Acts 13:3

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

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) And when they had fasted and prayed.—The repetition of the words that had been used in Acts 13:2 seems to imply that the fast was prolonged till the laying-on of hands had been completed. The new command called for that intensity of spiritual life of which fasting was more or less the normal condition.

And laid their hands on them.—See Note on Acts 6:6. This was, as before, the formal act by which the Church attested its acceptance of the divine mission of those on whom hands were laid, and implored for them the divine blessing.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:1-3 What an assemblage was here! In these names we see that the Lord raises up instruments for his work, from various places and stations in life; and zeal for his glory induces men to give up flattering connexions and prospects to promote his cause. It is by the Spirit of Christ that his ministers are made both able and willing for his service, and taken from other cares that would hinder in it. Christ's ministers are to be employed in Christ's work, and, under the Spirit's guidance, to act for the glory of God the Father. They are separated to take pains, and not to take state. A blessing upon Barnabas and Saul in their present undertaking was sought for, and that they might be filled with the Holy Ghost in their work. Whatever means are used, or rules observed, the Holy Ghost alone can fit ministers for their important work, and call them to it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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

And prayed - 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 of sending it to the Gentiles, or of appointing a mission to the pagan. It was a new event, and was full of danger and hardships. The primitive church felt the need of divine direction and aid in the 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 attend the labors of those employed in this work. The result showed that the prayer was heard.

And laid their hands on them - That is, those who are mentioned in Acts 13:1. This was not to set them apart to the apostolic office. Saul was chosen by Christ himself, and there is no evidence that any of the apostles were ordained by the imposition of hands (see Acts 1:26 notes; Matthew 10:1-5 notes; Luke 6:12-16 notes), and Barnabas was not an apostle in the original and unique sense of the word. Nor is it meant that this was an ordination to the ministry, to the once of preaching the gospel, for both had been engaged in this before. Saul received his commission directly from the Saviour, and began at once to preach, Acts 9:20; Galatians 1:11-17. Barnabas had preached at Antioch, and was evidently recognized as a preacher by the apostles, Acts 9:27; Acts 11:22-23. It follows, therefore, that this was not an ordination in the doctrinal sense of this term, either Episcopal or Presbyterian, but was a designation to a particular work - a work of vast importance; strictly a missionary appointment by the church, under the authority of the Holy Spirit. The act of laying hands on any person was practiced not only in ordination, but in conferring a favor, and in setting apart for any purpose. See Leviticus 3:2, Leviticus 3:8,Leviticus 3:13; Leviticus 4:4, Leviticus 4:29; Leviticus 16:21; Numbers 8:12; Mark 5:23; Mark 16:18; Matthew 21:46. It means in this case that they appointed them to a particular field of labor, and by laying hands on them they implored the blessing of God to attend them.

They sent them away - The church by its teachers sent them forth under the direction of the Holy Spirit. All missionaries are thus sent by the church; and the church should not forget its ambassadors in their great and perilous work.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. laid their hands on them—(See on [2001]Ac 6:6)—"recommending them to the grace of God for the work which they had to fulfil" (Ac 14:26).

sent them away—with the double call—of the Spirit first, and next of the Church. So clothed, their mission is thus described: "They being sent forth by the Holy Ghost." Have we not here for all time the true principle of appointment to sacred offices?

Matthew Poole's Commentary

When they had fasted and prayed; a good preparation to enter into any business with, whereby they acknowledged that all success must come from God. Our blessed Saviour himself would not enter upon his ministry till he had fasted forty days, Matthew 4:2, compared with Matthew 4:17.

Laid their hands on them; Barnabas and Saul being called to be apostles already, this laying on of their hands upon them signifies,

1. Their being set apart to this particular employment they were now to be sent about.

2. The approbation of the church to that heavenly call they had.

3. Their praying for God’s blessing upon them, and success upon the work they went for.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And when they had fasted and prayed,.... Not when they had done fasting and praying, at the time the Holy Ghost made an impulse on their minds, to separate two of their brethren to a work they were appointed to; but at another time, which was fixed for that purpose; when they fasted and prayed, not for direction, who they were to set apart and send; for the persons were before pointed out to them, but that they might have every needful gift and qualification for the work, and be succeeded in it:

and laid their hands on them; not as ordaining them, for this was not an ordination; the Apostle Paul particularly was not ordained an apostle by man, but by Jesus Christ; who personally appeared to him, and made and ordained him his minister and apostle; and much less by men inferior to himself, as Simeon, Lucius, and Manaen were; but this was a gesture and ceremony used among the Jews, when they wished any blessing or happiness to attend any persons; and so these prophets, when they separated Paul and Barnabas from their company, and were parting from them, put their hands on them, and wished them all prosperity and success: could this be thought to be an ordination, as it cannot, since both of them were stated and authorized ministers of the word, and one of them an apostle long before this; there might seem some likeness between it and the Jewish ordination of elders, which was done by three (b), as here were Simeon, Lucius, and Manaen; but then this was not done without the land of Israel, as here, nor by imposition of hands (c): now when they had thus prayed for them, and wished them well, they sent them away; to do the work they were called unto; not in an authoritative way, but in a friendly manner they parted with them, and bid them farewell.

(b) Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 1. sect. 3.((c) Maimon. & Bartenora in ib. & Maimon. Hilchot Sanhedrin, c. 4. sect. 2, 3.

