“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” (Acts 13:1). The Lord Jesus, the extolled head of the Church, is the one who gives gifts for the Church’s edification, as we have read in Eph. 4:11: “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets. . .” In the local church, there was no principle where one man carried out the whole ministry of the word of God — preaching the gospel, feeding the flock, and teaching doctrine — in short, one who led the congregation. Why not? Because it was not, nor is it now, the will of the Lord. We see no less than five men in Antioch gifted as prophets and teachers. They served the Lord in perfect harmony, “in honour preferring one another” (Rom. 12:10). They exercised their ministry “decently and in order ... ” and there was no “dissention” (1 Cor. 14:26-40).
“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. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus” (Acts 13:2-4).
The word “minister” can also just as correctly be translated, “serve.” The five men named, on serving their brothers in the ministry of the Word, were serving the Lord Jesus. He’s our master, our leader, our everything.
While the five were serving the Lord in the ministry of the Word, they were fasting. They were so full of the Holy Spirit that they did not have an appetite for natural food: the spiritual appetite surpassed the natural appetite. Fasting just to fast is no more than a ritual and very often becomes a cause of boasting. It has no value whatsoever before the Lord (see Matt. 6:16-18). But, to give up natural appetites, such as eating, drinking, and marital relations (see 1 Cor. 7:5), to be occupied with the spiritual — under the compelling influence of the Holy Spirit — this does have the Lord’s approval. Don’t you agree that it is the type of fasting that is in agreement with His will and is for His glory that matters?
The fasting of God’s five servants preceded a very important event: The Holy Spirit called Barnabas and Paul to a very special work. It was fitting that fasting preceded such an announcement and, apparently, the Lord’s service. We do not know how the Holy Spirit spoke: audibly, or producing a unanimous conviction in the hearts of the five, and possibly in the whole assembly; or possibly by way of a combination of convictions and circumstances. It does not matter. It is enough to know that He spoke. We have seen, and will see, in this Book of the Acts how the Spirit communicated His mind in diverse ways.
The brothers of Antioch, being persuaded, set aside a time of fasting and prayer to make very sure that it was the Lord’s will. Then they expressly gave Barnabas and Saul the right hand of fellowship — laying hands on them. We should note that they did not send them away to work, but rather, (as another translation says), “they let them go.” It should be stressed that they were not sent by the assembly, nor by a group of church leaders, nor by a council, much less by one leader, but rather “by the Holy Spirit.”
Where did they go? Not to Tarsus, where there is no doubt that Saul had evangelized much in his long stay with his native people, but rather to the Island of Cyprus, Barnabas’ homeland (see Acts 4:36).
“And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John [Mark] to their minister [or, as ‘a helper’]. And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus: Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him. And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord” (Acts 13:5-12).
As soon as God begins a work of His grace, the devil shows up to get in its way. Barnabas and Paul came up against a tough agent of the devil, an apostate Jew called Barjesus (meaning “son of Jesus”). He manifested himself as a son of the devil instead when he wanted to separate the Roman proconsul (commander) — a Gentile who desired to hear the word of God — from the Christian faith.
In passing, we should state that it is not advisable for Christians to call every unbeliever, “a son of the devil.” It is true that in our state as unbelievers we are “children of disobedience” and “children of wrath, even as others” (Eph. 2:2-3). But, the Lord Jesus, during the time of His ministry of God’s word here on earth, did not even call the Pharisees sons of the devil. He did not do so until they had shown themselves to be strictly opposed to the truth of His person, the Son of God, to the point of wanting to kill Him. Then He had to denounce them: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do” (John 8:44). They wanted to kill Him.
Returning to our subject in the book of Acts, it is important to note that in the first passage — which speaks of the devil’s opposition of the work to which the Holy Spirit called Barnabas and Saul — Saul ceased to be called “Saul.” From then on he was called “Paul.” “Saul” was the royal name of the first king of the Israelites, and Saul, in his days as an unbeliever, was very proud that this was his name: “of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews” (Phil. 3:5). But since the Lord had pardoned him from such great sin, humbling himself, he felt that he was “less than the least of all saints” (Eph. 3:8), and the name “Paul” could imply a little bit of his sense of smallness.
