²⁶When he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. ²⁷But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. ²⁸And he was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord.

The early believers were not naïve. They weren’t going to fall for the old Trojan Horse routine. (That’s the ancient story where the Greeks left a huge wooden horse outside the city of Troy and sailed away; the unsuspecting Trojans took the horse into the city as a trophy of the vanquished army, but the Greek men hiding inside exited the horse at night to open the city gates for the returned Greeks to invade.) The Christians suspected Paul of using a similar tactic, feigning conversion to trick them into accepting him as one of them so he could persecute them further.

The Christians’ suspicions were not unfounded, considering the extreme venom with which Saul had moved against the movement. However, Barnabas stepped into the gap as Saul’s advocate, putting his reputation on the line. We don’t know how Barnabas came to know the details of Saul’s conversion, but we do know something about his character. He was presented by the author Luke as an example par excellence of the “abundant grace [that] was upon” the early church (Acts 4:33). So much so, he was given a nickname. His given name was “Joseph,” but the apostles called him “Barnabas,” which means “Son of Encouragement.” To meet Barnabas was to meet an encourager of the best sort. He encouraged the Christians to accept Saul’s conversion as authentic. This is the first recorded mention of the two together (Saul and Barnabas), the partnership of which carried on to the apostle’s first mission tour (see Acts 13–14, where Luke begins to use Saul’s Roman name, “Paul”).

The apostle was undoubtedly influenced by the graciousness of Barnabas when he much later wrote Philemon on behalf of Onesimus, the man’s runaway slave. While today we recoil at the notion of slavery, at that time believers were still working through the social, legal, and commercial ramifications of their faith. Paul’s letter would have huge implications. He writes, “If then you regard me a partner, accept him [Onesimus] as you would me. But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account . . . I will repay it” (Philemon 17–19). Paul reflected the encouraging character of Barnabas.

Lord, help me be an encourager of people like Barnabas and not a hardened skeptic of what God can do in a person’s life who comes to faith.