11:22
The church in Jerusalem heard of what was happening. There was still suspicion of the moving of the gospel to the Gentiles, and given the hundreds of years of history when the kingdom of God had seemed to be largely confined to Israel, this is understandable. However, while they wanted to investigate, they were not being overly defensive, as they chose Barnabas to go to Antioch. This is the same Barnabas who had spoken up in favour of Saul/Paul.
11:23,24
Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, arrived and saw the grace of God at work. He did not view things from a legalistic point of view, i.e. Not from a fault finding perspective. Barnabas encouraged them to "remain true to the Lord with all their hearts". Barnabas is described as a "good man". He was full of the Spirit and faith, and many more people came to know the Lord. Given this glowing description of Barnabas, later we will read of a dispute between him and Paul. These things can happen to the best of people.
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