John Calvin Commentary Acts 13:1

"Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was [there], prophets and teachers, Barnabas, and Symeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen the foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul." — Acts 13:1 (ASV)

Here follows an account, not only worthy of being remembered but also very profitable to be known, of how Paul was appointed the teacher of the Gentiles. For his calling was, as it were, a key by which God opened to us the kingdom of heaven. We know that the covenant of eternal life was properly concluded with the Jews, so that we had nothing to do with God’s inheritance, since we were strangers (Ephesians 2:12), and the wall of separation was between us, which distinguished those of the household from strangers.

Therefore, Christ bringing salvation to the world would have profited us nothing unless, the division being removed, some entrance had been made for us into the Church. The apostles had already received the commandment concerning the preaching of the gospel throughout the whole world (Mark 16:16), but they had kept themselves up to that time within the borders of Judea.

When Peter was sent to Cornelius, it was a thing so new and strange that it was almost considered a prodigy. Secondly, that might have seemed to be an extraordinary privilege granted to a few men. But now, since God plainly and openly appoints Paul and Barnabas to be apostles of the Gentiles, by this means He makes them equal with the Jews, so that the gospel may begin to be common to both.

And now the wall of separation is taken away, so that both those who were far off and those who were near may be reconciled to God; and that, being gathered under one head, they may grow together to be one body. Therefore, Paul’s calling ought to have no less weight among us than if God were to cry from heaven in the hearing of all people, that the salvation promised in the past to Abraham and to the seed of Abraham (Genesis 22:17) belongs to us today no less than if we had come from the loins of Abraham.

It is for this reason that Paul labors so much in defense and affirmation of his calling (Galatians 1:17 and 1:12-24), so that the Gentiles may be firmly convinced that the doctrine of the gospel was not brought to them by chance, nor by human rashness, but, first, by the wonderful counsel of God, and secondly, by express commandment, while He made known to humanity what He had decreed within Himself.

There were in the church. I have explained in connection with Ephesians 4:11 and 1 Corinthians 12:28 what difference there is (at least in my judgment) between doctors and prophets. It may be that in this place they are synonymous (or that they mean the same thing), so Luke’s meaning is that there were many men in that church endowed with a special grace of the Spirit to teach.

Surely I cannot see how it can be consistent to understand prophets as those who were endowed with the gift of foretelling things; instead, I think it signifies excellent interpreters of Scripture. And such had the office to teach and exhort, as Paul testifies (1 Corinthians 45:37). We must note Luke’s main point: Paul and Barnabas were ministers of the church of Antioch; God now calls them from there to another place.

Lest anyone think that that church was destitute of good and capable ministers, so that God provided for other churches at its expense, Luke addresses this beforehand, saying that there was such an abundance there that, though it helped others, enough remained for its own use. By this it appears how plentifully God had poured out His grace upon the Church, from which rivers, as it were, might be drawn and carried into various places.

So even in our time, God so enriches certain churches more than others, that they are seminaries to spread abroad the doctrine of the gospel. Manaen, who was brought up with Herod, must have come from a noble family.

And Luke deliberately mentions this to show us the godliness of this man who, despising worldly pomp, had joined himself to the simple and despised flock of Christ.

He might, indeed, have been a principal courtier if he had been ruled by ambition; but to wholly devote himself to Christ, he did not refuse to exchange those fleeting honors for reproach and ignominy. For if we consider the state of the Church at that time, he could not give his name to the gospel without making himself subject to common infamy.

Therefore, the Lord intended to teach us by his example to despise the world, so that those who cannot otherwise be true Christians—unless they cast away those things that are precious to the flesh as harmful obstacles and hindrances—may learn with a valiant and lofty mind to despise the world.