Hugo McCord

A man named "Joseph" very likely was one of the 3000 souls baptized on the day that the Lord’s church was established (Pentecost Day, May 28, A.D. 30) in the city of Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-47). Apparently from the first day Joseph began helping his fellow Christians. This we surmise because he is the only one we know of whose name was changed by the apostles reflecting his dedicated work. The apostles called him "Barnabas," a name meaning "The Son of Exhortation" (Acts 4:36), a high honor, for every Christian is either an exhorter or he needs to be exhorted (cf. Hebrews 10:25).

Moreover, Barnabas’ self-denial, his unselfishness, was displayed in his selling a field and laying the entire proceeds "at the feet of the apostles" (Acts 4:37).

Furthermore, when the apostles and all of the Jerusalem Christians were afraid to accept Saul, the former Christian hater and killer, into their fellowship, somehow Barnabas knew that Saul had become a Christian. He took Saul "to the apostles, and related to them that while on the road "Saul had seen the Lord, who had talked with him, and that in Damascus he had spoken boldly in Jesus’ name" (Acts 9:27). On Barnabas’ recommendation, the Jerusalem Christians received Saul gladly, and when they heard that the Jews were planning to kill Saul, "they escorted him down to Caesarea, and sent him to Tarsus" (Acts 9:30). What a blessing to the world, then and now, was the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, afterwards called Paul (Acts 13:9)!

About 43 A.D. word arrived in Jerusalem that in the congregation in Antioch in Syria, some 300 miles north of Jerusalem, Gentiles were being baptized along with Jews (Acts 11:19-21). This good news caused the Jerusalem Christians to send Barnabas up to Antioch (Acts 11:22). On his arrival, he "rejoiced and exhorted everyone to abide in the Lord with purpose of heart" (Acts 11:23). What "the Son of Exhortation" did at Antioch shows that the apostles knew what they were doing in changing his name from Joseph to Barnabas. Luke, the inspired historian, added other admirable qualities to Barnabas by writing that he "was a good men, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith" (Acts 11:24).

In the absolute sense, no human can be called "a good man," for actually "No one is good except God" (Luke 18:19). But on a lower level, everyone of us can be good if he wants to be (Romans 15:14; Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 5:9). Consequently, we read not only that Barnabas was "a good man" (Acts 11:24), but also Joseph of Arimathea (Luke 23:50).

Luke also said that Barnabas was "full of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 11:24). That could mean that Barnabas was full of the Holy Spirit miraculously, having had the hands of an apostle laid upon him (Acts 8:18), making him a "prophet" (Act 13:1). If a miraculous fullness of the Holy Spirit is what Luke meant, then Christians today can not imitate Barnabas, for the miraculous indwelling was only given by the laying on of an apostle’s hands (Acts 8:18; Romans 1:11; 2 Timothy 1:6).

But for Barnabas to be "full of the Holy Spirit" could also mean the non-miraculous "gift of the Holy Spirit," which all Christians receive on the day of their baptism (Acts 2:38; 5:32; 6:3; Galatians 4:6). The Holy Spirit is a silent heavenly guest in every Christian’s body (Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 6:18-19), and stays there all of his life if he does not "grieve the Holy Spirit" (Ephesians 4:30), causing the Spirit to leave (Jude 19). It is up to each Christian to live in such a way that the Holy Spirit remains within him, giving him a guarantee he will go to heaven (Ephesians 1:13-14). The imperative passive command, plerousthe en pneumati (Ephesians 5:18) says "Keep yourselves filled with the Spirit."

Luke also said that Barnabas was full of "faith" (Acts 11:24). As there was a miraculous fullness of the Spirit in the days of the apostles, so there was a miraculous "faith" (1 Corinthians 12:8-10; 13:2), so as to move Mt. Olive into the Mediterranean Sea (Matthew 21:18-22), conferred by the hands of an apostle (Acts 8:18; Romans 1:11; 2 Timothy 1:6), and so not available today.

However, as there is a non-miraculous fullness of the Holy Spirit, possible for, and needed by, every Christian (Acts 2:38-39; 5:32), so there is a non-miraculous faith in Jesus possible for, and needed, by every human being who wants to go to heaven (John 8;21; 14:6). Non-miraculous faith in Jesus never has come by the laying on of an apostle’s hands, but only by listening to the story of Jesus.

This required and delightful faith comes by hearing the story of Jesus (Romans 10:17). Barnabas, being a prophet (Acts 13:1), probably had miraculous faith, but it is certain that he had, from the day of his baptism, a non-miraculous belief and trust in Jesus (cf. Acts 16:31; 18:8).

The result of Barnabas’ preaching in Antioch was that many people were "added to the Lord" (Acts 11:24). However, Barnabas had something else in mind besides evangelism and exhorting the Antioch congregation. He knew that Paul had been sent away from Jerusalem, probably in 36 A.D., back to his boyhood home in Tarsus of Cilicia, to be safe from the Jews who were trying to kill him (Acts 9:29-30). Likely Barnabas had not heard from Paul for the last seven years (36-43 A.D.).

