BARNABAS
“son of consolation.”
His name was Joseph, but the apostles gave him the nickname Barnabas, “son of consolation,” or rather, “of exhortation.”
He first appears when he sells his land and lays the price of it at the feet of the apostles (Acts 4:36, 37). When the disciples in Jerusalem showed fear about Paul, it was he who took him and presented him before the apostles (Acts 9:26, 27). When the Gentiles converted to Antioch it was Barnabas who was sent there from Jerusalem.
He rejoiced in the reality of the work, and exhorted them to cling to the Lord; It is said of him in the Scriptures that he was “a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and faith.” He then went in search of Paul, and took him with him to Antioch, where they labored for a whole year. They then visited Jerusalem together, bringing the gifts of the saints (Acts 11:22-30).
Antioch became a center from which the gospel went out to the Gentiles; It was there that the Holy Spirit said: “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them,” beginning from there what is called Paul’s first missionary journey (Acts 13:2-4).
When the question arose as to whether Gentile believers needed to be circumcised, Paul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem to discuss the matter (Acts 15:1-41), which was resolved by the decision not to chain the Gentiles. Gentiles with the Jewish law, although they were bound to the moral and necessary demands of God (Acts 15:1-41).
After this Paul proposed to return to visit the brothers in the cities where they had preached. Barnabas insisted on taking his nephew Juan Marcos with them; When Paul expressed his disagreement because Mark had earlier abandoned the work, a lively discussion arose, and Barnabas, separating from Paul, embarked with Mark for Cyprus, his own country.
This is how these two valuable brothers, who had risked their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus, were separated.
We know nothing of Barnabas’s later activities. Paul alludes to him as having been carried away by Peter’s dissimulation, but otherwise speaks affectionately of him (1 Cor. 9:6; Gal. 2:1, 9, 13).