And the report concerning them reached the ears of the assembly which was in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go through as far as Antioch
News that non-Jews at Antioch were turning to the Lord reached Jerusalem. The answer was not a letter but a man. Why send him, and what did his visit settle for every church after?
The verse says "the church in Jerusalem." Scripture speaks of one church in a city, however many believers were in it.
What were churches or assemblies? These were local. The apostle could say, "To the church of God that is in Corinth." It represented the whole unity of the body in that place. Even in one place, there could not be two bodies of Christ. In Acts 11:22 we have the assembly that was in Jerusalem, though it was very large; in Acts 13 the assembly that was at Antioch. All Scripture clearly shows there was one assembly in a place, which was God's assembly.
Barnabas came to look and to report. Notice what he did not carry with him.
Still, the new work is not to drift into independence from the old. Jerusalem itself is to acknowledge and accept it, as it accepted the reception of Cornelius and his company at Caesarea. So when the report reaches the Jewish capital, they send Barnabas to go as far as Antioch — a well-chosen representative. He does not go with authority, and he does not try to use any. When the apostles visited Samaria, they had something lacking to supply. Barnabas has no such task among these Syrian brothers. They have clearly received the Spirit, as the believers at Caesarea did, without needing apostles or the laying on of hands.
Others make the same distinction by noting who sent him and for what: the sending was for investigation, and any ministry he did at Antioch was his own gift in exercise, not a commission from a church.
The church at Jerusalem sent Barnabas (Acts 11:22), but this again was on an errand of investigation, and not for ministry. He exercised his ministry, but was not sent by any church for this.
The visit did more than produce a report. It joined the first Gentile church to the place where everything had begun, and no one guarded a territory.
The church in Jerusalem did send Barnabas to Antioch. That church held a special position, as we have seen, since all the apostles were there. But he was not sent there as an evangelist. He went for that church, to visit believers who had already come to know the Lord. They had heard from men who preached, sent out by nothing except persecution. So the first church of the Gentiles and the church in Jerusalem — the church where everything had begun — were identified with each other. There was none of the jealousy that talks about "my field of work." The church in Jerusalem sends Barnabas where others had worked, and Barnabas is more than happy to find Paul. They all had one object: Christ and the good of souls.
The choice was fitting. A cold examiner could have chilled the work; the man sent was suited to judge it fairly and to reassure those who had sent him.
Barnabas then, who was of Cyprus, though a Levite, comes to Antioch on his mission of inquiry. Nor can we imagine one more admirably chosen, if a warm heart devoted to Christ were wanted to judge fairly of the work in Antioch and to reassure those in Jerusalem adequately.
What made him fit was not his office but living faith. That is why he could tell a real work of God when he saw one.
When news of this striking work reached the assembly at Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas — clearly to inspect and report. When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rose above all his Jewish leanings and prejudices. He accepted the work as God's work with all his heart, and joined in helping to minister to the new believers. We gather two things. The Spirit controlled him, and his faith was alive and active, so that he embraced the truth of God's purpose to bless the Gentiles. That is how he detected that the work he had come to examine was a genuine work of grace.
The preachers Barnabas came to inspect held no office. They were ordinary believers, sent out by nothing but persecution.
Let us remember this: the first spread of the gospel among the nations did not come through official preachers. It came through ordinary Christians. No man sent them out; love for Christ moved them. And in the providence of God, the free activity of Christians became the occasion of Paul's mission.
Once endorsed, that city took on a role Jerusalem had held.
Antioch, not Jerusalem, now became a centre for spreading the gospel. It did not depend on apostolic authority. Yet it did not break the unity of the Spirit by forming a separate church.
- News. Word of the conversions reached Jerusalem, and the church there did not ignore it. It sent a man.
- Sent. Barnabas went as a representative on an errand of inquiry; he carried no authority and did not try to exercise any.
- Seen. He was chosen because he could see: a warm heart, living faith, and eyes that knew real grace when it appeared among Gentiles.
- Joined. The visit tied the first Gentile church to Jerusalem, with no jealousy over territory on either side.
- Sent out. Ordinary believers, not officials, began the work. Antioch then became a centre for the gospel, without becoming a separate church.
who, having arrived and seeing the grace of God, rejoiced, and exhorted all with purpose of heart to abide with the Lord;
At Antioch, large numbers of non‑Jews turned to the Lord. News reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to see what was happening. This verse records what he saw, how he felt, and the one sentence of counsel he gave.
Barnabas came to see, and what he saw was grace.
The grace they had received, and were still receiving, from the Lord could be seen. It touched every part of their lives, and Barnabas was glad when he saw it. It is a good thing when the grace of God is seen. There is nothing so delightful to the anointed eye as the grace of God. It pleases the eye and rejoices the heart. There is no sight like it on earth.
Barnabas had no part in this work. Others had preached, and the blessing was theirs.
Barnabas came and at once recognized a true work of the grace of God. God had used others for this, not himself or the leaders in Jerusalem. Instead of being jealous, he was glad, and he helped the work forward by his encouragement. But then he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, so he did not care about his own reputation but about the glory of Christ. The working of God's grace was the great thing with Barnabas, no matter who God used to bring it about.
Barnabas could have taken charge at Antioch. He did not.
He does not come with authority, and he does not try to use any. He has no task, as the apostles had on their visit to Samaria, of supplying anything lacking in these Syrian believers... Barnabas sees the grace of God in them, and is glad, and simply urges them all to cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart — a word that is never out of place. Here it is his character that is described, not his office.
The ESV says "remain faithful to the Lord." Older translations say "cleave to the Lord," and the writers quoted here use that older wording. So what does cleaving look like day to day?