What was Paul doing in those seven years? Some have surmised that he had given up his faith in Jesus and had quit preaching. Such a surmisal is not necessary. He could have been preaching Jesus in Tarsus. We just do not know. What we do know is that Barnabas, who had helped to save Paul’s life in 36 A.D., wanted to find him, and made that long trip, about a hundred miles from Antioch to Tarsus "to seek for" Paul (Acts 11:25). He was successful in finding him, persuaded him to quit what he was doing (perhaps preaching in Tarsus), and "brought him to Antioch" (Acts 11:26).

All Bible scholars agree that, after the arrival of Barnabas and Paul in Antioch, probably in 43 A.D., that "the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch" (Acts 11:26). But who gave them the name "Christian"? It was "coined by the pagan slang" of the citizens of Antioch, wrote James Moffatt (A DICTIONARY OF CHRIST AND THE GOSPELS, I, 316). But would the apostle Peter command Jesus’ disciples to "glorify" God by a name concocted by pagan people (1 Peter 4:16)? And would the inspired James describe a "slang" word as "honorable" (James 2:7)? The name "Christian" was so "honorable" (kalos, fine, beautiful, and precious) that a backsliding Christian emperor of Rome, Julian "the Apostate," stopped calling Jesus’ followers "Christians," and referred to them as "the Galileans" (Robert Milligan, SCHEME OF REDEMPTION, p. 473). The enemies of Jesus’ disciples called them "the sect of the Nazarenes" (Acts 24:5), a term of disrespect (John 1:46).

The name "Christian" is meaningful. As Caesarianos (Latin) and Kaisarinos (Greek) mean "belonging to Caesar," so Christianos (Greek, Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16) means "belonging to Christ." Barton W. Stone criticized Alexander Campbell for rejecting the name "Christian" in favor of "Disciple."

The name "Christian" is from God. He had said that "in my house [that is, the church, 1 Timothy 3:15] and within my walls" he would give "a new name which the mouth of Jehovah will name" (Isaiah 62:2). Jesus’ followers were called believers (Acts 4:32; 5:14), disciples (Acts 6:1), brothers (Acts 9:30), saints (Acts 9:32), and witnesses (Acts 13:31; 1 John 1:2), but none of these was a proper name, and none of these was "a new name" (Genesis 15:6; Exodus 2:11; 4:31; Nehemiah 1:2; Psalm 116:10, 15; Proverbs 2:8; Isaiah 8:16; 43:10; 44:8).

The "new name" from "the mouth of Jehovah" (Isaiah 62:2) was not "Hephzibah" (Isaiah 62:4), as some have contended, for Manasseh’s mother, about 700 B.C., was named "Hephzibah" (2 Kings 21:1). The "new name" from the mouth of Jehovah" (Isaiah 62:2) was not "Beulah" (Isaiah 62:4), as some have contended, for Beulah was an old word simply meaning a "married" woman (Benjamin Davidson, THE ANALYTICAL HEBREW AND CHALDEE LEXICON, p. 102).

The inspired Luke agrees with Isaiah’s prediction that the "new name" would be from "the mouth of Jehovah" (62:2) by his use of a special word, chrematizo (Acts 11:26), a word that tells from whom the new name would originate. Chrematizo, different from kaleo and phoneo, in the New Testament is always a divine call (Matthew 2:12, 22; Luke 2:26; Acts 10:22; 11:26; Romans 7:3; Hebrews 8:5; 11:7; 12:25), and "chrematismos is a divine response, an oracle: Romans 11:4" (G. Abbott Smith, A MANUAL GREEK LEXICON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, p. 484). For that reason I have inserted the word "divinely" in my translation of Acts 11:26 (the FHV), showing that the name "Christian" originated from "the mouth of Jehovah": "The disciples were divinely called ‘Christians’ first in Antioch."

But more study lets me know that Luke tells us, not only that the name "Christian" is divine in its origin, but also on whose lips the divine name from "the mouth of Jehovah" would first be heard. My translation mistakenly used the passive voice, "were divinely called," instead of Luke’s active voice. The 4th edition of my translation will use Luke’s active voice, a fact that lets us know that the first human lips to pronounce the word "Christian" were those of Barnabas (a prophet, Acts 13:1) and Paul (an apostle, Galatians 1:1):

For some reason God waited from A.D. 30 to A.D. 43 before announcing the name he wanted his Son’s followers to wear. In Antioch was the first integrated congregation (Acts 11:20-21). There Jews and Gentiles united their voices together in "one body" (1 Corinthians 12:19) in praising the "Godhead" (Theotes, Colossians 2:9).

As Moses was "the mouthpiece of divine revelations" (Hebrews 12:25, Thayer, p. 671), so were Barnabas and Paul mouthpieces of a divine revelation first predicted as "from the mouth of Jehovah" (Isaiah 62:2). God used Barnabas (a prophet, Acts 13:1) and Paul (an apostle, Galatians 1:1) in Antioch to call the disciples "Christians."

These experiences of Barnabas from A.D. 30 to 43 A.D. let us know that God and the apostles looked upon "the Son of Exhortation" as "a vessel of honor, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work" (2 Timothy 2:21). But his life did not end in 43 A.D. More is yet to be told in another article, "Barnabas, II."

6-21-99