02 — Barnabas in Acts
The two decisive acts by which Barnabas shaped the future of the Church: he vouched for the newly converted Saul before a Jerusalem that feared him (Acts 9:27), and he was sent by the mother church to Antioch, where he found the work of God among the Greeks, fetched Saul from Tarsus to help him, and saw the disciples there first called “Christians” (Acts 11:22–26). In both, the “son of encouragement” lives up to his name — and in both he is the senior partner, with Saul still the junior.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Apostle)
Before “Paul and Barnabas,” Acts gives us “Barnabas and Saul,” and these files cover the period in which Barnabas is the leading figure and the future Apostle to the Gentiles is the man he sponsors. The vouching for Saul (Acts 9:27) is the hinge on which the early Church’s reception of its greatest missionary turned: without Barnabas’s surety, the suspicious Jerusalem community might never have received the former persecutor. The mission to Antioch (Acts 11:22–26) is the moment the Gentile church first comes of age — and Barnabas is the one Jerusalem trusts to discern it, a man “full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” who “was glad” at the grace of God and “exhorted them all” (Acts 11:23–24), and who knew to bring Saul into the work. This section establishes Barnabas as the bridge between the Jerusalem church, the Antiochene mission, and the man who would become Paul.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| Vouching for Saul | Barnabas takes the newly converted Saul, brings him to the apostles, and tells them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and preached boldly at Damascus (Acts 9:27); the courage and discernment of the act; and how it set the trajectory of the whole apostolic mission. |
| The Apostle to Antioch | Jerusalem sends Barnabas to Antioch to investigate the new Gentile believers (Acts 11:22); his gladness and exhortation (11:23–24); his journey to Tarsus to fetch Saul (11:25–26); the disciples first called “Christians”; and the famine relief carried to Judea (11:27–30; 12:25). |
See Also
- The Son of Encouragement — the character that the vouching and the Antioch mission display
- The First Journey — the mission that grew out of the Antiochene church
- St. Apostle Paul — the Saul whom Barnabas vouched for and brought to Antioch
- Holy Scripture — the Acts of the Apostles as the primary witness
References
- The Acts of the Apostles, chapters 9, 11, 12. (Cited by chapter and verse.)
- Bruce, F. F. The Book of the Acts. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988.
- Keener, Craig S. Acts: An Exegetical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012–2015. (On Acts 9 and 11.)
- John Chrysostom. Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles. Trans. in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Vol. 11. (Homilies 21 and 25, on Acts 9:27 and 11:19–30.)