Who Called Paul & Barnabas to the Ministry?

Tom:

In this our Understanding the Scripture segment, we’re in the Book of Acts, we are in Acts Chapter 13, and right there at Verse 1, Dave, so let me start there.“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.As they ministered to the Lord,---

Dave:

Let me stop right there.Tom, again we get a reminder this is not fiction, this is history, it’s naming these people, they didn’t make this up, and the Book of Acts was written by an eye witness.It’s factual, it’s not just philosophy, and although there is much teaching and doctrine in the Bible, much of it, a great deal of it in fact, is historical fact about real places, real events and real people,so it cites the names.Tom, you could ask, some critic might ask, Well, why does it---we don’t even know these names anymore---who are these people to us?Well, that’s the very reason that it does this.Now if you want to check it out through history, find the references, other references to these people, and so forth, you find that the Bible is a factual book.

Tom:

Sure, you have the name, Herod, and his position, tetrarch.So, I know that’s been an issue of controversy down through history about---Well, was there even a position called tetrarch, and so on.Historically it’s proven.

Dave:

Absolutely.

Tom:

Verse 2, “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.”Holy Spirit guiding and directing lives.You know, Dave, we’ve given lots of examples through the scripture of the Holy Spirit being involved in people’s lives, guiding and directing, and so on, can that happen today?

Dave:

Well, before we get to that part of the question, Tom, let me point out that, you know, there are a lot of people today who do not believe in the Trinity.Now, if you believe in the Trinity the Qur’an says you go straight to hell.So, no Muslim can believe in the Trinity.Jews, unless they have come to faith in Christ, they do not believe in the Trinity.

Tom:

Why is that?The Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Old Testament.

Dave:

But Tom, they like to say, Well, the Holy Spirit is kind of like a force, like a power.But here the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul whereunto I have called them.

Tom:

Sounds very personal.

Dave:

You have to be called by the Holy Spirit.They say, Well,---Tom, I’m tempted to go into a talk about the Trinity, but we probably---

Tom:

We haven’t done that in a while.

Dave:

We haven’t?Well, Tom, I meet people at conferences, I meet people who call themselves Christians.Well, actually I just sat down with a lady who was a Jehovah’s Witness in New York a couple of weeks ago, and I think I delivered her.That was her final rejection, you know, of the gospel, well, the Trinity you know.So I explained very quickly, there are three basic concepts of God.On the one hand you have that God is a single being.You’ve got unity but no diversity.On the other end of the scale you have polytheism, there are many gods.So you’ve got diversity but no unity.There is no one God to pull this thing together.What do I mean by unity but no diversity?Well, Allah, of course, is one single individual, the Qur’an says, Say not three, Allah is one.Well if that was the case, then before Allah, if he were the creator, before Allah created any beings, or before Jehovah of the Jews created any other beings, he had unity but no diversity, no one to fellowship with, to commune with.He couldn’t experience love, and so forth.The Bible presents the true God as one God, but three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.The Father loves the Son, has committed all things into his hand.The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world, and there are certain functions of these, and the Holy Spirit is the one who guides and directs although they are one, they all work together.Now if you went to Genesis:1:1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
See All..., In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.But the word there in the Hebrew is Elohim.That’splural form of EL, which is God.So why doesn’t it say, In the beginning Gods created the heavens and the earth?Because the verb is singular.It would be like saying, We is, you know.Well, you can’t say that.Then you get a little farther in Genesis, Let US make man in Our image, okay.So you cannot escape the fact that all through the Old Testament you have both singularity and plurality, you have diversity and unity.For example, at the burning bush, who was it that presented himself to Moses?Elohim, it says came.That means, Gods, but when Moses asked, What is your name, Elohim doesn’t say, We are that we are, or we is that we is, he says, I am that I am, and this is God’s name, okay.Now, if you went to Deuteronomy:6:4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
See All..., it’s inescapable.This is called the Shimah:Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, okay.Every Jew, they’ve gone to Hebrew school, they learn that, they memorize that.Well, see, it says he’s one Lord.In the Hebrew it says, Hear, O Israel, Yahweh our Elohim is one Yahweh, but the word for one is Ehod.It doesn’t mean a single individual, it means a unity.So, for example, in Genesis:2:24Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
See All..., where God created Eve out of Adam’s rib and he brought the two together, it says the two became Ehod, one flesh.Or in 2 Samuel or other places, you read of a group of soldiers who came together became Ehod, one troop.So, it’s a unity and you cannot escape it.All through the Old Testament we have Elohim, Gods, presented as a unity, Ehod, one God, three persons, okay.There are many philosophical and theological reasons for that.For example, when Christ died on the cross, sometimes people say, Well, if he was God who was running the universe when he died?Well, it wasn’t the Father who died, it wasn’t the Holy Spirit who died, the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.But anyway, you cannot escape it, you must have unity and diversity in the Godhead.And either end of this scale, polytheism or this one lonely God, it doesn’t work.The Bible presents Father, Son and Holy Spirit.So it was the Holy Spirit.

Tom:

Well, Dave, let me just add onto that.What you’ve done is, you’ve used reason and logic.In other words, what you’ve stated is not irrational, it’s not illogical, it’s good reason.God said, Come, let us reason together, but you can’t comprehend it, neither can I.

Dave:

Tom, we don’t know what a soul is, we don’t know what a spirit is, we don’t know what gravity is, so how can we explain God?So the fact that we can’t explain Father, Son and Holy Spirit, let me just quickly---I don’t know that we have mentioned it before.Way back in the 30’s when I was a boy, there was a man named Dr. Wood, who wrote a book called, The Secret of the Universe.He said, Look, if God is a triune being and he created this universe, we ought to see his fingerprints somewhere, let’s take a look.Well, what do you know, the universe is made out of space, matter and time, three things, how about that!What do you know, each one of them is divided into three, space is length, breadth and height.Furthermore, each one is separate and distinct, the length isn’t the width, and the width isn’t the height, but if you draw enough lines lengthwise you take in all the space.So, although they are separate and distinct, yet each one is the whole, okay.Well, let’s go to time.What do you know!Past, present and future, and in this case it gets more interesting.One of them is visible, two are invisible.You don’t see the past and you don’t see the future, you only see the present.Tom, I won’t go on with this, but I could go into matter, energy, motion, phenomena.It gets a little more complicated when you get into that, but this is not an analogy for the Trinity, and yet we see this reflected.What about man, body, soul and spirit, one is visible, the body, soul and spirit is invisible.And then you begin to look at the characteristics of the soul and spirit and so forth.Well, Tom, I don’t think it’s a coincidence, okay.So, in fact, Jesus said, You don’t believe in the Trinity, you are not saved.The Second Epistle of John, he say, If you don’t have the Father you don’t have the Son, you don’t have the Son, you don’t have the Father.So anyway, it was the Holy Spirit who said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.And as you said, Only God talks like that.

Tom:’

Right, personal God, not a power, not a force but personal.