PROPHETIC PROMOTION: A TIME OF MOR(E)
ACTS 13:1-12
That sainted missionary to India and Persia, Henry Martyn, once said, “The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions, and the nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we must become.” Chapters 13–15 begin the story of the mission to the “ends of the earth.” The first 7 chapters of this book might be entitled, The Church among the Jews; the next five (chapters 8-12), The Church in Transition from Jews to Gentiles; and the last sixteen (chapters 13-28), The Church among the Gentiles (Baumgarten). This was a prophetic period, that was Charismatically enhanced..
I) PROPHETIC MISSION (12:25-13:1-3)
When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark..1In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. 2While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. In the Greek text immediately following the command set apart is an emphatic particle, not reproduced in most translations. The meaning of the particle is probably best understood in the sense of “now” or “immediately,” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about…” Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them (Luke 2:15; Acts 6:3). The day of the missionary was at hand.
Missionaries and the work of missions usually brings a number of things to mind: maps on walls, fund raising, conferences and short term trips. At the heart of missions lay people who need to be consumed by three things, the need to reach others, a love for people that is fueled by a love for God.
These newly deputized missionaries were released as a result of the activities of men who were identified as prophets and teachers. Luke describes them as prophets and teachers, two important New Testament terms. These men were serving as “prophets and teachers” in a local church. Prophets played a significant role in the apostolic church: and in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues…
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets…
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers (1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 2:20; 3:5; 4:11).
The prophets helped lay the foundation for the church as they proclaimed the Word of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone… Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets (Ephesians 2:20; 1 Corinthians 14:29–32).
Prophecy: is the special ability to receive and communicate an immediate message from God.
Teaching: is the special ability to communicate information relevant to the health and ministry so that the church will learn.
In the present context prophets seems to be used of persons whose duty it was to proclaim the Christian message with a special dynamic, while teachers, a word which occurs only occurs once (here) in Acts, were persons who apparently had the responsibility of balancing the revelatory gifts with the background of theology and history. In this type of context prophets may be spoken of as “those who communicated the urgent message of God” and teachers may be “those who confirmed that which was spoken.” The modern expression of prophet would be better accepted if those who claim to be prophets would submit their revelation to the teachers of Scripture of direction and correction.
Biblical prophets have always been more “forth-tellers” than “foretellers,” though at times the prophets did announce things to come, During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) 29The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. 30This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul (Acts 11:27–30). Sometimes they received new revelation from God, as in Acts 11:28 and 21:10–11, 28One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’ “. Like the apostles, they were preachers of God’s Word and were responsible in the early years of the church to instruct the local congregations.
2While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, In most languages there is a more or less technical term for fasting which specifies going without food for the religious purposes. Where there is no such term, it is sometimes possible to employ a phrase such as “going without food in order to worship God” or “not eating as a part of worshipping.” “Too often we choose to be mediocre because we are worried about criticism” John Paul Jackson.
laid their hands on them, They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them (Acts 6:6)—“recommending them to the grace of God for the work which they had to fulfill” From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed (Acts 14:26).
To them does not appear in the Greek text as such, but it is clearly implied. Once again, it is not clear whether the Holy Spirit is speaking to the entire church community or merely to the five men. Simeon Niger—of whom nothing is known, Lucius of Cyrene, Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus (Acts 11:20). He is mentioned, in Romans 16:21, Timothy, my fellow worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my relatives, one of Paul’s kinsmen, Manaen—or Menahem, the name of one of the kings of Israel, Then Menahem son of Gadi went from Tirzah up to Samaria. He attacked Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria, assassinated him and succeeded him as king (2 Kings 15:14) which had been brought up with or, the foster brother of Herod (Jameson, Fausset, Brown).
2While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, In most languages there is a more or less technical term for fasting which specifies going without food for the religious purposes. Where there is no such term, it is sometimes possible to employ a phrase such as “going without food in order to worship God” or “not eating as a part of worshipping.” The call for immediate separation and sending was not a deliberately planned event. It was spontaneous and inspired in a worship service.
Paul’s calling ought to carry just as much weight with us as if God cried from heaven in everyone’s hearing that the salvation once promised to Abraham and his descendants belongs to us today.
II) PROPHETIC OPPORTUNITY (4-11)
4-5 The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper.
All commentators agree that John who was with them was John Mark. This is why TEV has identified “John” by John Mark. Exactly what John responsibilities were is not made clear in the text. The Greek word translated to help in the work is also used of the function of subordinate officers in the Jewish synagogue, Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down (Luke 4:20).
