was by the disciples of John, and of the Pharisees; yet after the Bridegroom was taken away, they abounded in it, as those that had well learned to deny themselves, and to endure hardness.
II. The orders given by the Holy Ghost for the setting apart of Barnabas and Saul, while they were engaged in public exercises; the ministers of the several congregations in the city joining in one solemn fast or day of prayer, the Holy Ghost said, either by a voice from heaven, or by a strong impulse on the minds of those of them that were prophets, Separate me Barnabas, and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. He does not specify the work, but refers to a former call which they themselves knew the meaning of, whether others did or no; as for Saul, he was particularly told that he must bear Christ's name to the Gentiles, (ch. 9. 15.) that he must be sent to the Gentiles, (ch. 22. 21.) the matter was settled between them at Jerusalem before this, that as Peter, James and John, laid out themselves among them of the circumcision, so Paul and Barnabas should go to the heathen, Gal. 2. 7—9. Barnabas, it is likely, knew himself designed for that service as well as Paul. Yet they would not thrust themselves into this harvest, though it appeared plenteous, till they received their orders from the Lord of the harvest; Thrust in thy sickle, for the harvest is ripe, Rev. 14. 15. The orders were, Separate me Barnabas and Saul. Observe here,
1. Christ by his Spirit has the nomination of his ministers; for it is by the Spirit of Christ that they are both qualified in some measure for his service, inclined to it, and taken off from other cares inconsistent with it There are some whom the Holy Ghost has separated for the service of Christ, has distinguished from others as men that are offered, and that willingly offer themselves to the temple-service; and concerning them, directions are given to those who are competent judges of the sufficiency of the abilities, and the sincerity of the inclination, to separate them.
2. Christ's ministers are separated to him and to the Holy Ghost; Separate them to me; they are to be employed in Christ's work, and under the Spirit's guidance, to the glory of God the Father.
3. All that are separated to Christ as his ministers, are separated to work; Christ keeps no servants to be idle. If any man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work; that is it which he is separated to, to labour in the word and doctrine. They are separated to take pains, not to take state.
4. The work of Christ's ministers, to which they are to be separated, is work that is already settled, and that which all Christ's ministers hitherto have been called to, and which they themselves have first been, by an external call, directed to, and have chosen.
III. Their ordination, pursuant to these orders: not to the ministry in general, (Barnabas and Saul had both of them been ministers long before this,) but to a particular service in the ministry, which had something peculiar in it, and which required a fresh commission; which commission God saw fit at this time to transmit by the hands of these prophets and teachers, for the giving of this direction to the church, that teachers should ordain teachers, (for prophets we are not now any longer to expect,) and that those who have the dispensing of the oracles of Christ committed to them, should, for the benefit of posterity, commit the same to faithful men, who shall be able also to teach others, 2 Tim. 2. 2. So here, Simeon, and Lucius, and Manaen, faithful teachers at this time in the church of Antioch, when they had fasted and prayed, laid their hands on Barnabas and Saul, and sent them away, (v. 3.) according to the directions received. Observe,
1. They prayed for them. When good men are going forth about good work, they ought to be solemnly and particularly prayed for, especially by their brethren that are their fellow-labourers and fellow-soldiers.
2. They joined fasting with their prayers, as they did in their other ministrations, v. 3. Christ has taught us this by his abstaining from sleep, (a night-fast, if I may so call it,) the night before he sent forth his apostles, that he might spend it in prayer.
3. They laid their hands on them. Hereby, (1.) They gave them their manumission, dismission, or discharge, from the present service they were engaged in, in the church of Antioch; acknowledging not only that they went off fairly and with consent, but honourably and with a good report. (2.) They implored a blessing upon them in their present undertaking, begged that God would be with them, and give them success; and in order to this, that they might be filled with the Holy Ghost in their work. This very thingis explained ch. 14. 26. where it is said, concerning Paul and Barnabas, that from Antioch they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled. As it was an instance of the humility of Barnabas and Saul, that they submitted to the imposition of the hands of those that were their equals, or rather their inferiors; so it was of the good disposition of the other teachers, that they did not envy Barnabas and Saul the honour to which they were preferred, but cheerfully committed it to them, with hearty prayers for them; and they sent them away with all expedition, out of a concern for those countries where they were to break up fallow ground.
4. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. 5. And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister. 6. And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus: 7. 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. 8. But Elymas the sorcerer, (for so is his name by interpretation,) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. 9. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him; 10. And said, O full of all subtlety 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? 11. 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. 12. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. 13. Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came
