed
upon their great work. And now let us briefly indicate the scope of the first great
missionary tour undertaken by St. Paul, and sketch its outline, filling in the details
afterwards. According to early tradition the headquarters of the Antiochene Church were
in Singon Street, in the southern quarter of Antioch. After earnest and prolonged
religious services they left their Christian brethren. St. Paul’s own practice recorded at
Ephesus, Miletus, and at Tyre shows us that prayer marked such separation from the
Christian brethren, and we know that the same practice was perpetuated in the early
Church; Tertullian, for instance, telling us that a brother should not leave a Christian
house until he had been commended to God’s keeping. They then crossed the bridge,
and proceeded along the northern bank of the Orontes to Seleucia, the port of Antioch,
where the ruins still testify to the vastness of the architectural conceptions cherished by

the Syrian kings. From Seleucia the apostles sailed to the island of Cyprus, whose peaks
they could see eighty miles distant, shining bright and clear through the pellucid air.
Various circumstances would lead them thither. Barnabas was of Cyprus, and he
doubtless had many friends there. Cyprus had then an immense Jewish population, as
we have already pointed out; and though the apostles were specially designated for work
among the Gentiles, they ever made the Jews the starting-point whence to influence the
outside world, always used them as the lever whereby to move the stolid mass of
paganism. The apostles showed a wholesome example to all missionaries and to all
teachers by this method of action. They addressed the Jews first because they had most
in common with them. And St. Paul deliberately and of set purpose worked on this
principle, whether with Jews or Gentiles. He sought out the ideas or the ground common
to himself and his hearers, and then, having found the points on which they agreed, he
worked out from them. It is the true method of controversy. I have seen the opposite
course adopted, and with very disastrous effects. I have seen a method of controversial
argument pursued, consisting simply in attacks upon errors without any attempt to
follow the apostolic example and discover the truths which both parties held in common,
and the result has been the very natural one that ill-will and bad feeling have been
aroused without effecting any changes in conviction. We can easily understand the
reason of this, if we consider how the matter would stand with ourselves. If a man comes
up to us, and without any attempt to discover our ideas or enter into sympathetic
relations with us, makes a very aggressive assault upon all our particular notions and
practices, our backs are at once put up, we are thrown into a defensive mood, our pride
is stirred, we resent the tone, the air of the aggressor, and unconsciously determine not
to be convinced by him. Controversial preaching of that class, hard, unloving,
censorious, never does any permanent good, but rather strengthens and confirms the
person against whose belief it is directed. Nothing of this kind will ever be found in the
wise, courteous teaching of the apostle Paul, whose few recorded speeches to Jews and
Gentiles may be commended to the careful study of all teachers at home or abroad as
models of mission preaching, being at once prudent and loving, faithful and courageous.
From Seleucia the apostles itinerated through the whole island unto Paphos, celebrated
in classical antiquity as the favourite seat of the goddess Venus, where they came for the
first time into contact with a great Roman official, Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of the
island. From Paphos they sailed across to the mainland of Asia Minor, landed at Perga,
where John Mark abandoned the work to which he had put his hand. They do not seem
to have stayed for long at Perga. They doubtless declared their message at the local
synagogue to the Jews and proselytes who assembled there, for we are not to conclude,
because a synagogue is not expressly mentioned as belonging to any special town, that
therefore it did not exist. Modern discoveries have shown that Jewish synagogues were
found in every considerable town or city of Asia Minor, preparing the way by their pure
morality and monotheistic teaching for the fuller and richer truths of Christianity. But
St. Paul had fixed his eagle gaze upon Antioch of Pisidia, a town which had been made by
Augustus Caesar the great centre of this part of Asia Minor, whence military roads
radiated in every direction, lending thereby the assistance of imperial organisation to the
progress of the gospel. Its situation was, in fact, the circumstance which determined the
original foundation of Antioch by the Syrian princes.
Facility of access, commercial convenience were points at which they chiefly aimed in
selecting the sites of the cities they built, and the wisdom of their choice in the case of
Antioch in Pisidia was confirmed when Augustus and Tiberius, some few years previous
to St. Paul’s visit, made Antioch the centre from which diverged the whole system of
military roads throughout this portion of Asia Minor. It was a very large city, and its

ruins and aqueducts testify to this day concerning the important position it held as the
great centre of all the Roman colonies and fortresses which Augustus planted in the year
B.C. 6 along the skirts of the Taurus Range to restrain the incursions of the rude
mountaineers of Isauria and Pisidia. When persecution compelled the apostles to retire
from Antioch they took their way therefore to Iconium, which was some sixty miles
southeast of Antioch along one of those military roads of which we have spoken,
constructed for the purpose of putting down the brigands which then, as in modern
times, constituted one of the great plagues of Asia Minor. But why did the apostles retire
to Iconium? Surely one might say, if the Jews had influence enough at Antioch to stir up
the chief men of the city against the missionaries, they would have had influence enough
to secure a warrant for their arrest in a neighbouring city. At first sight it seems
somewhat difficult to account for the line of travel or flight adopted by the apostles. But
a reference to ancient geography throws some light upon the problem. Strabo, a
geographer of St. Paul’s own day, tells us that Iconium was an independent principality
or tetrarchy, surrounded indeed on all sides by Roman territory, but still enjoying a
certain amount of independence. The apostles fled to Iconium when persecution waxed
hot because they had a good road thither, and also because at Iconium they were secure
from any legal molestation, being under a new jurisdiction.
After a time, however, the Jews from Antioch made their way to Iconium and began the
same process which had proved so successful at Antioch. They first excited the members
of the Jewish synagogue against the apostles, and through them influenced the
townspeople at large, so that, though successful in winning converts, St. Paul and his
companion were in danger of being stoned by a joint mob of Jews and Gentiles. They
had therefore to fly a second time, and when doing so they acted on the same principle
as before. They again removed themselves out of the local jurisdiction of their enemies,
and passed to Derbe and Lystra, cities of Lycaonia, a Roman province which had just
been formed by the Emperor Claudius.
Then after a time, when the disturbances which the Jews persistently raised wherever
they came had subsided, the apostles turned back over the same ground, no longer
indeed publicly preaching, but organising quietly and secretly the Churches which they
had founded in the different towns through which they had passed, till they arrived back
at Perga, Where perhaps, finding no ship sailing to Antioch, they travelled to the port of
Attalia, where they succeeded in finding a passage to that city of Antioch whence they
had been sent forth. This brief sketch will gave a general view of the first missionary tour
made in the realms of paganism, and will show that it dealt with little more than two
provinces of Asia Minor, Pisidia and Lycaonia, and was followed by what men would
count but scanty results, the foundation and organisation of a few scattered Christian
communities in some of the leading towns of these districts.
III. Let us now more particularly notice some of the details recorded concerning this
journey. The apostles began their work at Cyprus, where they proclaimed the gospel in
the Jewish synagogues. They were attracted as we have said to this island, first, because
it was the native land of Barnabas, and then because its population was in large degree
Jewish, owing to the possession of the famous copper mines of the island by Herod the
Great. Synagogues were scattered all over the island and proselytes appertained to each
synagogue, and thus a basis of operations was ready whence the gospel message might
operate. It was just the same even at Paphos, where St. Paul came in contact with the
proconsul Sergius Paulus. The Jewish element here again appears, though in more active
opposition than seems to have been elsewhere offered. Sergius Paulus was a Roman
citizen like Cornelius of Caesarea. He had become dissatisfied with the belief of his
forefathers. He had now come into contact with the mystic East, and had yielded himself

Acts 13 commentary

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Acts 13 commentary