The Jewish synagogues may be rendered as “worship houses of the Jews” or “buildings where the Jews worshiped God.” The Synagogue was the primary place Paul tried to gain an audience anytime he came to a city with a Jewish population.
Peter Wagner points out that the Synagogues were made up of 1) people who traced their ancestry to Abraham, 2) proselytes/converts to Judaism, 3) God fearing Gentiles. Paul’s ministry/missionary style was to seek out seekers, not those who lost faith in their religion. That was the focus of the fledgling church, finding those who wanted to be found.
6 They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus. Paphos was the capital of Cyprus, and the chief Roman official there was Sergius Paulus, “an understanding man” who wanted to hear the Word of God.
Saul and Barnabas were given a in the moment experience as a divine opportunity to expand the Kingdom with the Romans. This was their opportunity that they had been set apart for in the immediate urgency of their calling. It was time for good to challenge bad.
Sorcerer/Magician, was a Persian loan word which originally referred to one who was a member of a particular kind of priesthood, had come in New Testament times to mean “sorcerer,” “magician,” or even “swindler” or “charlatan.” It is unusual to find a Jewish false prophet and sorcerer, for the Jews traditionally shunned such demonic activities.
This event is an illustration of the lesson that Jesus taught in the Parable of the Tares, Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. 27“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ 28” ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ 29” ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn,’ ” and then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” 37He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. 40“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear (Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43), wherever the Lord sows His true children (the wheat), Satan comes along and sows a counterfeit (the tares), a child of the devil.
That which is birthed in the Spirit of Prophesy is often met with opposition, as the enemy does not want the Kingdom to flourish. Opposition came in the form of a man, bar-Jesus (Elymas). Bar–Jesus in Aramaic would mean “son of Joshua,” the Greek equivalent of Joshua is Jesus, for if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day (Hebrews 4:8). “False prophets” (the literal form of the Greek) is taken by TEV in the sense of one who claimed to be a prophet.
7-9 who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus (literal Greek expression “he was with the governor” (RSV) is understood by the TEV to mean he was a friend of the Governor.) The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. You could say “he tried to keep the governor from believing the way the Christians believed.” A term for governor (Greek “tetrarch,” literally “ruler of a fourth part”) may simply be the same as “ruler,” unless it is necessary to specify the area over which such a person rules, in which case one may use “ruler over a province.”
9 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said…
The statement Saul—was filled with the Holy Spirit intimates once again though the Holy Spirit was the permanent possession of all believers, there was also a sense in which his power was uniquely present on particular occasions.
There is a motif that relates to sight in this passage. He set his eyes on him and said… Barnabas drops into the background, as this is Paul’s ministry now. The whole soul of his great colleague, now drawn out, as never before, shoots, by the lightning gaze of his eye, through the dark and tortuous spirit of the sorcerer. What a picture (JFB)!
Saul seized the day as a divine opportunity presented itself to him. “Too often we choose to be mediocre because we are worried about criticism” John Paul Jackson.
13:9 is the first place you find the familiar name Paul in the New Testament. As a Jewish Roman citizen, the apostle’s full name was probably “Saul Paulus,” for many Jews had both Jewish and Roman names.
10 You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? The name Elymas means “sorcerer” or “wise man” (“wise men” of Matthew). It is ironic how Saul the servant of Jesus was now opposed by a Jewish false prophet named “Son of Jesus (Joshua).”
11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand Paul recognized that Elymas was a child of the devil, You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44), and he inflicted blindness on the false prophet as a judgment from God. there fell on him a mist—This is in Luke’s medical style (JFB).
III) PROPHETIC RESULT (12)
The fruit of the prophetic power of the Spirit was put on open display. What was in the heart of Elymas became his reality as he was now blind inside and out. This miracle was also evidence to Sergius Paulus that Paul and Barnabas were servants of the true God and preached the true message of salvation (Hebrews 2:4). The Roman official believed and was saved. When Peter was sent to Cornelius, it was something so new and strange that it was thought a prodigy. It might have been thought a privilege granted exceptionally to a few; but now God plainly and openly appointed Paul and Barnabas to be apostles to the Gentiles, thus making them equal with the Jews. The Gospel was to belong to them both equally
13:2 And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting… The responsibility of spiritual shepherds is spiritual ministry. Ministering is from leitourgeō, a word that originally meant “to discharge a public office.,” which is what the proconsul did. In Scripture, however, leitourgeō means more than public service; it describes priestly service. In the Septuagint it described the priests who ministered in the tabernacle, After you put these clothes on your brother Aaron and his sons, anoint and ordain them. Consecrate them so they may serve me as priests (Exodus 28:41). Serving in a leadership role in the church must be viewed as an act of worship to God. Such service consists of offering spiritual sacrifices to Him, Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased (Hebrews 13:15–16), including prayer, oversight of the flock, studying, and preaching and teaching the Word. This is the real crux of ministry, ministering was not to the congregation but to the Lord. It is crucial to understand that God is the audience for all spiritual ministry, I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews. 20You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house (Acts 20:19–20).
