---
title: Acts 13:2
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/acts-13-2/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/acts-13-2.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Acts 13:2
testament: NT
section: Acts
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Acts 13:2

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

## JW Usage

JWs read Acts 13:2 as Jehovah's impersonal active force directing the congregation. The NWT renders "the holy spirit" in lowercase and treats the Spirit's speech as God communicating through an impersonal channel. The fact that the Spirit says "set apart for me Barnabas and Saul" — using the first-person pronoun "me" — is not addressed in Watchtower discussions of this verse, since an impersonal force cannot have a "me."

## Protestant Usage

Acts 13:2 records the Holy Spirit speaking in the first person: "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." The Spirit issues a command, uses personal pronouns ("me," "I"), claims to have called specific people, and commissions them for a task. Impersonal forces do not speak, claim agency, or issue directives. This complements the broader NT testimony of Spirit personhood: the Spirit teaches (John 14:26), guides into truth (John 16:13), can be lied to (Acts 5:3-4), can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30), and distributes gifts "as he wills" (1 Corinthians 12:11). Even the NWT retains "me" and "I" in Acts 13:2 — the text undermines the impersonal-force doctrine from within their own translation.

## NWT Issue

The NWT renders "the holy spirit said" in lowercase despite the Spirit using first-person pronouns ("me," "I") and issuing commands — actions exclusive to persons. The NWT's own interlinear column preserves the personal language, yet the lowercase rendering reinforces the impersonal-force doctrine. Even the Watchtower's internal logic is strained: the Spirit's use of "me" in Acts 13:2 argues against its own theological framework.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Holy Spirit Is a Person, Not a Force](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/holy-spirit-personhood.md) — "He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13) [Holy Spirit]
- [Lying to the Spirit Is Lying to God](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/acts5-spirit-is-god.md) — Acts 5:3-4 [Holy Spirit]
- [The Spirit Says 'I'](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/paraclete-personal-pneumatology.md) — Acts 13:2 — First-Person Verbs in Narrative Prose [Holy Spirit]
- [Sin Doesn't Block the Spirit from the Household — The Seal That Stays](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/sin-blocks-holy-spirit-household.md) — Ephesians 1:13-14 — Sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise [Holy Spirit]
- [You're Already a Trinitarian — The Watchtower's Eternal Logos Problem](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/watchtower-eternal-logos-tu-quoque.md) — If two persons existed before creation, where's the "one"? [Deity of Christ]
- [Active Force or Spirit of God?](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/nwt-active-force-spirit.md) — When the New World Translation renders the doctrine, not the text [Holy Spirit]
- [Do Christians Pray to the Holy Spirit?](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/prayer-to-holy-spirit.md) — Romans 8:26-27 — the Spirit is the one praying with us [Holy Spirit]