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Now there were in the church that was at Antioch,.... This was Antioch in Syria, where was a Gospel church, and where the disciples were first called Christians; from whence Saul and Barnabas had been sent to Jerusalem, with a supply for the poor saints there, in a time of famine, and from whence they were now returned: and here were

certain prophets and teachers; who were both prophets and teachers, though these are sometimes distinguished; who had both a gift of foretelling things to come, as Agabus and others, and of explaining the prophecies of the Old Testament, and of teaching the people evangelic truths; these, at least some of them, came from Jerusalem hither, Acts 11:27.

As Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger; the former of these was a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, who sold his land and brought the money to the apostles; and who was first sent hither by the church at Jerusalem, upon hearing that many in this place believed, and turned to the Lord, Acts 4:36 but of the latter no mention is made elsewhere; by his first name he appears to be a Jew, who by the Romans was called Niger; very likely from the blackness of his complexion, for that word signifies "black": and so the Ethiopic version interprets it:

and Lucius of Cyrene; who very probably was one of the synagogue of the Cyrenians, and seems manifestly to be one of the men of Cyrene, that went abroad upon the persecution raised at the death of Stephen, Acts 6:9 he is said to be bishop of Cyrene; some take him to be the same Lucius mentioned in Romans 16:21 and others think he is the same with Luke the Evangelist:

and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch: or his foster brother. The Syriac version calls him Manail, and one of Stephens's copies Manael, and the Ethiopic version Manache, and renders what is said of him, "the son of king Herod's nurse"; which accounts for their being brought up, nourished, and suckled together: the name seems to be the same with Menachem, or Menahem, a name frequent with the Jews; there was one of this name, who was very intimate with Herod the great, and was in his service, though before he was vice president of the sanhedrim: the account that is given of him is this (z):

"Hillell and Shammai received from them (i.e. from Shemaia and Abtalion, who were presidents before them), but at first there were Hillell and Menahem, but Menahem went out, , "into the service of the king", with fourscore men clad in gold---Menahem was a very wise man, and a sort of a prophet, who delivered out many prophecies; and he told Herod when he was little, that he should reign; and after he was king, he sent for him, and he told him again, that he should reign more than thirty years, and he reigned thirty seven years, and he gave him great riches.''

Of this Menahem, and of his going into the king's service, mention is made elsewhere (a): now though this Menahem cannot be the same with Manaen here, yet this Manaen, as Dr. Lightfoot conjectures, might be the son of him, and called after his name; who might be brought up with the son of Herod the great, here called the tetrarch; and who was Herod Antipas, the same that beheaded John the Baptist: and Saul; who afterwards was called Paul.

(z) Juchasin, fol. 19. 1.((a) Misn. Chagiga, c. 2. sect. 2. & Maimon. & Bartenora in ib. & T. Bab. Chagiga, fol. 16. 2.

Acts 13:1-5 Barnabas and Saul, being set apart with fasting and

prayer, are sent forth by the Holy Ghost to the work

of their calling.

Acts 13:6-12 At Paphos, Elymas the sorcerer, opposing the Gospel,

is smitten with blindness, and the deputy Sergius

Paulus converted to the faith.

Acts 13:13-41 Paul and his company come to Antioch in Pisidia: Paul

preacheth Christ, and the necessity of faith in him

unto justification.

Acts 13:42,43 The Gentiles desire to hear the word again: many are

converted.

Acts 13:44-49 The envious Jews gainsay and blaspheme: the apostles

profess to turn to the Gentiles, of whom many believe.

Acts 13:50-52 The Jews raise a persecution, and expel Paul and

Barnabas, who go to Iconium.

The church that was at Antioch; the true church, which hath a being, and whose Builder and Maker is God. Other churches (as that of the circumcision) are no churches or congregations of the faithful.

Prophets and teachers; these two offices might be in the same person, as he that had the gift of prophecy, and could foretell things to come, might be a teacher to instruct the people; but yet they were frequently appertaining to several persons, one excelling in one gift, another in another.

Simeon that was called Niger; this Simeon is thus distinguished from Simon Peter, and from Simon the Canaanite, this name of Niger being given him by the Romans.

Lucius; this hath been thought the name of Luke, it being more after the Latin termination; and that it might be he that wrote the Gospel called by his name, and this book of the Acts. However, we meet with this name, Romans 16:21; and St. Paul sends salutation unto him that was so called.

Of Cyrene; born at a place so called, or brought up in the synagogue of the Cyrenians; of which, Acts 6:9.

Either this Manaen was Herod’s foster brother, or had the same tutors and instructors with him, their education being together.

This Herod was Herod Antipas, who set at nought our Saviour, and killed the Baptist.