12When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.The Roman governor had a different heart experience. His went from darkness to light, as he embraced the truth of the real Jesus, unlike his friend the false Jesus who went from sight to blindness.
Conclusion: There is a motif that relates to sight in this passage. Paul set his eyes on him and said… Elymas looses his ability to see and the Governor begins to see the reality of Jesus through this Power Encounter. The whole soul of Paul, now drawn out as never before, shoots fire by the lightning gaze of his eye, through the dark and tortuous spirit of the sorcerer. What a picture (JFB)! Saul seized the day as a divine opportunity presented itself to him taking advantage of the immediate opportunity, regardless of what others would say, or how they would react. “Too often we choose to be mediocre because we are worried about criticism” John Paul Jackson.
The apostolic mission was taking definition as Paul takes his place on the center stage of the developing church. He begins to demonstrate the be ye being filled after being filled principle. When that happens, we receive MORE; MISSION, OPPORTUNITY, RESULTS to our EVANGELISM, the E of MORE.
The following discussion relates to the feminine aspect of Paul siding up to Holy Spirit and pronouncing blindness on Bar-Jesus.
Why does the neuter nominative and accusative plural match the nominative feminine singular?
Answer: The answer is theoretical. In the Indo-European languages of Latin and Greek, there are masculine, feminine, and neuter genders for nouns, but not all languages, — not even all I-E languages — have three genders. It’s possible that early I-E languages had only two genders — a singular and a collective, an active and an inactive, a masculine and a neuter, etc. However the words were divided up, in some early form of Indo-European, there may have been collective (and singular) nouns for things like flocks of sheep or herds of cattle that were given an -a ending. While the collective was itself neither masculine/feminine nor neuter, the individual members of the collective were overwhelmingly breeding stock and female. Assuming the feminine gender started later, it makes some sense to think that that -a ending would be passed on to the individual female creatures who had together comprised the collective.
Thus, the individual female creature had an -a ending and so did the collective neuter entity.
Note that this says nothing about the -a ending on agricola. It should be remembered that gender in linguistics is not the same as sexual gender, but refers to categories like the ones listed above (singular/collective, active/inactive, etc.).
A noun in the Greek language is viewed just like the English noun. But because Greek is a highly inflected language (i.e. the form of words change to indicate the role each word plays in the sentence), a noun changes forms based upon its relationship to other words and how it functions in the sentence. The stem of the noun contains the basic meaning of the noun, but a suffix is added to indicate the noun’s role in the sentence. The endings are changed according to certain patterns, or ‘declensions’, that indicate what is the number, case, and gender of the noun form. To “decline” a noun means to analyze it and break it down into its basic parts according to number, gender, and case - see below. (‘Declension’ is a subset of the broader term ‘inflection, in that it only refers to nouns and pronouns, not to verbs. There are a number of different patterns in which nouns decline; these patterns are referred to as ‘paradigms‘.)
Grammatical Gender of Nouns
Gender, as it relates to nouns and other substantives in the Greek language, does not necessarily refer to “male” and “female”. It refers to grammatical gender, which is determined purely by grammatical usage and must be learned by observation. Although nouns referring to people or animals that are obviously “male” or “female” would normally (but not always) be classified as masculine or feminine accordingly, the gender of most nouns seems to be somewhat arbitrary. Every noun must fall into one of three categories of gender: masculine, feminine, or neuter. The fact of gender, when considering a word in isolation, is of little importance to the student of the Greek New Testament. But in analyzing a sentence as a whole, gender may play a key role, especially when considered along with the adjectives, pronouns, and relative clauses that may be present. Taking note of the gender may alter altogether what a sentence may seem to be saying in English.
For example: “And receive…the sword of the spirit which is the word of God”( Eph 6:17). The word “sword” in Greek is feminine gender and the word “spirit” is neuter gender. So it is important in this sentence to find out what is the antecedent of the relative pronoun “which”. (i.e. What is the “which” referring back to?) The word “which” in this sentence is neuter, therefore it is referring back to the word “spirit” and not “sword.” Thus this sentence means: “And receive…the sword of the spirit which (spirit) is the word of God.”
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:15 am
I like the description “forth-tellers”. How true!