But the essential thing for the Lord’s servant is that he be possessed by the Holy Spirit, “full of the Holy Spirit,” — which Paul was. Discerning that Elymas (or Barjesus) was resisting the testimony of God about His Son, he reprimanded him with words as strong as those that the Lord Jesus employed when He reprimanded the scribes and Pharisees (see Matt. 23:13-25). Then he warned him that the Lord’s hand would be against him and that he was going to be blinded; and it happened.
Barjesus, or rather Elymas, is a type of the apostate Jew that has resisted the gospel from the beginning even until now; and is still blind with a veil of unbelief over his heart (see 2 Cor. 3:14-15). But it will not be like this forever — there is a day coming when the Jew will repent: “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn” (Zech. 12:10).
The devil was conquered; Barjesus punished; and the Roman governor, Sergius Paulus, saved — amazed by the truth about Christ the Lord.
“Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem” (Acts 13:13). John Mark was not called by the Lord to the work. The Holy Spirit had commanded to separate Barnabas and Saul for the work He had called them to; He had not called John Mark, who had accompanied his uncle, Barnabas. He went back.
“And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Paul, not Barnabas, had demonstrated that he had the courage to oppose an agent of the devil. “Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood” (Jer. 48:10). Paul (speaking figuratively) did not keep back his sword when Barjesus showed up. Christianity is characterized by grace; however, “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17) and it is essential, for love of the truth, to valiantly resist the devil’s attacks against the Lord’s testimony.
“Servants of Jesus, men of truth,
We are guards of duty,
Free of evil, rich in goodness.
May we be faithful in battle.”
From that time on, Paul is always mentioned first and the group is identified as “Paul and his companions.”
“But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on” (Acts 13:14-15).
The Lord Jesus, raised from the dead, had commanded His disciples to preach the gospel, “among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). Jesus commanded them to start with the guiltiest — those that killed Him. And Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). So, the apostles followed this command and preached the gospel to the Jews first, and then to the Gentiles.
“But when they [the apostles Paul and Barnabas] departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on” (Acts 13:14-15).
The gospel “is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). So, the apostles went first to the Jews, the most privileged and, oh! the most blind, giving them the opportunity to repent and be saved; then they went to the Gentiles. In the Jewish synagogue, the text of the law and the prophets was taught in such a way that the Jew had certain knowledge of God that the poor Greek did not have. When Paul and Apollos preached to the Jews, they constantly appealed to the Old Testament, “shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.” (Acts 18:28).
“Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought He them out of it. And about the time of forty years suffered He their manners in the wilderness. And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot. And after that He gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years. And when He had removed him, He raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also He gave their testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after Mine own heart, which shall fulfil all My will” (Acts 13:16-22).
Paul, before presenting Jesus “as Savior of Israel” gave a very short summary of the children of Israel’s history, from their days of slavery in Egypt until the time of David, the King, chosen by God from the tribe of Judah, from whom, according to the flesh, came Christ, “Who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen” (Rom. 9:5). Next, Paul introduced the blessed person of Jesus, the Messiah of Israel:
“Of this man’s seed hath God according to His promise raised unto Israel a Savior, Jesus: When John had first preached before His coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh One after me, whose shoes of His feet I am not worthy to loose. Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning Him. And though they found no cause of death in Him, yet desired they Pilate that He should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they took Him down from the tree, and laid Him in a sepulchre” (Acts 13:23-29).
Paul — once again with a few meaningful words — described Christ’s appearance to His earthly people and His rejection by the same people. But in contrast to the height of their wickedness — the crucifixion of their Messiah — “God raised Him from the dead” (Acts 13:30).
What a marvelous act! Irresistible power! Infinite love! The devil defeated! Death nullified! Salvation completed!
“The Lord IS RISEN INDEED,
And all His work performed!
The captive Surety now is freed,
And death, our foe, disarmed.”
“And He was seen many days of them which came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that He raised Him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, He said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore He saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption” (Acts 13:31-37).
There has never been an act better attested to than Christ’s resurrection: “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And ... He was buried, and ... rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And ... He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present ... After that, He was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all He was seen of me also” (1 Cor. 15:3-8). God fulfilled the promise that He had made to the fathers of Israel. Note the quoted reference from the second Psalm: “Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee.” “This day” refers to the day of His humanity, not the beginning of His existence. God the Father sent His Son to the world; He was the Son in the deity before the world was created. John 17:5 shows this: “And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.” The One who was Son in the Deity, on being born as a man in this world was Son of God and, at the same time, Son of Man.
