Barnabas

Barnabas comes into view soon after Pentecost. The newly born Christian Church was beginning to demonstrate the sincerity of its faith by practical measures for the relief of poverty and sickness in its own midst. He comes striding through the assembly of the brethren to add his offering to those already contributed to the furtherance of that work.

The senior disciples, Peter, John and James stood receiving the gifts; he walked up to them and laid down a bag of money, proceeds from the sale of land which he had owned in Jerusalem. There was a murmur of approbation from the spectators, for Barnabas was already known to them as one of the earliest converts to the faith, a man of integrity and generosity, one marked out for distinguished service in the cause of Christ. The history of later years confirmed that he was indeed a man of sterling worth.

Barnabas was not a native of Judea. He was what is called a Jew of the Dispersion, that is, a Jew born in some foreign country of Jewish parents who themselves or perhaps their ancestors had migrated from the land of Israel at some past time to make their home in foreign parts. There were many such; the strange circumstances of war and unrest had sent them into a form of exile and so then, as now, Jews were to be found in every part of the known world. Barnabas was a native of Cyprus, not far from Judea but at the present time for a reason not stated he was living in Jerusalem. He had a sister, Mary, also living in Jerusalem with her young son, John Mark, who afterwards became famous as the writer of the Gospel according to Mark. As a Jew of the wider world, he was a more knowledgeable and open‑hearted man than the rather parochially minded Jews of Jerusalem and this fact made him the man of the moment at a crucial point in the history of the Church.

Seven years after our Lord’s death Saul of Tarsus was walking the streets of Jerusalem with a problem. Some three years earlier as a militant Pharisee intent on the persecution of the emerging Christian Church, he had experienced the vision on the Damascus road which had changed his life and made him a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ for ever. Now, for the first time since that conversion he was back in Jerusalem but the Christians would have nothing to do with him. They all knew him for what he had been, a relentless enemy of them all and they did not believe his story that he was now one of them. They suspected a trap. (Acts 9:26‑27). His old colleagues among the Pharisees and priests had of course washed their hands of him and now he was friendless and alone, uncertain what to do next. At this juncture he and Barnabas met. It is probable that they were old friends for Barnabas knew all about his experiences at Damascus and was able therefore to take him back to the brethren and vouch for his sincerity and trustworthiness. So for a short while Barnabas and Saul worked with the Jerusalem brethren in the proclamation of the Gospel. It was not long though before Saul’s turbulent nature got him into trouble with the orthodox Jews. For his own safety and for theirs, the brethren shipped him off to his own native city of Tarsus, there to cool his heels awaiting some definite indication from his Master as to how his life’s work was to develop.

Barnabas remained, sharing with Peter and the others in the work going on in Jerusalem, where the message of Christ was being preached mightily and finding a wide response. The Church was increasing in numbers and influence, although as yet it was not much more than a sect of Judaism. That the Gospel was intended for Gentiles as well as Jews had hardly begun to be realised until the news came that Christian churches were springing up outside Judea and that Gentiles as well as Jews were being accepted. Antioch of Syria was named as one notable example. The Church realised that authentic information about this development was necessary and a reliable man was needed to embark upon an investigating trip and come back with a full report. The man chosen was Barnabas.

"A good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith" is how he was described on this occasion. (Acts 11:22‑24). In the upshot he is seen to have been resourceful and decisive also. He came to Antioch and threw himself into the fellowship and work of the Church there and speedily realised that a great and momentous opening for the work of the Faith was being done and needed the right man to take a lead. A lesser man might have been tempted to step into the vacant position as leader of the Church but not so Barnabas. He knew just who was the right man for this work and without delay he took a ship to cross the hundred miles of sea to Tarsus in Cilicia and sought out his old friend Saul (Acts 11:25‑26).

For twelve months these two worked at Antioch building up the Church and making known the appeal of the Gospel throughout Syria. Antioch was at this time a magnificent city of half a million inhabitants, ranking politically next to Rome and Alexandria in importance. It was the official residence of the Roman governor of Syria and a busy commercial centre. It was adorned with many handsome buildings and public monuments and was in no respect inferior to Rome itself in splendour and luxury. The growing Church therefore must have included many educated and wealthy men. Under the pastoral care of Barnabas and Saul all these, some Jews and some Greek and Roman pagans, became notable examples of the power of Christ to transform men from the power of darkness to the image of the living God.