Geneva Study Bible

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

(2) Fasting and solemn prayers were used before the laying on of hands.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Acts 13:3. The translation must be: Afterwards, after having fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them (as the consecration communicating the gift of the Spirit for the new and special holy office, comp. on Acts 6:6), they sent them away. For there is here meant a solemnity specially appointed by the church on occasion of that address of the Spirit, different from the preceding (Acts 13:2); and not the termination thereof (Kuinoel and many others: “jejunio et precibus peractis”). This is evident from the words of Luke himself, who describes this act differently (νηστεύσ. κ. προσευξ.) from the preceding (λειτουργ. κ. νηστ.), and by τότε separates it as something later; and also because νηστεύσαντες, in the sense of “when they had finished fasting” does not even give here any conceivable sense.

ἀπέλυσαν] What the Spirit had meant by εἰς ἔργον, ὃ προσκέκλ. αὐτούς, might, when they heard that address, come directly home to their consciousness, especially as they might be acquainted in particular with the destination of Saul at Acts 9:15; or might be explained by the receiver and interpreter of the Spirit’s utterance.

That, moreover, the imposition of hands was not by the whole church, but by its representatives the presbyters,[4] was obvious of itself to the reader.

[4] Not by the prophets and teachers (Otto, Pastoralbr. p. 61; Hoelemann, l.c.); for the subject of vv. 2, 3 is the church, and its representatives are the presbyters, Acts 20:17; Acts 20:28, Acts 11:30, Acts 15:2-23; 1 Timothy 4:14. The church sends the two missionaries to the Gentiles, and consecrates them by its office-bearers (Romans 12:8; 1 Timothy 5:17).

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 13:3. τότε probably indicating a new and special act of fasting and prayer. But is the subject of the sentence the whole Ecclesia, or only the prophets and teachers mentioned before? Ramsay maintains that it cannot be the officials just mentioned, because they cannot be said to lay hands on two of themselves, so that he considers some awkward change of subject takes place, and that the simplest interpretation is that the Church as a whole held a meeting for this solemn purpose (cf. πάντες in ). But if the whole Church was present, it does not follow that they took part in every detail of the service, just as they may have been present in the public service of worship in Acts 13:2 (see above) without λειτουργ. τῷ Κ. equally with the prophets and teachers (cf. Felten and also Wendt). There is therefore no reason to assume that the laying on of hands was performed by the whole Church, or that St. Luke could have been ignorant that this function was one which belonged specifically to the officers of the Church. The change of subject is not more awkward than in Acts 6:6. Dr. Hort is evidently conscious of the difficulty, see especially Ecclesia, p. 64. No doubt, on the return of the two missionaries, they report their doings to the whole Church, Acts 14:27, but this is no proof that the laying on of hands for their consecration to their mission was the act of the whole Church. That prophets and teachers should thus perform what is represented in Acts as an Apostolic function need not surprise us, see Gore, u. s., pp. 241, 260, 261. A further question arises as to whether this passage conflicts with the fact that St. Paul was already an Apostle, and that his Apostleship was based not upon his appointment by man, or upon human teaching, but upon a revelation from God, and upon the fact that he had seen the Lord. It is certainly remarkable that both Barnabas and Saul are called Apostles by St. Luke in connection with this first missionary journey, and that under no other circumstance does he apply the term to either, Acts 14:4; Acts 14:14, and it is possible that the title may have been given here in a limited sense with reference to their special mission; see Hort, Ecclesia, pp. 28, 64, 65. But at the same time we must remember that in the N.T. the term ἀπόστολος is never applied to any one who may not very well have satisfied the primary qualification of Apostleship, viz., to have seen the Lord, and to bear witness to His Resurrection, see Lightfoot, Galatians, p. 95 ff. (as against the recent statements of McGiffert, Apostolic Age, p. 653): “We have no reason to suppose that this condition was ever waived, unless we throw forward the Teaching into the second century,” Gwatkin, “Apostle,” Hastings’ B.D.: see further, Lightfoot, Philippians, p. 350, additional note on the Didaché. This we may accept, except in so far as it bears upon the Didaché, in which the Apostles (only mentioned in one passage, Acts 11:3-6) may be contrasted rather than compared with the Apostles of the N.T., inasmuch as they are represented as wandering missionaries, itinerating from place to place, in days of corruption and gross imposture, and inasmuch as the picture which the Didaché reveals is apparently characteristic of a corner of Church life rather than of the whole of it; Moberly, Ministerial Priesthood, p. 176; Bright, Some Aspects of Primitive Church Life, p. 34, and the strictures of Bigg, Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles, pp. 27, 40 ff. It may of course be urged that we know nothing of Barnabas and of the others, to whom Lightfoot and Gwatkin refer as to their special call from Christ, whilst in the case of St. Paul we have his own positive assertion. But even in his case the laying on of hands recognised, if it did not bestow, his Apostolic commission, and “the ceremony of Ordination when it was not the channel of the grace was its recognition,” Gore, u. s., pp. 257–267, 383, 395, etc., and see especially the striking passage in Moberly, Ministerial Priesthood, pp. 107, 108.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. This verse implies a solemn dedication service at the end of the ministration and fasting with which the devotions of the Church had commenced.

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 13:3. Νηστεύσαντες, when they had fasted) afresh: with which comp. Acts 13:2. So they did, ch. 14, 23, when ordaining elders in every church. [By many, fastings are held in less account than is proper.—V. g.]—ἐπιθέντες, having laid their hands on them) Paul had hands laid on him the second time (comp. ch. Acts 9:17).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - Then for and, A.V. It does not follow that the laying on of hands was on the same day. On the contrary, the mention of the fasting again in this verse makes it impossible so to understand it. Doubtless, on receiving this intimation of the Spirit, they fixed a day for the ordination, and prepared for it by fasting and prayer. The ember days of the Church before ordinations are m accordance with this precedent of Holy Scripture. With this departure of Barnabas and Saul commences the second and main part of the Acts of the apostles. Acts 13:3