²⁵And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul; ²⁶and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

Barnabas saw that the work was growing hugely and needed help in teaching the new believers. He did what he knew best, encouraging them in a faithful walk with the Lord (Acts 11:23). But they needed more than that: traction for spiritual growth through teaching of the Word. For that, he left in search of Saul, the converted persecutor of the church!

The last we saw of Saul in this narrative was in Acts 9:30, where after his brief stints debating the Jews in Damascus (where his life changed) and in Jerusalem—and in both cases, risking his life to do so—he was sent away to his hometown of Tarsus. Under his Greek name, Paul, he wrote later about his movements during the intervening period between his conversion and his coming to Antioch. Piecing together the historical details has caused many Bible students consternation. His movements included time spent in Arabia, a return to Damascus (seemingly for three years), and a visit to Jerusalem, where he met for fifteen days with Peter (whom he tended to call by his Hebrew name, “Cephas”).

While in Jerusalem, Paul also met with James, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus who was becoming a leader in the church at Jerusalem, but did not meet with the other apostles. Then there was a fourteen-year period that ended with Paul going to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus (see Galatians 1–2). While scholars and historians differ concerning the sequence, we agree with those who see this last visit to Jerusalem as lining up with Acts 15, when the church council assembled to deal with the Gentile-Christian issue at Antioch.

At this juncture, Saul (Paul) had been mostly out of sight and out of mind to the believers in Jerusalem. But when he returned to Antioch, he and Barnabas began a considerable ministry teaching the believers. He was able to draw on his background as a biblical scholar (Gal. 1:14), together with the revelation received directly from God (Gal. 1:12). This led to a solid foundation for the new church in Antioch. Here, the believers in Jesus Christ began to take on an identity of their own, distinguished somewhat from Judaism, even to the point of the believers being labeled “Christians” (meaning “Christlike ones” or “little Christs”). Yet, as we shall see next, this movement in Antioch retained its solidarity with the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem.

Lord, I gladly identify with You as a “Christlike one.” Help me to live consistently with that description.