Mark Bradford's Bible Blog

²⁶When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. ²⁷But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.

After making his escape from Damascus, Saul went to Jerusalem. But he wasn’t welcomed with open arms. The church distrusted him, and his former colleagues in the Sanhedrin were not happy with him either. The fear on the part of the believers seems understandable until you remember that Saul had been a Christian for 3 years at that point. Having been away in Arabia, he would not have persecuted anyone for that whole time. But many of the believers in Jerusalem must have had family members who had been arrested, beaten, or even killed by Saul of Tarsus. It would be hard to get over something like that. If a member of my family had been murdered, and the murderer found Jesus in prison, would I believe his conversion was sincere? I honestly don’t know.

But one person stood up for Saul; Barnabas. We first met Barnabas in 4:36-37, when he is named as one who sold property and laid the proceeds at the apostles’ feet to distribute to the poor. Barnabas is one of the key figures in the Book of Acts. In 11:24, Luke calls him “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith.” Barnabas also took John Mark under his wing after the young man had deserted them in Pamphylia (15:36-41). Where would the early church have been if not for Barnabas and his generous spirit? Barnabas went on to accompany Paul on his journeys later, and was invaluable in spreading the gospel. The church only needs a few Peters and Pauls, but every church can use as many people like Barnabas as we can get.

²⁸So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. ²⁹He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him. ³⁰When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

In Galatians 1:18, Paul says that he stayed with Peter for fifteen days on this trip to Jerusalem. Imagine the conversations they must have had! I imagine that some of the conflict between Peter and Paul later on must have started here. Paul did not submit to the authority of the apostles, he considered himself one of them (1 Corinthians 1:1, 9:1). Unlike most early believers, he did not receive the gospel from the apostles. He got it from Jesus himself, when Jesus appeared to him. It must have been disconcerting to Peter and the rest of the apostles to have a “free agent” out there claiming equal authority to theirs. But that didn’t happen until later. I just find it interesting that, knowing what came later in their relationship, for his first trip to Jerusalem as a Christian, Saul stayed with Peter for 2 weeks. Apparently he was not welcome with his family in Jerusalem, if he had some. He must have had some place that he stayed when he was there for festivals and meetings of the council. But now he was persona non grata. But Barnabas had vouched for him, and Peter welcomed him into his home.

Saul fearlessly preached the gospel while he was in Jerusalem, but his destiny was not to stay there. After all he done and who he had been in that city, Jerusalem was not the place God wanted him to be. He had too much baggage there. Saul’s purpose was to become the apostle Paul, and to spread the gospel to the Gentiles. The church in Jerusalem had spread to Judea and Samaria, But through Paul’s missionary journeys, it would reach throughout the Roman Empire. After being sent back to Tarsus, it would be 12 years before Saul would be prominent in ministry again, and Barnabas would be at his side when that time came (11:25-26).

³¹Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.

As he does throughout the Book of Acts, Luke pauses from the narrative to give us a status report on how the church was doing. I’ve seen commentary on this verse which suggests that Luke may have placed this statement here to show a connection between Saul’s leaving Jerusalem and the church enjoying a time of peace. In other words, Luke may be saying that the church had peace because Saul left. Certainly Saul was a magnet for controversy and persecution, so that may well be. Saul was sent to Tarsus for his own safety, but his departure was the best thing for him and for the church.

Verse 31 is the first time that the church in Galilee is mentioned. We don’t know anything about those churches, how they started, or who started them. But it seems like a natural place for some of the apostles to go, since they all were Galileans. Luke tells us four things about the church in Judea, Galilee and Samaria: It was strengthened; it was encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, and they lived in the fear of the Lord. These are all things we would want for our churches today. For the early church, it’s significant to me that they lived in the fear of the Lord. The early church had many things to fear; persecution, inprisonment, scourging, and martyrdom. But they didn’t live in fear of those things. They lived in the fear of the Lord.

Mark Bible Acts, Barnabas, Peter, Saul of Tarsus

The Believers Share Their Possessions

³² All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. (NLB)

The Spirit of God was on the early church in Jerusalem. If you’ve ever been part of a church that’s experiencing real revival, you know how exciting it is to be part of a body that’s so united and so generous. Any preacher will tell you that when the Holy Spirit is moving, giving is never a problem. Of course, the First Church of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem wasn’t experiencing revival. Revival happens when the church needs to be “revived.” This church was just beginning, so I guess it was a “vival” rather than a “revival.”

All of the believers were of one heart and one mind. As I’ve mentioned before, I struggle with what’s meant by the term “heart,” both in the Bible and in current vernacular. When we talk about our hearts in a spiritual context, we’re not talking about the physical organ that pumps our blood, so what are we talking about? In this context, I take the word heart to mean emotion, and the word mind to mean thought. To be of one heart and one mind, then, would mean that their thoughts and emotions were in tune with the Holy Spirit. It’s become a cliche in marriage counseling to say that the closer we are to God, the closer we’ll be to each other. Cliches become cliches because they’re true. That principle is also true in the body of believers. The closer to God we all are, the closer we’ll be to each other. That doesn’t mean we never disagree. But when God is moving in a church, our disagreements become less important. We can set those things aside because we’re of one heart and one mind. As a result, they had the attitude toward possessions that we all should; They realized that what they owned was not their own, and found it easy to share with those in need.

³³ The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. ³⁴ There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them ³⁵ and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.

³⁶ For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus. ³⁷ He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles. (NLB)

God granted the apostles’ request in verse 29, and enabled them to testify powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. When God is moving, preachers can preach with great freedom. The picture of great generosity in the early church here is very similar to what Luke describes in 2:44-45. Here he gives more details. People actually sold property and gave the proceeds to the church, so that those in need could be provided for. I’ve known of cases where people gave extraordinary sacrificial gifts to the church like this, for a building program or for debt reduction, but never specifically to provide for the needs of others. As I said in my blog on 2:42-47, the early believers’ attitude toward material possessions was exactly what what Jesus taught them it should be in the parables of the rich fool (Luke 12:13-34, blog) and the shrewd manager (Luke 16:1-15, blog). They didn’t regard their possessions as their own, and they used what they had to benefit others. Spirit-filled believers are generous believers, and Spirit-filled churches are generous churches.

One thing that occurred to me about this is that because this church was in Jerusalem, they all would lose their property in 70 A.D. anyway when the city and temple were destroyed. By being willing to sell what they had and give to those in need, they were truly giving up what they could not keep to gain what they could not lose. None of us gets out of here alive, and we can’t take any of our stuff with us when we die. All we will be able to take with us to Heaven are other people. What does that tell us about what we should do with what we have?

Luke gives us an example of this generosity in Barnabas. Barnabas was a Levite, but came from Cyprus, so he didn’t work in the temple, and had property. Levites in Israel were not given property in the Old Testament because they worked in the house of the Lord, and the Lord was their inheritance (Deut. 10:8-9). But those from the tribe of Levi who lived elsewhere apparently did own property, as Barnabas did. But Barnabas had the attitude of a Levite and of the early church, and his property was not his inheritance, the Lord was. If we have that same attitude toward our possessions, the Lord is our inheritance as well.

Mark Bible Acts, Barnabas, early church, heart