64 The Church in Antioch. Chap. III.
MSS. in XII 25, "returned to Jerusalem": this seems to be an alteration made deliberately by an editor, who, because these passages referred to the same visit, tampered with the text of XII 25 to bring it into verbal conformity with XXII 17.
5. THE MISSION OF BARNABAS AND SAUL. (XIII I) NOW THERE WAS AT ANTIOCH, CONNECTED WITH " THE CHURCH," l A BODY OF PROPHETS AND TEACHERS, BARNABAS, SYMEON (SURNAMED NIGER), AND LUCIUS (HE OF CYRENE), WITH MANAEN (FOSTER-BROTHER OF HEROD THE TETRARCH) AND SAUL. (2) AS THESE WERE LEADING A LIFE OF RELIGIOUS DUTIES AND FASTS, THE HOLY SPIRIT SAID, " SEPARATE ME BARNABAS AND SAUL FOR THE WORK WHEREUNTO I HAVE CALLED THEM ". (3) THEN THEY {i.e., the Church) HELD A SPECIAL FAST, AND PRAYED, AND LAID THEIR HANDS UPON THEM, AND GAVE THEM LEAVE TO DEPART.
A new stage in the development of the Antiochian Church is here marked. It was no longer a mere "con- gregation " ; it was now " the Church " in Antioch ; and there was in it a group of prophets and teachers to whom the grace of God was given.
There is indubitably a certain feeling that a new start is made at this point ; but it is only through blindness to the style of a great historian that some commentators take this as the beginning of a new document. The subject demanded here a fresh start, for a great step in the development of the early Church was about to be narrated, "the opening of a door to the Gentiles" (XIV 27). The author emphasised this step beyond all others, because he was himself a Gentile ; and the develop- 1 Prof. Armitage Robinson, quoted in Church in R. £., p. 52.
Sec. 5. The Mission of Barnabas and Saul. 65
ment of the Church through the extension of Christian influence was the guiding idea of his historical work.
Probably the variation between the connecting particles {jcal and re) marks a distinction between three prophets, Barnabas, Symeon and Lucius, and two teachers, Manaen and Saul. In Acts VI 5, the list of seven deacons is given without any such variation ; and it seems a fair inference that the variation here is intentional.1 The distinction between the qualifications required in prophets and in teachers is emphasised by Paul in I Cor. XII 28. As re- gards Barnabas and Saul their difference in gifts and quali- fications appears clearly in other places. Everywhere Saul is the preacher and teacher, Barnabas is the senior and for a time the leader on that account
There is a marked distinction between the general rule of life in v. 2, and the single special ceremony in v. 3. An appreciable lapse of time is implied in v. 2 : after the two envoys returned from Jerusalem, the regular course of Church life went on for a time; and, so long as everything was normal, the historian finds nothing to relate. The prophets and teachers had regular duties to which their energies were devoted ; and they practised in their life a certain regular rule of fasting. They were not like the Elders, who were chosen as representative members of the congregation ; they were marked out by the Divine grace as fitted for religious duties in the congregation. The " work " in v. 2 is defined in the subsequent narrative (XIII 41, XIV 26, XV 3, 38, etc.) as preaching the Gospel in new regions outside of the province Syria and Cilicia, in which there already existed Christian communities.
What is the subject in v. 3 ? It cannot be the five
1 Compare Mr. Page's note on the grouping of the list in I 13.
5
66 The Church in Antioch. Chap. Ill-
officials just mentioned, because they cannot be said to lay their hands on two of themselves. Evidently some awkward change of subject takes place ; and the simplest interpretation is that the Church as a whole held a special service for this solemn purpose. Codex Bezce makes all clear by inserting the nominative " all " {jravrei) ; and on our view this well-chosen addition gives the interpreta- tion that was placed in the second century on a harsh and obscure passage. Similarly in XV 2 it is meant that the congregation appointed the delegates to Jerusalem ; and the reader is expected to supply the nominative, though it has not occurred in the immediately preceding sentence. It seemed to the author so obvious that such action was performed by universal consent, that he did not feel any need to express the nominative. Such a way of thinking was possible only at a very early time. Dur- ing the second century (if not even earlier) the action of officials began to supersede that of the whole congregation in such matters ; and, when even a beginning had been made, it could no longer be assumed as self-evident that such actions as XIII 3, XV 2, were performed by the congregation ; and the writer would necessarily express the nominative. The Bezan Reviser belonged to the period when the change had begun and the need of ex-' pressing the nominative was felt ; but he lived before the time when official action had regularly superseded that of the congregation, for in that case he would have taken the officials in this case to be the agents (as many modern commentators understand the passage).