In the Antioch assembly there were certain prophets and teachers, all together waiting on the Lord and fasting. In earnest self-denial, they were seeking the mind of the Lord. These were gifts to the. assembly. They had never been ordained or appointed by men. All of them, including Barnabas and Saul, were already servants of the Lord. As they were thus occupied, the Holy Ghost said, “Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” Likely one of the prophets received this command and communicated it to all the rest of them. It was the Holy Ghost calling these to a special work; and in obedience to God’s Word, they fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, thus expressing their fellowship with them, and so sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the HOLY GHOST, departed to preach the gospel to all men, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. This was a special mission. Paul was an apostle before this, and his apostleship was neither of men, nor by man (Gal. 1:11Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) (Galatians 1:1)).
The gospel, and the truth as to the assembly, are now sent out for obedience to the faith among all nations; and these two servants are to demonstrate this wherever they go.
Both Jew and Gentile, when converted, are united into one body on the earth to a glorified Christ. It was the authority of the Holy Ghost they were obeying. It was outside of Jerusalem and Judaism, and altogether independent of the twelve chosen by the Lord when on earth. It is not Christ as the Messiah after the flesh. He is now known only by faith, as at the right hand of God. It is the continuation of the work begun at Jerusalem, but now clearly dating from heaven, where Christ the Head sits, giving the members a heavenly place and character. This is the object of their testimony, and the Holy Ghost is the energy and authority for their action.
It was Barnabas who presented Saul to the assembly in Jerusalem after his conversion, and was sent to Antioch to confirm the work there, and who also brought Saul there to help in teaching the saints what Christianity is, distinct from Judaism. It was at Antioch the disciples were first called “Christians.” God, in His grace, raises up the instruments for His work, and supplies everything needed for the work as they go, never taking them out of the place of dependence, and meeting their need.
It was at Salamis they preached the Word of God in the synagogues to the Jews. John Mark was their attendant. They begin with the Jews. Paul in this way recognizes the counsels and promises of God about that nation, and acts with the patience and longsuffering of God all through his life, though the Jews continued to oppose with implacable hatred.
Saul goes on preaching to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile, then truth and grace known in the heart, manifested in God’s assembly that there was no difference between them.
God remains the same in His character and is fully revealed; the veil is rent. His love to man, and His hatred to sin, are told out. And sin must ever be the same, and opposed to all that God is. The truth cannot change, and the oneness of the assembly displays the grace that makes both Jew and Gentile one. As Jews they were given the first place, but all are concluded under sin, and are alike subjects of the sovereign grace, that not only saves them, but unites them to Christ in glory, a glory to which the Holy Ghost bears witness to accomplish it here below. This does not hinder him declaring the condition of the Jews, who remained Christ-rejecters, when it was required.
Till now, they possessed all the light that was in the world, but they rejected the Lord—the true Light. They had fallen into darkness, and hated the Light, and jealousy of it now filled their hearts, and God’s judgment fell upon them (1 Thess. 2:14-1614For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: 15Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: 16Forbidding 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 Thessalonians 2:14‑16)). We find an illustration of their condition in Elymas, the sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew called Bar-jesus. Sergius Paulus, a prudent man, the deputy of the country, called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the Word of God, but this sorcerer withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, (whose name now is changed to Paul, changing from Jewish to Roman), filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, and said, “O, full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, 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.” 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 seeing what was done, and being astonished at the teaching of the Lord Jesus, believed.
So the Jews are smitten with blindness, though only for a season, but God carries on His work of grace. Paul and his company, an expression which makes him the principal, go on to Perga in Pamphylia, and John Mark distinguishes himself by returning from the work to Jerusalem. From Acts 15:3838But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. (Acts 15:38) we see his failure and preference for the work under Judaic influence that unfitted him for the rigorous work amongst the Gentiles.
Verse 14. They now come to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down, after the reading of the law and the prophets. The rulers of the synagogue, said, “If ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.” Paul begins by rehearsing part of Israel’s history to David, to trace the birth of the Lord Jesus according to promise. (Psa. 132:1111The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. (Psalm 132:11)). Then John the Baptist had announced His coming, and prepared the way, and asserted, “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.” He then pictures the rejection and crucifixion of Christ by the rulers at Jerusalem, His burial, and the powerful intervention of God in raising Him from among the dead, and He was seen many days of His followers, and those special witnesses who had companied with Him in the days of His flesh, proving that it was fulfilling God’s promise which was made unto the fathers in the 2nd Psalm, and now fulfilled to the children, in raising up Jesus as the servant Son of God: “Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee.” (Leave out the word “again” in verse 33). The word in verse 34 is also fulfilled in His resurrection, “I will give you the sure mercies of David” (Isa. 55:33Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. (Isaiah 55:3)). And in the 16th Psalm, “Thou shalt not suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption.” David fell asleep, and saw corruption, but He, whom God raised from the dead, saw no corruption.
And now he announces the blessed truth of the gospel to them—to all who believe, “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. 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” (Also Hab. 1:55Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. (Habakkuk 1:5)).
As the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached the next Sabbath—and verse 43 tells us many of the Jews and proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. Next Sabbath, nearly all the city came 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. They could not bear that another religion than theirs should influence the Gentiles. Man’s religion, even in the unconverted, is very dear to him, but the truth brings the heart and conscience into touch with God.
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, ‘I have set Thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that Thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth’” (Isa. 49:66And he said, 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. (Isaiah 49:6)). On this ground the apostles turn to the Gentiles.
Free grace toward the whole world is now proclaimed, “God so loved the world.” But the grace of God must enter each heart believingly to possess the truth. So it was here. 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. And the Word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.
Here again we are shown the natural heart of man, and that the testimony of the gospel is hated by it, and God permits us to see it, and to feel that this is the day still of Christ’s rejection. The Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. They shook off the dust of their feet, in testimony of the judgment awaiting those who deliberately reject the grace of God that had brought salvation to them. And the Word records that the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost, ready to enter the next field, which was Iconium.
The world is still Satan’s world, but the grace of God calls out of it those who believe.