Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

Notes

selected Paul and Barnabas for a special task in spreading the gospel, not for a higher office or gift.

According to the record, Paul and Barnabas did not receive the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, or any other power for service on this occasion. They already possessed the Holy Spirit and His gifts (Acts 1321). Higher officials did not lay hands on Paul and Barnabas. It appears that the church and its leaders placed their hands on their two brethren (Acts 14:26; 15240) who were leaving the church to minister, not coming to the church to minister. What, then, is the significance of the imposition of hands in this situ ation? The context indicates that the church, by prayer and the laying on of hands, set Paul and Barnabas apart to a special mission in the gospel. Jesus had said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; there fore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Luke 1022). So, led by the prophets and teachers, the church was fasting (Acts 1322) and offering special prayer concerning laborers for the har vest in obedience to Jesus’ instruction. Thus, this is the first organized church missionary outreach recorded in Acts. It is a critical turning point in Christian church history. Until this time, missionary expansion was due to persecution or individual desire. But here, for the first time, a local assembly sought to be involved in praying for laborers for the harvest while ministering to the Lord and fasting. Both the divine and human involvement in sending out Paul and Barnabas are beautifully woven together in these few verses. The Holy Spirit responded by means of a prophetic utterance: “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (Acts 1322). So, the Holy Spirit called and sent out the two men—the divine initiative. By ministering to the Lord and fasting, the local Christians became an active and intimate part of Paul and Barnabas’s sending out by the Holy Spirit—the human initiative. In obedience to the Holy Spirit’s command to set Paul and Barnabas apart, the church prayed, fasted, and laid hands on them. They then re leased them to the new work of evangelizing the Gentiles (Acts 14227; 1523,12). The text suggests that the prophets and teachers (Simeon, Lucius, and Manaen), took the lead throughout this event. But from Acts 14:26, where it says, “they sailed to Antioch from which they had been com mended,” it is evident that the whole church commended Paul and Barnabas to God for the work. Later, Paul and Barnabas reported their success to the whole church: “And when they had arrived and gathered

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