We first hear of Barnabas in Acts 4:36, here he (and his wife) have sold their land and have brought the proceeds to the apostles in order so that those that do not have anything or are in need, would no longer have a need. This shows that he cares for other people and also his passion for letting others know about the Good News.
The next time we hear about Barnabas is when Saul, now called Paul, enters Jerusalem after his Damascus road experience and also after being snuck out of Damascus through a hole in the wall. Talk about a black ops mission. The apostles and believers are a little weary of Paul because of his past. Barnabas steps in though and tells them all about Paul's experience and how he has been preaching the Good News to everyone around him. The apostles were amazed and let Paul stay with them. Paul continued the work he started in Damascus in Jerusalem and preached and debated with the Jews there to the point they tried to kill him so he was sent away to Tarsus.
There is a few more chapters that pass without mention of Barnabas. We pick up in Acts 11:22 when two men from Cyprus came to Antioch and were preaching the Good News there. Jerusalem sent Barnabas to check out what was going on. When he arrived and saw what they were doing, he saw that the grace of God was there and he was glad. He encouraged them to stay the path, so to speak, and stay with God.
Here is a good place to explain that Barnabas's real name was Joseph. However the apostles renamed him Barnabas, which means Son of Encouragement. In Antioch, we see the truth to his name in that he encouraged the prophets and apostles to stay the course. In the same passage mentioned above, we see a description from Luke (who wrote Acts) of the character of Barnabas.
" When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he encouraged all of them to remain true to the Lord with a firm resolve of the heart — for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith—and large numbers of people were added to the Lord." (Acts 11:23-24)
We see that Barnabas was known as a good man but most importantly he was full of the Holy Spirit and faith. This means that Barnabas was know as a good man and was liked by many because he had a passion to encourage others and especially to encourage others in faith. We see that he was full of the Holy Spirit, meaning he has received the Holy Spirit and operated in it. But not only that he had much faith. He was passionate about God and spreading the Word, we see this particularly in Acts 4:36 when Barnabas and his wife sold all they had to help the apostles. We also see that he is trustworthy because the church send monetary aide with Barnabas and Saul. Barnabas also is very much into evangelizing. He goes with Paul on his missionary journey's and in the Scriptures is said to debate and preach with as much passion and fervor as Paul did. Barnabas only leaves Paul because of a sharp disagreement between him about allowing a young man named John Mark to come with them. They disagree because John Mark had left them on earlier missions and Paul does not want anyone that cannot finish it till the end to come with him. Barnabas saw it otherwise.
But this brings up the fact that Barnabas is interested in discipleship as well. We see this in Acts 15 that Barnabas wants Mark to come with Paul and him. I think, because we know Barnabas is an encourager, wanted to look past Mark's shortcomings and encourage him and help him.
We lose track of Barnabas here. However we know that what he did with Mark... worked. We know this because in 2 Timothy 4:11 Paul says:
"Only Luke is with me. Bring Mark with you, for he is useful to me in the ministry."
Mark was useful to him.
There is not much in the Bible about Barnabas, his name only occurs 28 times. But what we do have we learn that he was a Spirit-filled, passionate, and faithful man. He was a man of character who loved God and wanted to encourage, and disciple God's people and spread God's word. He started out as everyone else, selling his belongings and grew to an evangelist walking and preaching with Paul.