Another deputation arrived from Jerusalem, with an intimation by the Holy Spirit, through a believer named Agabus that a time of great famine and scarcity was shortly to come upon the world (says Luke by way of comment "which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar" Acts 11:28, a fact testified by contemporary historians). The feeling of the Antioch Church was that in the light of this prediction they, with their wealth and resources ought to send a gift of money for the relief of the anticipated consequent suffering of the poorer Church in Jerusalem. "Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul." (Acts 11:30). It is to be noted that at this time Barnabas is always mentioned before Saul. He was the senior partner of the two and although in later years this was to change, it is a tribute to the character and worth of Barnabas that at this earlier time he should be regarded as the leader. It seems as if the key disciple in the development of the great Church at Antioch was Barnabas.

The commission executed, the two returned to Antioch and to their pastoral duties bringing with them John Mark, the nephew of Barnabas. Mark would be twenty‑two years of age at this time and apparently giving promise of becoming a useful worker for the Lord. It was evidently intended that he should play some part in the missionary outreach which was beginning to form an important part of the life and activities of the Antioch Church. It looks as if Barnabas was always looking for new promising material for the furtherance of the Gospel and now he felt he had found such in his young nephew. The later known history of Mark is evidence that his judgment was rightly founded.

The time for action came soon, perhaps not more than a year or so later. The Church now had a number of senior men, pastors and teachers well versed in the Gospel of Christ and well able to care for the flock. (Acts 13:1) Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, all are named in addition to the two original stalwarts. The Church decided, under the leading of the Holy Spirit, that two of their leaders could now be spared for an ambitious missionary trip into Roman Asia. The two selected, after much prayer and careful thought, were Barnabas and Saul, Barnabas again being alluded to as the leader. They were sent forth, together with Mark as their assistant, with the prayers and exhortations of the home Church. With those words ringing in their ears they went down to Seleucia, the port of Antioch sixteen miles away and found a ship to take them to Cyprus, two days’ sailing distant.

This is where Barnabas began, willingly, no doubt, to concede first place to Saul. It would seem that Saul was the more fluent speaker. It might be, and such evidence as there is seems to confirm the thought, that Barnabas excelled more in the field of pastoral care and exhortation than in that of public preaching of the faith. It is Saul who from now on does the speaking and the expression "Paul and Barnabas" replaces "Barnabas and Saul." At this point also Paul adopted the more familiar Roman form of his name in preference to the Hebrew "Saul." Barnabas has one more moment of precedence.

They crossed the sea again from Cyprus to Roman Asia at which point John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. The two older men continued on their way and eventually arrived at Lystra in the province of Lycaonia. It was here that Paul performed a notable miracle, the instantaneous healing of a man who had been hopelessly crippled from birth. (Acts 14:8‑18). The reaction of the bystanders was unexpected. This miraculous healing caused them to jump to the conclusion that two of the gods had come down to them in the likeness of men. Paul, they reasoned, "because he was the chief speaker" (v.12) must be Hermes the messenger of the gods, whilst Barnabas could be no other than Zeus the supreme god of all (these are their Greek names; the A.V. has adopted their Latin equivalents, Mercurius and Jupiter). There is this indication that Barnabas was a tall and well‑built man, for Zeus was always pictured as huge and overpowering. Without more ado the High Priest of Zeus set about acknowledging this signal honour conferred upon the city by collecting oxen and garlands and preparing to offer a sacrifice. His enthusiasm was probably considerably increased by the fact that, according to their historians, Zeus had once before, long ages previously visited the district in the guise of an old man and been treated rather unceremoniously by the citizens. Finding only one old couple who would give him hospitality, Zeus took his revenge in the fashion quite normal with the proverbially short‑tempered god of Greece. The priests and people of Lystra were not going to be caught a second time, and Barnabas and Paul found to their dismay that they were being accorded full divine honours. The two missionaries hurriedly and vehemently repudiated the identification; as Jews, to be adored as gods must have sent a wave of revulsion through every fibre of their being. Before long they were on the road again to their next stop and the brief moment of divinity was over. Eventually they completed the planned tour and returned to Antioch to report the results of their work to those who had sent them out.

There followed something like seven years of pastoral and evangelical ministry at Antioch with Barnabas and Paul the recognised leaders of the church in all its life and affairs. That phase was interrupted when a number of brethren from the Jerusalem Church arrived with the old insistence that the Gentile converts should conform to the Mosaic Law. The native Jewish converts to Christianity in Jerusalem never did fully realise that acceptance into Christ nullified all obligation to the covenant of Moses. The result of this was that Barnabas and Paul made another visit to Jerusalem to discuss and arrive at an agreement on this matter; the account of which appears in Acts 15.

