Acts 13:2-13 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said… The original destination of Saul of Tarsus, when he was called to the apostleship, was to the heathen — or, as we should now say, to a missionary life (Acts 9:15; Acts 22:17-21; Galatians 2:8; Romans 11:13; Galatians 1:16; Ephesians 3:8). The appointment of Saul and Barnabas to this work was an important event in each of their lives, determining their own future course. It was important as the manifestation of a more just view of Christianity itself; it was the first development of the idea which has since gone so essentially and so far into the civilisation of the world: viz., that Christian nations should send to the heathen a knowledge of that to which they owe their own elevation. The following points here occur as proper to be illustrated. I. THE BARRIERS WHICH HINDER THE SPREAD OF A NEW RELIGION. 1. Differences of nationality. Where nations belong to different races — where their independence has been established as the result of wars, where they speak diverse languages, where they have different religions, where they have peculiar manners and customs, where they are rivals in trade, where one is warlike and another peaceful — all these, and kindred things, constitute barriers not easy to overcome. Thus to the ancient Jews the whole world was divided, "Jews and Gentiles," producing in their minds the feeling that they were the peculiar favourites of heaven, and that all others were outcasts. Thus the Greeks divided the world into "Greeks and Barbarians." In modern times, a similar instance occurs among the Chinese, who regard themselves as the children of heaven, the "Celestials," — and all others as "outside Barbarians." In a world thus divided, any new religion that claims to be universal must find serious obstructions. 2. Distinctions in social life — of rank and caste. These exist within a nation, dividing the rich and the poor — the learned and the ignorant — the bond and the free; or they are based on a derivation from royal blood, an aristocracy or a priesthood. 3. Diversities of colour and complexion. The class favoured with what they deem a fairer complexion, have not only sought to enslave those of a different colour, but they have been slow to believe that, even in the eye of God, a dark skin is not an emblem of a darker debasement than is found under a white one, and seem to imagine that even the blood of the atonement fails to efface the distinction, and to place them in any manner on a level. This is the most formidable barrier of all. 4. Separate religious beliefs. The idea still prevails that the religion of each nation is, by the purpose of the Creator, their own — designed like their laws, customs, climate, mountains, etc., to separate them from other people — a religion good for them; adapted to them; intended for them; and not to be changed for another. II. THE DIFFICULTY OF OVERCOMING THESE BARRIERS. This difficulty exists — 1. In those who regard themselves as of the more favoured class. How difficult for them to offer to others the same privileges as themselves, or to admit that others are on the same level! To counteract this narrow feeling in the apostles required all the skill of the Saviour Himself; and after three years' teaching it required a special revelation to convince Peter that he should go and carry the gospel to a Gentile. 2. In men's unwillingness to receive a communication in favour of a new religion from one of inferior rank or condition. Who knows not what a mighty obstacle this was when the gospel was preached at Athens, at Ephesus, at Antioch, at Rome? How hard it is for a master to receive the lessons of religion from those whom he regards as slaves — a prince from one of his own subjects — a rich man from a beggar — a philosopher from one occupied in the humbler arts. With what contempt would a Brahmin turn away from one of humbler "caste" who should undertake to teach him the nature of true religion. The relative condition of nations has changed in our times, and the missionary goes out under better auspices. He goes now from a land of civilisation, and science, and art, to those lands where such things are unknown; yet still this difficulty exists. Take, for illustration, the Chinese. An obstacle exists in their case as stern as in the case of Athens or Rome. III. THE TEACHINGS BY WHICH CHRISTIANITY TRIUMPHS OVER THESE OBSTACLES. It declares — 1. That mankind are one race; the children of a common parent; on a level before God. No truth more vital, more far-reaching, more powerful in its bearing on human rights and human liberty, more potent in elevating man, has ever been proclaimed to the world. Revelation describes the creation of man as the creation of a single pair, and declares that "God hath made of one blood all nations of men." The doctrine of depravity which it urges pertains to men everywhere, as derived from the fall of that one pair; and it makes no exception when it says that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." The Redeemer gloried in the title "Son of Man," for He came not to take on Him the nature of the Caucasian, the Ethiopian, or the American, as such — but the nature of man. 2. That the work of Christ had respect to all men; and whatever there was in the atonement, as such, was designed for one as much as for another. There is no higher argument that can be addressed to men to prove their equality, than to say to them that they all have been redeemed by the same blood. 3. That the hopes inspired by the gospel are the same for every human being. When it makes known a heaven for one, it unfolds it for all. And it is a great thing to go forth to a world where men are separated from each other, and to say to them that, in the hope of immortality, they are all placed on the same level before their Maker. 4. That the way of salvation is the same for all. No one has any priority of claim by his rank, or enjoys any peculiar facilities for salvation by his titles or his wealth; and no one is excluded, or placed in less favourable circumstances, by his poverty, his ignorance, his servile condition. The prince and the sage are not more welcome to heaven than the poor and ignorant. 5. That all men are invested with the same natural rights to the light of the sun, to the tides, and the winds, and the stars; the same right to limb, and liberty, and life; — the same right to the air, and to the productions of the teeming earth, and to a spot wherein to sleep the long sleep when they are dead.Conclusion: 1. The gospel cannot be preached without sooner or later breaking down every false distinction. 2. Christians, admire and adore the goodness of that Universal Father who has sent the messages of grace to you, so that you are "no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." Our ancestors were heathens. The gospel raised them from their low condition. Be it ours to spread the religion to which we owe so much. Other nations have a right to it; and it would elevate them as it has done our fathers and ourselves. (A. Barnes, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. |
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