Barnabas

The name ‘Barnabas’ is a nickname that means ‘son of consolation’ and it was given to him by the apostles because he had helped Christians in different ways (Acts 4:36-37). That passage states that he was a Levite, which means that he had a privileged place religiously in Israel; that he was from Cyprus, so he was a Jew of the Diaspora; and that he had a field to sell in or near Jerusalem, which suggests that he was a wealthy man; and later he is described along with Paul as an apostle (Acts 14:14), which indicates that he had seen the risen Christ. 

Probably, he was an early disciple of Jesus and it has been suggested that he was one of the seventy disciples that Jesus sent out in pairs to spread his message throughout the borders of Israel. If that was the case, he was given a foretaste of how God’s power could be displayed in giving various blessings and in defeating the powers of darkness.

Barnabas the generous helper(Acts 4:36-37)

The first mention of Barnabas is in Acts 4:36-37, which concerns the time he sold his field. It was a time of gospel prosperity in Jerusalem, but it was also a time of great practical need for the church there. At that time, people with wealth did not have bank accounts, so their assets were usually in property. In order for Barnabas to share in meeting the needs of the church in Jerusalem, he had to sell some of his property. And in the context of Acts, there is a contrast being made between the response of Barnabas and the response of Ananias and Sapphira (described in Acts 5).

At one level, what Barnabas did on that occasion was a basic Christian activity. Yet there are lessons that we can learn from his action. First, he gave voluntarily, without compulsion; second, he gave in proportion to his resources (he would not have received his nickname if he had given meagrely); third, he gave freely, leaving the use of his gift to the apostles for them to decide what to do with it; fourth, what he gave indicated that he was living for another world (did he remember the promise of Jesus in Mark 10:29-30: ‘Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life’).

Barnabas, the sympathetic supporter (Acts 9:27)

The second occasion in which Barnabas is mentioned was when he helped facilitate the acceptance of Saul of Tarsus by the church leaders in Jerusalem. People there were apprehensive of Saul because of his pre-conversion hostility towards the Christian church. In those days, they could not email or telephone the Christians in Damascus about the genuineness of Saul’s conversion.

Paul himself may have wondered whether he would be accepted.  Whom could he expect to help him? I doubt if he imagined that a friend of those he had persecuted in Jerusalem would step forward and do so. Yet, one did, and that was Barnabas. It was easy for him to bring money to the apostles, but it would be more difficult to take Saul to them. Barnabas knew that the apostles would accept his money, but he would not have known if they would accept his testimony about a former persecutor.

Barnabas was prepared to put himself out on a limb in order to help a Christian who was in danger of being ostracised. He did what was right, no matter the consequences. Just think of the consequences for the church if Barnabas had not taken this individual step. Barnabas is a reminder that cowardice is never an expression of faith. We are always to do what we should do in any situation. Barnabas did what he did because he believed in the power of grace to change the worst of sinners. He did not suggest that Saul should be given a trial period. Instead, he stated that Saul should be welcomed as a trophy of grace.

Barnabas the church leader (Acts 11:22-26)

News had come to the apostles about the amazing evangelistic success being experienced in Antioch after some Christians, who had been forced to move because of hostility, went there and spread the message to others, including to Gentiles. The apostles needed to send a delegate, and they knew whom they should send – Barnabas. Luke gives a beautiful character description of Barnabas in this passage. Since he uses the past tense to describe Barnabas, it is possible that he had passed away by the time Luke wrote this book. 

There are several reasons why the church leaders in Jerusalem would have chosen Barnabas to go to Antioch. He probably knew some of the people who started the church there because he, like some of them, was from Cyprus. Being from Cyprus, he knew what it was like to live in Gentile communities. And his character as an encourager was well-known. 

What was Barnabas like as the one sent to lead the new church in Antioch? We can say that he had a servant heart. After all, he had been willing to go to Antioch (indeed, Barnabas was sent on different missions, as we can see in the Book of Acts). We can note in passing that the opinion of the church is often a clear means of divine guidance as to the roles we should fulfil.

Why did Barnabas have a servant heart? We get the answer to that question when Luke says that he ‘was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.’ I would suggest that Luke tells us what he means by a ‘good man’ when he says that Barnabas was ‘full of the Spirit and faith’. The reason for his willingness is connected to his conviction that the gospel would be successful. His faith was marked by expectation. 

Because he was full of the Holy Spirit, Barnabas happily spoke good and encouraging words to the congregation. His priority was not to get people to follow him, but to remain faithful to Jesus. The outcome of his efforts was that many conversions took place. This was an encouragement to the church, and it does seem that Luke includes those details in order to say that our church should be like the church in Antioch.