Not long after that excursion Paul recommended another missionary journey to visit all the communities they had originally founded with the object of strengthening them in the faith. Barnabas willingly concurred and expected that his nephew John Mark would accompany them as he had done on the first journey. He met an unexpected objection. Paul remembered that Mark had left them halfway through the first tour and he was not willing to accept him again. Why Mark left them on that occasion is not stated and not known; it has been surmised that with the breaking out of persecution in Judea he felt he should return to be with his mother in Jerusalem. At any rate this apparently led to a strong disagreement. Barnabas insisted and Paul refused. The result was that for the first time in their long association, going back to the beginning of Paul’s Christian life, they separated. Paul chose Silas, another leading figure in the Antioch Church and went off on the planned tour: now called his second missionary journey, whilst Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus where they had first planted the seed of the Word. (Acts 15:36‑41). There is no record of his subsequent service, as there was with Paul by the ready pen of Luke. It is known that Barnabas went to Cyprus and that is all.

One wonders why his nephew Mark did not record the progress of that unknown missionary tour. Mark was a writer of no mean skill, as demonstrated by the Gospel that bears his name. He was only a boy of fourteen or so at the time of Jesus’ life on earth but he bequeathed a vivid account of the things Jesus said and did. Why did he not do the same for his uncle? Mark himself disappeared from the Church’s history for the next ten years. When he does reappear it is when Paul is in the condemned cell at Rome and Mark is one of his faithful companions. What happened in the meantime?

The most likely hypothesis is that Barnabas was dead. He must have been about sixty years of age at the time of his separation from Paul. It is asserted by early Church historians of the first two centuries, relying upon beliefs handed down through the first six generations of Christians, that he was martyred at Salamis, the entry port of Cyprus, after he parted from Paul. The story is that while preaching in the synagogue he was set upon and murdered by Jews from Syria who resented the effect of his work in Antioch. That, if true, would at least explain why there is no further mention of him in the New Testament, and no inclusion of his name with those who send greetings or to whom greetings are sent. Paul, writing to the Corinthians from Ephesus about three years later spoke of Barnabas as though he was still alive (1 Cor.9:6) but this could be explained by the fact that if Barnabas did meet his end in Cyprus there was no way that Paul could be apprised of the fact until he got back to Antioch later still, even if then. Only Mark was with his uncle and his absence from the history of the Church probably means that he went back to Jerusalem and only in after years became associated with the Antioch and Ephesus brethren again.

In Barnabas we are left with the picture of a generous, warm‑hearted man who gave himself wholeheartedly to the cause of Christ as soon as he came into contact with it. One tradition says that he was originally one of the seventy evangelists whom Jesus sent forth to preach in the villages of Judea. (Luke 10:1). There is no New Testament evidence for this but he was certainly one of the believers immediately after Pentecost. His personality and character were that of a father in Israel, a pastor and a shepherd, able to comfort and encourage the believers in the life they should live and without doubt a tower of strength in times of stress and persecution. His real name was Joses, a Levite. Barnabas appears to be the name given him by the brethren, a name which means in Hebrew "son of exhortation" and this yields a strong clue to his character; ("consolation" in Acts 4:36 is not very accurate; the Greek word parakleseos means a comforting or stirring exhortation as in Heb.12:5 and Acts 13:15). Theology as such was perhaps not his strong point, at least in the field of public oratory, which could explain why Paul superseded him in that field. As a minister and pastor in the assembly, Barnabas probably stood supreme and it may well be that to him, more than any other man, must be credited the rapid and stable growth of the Antioch Church. Of all the well‑known Christian communities whose activities are recorded in the New Testament that at Antioch shows the best and happiest harmony between Christian Jew and Christian Greek, between theology, devotional life and evangelism, between Church fellowship and missionary endeavour. The name "Christian" was first applied to believers at Antioch. (Acts 11:26) All the evidence goes to show that this was a remarkable Church founded upon a basis of sound Scriptural teaching in a spirit of mutual tolerance combined with certainty of personal conviction on matters concerning the faith. Barnabas went to his rest quietly to await his Lord. The Church he so valiantly helped to found and in whose founding he played so great a part lived on for centuries after his death, a bulwark of the Faith in a Church rapidly relapsing into formalism and unbelief.

AOH