Galatians 1:15-16 “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, (16) to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood.”
Under the New Covenant God still has different levels of separation unto Himself. In this covenant all saints are separated from the world unto God as His priests (1 Peter 2:9). In the ministry gifts however there are further levels of separation to the Lord. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul reveals to us that the Lord had separated him from his mother’s womb for the ministry of preaching the gospel. That same separation applies to all whom the Lord calls to be His ministers in preaching the gospel.
Acts 13:1-3 “Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. (2) As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." (3) Then, having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they sent them away.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above Barnabas and the other ministers in Antioch at the time (there were four besides Paul) would also have been separated from their mother’s wombs for the preaching of the gospel. In this passage we see the Holy Spirit telling them to further separate Paul and Barnabas to Him for the work that He had called them to. At the time of this incident Paul and Barnabas were already in fulltime ministry, and they had both been in the ministry for over fifteen years. Paul at that time stood in the offices of prophet and teacher, and Barnabas stood in the office of prophet. Because both men had proven to be faithful in their ministries, the Holy Spirit then moved both men into the office of apostle. Had they not proven to be faithful in their ministries however, the Holy Spirit would not have moved them into the office of apostle even though that was their ultimate calling. I want you to notice that the Holy Spirit had already called them to this office, but now was God’s time for them to be released into the office of the apostle. And so that office required a further separation to the Lord because that office carried a stronger anointing and more authority in the church. Paul and Barnabas did not take the ministry of apostle upon themselves and the church did not appoint them to this ministry, God did. God then required the church to acknowledge in the natural, i.e. through the laying on of hands, that which He had already declared done in the spirit. And so when the other ministers in the church at Antioch laid hands on Paul and Barnabas, God caused a separation to take place in the spirit realm and from then on Paul and Barnabas were separated to the service of God in the ministry of the apostle. I also want you to notice also that all the ministry gifts involved gave themselves to further prayer and fasting before they laid hands on Paul and Barnabas. Clearly the early church took the act of laying on of hands very seriously. It would be beneficial for us to examine the timeline of these events as they unfolded so that we can better understand what took place with the laying on of hands on this occasion. While these five ministers were fasting and praying before the Lord, the Holy Spirit revealed His will for Barnabas and Paul through prophecy. Paul and Barnabas had been ministering in the church at Antioch for well over a year by that time. And so what would have happened is that they would have assembled the whole church at Antioch to inform them what the Holy Spirit had decided. And with the whole church present as witnesses they would have then laid hands on them and sent them out. Notice also that the Holy Spirit had already called them to the office of apostle, and so there was no impartation of the gift of that office to Paul and Barnabas through the laying on of hands. The laying on of hands in this case was merely confirming in the natural, the separation which the Holy Spirit had already done in the spirit. Unlike spiritual gifts, ministry gifts cannot be imparted through the laying on of hands, for ministry gifts are given directly from the Lord (Ephesians 4:11-12).
Michael E.B. Maher
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