Acts 13:1 - Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets
and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a
lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
The church at
Antioch provides an excellent model of what a church should be and do. That
church was the foundation for the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ around
the Roman Empire. Its people fasted and prayed. (Acts 13:2) They were led by
the Holy Spirit. (Acts 13:2) They gave generously to others in need. (Acts
11:29) They were committed to reaching others in their community with the Good
News of Jesus, even when those others were of a different culture. (Acts 11:20)
They were the sending church for all of Paul and Barnabas’s missions efforts.
(Acts 13:3, 15:39-40, and 18:23) Everything the Antioch church did remains key
to a healthy Gospel-focused church today. It is not surprising so much of the
growth of the early church can be traced back to Antioch.
In his
classic, deliberate precision, Doctor Luke gives as a brief picture of another
unique aspect of the Antiochean Church, and that is its leadership. Five
individuals are specifically named as prophets and teachers. We cannot tell for
sure if Luke meant that all five people had both roles or if these five were
just a few of many prophets and teachers at Antioch, but we can see an
important diversity among these leaders.
We know the
last person best. He was still called Saul at that point, but his common name
switched to Paul later in that chapter. He was raised as Jewish as possible,
yet not in Israel but in the city of Tarsus in what is today Turkey, even
further from Jerusalem than Antioch. He went on to plant dozens of churches and
write nearly half of the books in the New Testament.
We have
discussed the first person on the list, Barnabas, in several other PowerWords.
He was a Jew of the priestly tribe of Levi but raised on the island of Cyprus.
(Acts 4:36) He was in Jerusalem as the fledgling Christian church began. He
became one of its first and most generous donors (Acts 4:37) before taking on
the mission of investigating the Antioch church as it started (Acts 11:22) then
mentoring Paul (Acts 11:25) and later John Mark, author of the Gospel of Mark
(Acts 15:37).
We do not read
about Simeon called Niger anywhere else in the Bible or in any trustworthy
First Century source, but Luke tells us enough about him for us to reasonably
guess he was a black African. Niger, in Latin, means black and was used to
describe those who were raised in Africa and had the dark skin that term
conveyed.
Lucius was
also from Africa. Today Cyrene is part of the country of Libya. Some speculate
that Lucius may be the author Luke himself, since there is a record of the Luke
(Loukas in Greek) being a nickname
for some people in the Roman Empire with the given name of Lucius (Loukios in Greek). His name is not
Jewish and the order Paul listed him in Colossians 4:11 and 14, as well as his
writing style, make it seem he was likely a Gentile.
We know the remaining
person on the list, Manaen, was raised with a ruler from the most powerful
family in the region. The word often translated “raised with” (suntrophos) literally means “nursed
together.” It could be he was a foster son in the Herodian family or a lifelong
friend of Herod Antipas, who ruled Galilee along with other regions, beheaded
John the Baptist, and saw Jesus the day he was crucified. One thing was for
sure, Manaen had influential friends, so he was likely influential himself.
Notice how
this impactful church had such a diverse leadership team. God used each of them
to help form and shape the church and its mission. Each had a unique place of
origin and background. Each contributed from their unique perspective. The
church grew and its mission changed the world.
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