BARNABAS, II
Hugo McCord
After Barnabas and Paul had spent "a whole year" (43 A.D.) edifying the Antioch congregation (Acts 11:26), the disciples of Jesus, newly named "Christians," asked Barnabas and Paul to carry a gift of money to needy Christians 300 miles away in Judea (Acts 11:27-30). With that service completed, "they returned from Jerusalem to Antioch, and took with them John, who is called Mark," a "cousin" of Barnabas (Acts 12:25; Colossians 4:10).
On their arrival in Antioch, they joined with the other Antioch Christians in "serving and fasting" (Acts 13:2). Then "the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart now for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’" (Acts 13:2). The Christians, "after they had fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, sent them away" (Acts 13:3).
In "Judaism" (Galatians 1:14) God had specified a fast "once in the year" (Leviticus 16:34) "in the seventh month [October], on the tenth day of the month" (Leviticus 16:29). It was called Yom Kippurim, "the day of atonement" (Leviticus 23:17), or simply "the Fast" (Acts 27:9).
In Christianity God has no specified a day for fasting, but Jesus said that his disciples would "fast" (Matthew 9:15). Since no set day for fasting is in the New Testament, Christians on their own, when they feel the need, miss a meal and spend the time in prayer. This they do individually (Matthew 6:16-17) or collectively, as the congregation at Antioch "fasted and prayed and laid hands on" Paul and Barnabas before they started on their missionary trip (Acts 13:3).
As far as we know, only the apostles had "power" (Acts 1:8) to lay hands on people to give to them the "Holy Spirit" so they could perform miracles (Acts 8:14-18). But the hand laying on Paul and Barnabas at Antioch was not done by an apostle. Indeed, one of the two on whom hands were laid was himself an "apostle" (Galatians 1:1), and the other was already a "prophet" (Acts 13:1). Clearly, then, the hand laying at Antioch was not miraculous. It was simply an expression of good will and endorsement, showing that the congregation was supporting Paul and Barnabas.
Similarly, the Ridgecrest congregation in Midwest City, Oklahoma, in appointing a new elder March 3, 1974, followed the example of the Antioch congregation in prayer, fasting, and hand laying:
ORDINATION SERVICE
Brethren Cole, Hays, Cox, and McCool will stand in order south to north at the back of the platform. Cole will step to the speaker’s stand and ask that Ron Swarb come forward and stand with the elders on the platform. Swarb will take his place of the left of McCool, facing the audience. Cole will then lead a short prayer from the speaker’s stand and return to his place on the south side of the platform. Hays will step to the speaker’s stand and read Titus 1:4-9, and return to his place. Cox will step to the speaker’s stand and read 1 Peter 5:1-4, and return to his place. McCool will then step to the speaker’s stand and say to the audience:
"Brethren, having heard the sacred scriptures read in our hearing, and having known Ron Swarb and his manner of life, and believing that he does meet the high standard set by the holy Bible, you will now please signify that you request Ron Swarb to become one of the shepherds of this congregation and that you will submit to his care and love and pray for him, and that you now so signify by standing up and with one voice, saying, AMEN." McCool will ask the audience to be seated, and he will return to his place.
Then Cole and Swarb will stand together at the speaker’s stand, and Cole will say: "Bro. Swarb, you have seen and heard that this congregation desires that you serve as one of their shepherds, and you have heard their promise to submit to your care for their souls. Now, Bro. Ron Swarb, will you accept the request of this congregation, and do you promise before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead, that to the best of your ability you will dedicate yourself to the work of a shepherd among these people who honor and respect and love you?"
Swarb will reply: "I, Ron Swarb, do accept the request of this congregation to serve as one of the shepherds, and I do promise before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead, that to the best of my ability I will dedicate myself to the work of a shepherd among these people whom I respect and love."
Then Cole will return to his place on the platform, and Hays will step up to the speaker’s stand and take Swarb’s right hand and place his own left hand on Swarb’s right shoulder, and say: "So be what Bro. Cole has said; amen, and God bless us all."
Then Hays will step back to his place on the platform, and Cox will repeat exactly what Hays did. Then Cox will step back to his place on the platform, and McCool will repeat exactly what Cox did. Then McCool will turn toward the audience and lead a final prayer. Then all five men will return to their seats in the audience.
As McCord starts the sermon he will remind the audience of the noon fast in regard to this sacred appointment, and request all who can to remain in the auditorium after the dismissal of the 10-11 o’clock service for about an hour in additional prayers by as many of the men and boys who will lead prayers, and additional hymn singing. This second service will not only concentrate on the Swarb appointment, but also on the Eva Bolleau missionary journey.
On January 5, 1975, the Ridgecrest congregation engaged in a similar service in prayer, fasting, and hand laying in the appointment of five men to serve as deacons.
While the apostles lived, there were two kinds of hand layings, miraculous and non-miraculous. Both kinds appear to have been done at Lystra in Galatia in 51 A.D. About three years before, when Paul and Barnabas were on their first missionary journey (46-49 A.D.), it appears that Lois, Eunice, and Timothy (probably 12 years of age) were baptized. When Paul, with Silas, returned to Lystra in 51 A.D., they heard a good word about Timothy’s rapid spiritual growth, being "well reported of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium" (Acts 16:1-2). Paul was so impressed by the 15 year old young man (cf. 1 Timothy 4:12) he "wanted him to travel with him" (Acts 16:3).
