Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch. When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.
Acts 11:22-24
As mentioned last time, Barnabas was a key figure in the book of Acts and the earliest expansion of the Church. Last time I shared five of ten interesting facts about Barnabas from “Leadership Resources.” Here are the second five of these ten:
6. While praying, fasting, and worshiping God, Barnabas and Saul received the call from the Holy Spirit to go on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:1-3).
7. Barnabas, along with Paul, served to straighten out Jew/Gentile tensions that arose in the early Church by sharing from the Scriptures and his experience how the Gentiles were being saved and could fellowship with Jews (Acts 15:1-21; Galatians 2:1-10). Although this issue was not without its challenges for Barnabas. In Galatians 2:13, Paul called Barnabas out for being led astray by Jewish circumcision party hypocrisy for a time (presumably before the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15).
8. Barnabas had a sharp disagreement with Paul that ended their ministry together. Acts 15:36-41 explains that Barnabas wanted to take Mark along on their missionary journey while Paul did not because Mark had abandoned them on a previous trip. Paul would eventually describe Mark as “useful to me” at the end of his life (2 Timothy 4:11). It makes sense that Barnabas would stick up for Mark–they were cousins (Colossians 4:10).
9. There was wide speculation about Barnabas in early Church history. James Brooks explains, “In the third century Barnabas was identified by Clement of Alexandria as one of the 70 of Luke 10:1; Tertullian referred to him as the author of Hebrews; and the Clementine Recognitions stated he was the Matthias of Acts 1:23, 26. All of these are most unlikely. In the second century an epistle bearing Barnabas’s name appeared, became quite popular, and even received some consideration for a place in the NT. Later an apocryphal Acts of Barnabas and perhaps even a Gospel of Barnabas were circulated.”
10. Barnabas left a tremendous legacy. All of the above facts (except #9) prove Barnabas to be a strong man of faith who left a lasting legacy and stored up for himself a lucrative inheritance in Heaven.
Two quick notes from Errol: (1) It is too bad that believers, especially those of the spiritual stature of Paul and Barnabas, would have such strong disagreements (as in #8). But it happens. If we must disagree, let us seek to do so graciously. (2) Though Barnabas was so highly revered as to have been incorrectly identified as being and doing what he never was or did, we can thank the Holy Spirit for revealing that those speculations about him in #9 were fallacious.