Acts 13:3

"As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.”"

Key Reflection

Acts 13:3 reveals a significant moment in early Christian history where divine guidance was sought through fasting and prayer. The passage indicates that as Barnabas and Saul dedicated themselves to serving the Lord through their fasts and prayers, the Holy Spirit provided specific instructions, setting apart these two key figures for a particular mission that God had already ordained for them. This episode underscores the importance of communal worship and intercession in receiving divine direction, reflecting a practice common in first-century Judaism where fasting was often accompanied by prayer to seek God's will.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Verse 3. And when they had fasted. They were fasting when they were commanded to set them apart. Yet this probably refers to an appointed day of prayer, with reference to this very purpose. The first formal mission to the Gentiles was an important event in the church; and they engaged in this appointment with deep solemnity, and with humbling themselves before God. And prayed. This enterprise was a new one. The gospel had been preached to the Jews, to Cornelius, and to the Gentiles at Antioch. But there had been no solemn, and public, and concerted plan of sending it to the Gentiles, or of appointing a mission to the heathen. It was a new event, and was full of danger and hardships.

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