Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 14:23

"And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed." — Acts 14:23 (ASV)

And when they had ordained them elders.—The word for “ordained” occurs in the New Testament here and in 2 Corinthians 8:19, where it is translated “chosen,” and certainly seems to imply popular election (election by show of hands), which is, indeed, the natural meaning of the word. In Acts 10:41, a compound form of the verb is translated “chosen of God,” and clearly excludes any action but that of the divine will.

Used, as it is here, of the act of the two Apostles, not of the Church, the latter meaning seems most in harmony with the context.

There may have been, as in Acts 6:3, a previous election; or the names of those who were to be appointed may have been submitted to the approval of the Church; but the word cannot in itself be held to imply either. On the institution of elders, see Note on Acts 11:30.

It is interesting here to note:

1. That Paul and Barnabas, by virtue of the authority which as Apostles they had received, primarily from Christ (Galatians 1:1) and mediately from the Church of Antioch (Acts 13:3), exercised the right of appointing, or, in later phrase, ordaining elders.
2. They planted among the Churches of the Gentiles the organisation which we have found in that of Jerusalem, and which was itself based on that of the Synagogue, not on that of the Temple.
3. As this appears as the first appointment, it would seem to follow that the disciples had in the meantime met, and taught, and baptised, and broken bread without them. Organisation of this kind was, i.e., important for the permanence of the life of the Church as such, but not essential to its being, or to the spiritual growth of individual members.
4. It will be remembered that the “elders” so appointed were the same as those who, in the Apostolic Church, were known as “bishops” or “overseers” (episcopi), while what we call distinctive episcopal functions were reserved for the Apostles or for their personal representatives (1 Timothy 4:16; Titus 1:5; see Note on Acts 20:28).

Had prayed with fasting.—See Notes on Acts 13:2-3. It is a legitimate inference, from this recurrence of the act, that Paul and Barnabas recognized it as an established rule or canon of the Church that these two acts should jointly serve as a preparation for the solemn work of appointing men to spiritual functions. Without prayer such an appointment was a mockery, and fasting served to intensify prayer.

They commended them.—The word is the same as in Acts 20:32 and Luke 23:46. It implies the confiding trust of one who commits what is very precious to him to the keeping of another. So in 2 Timothy 2:2, it is used of the depositum fidei, the treasure of truth which Timothy was to commit to faithful men. Here it implies an absolute trust in God as ordering all things for His Church and those who love Him.