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Barnabas: Early Church leader and model of encouragement
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Acts presents Barnabas, an early church leader, as a model of integrity and character. It loads him with accolades. It calls him a good man (Acts 11:24), a prophet and teacher (Acts 13:1), an apostle (Acts 14:14), and one through whom God worked miracles (Acts 15:12). It recounts the times he faced persecution (Acts 13:45; 14:19) and risked his life for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 15:26). He believed Saul truly had been converted (Acts 9:27) and saw the potential of John Mark (Acts 12:25) and championed them both at different times (Acts 11:25-26; 15:36-41). 1 Corinthians 9:6 affirms his charac- ter by noting he worked while serving congregations in order not to burden them. Acts introduces him as Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, and praises his generous spirit (Acts 4:36). Arguably, Acts portrays no one else – except the Lord Jesus – in such glowing terms. The apostles nicknamed him Barnabas, Son of Encouragement, probably because he earned it! Significantly, a passage relating the character attributes and big heartedness of Barnabas note that the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch (Acts 11:19-26). Because of its textual context, it may well be that the character traits of Barnabas defined the early use of the word Christian. Barnabas played a decisive role in the Early Church. Yet over two millennia, he has slipped into unjustified obscurity behind Paul, Peter, John, and James, the brother of Jesus. This article examines selected stories about him that showcase his contributions to the Early Church and establish his significant leadership role.
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“Elizabeth's action is part of a similar tradition in scripture: Jonathan knows David will be king (1 Sam 20) and Barnabas lets Paul take the lead midway through the first missionary journey (Ac 13) (Branch 2007:313-319).”
From Astonishment and joy: Luke 1 as told from the perspective of Elizabeth (2013) · cites this paper as Branch 2007:313-319
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Research works printed but not linked: 29
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Astonishment and joy: Luke 1 as told from the perspective of Elizabeth
Branch, R. G. (2013) · In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi · doi:10.4102/ids.v47i1.77 · Cited by 3
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Metadata
- Authors
- Branch, R. G.
- Affiliations
- North-West University (ZA)
- Corresponding author
- Branch, R. G.
- ORCID
- Branch, R. G.
- Venue
- In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi
- Publisher
- AOSIS
- Published
- 2007-07-27
- Volume
- 41
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 295-322
- ISSN
- 1018-6441 (ISSN-L)
- 2305-0853
- OpenAlex
- W2015705410
- Cited by
- 12
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 13.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Biblical Studies and Interpretation
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Contemporary Christian Leadership and Education
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Pentecostalism and Christianity Studies
- Keywords
- Barnabas, Acts of the Apostles, encouragement, Antioch, Paul the Apostle, John Mark, New Testament figures
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