Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 6.djvu/132

126 and taken care about the due distribution of it to those for whom it was collected, they returned from Jerusalem. Though they had a great many friends there, yet at present their work lay at Antioch; and where our business is, there we should be; and no longer from it than is requisite. When a minister is called abroad upon any service, when he has fulfilled that ministry, he ought to remember that he has work to do at home, which wants him there, and calls him thither. Barnabas and Saul, when they went to Antioch, took with them John, whose surname was Mark, at whose mother's house they had that meeting for prayer which we read of v. 12. She was sister to Barnabas. It is probable that Barnabas lodged there, and perhaps Paul with him, while they were at Jerusalem, and that was it that occasioned the meeting there at that time; for wherever Paul was, he would have some good work a doing; and their intimacy in that family while they were at Jerusalem, occasioned their taking a son of that family with them when they returned, to be trained up under them, and employed by them, in the service of the gospel. Educating young men for the ministry, and entering them into it, is a very good work for elder ministers to take care of, and of good service to the rising generation.

CHAP. XIII. We have not yet met with any thing concerning the spreading of the gospel to the Gentiles, which bears any proportion to the largeness of that commission, Go, and disciple all nations. The door was opened in the baptizing of Cornelius and his friends; but since then we had the gospel preached to the Jews only, ch. 11..19. It should seem as if the light which began to shine upon the Gentile world, had withdrawn itself. But here in this chapter that work, that great good work, is revived in the midst of the years; and though the Jews shall still have the first offer of the gospel made to them, yet, upon their refusal, the Gentiles shall have their share of the offer of it. Here is, I. The solemn ordination of Barnabas and Saul, by divine direction, to the ministry, to the great work of spreading the gospel among the nations about, (and it is probable that other apostles or apostolical men dispersed themselves by order from Christ, upon the same errand, v. 1..3.) II. Their preaching the gospel in Cyprus, and the opposition they met with there from Elymas the sorcerer, v. 4..13. III. The heads of a sermon which Paul preached to the Jews at Antioch in Pisidia, in their synagogue, which is given us as a specimen of what they usually preached to the Jews, and the method they took with them, v. 14..41. IV. The preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles at their request, and upon the Jews' refusal of it, wherein the apostles justified themselves against the displeasure which the Jews conceived at it, and God owned them, v. 42..49. V. The trouble which the infidel Jews gave to the apostles, which obliged them to remove to another place, (v. 50..52.) so that the design of this chapter is to shew how cautiously, how gradually, and with what good reason, the apostles carried the gospel into the Gentile world, and admitted the Gentiles into the church, which was so great an offence to the Jews, and which Paul is so industrious to justify in his epistles.

OW 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.

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 ch. 11. 20.

1. How well furnished it was with good ministers; there were there certain prophets and teachers, (v. 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 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, (Matt. 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 afterward 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 colour 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 was 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.

2. How well employed they were; (v. 2.) They ministered to the Lord, and fasted. Observe, (1.) Diligent faithful teachers do truly minister unto the Lord. They that instruct christians, serve Christ; they really do him honour, and carry on the interest of his kingdom. They that minister to the church in praying and preaching, (both which are included here,) minister unto the Lord, for they are the church's servants for Christ's sake; to him they must have an eye in their ministrations, and from him they shall have their recompense. (2.) Ministering unto the Lord, in one way or other, ought to be the stated business of churches and their teachers; to this work time ought to be set apart, nay it is set apart, and in this work we ought to spend some part of every day. What have we to do as christians and ministers but to serve the Lord Christ? Col. 3. 24. Rom. 14. 18. (3.) Religious fasting is of use in our ministering to the Lord, both as a sign of our humiliation and a means of our mortification. Though it was not so much practised by the disciples of Christ while the Bridegroom was with them, as it