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We observe that Barnabas stands first and Saul last in the list of prophets and teachers
given in Acts 13: 1. That order was soon to be reversed, but it is encouraging to
remember that the great apostle Paul himself knew a few years' discipline before he
became competent for the fight.
We know practically nothing of Simeon, that was called Niger, nor of Lucius of
Cyrene. Manaen is of interest seeing that he was foster brother of Herod the Tetrarch.
Both were children nourished at the same breast (suntrophos), yet one is found numbered
with the prophets, while the other killed one of the greatest of prophets, and was banished
in A.D.41.
"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" (Acts 13: 2).
The words "I have called" (proskeklemai) are the perfect passive of proskaleo, and
indicate that the call had already been given to Barnabas and Saul, and was now to be put
into effect. Hitherto the title of apostle had not been used of either Barnabas or Saul, but
from this time onward it became theirs. "When the apostles, Barnabas and Paul heard"
(Acts 14: 14). Paul had been chosen as an apostle on the road to Damascus: "Unto
whom now I send (apostello) thee" (Acts 26: 16-18). As he tells us, he had already
been "separated from his mother's womb" (Gal. 1: 15). Yet he needed more than this
commission and separation fully to qualify him for the service. This confirmation was
now added. The Holy Ghost called upon the assembled church to "separate Me,
Barnabas and Saul". The particle de is not translated in either the A.V. or the R.V.
Weymouth's translation reads:
"Set apart for Me, now at once, Barnabas and Saul. When therefore the brethren had
fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away" (Acts 13: 2, 3).
While there are passages in the Acts that show that the gift of holy spirit was
conferred by the laying on of hands, it is not always so. For example, Stephen was a man
"full of the Holy Ghost", yet the apostles laid their hands on him (Acts 6: 5, 6), and there
is no suggestion that any gift was conferred upon Barnabas and Saul on this occasion. It
seems rather to have been a means of expressing hearty agreement with their call to
service, and is actually explained in the words of Acts 14: 26, "recommended to the
grace of God for the work". The apostle evidently referred to this occasion when he
wrote:
"Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of
God" (Rom. 1: 1).
The first step taken by the apostles Barnabas and Saul for the evangelization of the
Gentiles is now recorded:
"So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia: and from thence
they sailed to Cyprus" (Acts 13: 4).