Who is barnabas in acts

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Skip to main content Skip to primary sidebar Skip to footer Character studies of Bible heroes are of great value for the church. Who is Barnabas in the Bible? This rather obscure Bible character was so encouraging that it became his name. What a legacy to leave! What an example to follow.

What would people nickname you? Background: Acts records that Barnabas was a Levite and a Cyprian that is, a native of the island of Cyprus.

Barnabas put the kingdom first with possessions. He also was acknowledged by Paul for supporting himself financially for his ministry instead of depending on churches 1 Corinthians In the verses that follow he is the understood pronoun, subject, or object six times before verse 27 where Barnabas is the named subject of the sentence.

In the narrative that follows Saul is again the implied subject or object twelve times, although there is no explicit antecedent identifying Saul except back in verse So the question still remains whether the subject of should be understood as Barnabas or Saul. Schnabel translates as "explained," which rather suggests the nuance of reported speech. Thus a better translation is simply "tell, relate, describe," 8 which is how the contemporary translations cited above translate it.

Bock is typical of translators and interpreters who understand Barnabas as the speaker: "There is debate about the subject of the verb here, but that Barnabas speaks up for Saul is the most natural way to read the passage. Burchard objects to this prevailing view: "According to today's most represented opinion, it is Barnabas, the subject of the previous verb, [who is reporting,] not Paul, the subject of the following, even there, where you, in the then given indirectness of the reporting, cannot find evidence of the mediation of Paul, as it is done by Klein Barnabas remains a minor character, so to speak, until the first missionary journey begins in Acts Christoph Burchard Der dreizehnte Zeuge.

Nach der heute meist vertretenen Meinung ist es Barnabas, das Subjekt des vorhergehenden Verbs, nicht Paulus, das subject der folgenden, auch da, wo man in der dann gegebenen Indirektheit der Berichterstattung nicht ein Anzeichen fur Mediatisierung des Paulus findet, wie es Klein tut Eyewitness Testimony in Luke-Acts. Eyewitness testimony was important for Luke in his two written documents. Acts Speaking to the crowd on the day of Pentecost, Peter declared: "God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact" Acts In his subsequent speeches first in Solomon's stoa then twice before the Sanhedrin Acts ; , and to Cornelius and household Peter emphasised that he and the apostles were witnesses of the Jesus events about which they were testifying.

Likewise in his address at the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch Paul made the same point: "And for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people" Acts Although Paul could not testify to the earthly ministry of Jesus, his eyewitness testimony about seeing the risen Christ was important for Luke. Given the importance of eyewitness testimony for Luke 24 and the early church, would the apostles have wanted or even allowed Barnabas to recount Saul's conversion account with Saul present beside him?

Burchard makes a significant observation: "Moreover, it is according to style that a person who is affected by a supernatural experience should tell it himself. A comparable narrative situation is found in 2 Kings -6 where Gehazi is recounting to the king of Israel Elisha's wondrous works including the raising of the Shunammite woman's son from the dead. At that moment the woman herself appears before the king to appeal for the restoration of her property.

Gehazi introduces the woman and her son to the king who then asks her to finish telling the story of her son's resurrection. Since the Shunammite and her son - the subject of Gehazi's story - are now present to provide a firsthand account, the king wants her and not Gehazi to complete the story since she witnessed this event firsthand. Similarly, Saul would have told his own story. A Fourth Conversion Account.

The description of Saul's conversion in Acts is clearly an abridgment of the longer accounts in chapters 9, 22, and First, on the road to Damascus "he had seen the Lord.

Second, he spoke to the Lord , ; Though the verb is not used in the other three accounts, Luke uses it five in other places in Acts to characterise Paul's preaching as bold and fearless: Jerusalem , Pisidian Antioch , Iconium , Ephesus and Caesarea An observation often made in commentaries on Acts is that Luke records three accounts of the conversions of Cornelius and of Saul. For example, Keener writes: "This is a strategic section of Acts, which includes two events that Luke ultimately reports three times: the conversions of Paul ; ; and Cornelius ; ; Haenchen affirms: "Luke employs such repetitions only when he considers something to be extraordinarily important and wishes to impress it unforgettably on the reader.

Nevertheless, a significant observation to make here is that Acts provides a fourth account of Saul's conversion regardless of whether Barnabas or Paul is the speaker.

Barnabas was among the delegates who attended the Jerusalem council to discuss how to transition the new gentile believers into the early Church. In fact, Acts shows how he and Paul shared their testimony of God working among the gentiles.

Paul refused since John Mark had abandoned them on their first missionary journey when things got tough. Barnabas did such a good job with John Mark that Paul later asked Timothy to take Mark to him, since he had become useful to him in ministry. See Colossians ; Acts ; ; 2 Timothy Galatians tells of how Barnabas was influenced by Peter to avoid eating with the gentiles while in Galatia.

This was hypocrisy since Barnabas knew that Jesus came as a Savior for the whole world and not only the Jews. We learn that Barnabas was prone to human weaknesses, just like each of us.

In Barnabas, we find an excellent example of a Christian mentor. He encouraged Paul and believed in him when no one else trusted him after his conversion. Barnabas also provided Paul with opportunities to minister in Antioch and traveled with Paul on their first missionary journey. Barnabas was even willing to let Paul advance as he moved on to encourage the next mentee who needed his support—John Mark.

And for both Paul and John Mark, Barnabas did an excellent job in preparing them for ministry. In fact, Paul ended up being more prominent than Barnabas and by the end of their missionary journey in Acts , they were no longer referred to as Barnabas and Paul. Instead, they were called Paul and Barnabas. Like Barnabas, we too can be a source of encouragement to others in their journey through life. Languages Study in More Languages. Who was Barnabas in the Bible?