Acts 13:1 (KJV)
Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
What mysteries surround the working of God in bringing souls together into a local church! We are here told that in the church at Antioch were, “certain prophets and teachers.” I doubt that any of them were native to Antioch and developed in that church.
We know for sure that Barnabas was from Jerusalem and had gone to Antioch to confirm the work there
We know that Saul was from Tarsus and that Barnabas had specifically sought him out to work in this church
I wonder if this might be true of the others?
Simeon was called Niger. Was he from Africa?
Lucius was from Cyrene.
Manaen had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch
I wonder if these were all people who were in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, converted then, and consequently scattered under the persecution of Saul.
This church sent out Paul and Barnabas as missionaries. But it also served as a center for doctrinal purity and the preservation of the Word of God. The local people: saved, baptized, and added to the church, served as the foundation. By remaining faithful in the church, and enabling it to be a platform by which God used these, “certain prophets and teachers.”
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Acts 13:1 (KJV) An Enabling Platform
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