Barnabas also knew when he needed help. He did not take the growth in conversions as a sign that he should continue only with the methods that he had been using. The new converts needed teaching, and there were too many of them for one man to handle. This could indicate that the teaching involved more than giving talks or lectures, because if that was all that was involved, hiring a larger venue would meet the need. 

Barnabas knew the person who could help. He recalled Saul of Tarsus, who had been sent back home by the apostles several years previously because of the danger to his life at that time in Jerusalem. Barnabas decided to go himself and find Saul, maybe even for the basic reason that he knew what Saul looked like. A deeper question is how he knew Saul would be the man for the task. It is possible that reports had come to Antioch about Saul’s preaching throughout the regions around Tarsus (Gal. 1:23). Another possibility is that Barnabas would have believed that Saul would have continued to develop his gifts and character through the sanctifying work of the Spirit.

So Barnabas set off to find Saul. Tarsus was a hundred miles from Antioch, but Saul could have been anywhere in the area. It is a bit like someone coming to the Highlands and trying to locate a person. Where would he start? Eventually, he found Saul and brought him back to Antioch. The obvious point of this step was that Barnabas had a strategy in mind. The right man had to be in place, and that man was Saul. But it was Barnabas that was used by God to put Saul there.

It is clear from the opening verse of Acts 13 that Barnabas was a member of what is called a team ministry. Five men are identified as teachers in the church, which could be an indication that the church was still growing. What marked that team was their focus on prayer and their willingness to do whatever God required. We can easily deduce from the response of Barnabas and Saul that current needs in one place are not a reason to stay there if God wants you to be somewhere else. But it is only in prayer that such insight is found.

Barnabas, the pioneer (Acts 13–14)

Along with Paul, Barnabas obeyed the Lord and set off to take the gospel further into the Gentile world. Luke records the spiritual success they enjoyed while taking the gospel initially to Cyprus and then to the cities of Lystra, Iconium, Antioch in Pisidia and Derbe. 

There are many things that could be said about this journey, but I will mention two. First, during this journey, we can see a transition in the priority of leadership in that Saul became the leader of the leaders instead of Barnabas (the way Luke changes the priority of naming which one first reveals this change). Barnabas graciously accepted this change and did not let it disrupt their work together.

Second, after the journey was over and they had returned to Antioch, Barnabas defended the gospel with Paul when some false teachers came down from Jerusalem and tried to distort the gospel that Paul and Barnabas preached (Acts 15:1-2). 

A consequence of this debate was the meeting in Jerusalem to discuss the gospel and circumcision, and the decision made was that Paul and Barnabas were preaching the gospel accurately. Moreover the gathering expressed their assessment of Barnabas and Paul as believers when they described them as ‘our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Acts 15:25-26).

Barnabas and his mistakes

Two mistakes are recorded in connection with Barnabas. The first occurred during the time when Paul rebuked Peter for his failure to be consistent with regard to the inclusion of Gentiles into the church. ‘But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy’ (Gal. 2:10-11). Paul’s account indicate that he was surprised that Barnabas was affected. Maybe he wanted to show deference to Peter. Yet we should recall that he had been glad initially when he had seen the inclusion of Gentiles into the church. This is a reminder that good men may not live up to their principles.

The second mistake that Barnabas made was in connection with his relation Mark who had failed to complete his role as the assistant of Paul and Barnabas during their missionary journey together (Acts 15:36-41). Paul was not convinced that Mark could yet be relied on (although later on, he commended Mark highly). Barnabas strongly disagreed, and so strong was the disagreement that they ceased to work together, and instead of going on a preaching tour with Paul, it looks as if he went home to Cyprus, even leaving his role in the church in Antioch. Luke does not indicate that Barnabas did this with the church’s blessing. It looks as if he put his family first and not his service to the Lord on this occasion.

Having said that, Paul spoke positively about Barnabas in later years (1 Cor. 9:6), indicating that he was still serving the Lord, although we are not told where (‘Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?’). Mistakes should not paralyse us in the Lord’s work.

Conclusion

What can we say of Barnabas? Can we summarise him in a few words? Here are a few sentences. (1) Barnabas was prepared to do what the church asked him to do in order to strengthen it. (2) Barnabas was prepared to put himself second in order for the church to progress. (3) Barnabas opened the door for Paul to have his place in history. (4) Barnabas reminds us that our strong point – in his case, caring for people – may become a weak point occasionally.