If Paul is the thunder that shakes the sky of the New Testament, Barnabas is the steady fire that keeps the embers glowing. His story doesn’t roar across the pages with shipwrecks and prison epistles, but without him, much of what we admire in the early church might look very different. Barnabas lives in the quiet spaces where courage looks like generosity, advocacy, and a stubborn refusal to give up on people.
We first meet him in the warm aftermath of Pentecost. The church in Jerusalem is newborn and radiant: “the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul” (Acts 4:32). In that atmosphere of shared love, Barnabas, then called Joses, does something that reveals the heartbeat of his life. He owns land. He sells it. And he lays the money at the apostles’ feet (Acts 4:36–37). No speeches. No spotlight. Just the sound of coins and the quiet surrender of security into God’s hands. The apostles look at this Levite from Cyprus, watch how he lifts burdens off others, and rename him “Barnabas,” which is, being interpreted, “The son of consolation.” Heaven seems to say, “Here is a man whose life will be a shelter for weary hearts.”
The second time we see Barnabas, the church is holding its breath. Saul of Tarsus, the man whose very name once sent believers into hiding, has met Christ and now wants to join the disciples in Jerusalem (Acts 9:26). But memories run deep. They are “all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.” This is where Barnabas shines in a way numbers can’t measure. He steps across the line others hesitate to cross. He takes Saul and brings him to the apostles. He doesn’t offer vague assurances; he recounts specifics: Saul has seen the Lord, heard His voice, preached boldly in Damascus (Acts 9:27). Barnabas puts his own credibility on the line for a man everyone else fears. Because of this, Saul is no longer kept at a distance. He moves freely among the believers. One encourager changed the trajectory of a future apostle.
Later, news reaches Jerusalem that in Antioch the gospel is spreading among Greeks, and “a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord” (Acts 11:20–21). The church sends Barnabas to see what’s happening. He could have gone as a critic or a cautious inspector, but Scripture says that when he came and “had seen the grace of God, [he] was glad” (Acts 11:23). He isn’t jealous. He doesn’t compare. He recognizes God’s fingerprints and rejoices. Then, true to his name, he exhorts them “that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.” The Spirit sums him up tenderly: “For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord” (Acts 11:24).
But Barnabas doesn’t stop at rejoicing over what God is doing. He sees the size of the harvest and knows one man isn’t enough. So he leaves Antioch and goes to Tarsus to seek Saul (Acts 11:25). Picture him walking through that city, asking questions, looking for the once-feared persecutor now hidden in obscurity. When he finds him, he doesn’t say, “Stay in your lane; my work is here.” He brings Saul back to Antioch, and for a whole year they teach together (Acts 11:26). This is one of Barnabas’ hidden treasures: he’s willing to share the work and, eventually, the spotlight. Early on it’s “Barnabas and Saul.” Later it becomes “Paul and Barnabas.” The text quietly flips the order as Paul’s ministry grows—but Barnabas doesn’t vanish in bitterness. He steps back so the call of God in another man can come to the front.
In Antioch, Barnabas is entrusted with more than teaching. When a famine is predicted, the disciples decide to send relief to brethren in Judaea “by the hands of Barnabas and Saul” (Acts 11:29–30). Generosity seems to follow him: from his own land sale in Jerusalem to carrying relief across regions. Barnabas knows that faith that preaches but doesn’t give is hollow. He’s happy to be the pair of hands that carries bread with the gospel.
Then comes one of the most sacred moments: while prophets and teachers minister to the Lord and fast, “the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them” (Acts 13:2). Heaven calls him by name. Barnabas isn’t a side note to Paul’s ministry; he’s chosen by the Spirit for a shared work. After prayer and laying on of hands, they sail forth, preaching in synagogues and watching doors of faith open, especially among Gentiles (Acts 13–14). When they return to Antioch, they gather the church together and rehearse “all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27). Notice the wording: not “what we did,” but “what God had done with them.” Humility runs like a quiet river beneath all their labor.
We also see Barnabas in the heat of doctrinal crisis. When some insist that Gentiles must be circumcised to be saved, there’s “no small dissension and disputation” (Acts 15:1–2). Paul and Barnabas are appointed to go to Jerusalem about the question. On the way, they pass through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of Gentiles and causing “great joy unto all the brethren” (Acts 15:3). Barnabas is comfortable in the tension between joy and controversy—he can rejoice in what God is doing even while wrestling through complex questions. He’s not the kind of encourager who hides from hard topics; he walks through them, hand in hand with truth.
But the Bible doesn’t paint him as flawless. After the Jerusalem council, Paul suggests revisiting the churches. Barnabas “determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark” (Acts 15:37). Paul strongly disagrees because Mark had previously turned back from the work. The contention becomes so sharp they separate. Barnabas sails to Cyprus with Mark; Paul chooses Silas (Acts 15:39–41). Here we see both a strength and a risk. Barnabas is deeply loyal to the stumbling worker. He sees potential in Mark that Paul, at that moment, doesn’t. Their disagreement is painful, but not fruitless. Later, Paul will write, “Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11). Somewhere between the sharp contention and that tender line, the investment of a man like Barnabas has borne quiet fruit.
Galatians 2:11–13 shows another facet. When Peter draws back from eating with Gentile believers, fearing certain men from James, “the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.” The “son of consolation” is, for a moment, pulled into hypocrisy—choosing safety over consistency with the gospel. It’s almost shocking. The encourager who once opened doors for Gentiles now hesitates at the table. Yet this failure is also instructive. It reminds us that even seasoned encouragers need to keep their eyes fixed on Christ, not on the crowd. The best of us can stumble when fear of opinion creeps in.
What, then, is Barnabas most remembered for?
For his open hands—selling land, carrying relief, living as a steward, not an owner.
For his open heart—seeing grace and being glad, not threatened.
For his open arms—drawing in Saul, defending him, later holding on to Mark when others let go.
For his open ears to the Holy Ghost, ready to go wherever he was sent.
He’s a living illustration of 1 Peter 4:10: “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” Barnabas receives grace and immediately passes it on—through property, through praise, through presence, through patient belief in people who are still in process.
And perhaps one of his hidden gems is that Barnabas doesn’t build his legacy by starting movements with his own name on them. He builds it by helping other people step into theirs. Without Barnabas, Saul might have stayed on the edges much longer. Without Barnabas, Antioch might not have had that strategic year of teaching. Without Barnabas, Mark might never have become profitable for ministry. Barnabas is the man in the background whose fingerprints are on the frontlines.
For us, his life is a gentle yet piercing question:
Whose story will be different because we chose to believe in them, stand beside them, and exhort them to cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart?
May the Lord make us, in our own small circles, sons and daughters of consolation—Spirit-filled encouragers who aren’t afraid to give, to speak up, to walk with the imperfect, and to keep pointing every heart back to Jesus, “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).
As you dig into today’s Study Notes, remember: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth… for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous” (Joshua 1:8). If you’d like practical help to keep Scripture alive…
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