And yet Manaen, as another Moses, kept his integrity in that Pharaoh’s court; and, as Moses, he choose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, Hebrews 11:25. Thus there was an Obadiah in Ahab’s house, 1 Kings 18:3, and divers believe in Nero’s family, Philippians 4:22.

Verse 1. - At Antioch., in the Church that was there for in the Church that was at Antioch, A.V.; prophets, etc., for certain prophets, etc., A.V. and T.R.; Barnabas, etc., for as Barnabas, etc., A.V.; Symeon for Simeon, A.V.; the foster-brother of for which had been brought up with, A.V. At Antioch, in the Church, etc. Κτὰ τὴν οϋσαν ἐκκλησίαν rather means "the existing Church," just as at αἱ οϋσαι ἐξουσίαι means "the existing powers," "the powers that be," in Romans 13:1, A.V. and T.R. The then Church seems mere the meaning than the Church there. Luke writes from the standpoint of many years later. Prophets were a regular part of the ministry of the then Church (see Acts 11:27; Acts 21:9, 10; Romans 12:6, 7; 1 Corinthians 12:10, 28; 1 Corinthians 13:2, etc.; 1 Corinthians 14:1, 3, etc., 1 Corinthians 14:22, 24, 31, 32: Ephesians 4:11. See also note on Acts 4:26). Teachers (διδάσκαλοι) are coupled with prophets, as here, in 1 Corinthians 12:28, 29; Ephesians 4:11. The teachers would appear to differ from the prophets in that they were not under the ecstatic influence of the Holy Spirit, and did not utter exhortations or prophecies in a poetic strain, but were expounders of Christian truth, under the teaching of the Spirit. What they spoke was called a διδαχή (1 Corinthians 14:26), and their function was διδασκαλία, as Romans 12:7, where διδασκαλία is reckoned among the χαρίσματα, the gifts of the Holy Ghost. It was forbidden to women to teach (διδάσκειν: 1 Timothy 2:12), though they might prophesy (Acts 21:9). It is thought by Meyer, Alford, and others that the position of the particles τε attaching the two following names to Barnabas in the first place, and one name following to Manaen in the second, indicates that Barnabas, Symeon, and Lucius were prophets, and Manaen and Saul teachers. Lucius has by some been falsely identified with St. Luke. The foster-brother; σύντροφος may equally mean a foster-brother, one nursed at the same time at the same breast, which would indicate that Manaen's mother was wet-nurse to Herod the tetrarch; or a playmate, which would indicate that he had been sodalis to Herod. It is only found here in the New Testament, but is used by Xenophon, Plutarch, etc., and in 1 Macc. 1:7; 2 Macc. 9:29. In this chapter and onwards the scene of the great drama of Christianity is transferred from Jerusalem to Antioch. The first part, which has hitherto been played by Peter and John and James, is now taken up by Barnabas and Saul, soon, however, to be classed as Paul and Barnabas.

XIII.

(1) Now there were in the church that was at Antioch.—The fulness of detail in this narrative suggests the inference that the writer was himself at Antioch at this period.

Certain prophets and teachers.—The two were not necessarily identical, though the higher gift of prophecy commonly included the lower gift of teaching. The former implies a more direct message from God, coming from the Holy Ghost; the latter a more systematic instruction, in which reason and reflection bore their part.

Simeon that was called Niger.—The name seems to indicate the swarth-complexion of Africa; but nothing more is known of him. The epithet was given to him, probably, to distinguish him from the many others of the same name, possibly, in particular, from Simon of Cyrene. (See Note on Acts 11:20.)

Lucius of Cyrene.—Probably one of the company of “men of Cyprus and Cyrene” (Acts 11:20) who had been among the first evangelists of Antioch. On the ground that Cyrene was famous for its School of Medicine, some writers have identified him with the author of the Acts, but the two names Lucius and Lucas are radically distinct, the latter being contracted for Lucanus.

Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch.—Literally, the foster-brother of Herod. Here we enter on a name that has historical associations of some interest. In the early youth of Herod the Great, his future greatness had been foretold by an Essene prophet of the name of Menahem or Manaen (Jos. Ant. xv. 10, § 5). When the prediction was fulfilled, he sought to show honour to the prophet. The identity of name makes it probable that the man who now meets us was the son, or grandson, of the Essene, and that Herod had had him brought up with Antipas as a mark of his favour. Both Antipas and Archelaus were educated at Rome, and Manaen may therefore have accompanied them thither. By what steps he was led to believe in Jesus as the Christ, we can only conjecture; but it seems probable that the austere type of life, so closely resembling that of the Essenes, which was presented by the Baptist, may have impressed him, as he was living in the court of his early companion, and that, through him, he may have been led on to the higher truth, and, in due time, after the Day of Pentecost, have become a sharer in the prophetic gift. The fact that Herod the Great had adorned the city of Antioch with a long and stately colonnade may, perhaps, have given him a certain degree of influence there.

