Acts 13:1 - Exposition

At Antioch., in the Church that was there for in the Church that was at Antioch, A.V.; prophets, etc., for certain prophets, etc., A.V. and T.R.; Barnabas, etc., for as Barnabas, etc., A.V.; Symeon for Simeon, A.V.; the foster-brother of for which had been brought up with, A.V. At Antioch, in the Church , etc. κατὰ τὴν οὖσαν ἐκκλησίαν rather means "the existing Church," just as at αἱ οὖσαι ἐξουσίαι means "the existing powers," "the powers that be," in Romans 13:1 , A.V. and T.R. The then Church seems mere the meaning than the Church there. Luke writes from the standpoint of many years later. Prophets were a regular part of the ministry of the then Church (see Acts 11:27 ; Acts 21:9 , Acts 21:10 ; Romans 12:6 , Romans 12:7 ; 1 Corinthians 12:10 , 1 Corinthians 12:28 ; 1 Corinthians 13:2 , etc.; 1 Corinthians 14:1 , 1 Corinthians 14:3 , etc., 22, 24, 31, 32: Ephesians 4:11 . See also note on Acts 4:26 ). Teachers ( διδάσκαλοι ) are coupled with prophets, as here, in 1 Corinthians 12:28 , 1 Corinthians 12:29 ; Ephesians 4:11 . The teachers would appear to differ from the prophets in that they were not under the ecstatic influence of the Holy Spirit, and did not utter exhortations or prophecies in a poetic strain, but were expounders of Christian truth, under the teaching of the Spirit. What they spoke was called a διδαχή ( 1 Corinthians 14:26 ), and their function was διδασκαλία , as Romans 12:7 , where διδασκαλία is reckoned among the χαρίσματα , the gifts of the Holy Ghost. It was forbidden to women to teach ( διδάσκειν : 1 Timothy 2:12 ), though they might prophesy ( Acts 21:9 ). It is thought by Meyer, Alford, and others that the position of the particles τε attaching the two following names to Barnabas in the first place, and one name following to Manaen in the second, indicates that Barnabas, Symeon, and Lucius were prophets, and Manaen and Saul teachers. Lucius has by some been falsely identified with St. Luke. The foster-brother; σύντροφος may equally mean a foster-brother, one nursed at the same time at the same breast, which would indicate that Manaen's mother was wet-nurse to Herod the tetrarch; or a playmate, which would indicate that he had been sodalis to Herod. It is only found here in the New Testament, but is used by Xenophon, Plutarch, etc., and in 1 Macc. 1:7; 2 Macc. 9:29. In this chapter and onwards the scene of the great drama of Christianity is transferred from Jerusalem to Antioch. The first part, which has hitherto been played by Peter and John and James, is now taken up by Barnabas and Saul, soon, however, to be classed as Paul and Barnabas.