Who sent Paul and Barnabas out on the first missionary journey from Antioch?
The Holy Spirit sent Paul and Barnabas out from Antioch on the first missionary journey, not the church at Antioch. Scripture emphasizes that their commissioning came by the Spirit's direction, showing that the sending was divine rather than merely congregational or humanly ordained.
Les explains that when Paul and Barnabas left Antioch on that first journey, Scripture was careful to point out that it was not the Church that sent them, but the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit sent them, not the Antioch church. Les connects this to Paul's defense of his apostleship, showing that Paul did not come into his role because the Twelve ordained him or some other group ordained or taught him. Instead, Paul came on the scene by the miraculous laying of the Lord Jesus on him of this apostleship.
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.
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