In contrast with all the rest of men who died and whose bodies rotted, Christ did not see corruption. His human body was incorruptible; and on the third day He rose in a body of flesh and bones, but without blood (see Luke 24:39).
“Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38-39). “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). Through Jesus Christ, then, the remission of sins was preached to every believer. Through the law of Moses no one could be justified.
But along with the proclamation of the good news of the remission of sins by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ goes the solemn warning of the fatal consequences of unbelief. It is not a part of the gospel, no; but it is necessary that the sinner know that he cannot despise the kind offer of the sovereign God without it leading to judgment of himself. Because of this, Paul added these words: “Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you” (Acts 13:40-41).
“And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God” (Acts 13:42-43).
It appears that in this passage we have appropriate instruction for the conduct of gospel meetings. It says this, “The congregation was broken up.” Among them, as almost always occurs in public meetings (or rather open to the public), there were a number of contemptuous people and opponents to the gospel. Now, after the public preaching of the gospel, is it not advisable — if it is possible — to break up the congregation and let those who do not want to accept Christ leave, in order to be able to speak particularly with those who are interested? “The congregation was broken up” and Paul and Barnabas made use of the opportunity to personally speak with those who showed an interest in the message of salvation, and “persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.” With all of this, unless the persuasion is that of the Holy Spirit working effectively in the heart and conscience of the sinner, it is not from God. Persuading people, publicly or individually, on the strength of eloquent preachers, is not from God. Paul wrote this to the Corinthians: “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor. 2:4).
While writing about this point, we will make mention of another similar custom which is very common among evangelical Christians. That is to make or force an interested hearer to make a public confession. It comes from the truth, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:9). But this should spill out spontaneously from the grateful heart of the sinner who is conscious of having been pardoned by God: “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” “I believed, and therefore have I spoken” (Matt. 12:34; 2 Cor. 4:13). But I am referencing customs such as one I observed in a certain place where we visited: two humble, very poor women were led to the back of a gospel room full of people, some mockers being present — young people of both sexes. The leaders made them kneel down before the others. The poor women — they had never previously done such a thing while on display before men — had to repeat the words of a prepared confession of faith that was spoken by another person. While they stayed kneeling, more than “two or three” spoke, and the women even had to each kiss a Bible. We do not find such procedures mentioned, much less commanded, in the New Testament. When the Lord Jesus healed the sick man, He said: “Take up thy bed, and walk” (John 5:11). He did not say, “Take up thy bed and speak.” Where there is life in Christ, there will be fruit: “by their fruit ye shall know them” (Matt. 7:20).
“And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:44-48).
What happened in Jerusalem was going to happen everywhere — the Jews rejected Christ: “Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost” (1 Thess. 2:15-16).
Paul and Barnabas, full of the Holy Spirit and well knowing the Scriptures of the Old Testament (the only ones that existed in those days), knew what to do, since they found the prophecy about Christ in the book of Isaiah which says: “It is a light thing that thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give Thee for a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth” (Isa. 49:6). From there — aware of the situation — they were convinced that it was the Lord’s will that they go to the Gentiles with the gospel of God’s pardoning grace. For the apostles, the prophecy became a commandment from the Lord Jesus. So it is that the Christian, walking in fellowship with his Lord, can find in any passage of the Bible the instruction or direction that he needs in certain circumstances. He understands it spiritually. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
All the Gentiles who were ordained for eternal life believed. There is a similar passage in John 15:16: “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you,” and another in Ephesians 1:4: “According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.” Man is so evil that if it had not been for the sovereign and effectual grace of God, no one would have drawn near to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.
“And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 13:49-52).
In the form of a persecutor, “the devil, as a roaring lion” appeared (1 Pet. 5:8), but the saving word of the Lord Jesus had already been sown throughout the whole province. The Jews, tireless in their opposition to the gospel, were able to incite the female citizens against the apostles. Later, in another city, Thessalonica, they employed “certain lewd fellows of the baser sort” (Acts 17:5), with the same diabolic purpose. But the only thing they managed to do was make the gospel spread even farther and faster because, the apostles, thrown out of one region, would go to another one to evangelize. And the new believers were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. The normal order for the Christian would be to be filled with the Holy Spirit and with joy, but we all know that when we meet Christ as our Savior and are pardoned from our sins, the joy that first fills us is greater than everything else. With the passing of years we should be filled with the Holy Spirit and also with joy — a deeper joy.