And Saul.—The position of Saul’s name at the end of the list seems to indicate that it was copied from one which had been made before he had become the most prominent of the whole company of the prophets.

Acts 13:1-12. Beginning of Saul’s first Missionary journey. He visits Cyprus

1. Now there were in the church that was at Antioch] Rather, “Now there were at Antioch in the church that was there.”

We now come to the history of those three great journeys which the Apostle of the Gentiles undertook in his special work. It is fitting that the point of departure should be Antioch, the city in which Gentiles had first in large numbers been joined to the Church, and where as yet there had risen no difficulty about the way in which they were received.

prophets and teachers] Cp. Acts 2:17. The prophecy of Joel was now to receive a wider fulfilment.

Simeon that was called Niger] The first name points out the man as of Jewish origin, and the second is a Latin adjective = black, which may have been assumed, or given to him, as a name from his dark complexion. Jews were, and are still, in the habit of having another name beside their national one, for use when they mixed among foreign nations.

Lucius of Cyrene] This name is Latin, though his birthplace or home may indicate that he was one of the Jews who abounded in Cyrene and the other parts of the North of Africa. Perhaps it is he who is mentioned in Romans 16:21.

Manaen] i.e. Menahem. This name is Jewish, and is found in Josephus (Antiq. xv. 10. 5) as the name of an Essene who foretold that Herod the Great would become king. It may well be that the name became, when the prophecy had received its fulfilment, a favourite one among those who were attached to or favoured the rulers of the Herodian family.

which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch] Rather, “foster-brother of Herod, &c.” The Vulgate gives “collactaneus.” Herod the Tetrarch (Antipas) had a brother Archelaus by the same mother. Manaen would hardly be said to have “been brought up with” one brother and not with the other.

The various connections and nationalities of the men who are here. named, are worthy to be noticed when we reflect on the work which was to have its beginning from Antioch. One a Cypriote, another a Cyrenian, another a Jew, but from his double name accustomed to mix among non-Jews, one a connection of the Idumean house of Herod, and Saul the heaven-appointed Apostle of the Gentiles, the list may be deemed in some sort typical of “all the world,” into which the Gospel was now to go forth.

Prophets

See on Luke 7:26.

Lucius of Cyrene

Attempts have been made to identify him with Luke the evangelist; but the name Lucas is an abbreviation of Lucanus, and not of Lucius. It is worth noting, however, that, according to Herodotus (iii., 131), the physicians of Cyrene had the reputation of being the second best in Greece, those of Crotona being the best; and that Galen the physician says that Lucius was before him a distinguished physician in Tarsus of Cilicia. From this it has been conjectured that Luke was born and instructed in medicine in Cyrene, and left that place for Tarsus, where he made Paul's acquaintance, and was, perhaps, converted by him (Dr. Howard Crosby, "The New Testament, Old and New Version"). But, apart from the form of the name (see above), the mention of the evangelist's name here is not in accord with his usual practice, since he nowhere mentions his own name, either in the Gospel or in the Acts; and if the present passage were an exception, we should have expected to find his name last in the list of the worthies of Antioch. Of the five here named, four are known to be Jews; and therefore, probably, Lucius was also a Jew from Cyrene, where Jews are known to have abounded. Luke the evangelist, on the contrary, was a Gentile. Nothing certain can be inferred from Romans 16:21, where Lucius is enumerated by Paul among his kinsmen. If συγγενεῖς, kinsmen, means here, as is claimed by some, countrymen, it would prove Lucius to be a Jew; but the word is commonly used of relatives in the New Testament. In Romans 9:3, Paul applies the term to his fellow-countrymen, "my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites."

Which had been brought up with (σύντροφος)

Some render foster-brother, as Rev.; others, comrade. The word has both meanings.

In the church that was there (κατα την ουσαν εκκλησιαν). Possibly distributed throughout the church (note "in the church" Acts 11:26). Now a strong organization there. Luke here begins the second part of Acts with Antioch as the centre of operations, no longer Jerusalem. Paul is now the central figure instead of Peter. Jerusalem had hesitated too long to carry out the command of Jesus to take the gospel to the whole world. That glory will now belong to Antioch. Prophets and teachers (προφητα κα διδασκαλο). All prophets were teachers, but not all teachers were prophets who were for-speakers of God, sometimes fore-speakers like Agabus in Acts 11:28. The double use of τε here makes three prophets (Barnabas, Symeon, Lucius) and two teachers (Manaen and Saul). Barnabas heads the list (Acts 11:22) and Saul comes last. Symeon Niger may be the Simon of Cyrene who carried the Saviour's cross. Lucius of Cyrene was probably one of the original evangelists (Acts 11:20). The name is one of the forms of Luke, but it is certainly not Luke the Physician. Manaen shows how the gospel was reaching some of the higher classes (home of Herod Antipas). Foster-brother (συντροφος). Old word for nourished with or brought up with one collactaneus (Vulgate). These are clearly the outstanding men in the great Greek church in Antioch.