Fruitfulness comes from abiding in Christ. What does that really mean? It may be easier to understand if we put it like this: "Keep close to the Lord! Draw everything you need from Him." In Acts 11:23 a servant of the Lord named Barnabas urged the believers "that with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord." The word "cleave" is also the same word as "abide" in the original.
What sort of purpose did Barnabas call for? The word he used answers that.
The word for "purpose" means, from the verb behind it, what I set before myself, and so propose and determine... It is "purpose of heart" in Acts 11:23, and in five other places it describes the purposes of God's heart: Rom. 8:28; Rom. 9:11; Ephesians 1:11; Eph. 3:11; 2 Timothy 1:9.
That decision will be tested.
We must be ready for the test that is sure to come to everyone who confesses the name of Jesus and owns Him as Saviour and Lord. Usually it comes first as a flood of persecution, raised to terrify the heart and crush the spirit. If that does not succeed, the enemy tries to draw the heart away from Christ and lure it into some carefully prepared trap.
Barnabas told them to cleave to "the Lord." Mawson asks why he chose that title.
He did not say "Cleave to the Shepherd" or "Cleave to the Saviour." Why? The Shepherd will cleave to us with an almighty hand. That is how He holds His sheep despite every threatening enemy, and those He saves are safe for ever. But as Lord we must cleave to Him if we are to bear true witness to Him in this world, for all the grace we need is in Him... we are in enemy country, and we must keep close to the base of our supplies.
Barnabas's call rests on something that had already happened at Antioch.
Notice carefully the words the Spirit of God uses to describe their conversion — they "believed, and turned to the Lord." This is very beautiful and instructive. It gives the true key to, and the basis of, the words Barnabas spoke to them soon after — he "exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord." This exhortation assumes that they had first "turned to the Lord," and grows out of it.
- Seen — Grace at Antioch was not a report but a sight. It had changed every part of their lives, and that is what Barnabas looked at first.
- Glad — He rejoiced over fruit that gave him no credit. Christ's glory mattered more to him than his own name.
- Sent, not superior — Jerusalem sent him, and he encouraged instead of commanding. Scripture praises his character, not his office.
- Cleave — The word means to stick close, the same word as "abide": keep near the Lord and draw everything from Him.
- Purpose — Not a mood but a settled decision. Pressure and enticement will both come to test it. And it only makes sense for people who have already turned to Him.
for he was a good man and full of [the] Holy Spirit and of faith; and a large crowd [of people] were added to the Lord.
The church at Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch, and the verse stops to describe him. One small word — for — makes his character the reason so many were added to the Lord.
One writer defines goodness by what fills a person's mind. We become like whatever occupies us.
Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. I wish we had a few more men like that! What kind of man is a good man? The man who is taken up with evil is not a good man, even if he is set on putting it right. What occupies a man affects him. The good man is taken up with good. He will look for what is good in his brothers and rejoice when he sees it. He will help to produce it in them by ministering Christ to them and praying for them.
Scripture uses two different phrases about the Spirit. The difference matters here.
John the Baptist, Elizabeth, Zacharias, the hundred and twenty on the day of Pentecost, Peter, those assembled together, and Paul were filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:15, 41, 67; Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 9:17; 13:9). The six deacons, on the other hand, with Stephen and Barnabas, are said to have been full of the Spirit (Acts 6:3, 5; 7:55; 11:24). Filled with the Spirit is used in both Old and New Testaments of those fitted for special service... Full of the Spirit seems characteristic of the general tenor of the life.
Barnabas came as the representative of the church at Jerusalem. What he did not do with that standing is the point.
He does not go with authority, and he does not seek to exercise it. Unlike the apostles on their visit to Samaria, he has nothing in hand to supply what is lacking in these Syrian brothers. They have plainly received the Spirit, as the believers at Caesarea did, without the need of apostles or the laying on of hands. Barnabas sees the grace of God in them, and is glad, and simply urges them all to cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart — a word never out of place. It is his character that is dwelt on here, not his office: "he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit, and of faith." The effect of this shows in the progress of the work there.
The work at Antioch began without him and without the leaders who sent him. His reaction shows what the verse means by a good man.
God had used others for this work, not him and not the leaders in Jerusalem. Instead of being jealous, he was glad, and he helped the work forward by his encouragement. But then he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and so he did not care about his own reputation but about the glory of Christ... The working of God's grace was the great thing with Barnabas, no matter through whom it was done.
The verse ties what Barnabas was to how many were added. One writer draws out the hard side of that link.
This is the result of the ministry of a man full of the Spirit. Power is shown in results. A man may be accurate and yet cold, without a particle of spiritual strength, and no blessing comes from his constant work. The reason is plain: for believers to be added to the Lord, the servant must, at least in some measure, be full of the Spirit.
At Antioch the message reached non-Jews as well as Jews. The title given to Christ there makes a demand on everyone who turns to Him.
He is Lord, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles... They preached the Lord Jesus, and people turned to the Lord. If I turn to the Lord I shall at once admit myself to be under His authority. My place is submission to His mighty Word.
- Good — what occupies a man shapes him. The good man looks for good in others and works to produce it in them.
- Full — "full of the Spirit" describes the steady tone of a whole life; "filled" marks people taken up for a special service.
- Character — the verse praises what Barnabas was, not any office he held. He came with no authority to press and nothing to supply.
- Glad — God used others before him, and it did not trouble him. He wanted the glory of Christ, not his own name.
- Added — when the servant is full of the Spirit, fruit follows. And converts are added to the Lord, which means coming under His authority.