The Barnabas Connection*
While the letters do not provide bountiful references to
Barnabas—and there was little occasion to do so—there were a number of
things Paul and Barnabas had in common.
1. From 1 Corinthians 9:6, we learn that Paul and Barnabas
shared a common policy of self-support: “Or is it only Barnabas and
I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?” It remains
uncertain whether this policy implies some kind of prior consultation, or
whether they had worked together for a period of time.
2. From
Galatians 2:1-10, we can conclude that Paul and Barnabas were willing to
join forces at the Jerusalem conference to champion the cause of a law-free
mission to the gentiles. Paul tells his readers that he went up to Jerusalem
with Barnabas (2:1). Paul would likely have been traveling from one of his
missionary foundations, probably Corinth, and could have met Barnabas at
some pre-arranged point such as Antioch or Caesarea.1
3. Paul has little or nothing to say bout
the rôle of Barnabas at the conference. His own rôle is given
greater prominence—understandably so, in light of Paul’s purpose in
the letter. The recognition by the pillars of the mission to the gentiles
which Paul has been engaged in (and which presumably Barnabas has also
been engaged in) is phrased in a curious way: the pillars (Cephas, or
Peter, James, and John) see that Paul has been entrusted with the gospel
for the uncircumcised (2:7); Paul explains that the same Lord who worked
through Peter’s apostolate for the circumcision has worked through
Paul’s apostolate2 for the gentiles (2:8); the pillars
recognize the grace which has been given to Paul (2:9a)—with still no
mention of Barnabas; then, the pillars “gave to me and Barnabas
[finally, the plural; note the order] the right hand of fellowship,
acknowledging that we [should go, or continue going, hina hêmeis eis
ta ethnê] to the gentiles . . .” (2:9b). We are probably not to
conclude that Paul begrudged the mission or apostolate or grace of
Barnabas; rather, it is Paul’s authorization which is the focus of his
dispute with the Galatians.
* This
page originally appeared as a detached note in “Paul and Galatia,” Proceedings:
Eastern Great Lakes and Midwest Biblical Societies 13 (1993) 64-65.
1Dieter
Georgi has difficulty understanding “why and how Paul and Barnabas
should and could have met at that time, long after their separation [sic],
in order to go to Jerusalem (Remembering the Poor: The History of
Paul’s Collection for Jerusalem [Nashville: Abingdon, 1992] 129). On
the basis of this perceived difficulty, Georgi seeks to refute chronology
[A], as represented in the writings of John Knox, Gerd Luedemann and
Robert Jewett; see below. On the contrary, one may suppose that Paul was
not without ways of arranging to meet Barnabas in Antioch or some other
place.
2In Galatians 2:8 Paul writes elliptically; the absence
of apostolên [apostolate] is not Paul’s concession to Peter of
an apostolate which he himself cannot claim. Betz (98) does not
acknowledge the elliptical character of Paul’s statement; cp. 2:7. See
E. DeW. Burton, The Epistle to the Galatians, ICC (New York:
Scribner’s, 1920) 93-4.
4. Barnabas
and the collection: The text is reasonably clear that Barnabas is linked
with Paul in the obligation to gather a collection for the poor: “. . .
only they asked that we should remember the poor” (2:10a); but the plural
abruptly changes back to singular: “which very thing I made haste to do”
(2:10b). Paul gives an accounting of his own fidelity to the agreement,
without specifying whether Barnabas did or did not fulfill his part of the
obligation.
5. Barnabas and the Antioch
episode: As for the Antioch episode and Barnabas’ part in it
(Galatians 2:11-14), we have only Paul’s pointed remark, that even
Barnabas, his fellow missioner to the gentiles, was carried away by the
hypocrisy of the others (Galatians 2:13). Thus Paul is doubly disappointed
by what he perceives as the defection of a co-advocate for the gentiles.
Click on Barnabas at Antioch.
The Barnabas Texts and Pauline Chronology
This discussion of the Barnabas texts leads us to address squarely a
problem which some interpreters see as a fatal flaw in chronology [A], the
chronology which has been adopted in this web site, as argued in Letters Based Chronology (1)
and (2). This chronology places at least three of the great
founding missions of Paul before the Jerusalem conference. Some opponents of
chronology [A] call attention to the lack of any convincing evidence that
Barnabas participated with Paul in the founding missions in Macedonia and
Achaia. The argument runs essentially as follows:3 (a) Paul and
Barnabas were partners in the gentile mission until the Antioch collision,
when Barnabas yielded to the Judaizers; (b) but there is no convincing
evidence that Barnabas was part of Paul’s founding mission in Macedonia
and Achaia; (c) hence, these founding missions can not have been before the
Jerusalem conference.
The weak link of this argument is point (a): the
letters do not justify the notion of a lengthy partnership between Paul and
Barnabas, extending until the Antioch episode.4 The fact that the
two met for the trip up to Jerusalem (Galatians 2:1) does not require that
they had been laboring together for the previous fourteen years. The idea of
such a lengthy association is of course based only upon Acts (11::25-30;
12:24–15:39). If the letters are harmonized to Acts, anything is
possible!
With the invalidation of the argument’s major premise, the whole argument
is shown to be unfounded.
3See George Ogg, The Chronology of the Life of Paul
(London: Epworth, 1968) 90, 131; Francis Watson, Paul, Judaism and the
Gentiles: A Sociological Approach [SNTSMS] (Cambridge: University Press,
1986) 56-7; and Richard N. Longenecker, Galatians [WBC 41] (Dallas,
TX: Word Books, 1990) lxxv-lxxvi.
4See John Knox, “Chapters in a Life of Paul—A Response
to Robert Jewett and Gerd Luedemann,” in Colloquy on New Testament
Studies: A Time for Reappraisal and Fresh Approaches, ed. Bruce Corley
(Macon, GA: Mercer U. Press, 1983) 361, “There is really no evidence in the
letters that Paul and Barnabas ever worked together, although they shared in
many opinions and attitudes. (First Cor 9:6 and Gal 2:1 cannot be pressed
into meaning more than this mutual sympathy; only in Acts are the two
represented as being actual collaborators and even there only at the very
beginning of Paul’s career.)”
