Barnabas | Atlas | Theologos Media

The son of encouragement who first vouched for Saul

Barnabas is the apostolic figure the New Testament uses to teach what Christian encouragement actually is. His birth name was Joseph. The apostles renamed him Barnabas — *son of paraklesis*, son of encouragement, comfort, exhortation. The Greek word is the same one Christ uses in John 14 when he names the Holy Spirit the *Paraclete*. The apostolic community recognized in Joseph of Cyprus the same kind of presence and gave him the same name. The reading is patristic and obvious: Barnabas is what a man looks like when he is shaped by the Comforter.

He is named for the first time at the end of Acts 4. The Jerusalem church is sharing everything in common. People are selling property and laying the proceeds at the apostles' feet for distribution. Luke names two examples — one good, one bad. Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) sell a field and keep back part of the money while pretending to give it all, and they die for the lie. Just before that, in Acts 4:36–37, comes the example Luke holds up: *Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.* The pattern is set: Barnabas is the one who actually does what the community professed.

The second appearance is the one the Pauline mission is built on. Saul of Tarsus has just been knocked off his horse on the Damascus road, baptized by Ananias, preached in the Damascus synagogues for three years (Galatians 1:18), and now comes to Jerusalem to meet the apostles. "And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple." (Acts 9:26) The Jerusalem church remembers Saul as the man who hauled Christians off to prison. They do not believe the conversion is real. "But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus." (Acts 9:27) The verb *took him* — *epilabomenos* — is physically interceding. Barnabas walks Saul into the room and stands beside him. The Pauline mission exists because Barnabas vouched.

The Antioch chapter (Acts 11:19–26) is the second consequential intercession. The Jerusalem persecution after Stephen's death has scattered believers across the Mediterranean. They are preaching the gospel to Gentiles in Antioch. The Jerusalem church hears about it and sends Barnabas to investigate. He arrives, sees what the Spirit is doing, *was glad, and exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose* (Acts 11:23). The verb *exhorted* — *parakalein* — is his own name. Then he goes to Tarsus to find Saul, brings him back to Antioch, and they teach the church there together for a whole year. *In Antioch the disciples were first called Christians* (Acts 11:26). The name the church carries to the present day was first applied in the church Barnabas helped form by bringing Saul in.

The first missionary journey (Acts 13–14) is sent out by the Antioch church under the direction of the Spirit and the laying on of hands. The first verse names them *Barnabas and Saul* — Barnabas first. They travel to Cyprus, Barnabas' home, then across the Anatolian plateau, preaching in synagogues, planting churches, returning to Antioch to report. At some point in the journey the order flips. Acts 13:13 starts referring to *Paul and his companions*. Paul has begun to take the leading role. Barnabas does not protest. The son of encouragement steps back without complaint as the apostle he had walked into the Jerusalem room takes the lead.

The Jerusalem Council (Acts 15) sends Paul and Barnabas as joint witnesses to the council that will rule on whether Gentile believers must become Jewish. The council rules they don't. Paul and Barnabas carry the letter back to Antioch together. The mission seems poised to continue.

The split (Acts 15:36–41) is the canon's most honest depiction of apostolic disagreement. Paul wants to revisit the churches they planted. Barnabas wants to bring John Mark — his cousin (Colossians 4:10) — who had abandoned them partway through the first journey. Paul refuses to take a deserter. The disagreement becomes sharp — Luke uses the word *paroxysmos*, the Greek root the English word *paroxysm* came from. They split. Barnabas takes Mark and sails to Cyprus. Paul takes Silas and goes overland through Syria and Cilicia.

The canonical Christian reading of the split has not been able to flatter either man. Paul was probably right that Mark had abandoned the work. Barnabas was probably right that Mark deserved a second chance. Both insistences turned out to be productive. Mark, restored to the apostolic mission under Barnabas' care, will later become Peter's companion in Rome and the author of the second Gospel. Paul will later write to the Colossians (4:10) telling them that if Mark comes to them, *welcome him* — the relationship was eventually restored. Paul will tell Timothy at the end of his life (2 Timothy 4:11) to bring Mark, *for he is very useful to me for ministry*. The man Paul refused to take a second time becomes the man Paul calls for at his death.

Barnabas does not appear again in Acts. The traditional history has him preaching in Cyprus and dying there, possibly martyred at Salamis. The Epistle of Barnabas, a late-first or early-second-century theological tract, was attributed to him but is now considered pseudonymous; the editorial position is that the Epistle is a useful patristic-era text but is not Scripture and is not by Barnabas. The historical figure who matters is the one Acts records: the encourager who vouched for Saul when no one else would, who exhorted the first Christians in Antioch to remain faithful, and who refused to give up on John Mark when Paul did.