its meaning?  The evangelist himself furnishes an answer.  The Holy Ghost required that Barnabas and Saul should be separated to the work to which the Lord had called them, and the laying on of hands was the mode, or form, in which they were set apart, or designated, to the office.  This rite, to an Israelite, suggested grave and hallowed associations.  When a Jewish father invoked a benediction on any of his family, he laid his hand upon the head of the child; [73:1] when a Jewish priest devoted an animal in sacrifice, he laid his hand upon the head of the victim; [73:2] and when a Jewish ruler invested another with office, he laid his hand upon the head of the new functionary. [73:3] The ordination of these brethren possessed all this significance.  By the laying on of hands the ministers of Antioch implored a blessing on Barnabas and Saul, and announced their separation, or dedication, to the work of the gospel, and intimated their investiture with ecclesiastical authority.

It is worthy of note that the parties who acted as ordainers were not dignitaries, planted here and there throughout the Church, and selected for this service on account of their official pre-eminence.  They were all, at the time, connected with the Christian community assembling in the city which was the scene of the inauguration.  It does not appear that any individual amongst them claimed the precedence; all engaged on equal terms in the performance of this interesting ceremony.  We cannot mistake the official standing of these brethren if we only mark the nature of the duties in which they were ordinarily occupied.  They were “prophets and teachers;” they were sound scriptural expositors; some of them, perhaps, were endowed with the gift of prophetic interpretation; and they were all employed in imparting theological instruction.  Though the name is not here expressly given to them, they were, at least virtually, “the elders who laboured in the word and doctrine.” [74:1] Paul, therefore, was ordained by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery of Antioch. [74:2]

If the narrative of Luke was designed to illustrate the question of ministerial ordination, it plainly suggests that the power of Church rulers is very circumscribed.  They have no right to refuse the laying on of hands to those whom God has called to the work of the gospel, and who, by their gifts and graces, give credible evidences of their holy vocation; and they are not at liberty to admit the irreligious or incompetent to ecclesiastical offices.  In the sight of the Most High the ordination to the pastorate of an individual morally and mentally disqualified is invalid and impious.