The Holy Spirit Set Paul And Barnabas Apart

This clause seems to indicate that the command given was in answer to a prayer, and that it was to be acted on at once. The implication is that they were to be set apart for a new work. Up to this time they had been among the prophets and teachers of the Church. Now they were to receive a solemn visible mission, after having received the inspired command, and consecrating them to the work of the Apostleship to the Gentiles. Saul had from the first been a “vessel of election,” and so specially severed for this work, and we can see why Barnabas, who had been the first to introduce Saul to the Church at Jerusalem, and whose education may have been very like Saul’s, was appointed to be the sharer of Saul’s labors.

“For the work whereunto I have called them”—not the apostolic office, for Saul was called to that by the express revelation of Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:12), and Barnabas was not an apostle. The work which the Holy Ghost had appointed, and called them to before this, by some communication, perhaps, to themselves: in the case of Saul at least, such a designation was indicated from the first—“And he said to me, Depart: for I will send you far hence to the Gentiles” (Ac 22:21). The “work” to which they were now set apart was that of preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles in the regions around Antioch. It was not any permanent office in the church, but was a temporary assignment to a missionary enterprise in extending the Gospel, especially through Asia Minor, and the adjacent regions. Accordingly, when, in the fulfillment of this mission, they had traveled through Seleucia, Cyprus, Paphos, Pamphylia, Pisidia, etc., they returned to Antioch, having fulfilled the work to which they were separated. (See Acts 14:26-27). “Whereunto I have called them,” proves that they received their commission to this work directly from God the Holy Spirit. Paul and Barnabas had been influenced by the Spirit to engage in this work, but they were to be sent forth by the consensus and authority of the church.

3 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

And when they had fasted and prayed

They were fasting when they were commanded to set them apart. Yet this probably refers to an appointed day of prayer designated for this very purpose. The first formal mission to the Gentiles was an important event in the church, and they engaged in this assignment with deep solemnity and by humbling themselves before God.

This enterprise was a new one. The gospel had been preached to the Jews, to Cornelius, and to the Gentiles at Antioch. But there had been no solemn, public, and concerted plan for sending it to the Gentiles, or of appointing a mission to the pagan world. It was a new event, and was full of danger and hardships. The primitive church felt the need of divine direction and aid in this great work. Two missionaries were to be sent forth among strangers, to be exposed to perils by sea and land; and the commencement of the enterprise demanded prayer. The church humbled itself, and this primitive missionary society sought, as all others should do, the divine blessing to join with the labors of those employed in this work. The result showed that the prayer was heard.