Barnabas and Saul Commissioned

13 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a childhood friend of Herod the ruler,^[a] and Saul.^(A)

³⁶ There was a Levite from Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”).

³⁵ But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, and there, with many others, they taught and proclaimed the word of the Lord.

²² News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ²³ When he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion,^{(A) 24} for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were brought to the Lord.^{(B) 25} Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul,^{(C) 26} and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for an entire year they met with the church and taught a great many people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christians.”^(D)

²⁷ At that time prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.^(E)

⁹ and when James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the gentiles and they to the circumcised.^(A)

⁹ But Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him^(A)

¹¹ He himself granted that some are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers^(A)

³² Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers and sisters.

The Proclamation of John the Baptist

3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene,^(A)

²² All the saints greet you, especially those of the emperor’s household.