Acts 13:3

"They" probably refers to the entire congregation together with its leaders (cf. Acts 14:27; Acts 15:2). The other church leaders did several things for Barnabas and Saul. They fasted and prayed, presumably for God’s blessing on them. They probably fasted as they prayed indicating the priority they placed on seeking God’s blessing in prayer. They also laid their hands on them, evidently not to bestow a spiritual power but to identify with and encourage them (cf. Acts 9:17). Then they released them from their duties in Antioch so they could depart. This was a commissioning for a particular work, not ordination to lifetime service. [Note: Marshall, The Acts . . ., p. 216.]

"In commissioning Barnabas and Saul by the imposition of hands, the other office-bearers invest them with authority to act on behalf of the Christian community at Antioch, and symbolically identify the whole congregation with their enterprise." [Note: Neil, p. 154.]

"This short paragraph [Acts 13:1-3] marks a major departure in Luke’s story. Up to this point, contacts with Gentiles (one might almost say, missionary activity in general) have been almost fortuitous [happening by chance]. Philip was despatched along an unusual road not knowing that he would encounter an Ethiopian eunuch reading Scripture; Peter was surprised by the gift of the Holy Spirit to an uncircumcised and unbaptized Gentile; the missionaries to Antioch did not set out with the intention of evangelizing Gentiles. Here, however, though the initiative is still ascribed to the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:2), an extensive evangelistic journey into territory in no sense properly Jewish (though there was a Jewish element in the population, as there was in most parts of the Empire) is deliberately planned, and two associates of the local church are commissioned to execute it." [Note: Barrett, pp. 598-99.]