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Acts 13:1. κατὰ τὴν οὖσας ἐκκ.: the word οὖσαν may well be used here, as the participle of εἰμί is often used in Acts to introduce some technical phrase, or some term marked out as having a technical force, cf. Acts 5:17, Acts 14:13, Acts 28:17, so that a new stage in the history of the Christians at Antioch is marked—no longer a mere congregation, but “the Church that was there” (Ramsay, Church in the R. E., p. 52). So also Weiss, in loco; οὖσαν stands in contrast to Acts 11:21-26 : there was no longer a mere company of believers at Antioch, but a Church.—ἐν Ἀ.: Blass maintains that the order of words as compared with the mention of the Church in Jerusalem, Acts 11:22, emphasises the fact that Antioch is the starting-point of the succeeding missionary enterprise, and is named first, and so distinctively set before men’s eyes.—προφῆται καὶ διδάσκαλοι, see above on Acts 11:27. From 1 Corinthians 12:28 it would seem that in Corinth at all events not all teachers were prophets, although in a sense all prophets were teachers, in so far as they edified the Church. The two gifts might be united in the same person as in Paul himself, Galatians 2:2, 2 Corinthians 12:1 (Zöckler). In Ephesians 4:11, as in 1 Corinthians 12:28, Apostles stand first in the Church, Prophets next, and after them Teachers. But whilst it is quite possible to regard the account of the gift of προφητεία in 1 Corinthians 12-14 as expressing “inspiration” rather than “official character,” this does not detract from the pre-eminent honour and importance assigned to the prophets and teachers at Antioch. Their position is such and their powers are such in the description before us that they might fairly be described as “presbyters,” whose official position was enhanced by the possession of a special gift, “the prophecy” of the New Testament, “presbyters” who like those in 1 Timothy 5:17 might also be described as κοπιῶντες ἐν διδασκαλίᾳ, Moberly, Ministerial Priesthood, pp. 159, 160, 166, 208. See further on the relation of the prophets and teachers in the Didaché “Church,” Hastings’ B.D., i. 436, Bigg, Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles, p. 27; and on the relation of prophecy and teaching in the N.T., McGiffert, Apostolic Age, p. 528, Zöckler, in loco.—τε … καὶ: a difficulty arises as to the force of these particles. It is urged that two groups are thus represented, the first three names forming one group (prophets), and the last two another group (teachers), so Ramsay (p. 65), Weiss, Holtzmann, Zöckler, Harnack, Knabenbauer, and amongst older commentators Meyer and Alford; but on the other hand Wendt, so Nösgen, Felten, Hilgenfeld think that there is no such separation intended, as Paul himself later claims the prophetic gift (1 Corinthians 14:6), to which Zöckler would reply that at this time Paul might well be described as a teacher, his prophetic gift being more developed at a later date. Amongst recent English writers both Hort and Gore regard the term “prophets and teachers” as applying to all the five (so Page).—Συμεὼν: nothing is known of him. Spitta would identify him with Simon of Cyrene, Matthew 27:32, but the epithet Niger may have been given to distinguish him from others of the same name, and possibly from the Simon to whom Spitta refers.—Λούκιος ὁ Κ.: Zöckler describes as “quite absurd” the attempt to identify him with Luke of the Acts. The names are quite different, and the identification has been supported on the ground that Cyrene was a famous school of medicine. This Lucius may have been one of the men of Cyrene, Acts 11:20, who first preached the Gospel at Antioch. Others have proposed to identify him with the Lucius of Romans 16:21.—Μαναήν: of the three names, as distinct from Barnabas and Paul, Blass says ignoti reliqui, and we cannot say more than this. For although Mark is described as σύντροφος of Herod the Tetrarch (Antipas), the description is still very indefinite. A.V. “brought up with,” R.V. “foster-brother,” collactaneus, Vulgate. For an ingenious study on the name and the man see Plumptre, in loco, cf. also Wetstein and Zöckler. The name occurs in 1Ma 1:6, but the reading must apparently give place to συνέκτροφοι. It is also found in 2Ma 9:29, and once in the N.T. in the present passage. Deissmann, from the evidence of the inscriptions, regards it as a court title, and quotes amongst other places an inscription in Delos of the first half of the second century B.C., where Heliodorus is described as σύντροφος τοῦ βασιλέως Σελεύκου φιλοπάτορος. So Manaen also might be described as a confidential friend of Herod Antipas, Bibelstudien, pp. 173, 178–181.—Σαῦλος, placed last probably because the others were older members of the Church. The position certainly does not mark the list as unhistorical; if the account came from the Apostle himself, the lowest place was eminently characteristic of him.