Acts 13:1-3
Last week we looked at Peter’s escape from a maximum-security prison, and the death of his guards as a lesson for us. This week we will be starting the second half of Acts, with our focus shifting from Peter to Paul. We also will see a shift in the church, as we will no longer be talking about just a gathering of believers in Jerusalem, but a broader world with the focus being in Antioch instead.
Acts 13:1 starts with the phrase “the church that was in Antioch.” Antioch has become Paul’s home church, and is the center of Gentile missions. Later when Jerusalem is destroyed in A.D. 70, Antioch will be the capital of the Christian religion. This church is primarily a gentile church, which appears to have no apostles associated with the planting of it. Barnabas was sent from Jerusalem (and later got Paul’s help) to instruct them and lead them in to a correct understanding of the faith.
The first verse gives us a list “prophets and teachers” that were at this church. There is no evidence to connect the Simon here with the Simon of Mark 15:21. All we know about this Simon is that he had dark skin, possibly African. We know this because he was called “Νίγερ.” Lucas listed here is also from Africa, but nothing else is known about him. Manaen appears to have been the foster brother of Herod, the same Herod we read about in the Gospels. Those three from the list we know nothing more about. Saul (whose name will change to Paul later in this chapter) and Barnabas will be Luke’s focus from this point forward.
Our text reads, “there were certain prophets and teachers” in this church. If we compare this with Ephesians 4:11-16, we can see there appears to be a church structure with various position forming. The key positions that seem to be coming out of this are Prophet, Pastor-Teacher, Apostle, and Evangelist.
In Biblical terms a Prophet is one that declares new revelation from God that cannot be known through other means. This is includes predictions of future events as we saw in Acts 11:27-28, but that is not the main function of the office of Prophet. The primary job of a Prophet was to instruct God’s people in a time we did not have the completed scripture. This office appears to have been phased out as the Scriptures were completed, and appears to be spoken of less and less as the church progressed though the first century. It is possible that the book of Revelation is the last prophetic writing of the Church age. I am not going to go so far to say the office of prophet is gone, but it does appear to have ceased with the close of the scriptures.
The office of “Pastor-Teacher” appears to have replaced the position of Prophet in the church. Though many translations translate the “ποιμένας καὶ διδασκάλους” of Ephesians 4:11 to be “pastors and teachers” which may appear to be two separate gifts, it is likely more correct to see it as one position, and translate it as “pastor, even teacher” or even “pastor-teacher” The word pastor means shepherd, which brings the idea of leading, guiding and protecting his flock. Teaching is a part of that job. In many ways the modern day Pastor-Teacher is doing exactly the same job as a Prophet once did, with the primary difference being that a Pastor-Teacher works from scripture, while a Prophet worked form direct revelation.
Another office mentioned here is that of Apostle. Much misunderstanding exists to day about what an Apostle is. This is because the term itself is applied in many different ways in scripture. Today we apply a special meaning to it to mean the twelve men closets to Christ, and we typically add Paul to that to give us a total of thirteen Apostles. This of course would mean that there are no more, and never can be any more Apostles.
The word apostle means, “sent one”, so it applies to anyone that is sent by some body for some reason. In scripture it is used of Jesus in Heb 13:1. It also is used of those that were with Jesus from start to finish (Acts 1:22). Later it used of Paul, and Barnabas (Acts 14:4.14). Finally, in Thessalonians 2:6 it is used of Silas and Timothy. This implies that the title had much broader use then we would give it today. Paul is first called an apostle only after the church of Antioch ordains him here in our current text, which suggests it is a commission given by the church that makes it official, which means we could easily have more today.
The important thing to note here that is if you are a “sent one” then you operate with the authority of the one that sends you. Meaning, if a local church sends out an apostle, that apostle only has the power and authority to represent that church. In that sense we have modern day apostles. Peter, James, Paul and the others were sent directly by the risen Jesus and that gave them the authority of Jesus himself. That special case of apostle no longer exists today.
The final position listed is the position of evangelist. This is a very broad office and in a sense applies to all believers. The word means one who shares the good news of salvation through Jesus. Some are called to do this as a full time profession, but we all are to be about sharing the gospel in some way.
What Acts 13:1-3 is showing us is the beginning of a church structure where the local church has the authority and power to act and God himself speaks to and uses the local church to execute his plan. The function of this church is given in Ephesians 4:11-16. In summary that function is promote unity in the faith, to equip the saints (which is to say all born again believers) to do the work of the ministry, to mature believers in their knowledge and spiritual understanding, and involve all believers to share in the work of the ministry.
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