Very likely, at a Lord’s day service in Lystra, before Paul and Silas and Timothy left town, miraculous power was given to Timothy "through [dia] the laying on of" Paul’s "hands" (2 Timothy 1:6). Then the elders (cf. Acts 14:23), pleased at Timothy’s spiritual growth and zeal, laid their hands on Timothy along "with" [meta] Paul’s miraculous hand laying (1 Timothy 4:14). Like the Christians at Antioch, who had laid hands on Barnabas and Paul before they departed on their missionary trip as an expression of support (Acts 13:3), so the elders at Lystra did the same thing for Timothy. I doubt that he ever forgot that memorable occasion.
When Paul and Barnabas left Antioch on the first missionary journey (46-49 A.D.) they took John Mark, Barnabas’ cousin, as a helper (Acts 13:5; Colossians 4:10). However, when they "landed at Perga in Pamphylia" Mark "left them and returned to Jerusalem" (Acts 13:13).
This desertion so unnerved Paul (46 A.D.) that when he and Barnabas were planning a second missionary journey (51 A.D.), and Barnabas wanted to invite Mark again, Paul would not agree. The disagreement was "sharp," so that Paul and Barnabas "separated from each other, and Barnabas took Mark, and sailed to Cyprus," while Paul "chose Silas," and "went through Syria and Cilicia" (Acts 15:36-41). In this experience, Barnabas displayed more patience and love than did Paul.
I wish we knew the details of the missionary journey of Barnabas and Mark. However, from what we learn later, it must have been successful, with Mark showing Christian growth and maturity. This happy development points to Barnabas as being well named by the apostles as "The Son of Exhortation" (Acts 4:36), and likely points to the salvation of Mark’s soul.
Mark, instead of remaining a quitter, became such a great Christian that God used him to write a New Testament book about 60 A.D. Paul changed his judgment of Mark, and in 62 A.D. complimented and recommended him to the congregation in Colosse (4:10) and to Philemon (v. 24). Mark was with Peter in Babylon (65 A.D.), and Peter called Mark "my son" (1 Peter 5:13).
Paul became such an admirer of Mark he wanted him to come to Rome, where Paul was on death row in Mamertime Prison (67 A.D.), along with Timothy. Paul wrote to Timothy: "Pick up Mark, and bring him with you, for he is useful to me in the service" (2 Timothy 4:11).
Mark had been headed in the direction of a deserter, like Demas (2 Timothy 4:10), but due to the influence of Barnabas he became a vessel of honor in the Lord’s service.
Though Paul was actually the leader in the missionary journey with Barnabas (46-49 A.D.), Barnabas was such a helper the citizens of Lystra gave him a higher title than Paul, saying the "gods" had "come down to us in human form," calling Barnabas "Jupiter" or "Zeus," the "chief Greek and Roman deity" (Robert Young, CONCORDANCE, p. 559), and calling Paul "Mercurius" or "Hermes," because Paul "was the principal speaker" (Acts 14:12).
When Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch at the close of the first missionary journey (46-49 A.D.), they had to refute the error that Gentiles must be circumcised to "be saved" (Acts 15:2). The error had come from Jerusalem, and Paul and Barnabas were sent there to meet with the apostles and elders. There they told "of the signs and wonders which God did through them among the Gentiles" (Acts 15:12), thus showing that Moses’ circumcision law (Acts 15:1) was no part of Christianity. Then they returned to Antioch.
Though Barnabas took a strong stand against requiring Gentiles to be circumcised, it is sad that, along with James the Lord’s half-brother and Peter, he refused to eat with Gentile Christians in Antioch, "fearing those of the circumcision" (Galatians 2:11-13). I hope Paul was able to rescue Barnabas from this "hypocrisy" (Galatians 2:13).
Was Barnabas an author? Tertullian (150-230 A.D.) wrote that Barnabas was the author of the book of Hebrews (SCHAFF-HERZOG, I, 487). From the second century several books have been found written by some one named "Barnabas." The "Epistle of Barnabas" (containing 21 chapters) was accepted by Origen (185-254 A.D.) as a New Testament book, and it is included in the 4th century Sinaiticus manuscript. However, now the "Epistle of Barnabas" is believed to be a late production by an unknown Barnabas (ibid.). Also authored by some unknown Barnabas are the "Gospel of Barnabas" and the "Acts of Barnabas" (ibid., I, 226f.)
The biblical Barnabas was a native of Cyprus (Acts 4:36). Likely it was a suggestion from Barnabas that caused Paul and Barnabas to start their missionary journey on the island of Cyprus (Acts 13:4). They landed in Salamis, where they preached Christ in the synagogues of the Jews (Acts 13:5). Then they "passed through the whole island to Paphos" (Acts 13:6).
Tradition says that Barnabas made a return trip to Cyprus and was able to start a New Testament congregation in Salamis. However, the "Jews burned him at the stake outside the gate of Salamis and threw his ashes into the sea" ("Acts of Barnabas," xxiii, cited by David Smith, LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL, p. 118).
As redeemed people will "sit with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in heaven’s kingdom" (Matthew 8:11), so they will enjoy visiting with Barnabas in the place that Jesus has gone to prepare (John 14:1-2).
6-25-99