Tag: Barnabas

The rich, young ruler

September 3, 2025

I’ve written two previous columns about characters in the New Testament. These were about Barnabas whose name was Joseph, and the other Josephs that are mentioned. Today I want to discuss what we know about this young man and his questions for Jesus. (Matthew 19:16-22, Mark 10:17-22, Luke 18:18-23)

What I am going to tell you is not 100% affirmed in our scriptures. The three gospels that tell of Jesus’ encounter with the man give us a small amount of information. We are told he is young.

He asks Jesus what he must do to reach Heaven. Obeying the commandments is the answer. He tells us he is a committed Jew when he says he has kept these from his youth. He is told he has only one thing left to do. He should sell everything he owns and give it to the poor and follow the Savior. He left dejected because he was very wealthy.

I take this to mean that he is someone in authority. Hence, we refer to this man as the rich young ruler. We do not ever hear of him again in the gospels. Or do we? Remember Joseph of Arimathea? He is wealthy and a leader of the Jews with the clout to be given the body of the Messiah.

He is assisted in the burial by Nikodemus, another Jewish leader that became a follower of Jesus. This is a guess that these two men may be the same. The gospel writers may not have included this because it was well known in their day. They also knew that Bar-Nabas name was Joseph as well.

Bar-Nabas was the Son of Encouragement, and this led him to donate the proceeds from the sale of some property. That means he was wealthy enough to have something to earn money with. He was active enough with the Apostles to bring Saul to them and tell of the conversion on the road to Damascus.

Many scholars believe that Joseph or Bar-Nabas, was the writer of the book of Hebrews. This author spoke with authority and can be easily seen as one with a Hebrew background and a reputation in the community. He might have been described as a rich young ruler that the Jerusalem residents knew about. It is not hard for me to believe that these two Joseph’s are the same man and could have been the one who asked Jesus what he needed to do to reach heaven.

I’m not going to tell you that this must be accepted as truth, or you are not a Christian. Often, we accept other doctrines with little or no Biblical proof. One that some object to is the concept of the rapture of the saints at the second coming. There is also some that refuse to accept the concept of a future coming again of Christ.

In my opinion the scriptures tell us that we must accept that Jesus is Jehovah in human form or incarnate. Our belief in His life, death, and resurrection is also given as necessary in the New Testament. These are the requisite beliefs for salvation. Think, pray, and study about these three men and see what Jesus tells you.

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger

Barnabas

May 4, 2025

In a previous column I began a discussion of Joseph who was called Bar-Nabas which means the son of encouragement. I spoke of him as being my selection as the one who may have written the book we call Hebrews. It does not read like a letter and yet it sounds a great deal like the apostle Paul’s teachings. My question is why?

The simple answer seems to be that some of Paul’s theology came from those in the church who influenced him over the years. Barnabas was the one that first accepted this new convert to The Way and brought him to the apostles. (Acts 9:26-27) A risky move on his part.

Here we lose track of Barnabas and Saul is sent away because the Jewish leaders do not like the man that was so vehement about attacking these believers in the Messiah becoming one of them. The disciples heard that they were going to kill Saul and sent him home to Tarsus. (Acts 9:30)

The book of Acts, written by Dr. Luke, continues with the actions of Peter and others until they need someone to go to Antioch to find out what is happening there with the Gentiles or non-Jewish believers. (Acts 11:22-25) As you read here you see that Saul is brought to Antioch to help with this work.

You may ask why Barnabas went to Saul after all this time. When he first brought him to the other disciples in Jerusalem, I am sure that he first vetted his conversion experience. We call this giving your testimony. This included Jesus’ call for him to go to the Gentiles with the gospel. (Acts 9:15) There was no one else that Barnabas knew who was called to this ministry.

Now you see why Joseph is called the son of encouragement. (Acts 4:36-37) Joseph was a common name in Hebrew families. Jesus pronounced He-sus, which is common among Hispanics and other cultures. I am sure you can think of other Josephs from the Bible, both Old and New Testament.

Remember Jacob’s son that was sold s a slave by his brothers and sent to Egypt ahead of the family? A Joseph is mentioned in Nehemiah 12:14 as being one of the priests at that time. Another is mentioned in Ezra at that same time in chapter 10 verse 42. We all should know that Jesus’ earthly father was named Joseph.

In the New Testament Luke tells us that Jesus had two ancestors named Joseph in Luke 3:24 and 30, These were in Joseph of Nazareth’s lineage. We also have a Joseph in Matthew 27:56 that was the son of Mary, Jesus’ mother. (Also Mark 6:3, 15:40, 47) He is probably the next oldest brother and was named after his father.

Then we have Joseph from Arimathea that asked for Jesus’ body and put it in his own new tomb. (Matthew 27:57-59, Mark 15:43, 45-46, Luke 23:50-56, John 19:38-42). After the resurrection the eleven decided to allow God to select a twelfth Apostle to replace Judas. Two men were nominated. Joseph called Barsabbas and Mathias to decide who would be chosen by lots.

I have another thought about Barnabas that I will share with you in another column. Stay tuned.

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger

Faith

April 23, 2025

This sounds like a good topic to talk about after Resurrection Weekend. What do I mean by this term? The secular world knows it as Easter. Most Christians do not know the origin of this holiday. When the early church was accepted by the Roman government, they changed the established holidays to be accepted by the followers of Christ.

The spring festival that honored the renewal of life during this season was changed to fall on resurrection day. The name remained the same. It recognized the Roman God responsible for life. It was thought to be appropriate because Jesus’ death and resurrection gives us new life when we accept Him as our Lord and Savior.

The problem I have is that my God does not want me to worship anyone except Him. That is why I refer to the holiday as Resurrection Day. The U.S. government recognizes our separation of church and state and records it as Easter which is considered a secular holiday. It is my faith that requires that I acknowledge it as a Christian celebration.

The book of Hebrews tells us in chapter eleven; verse one what faith is. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  My faith allows me to flip on a light switch to turn on lights in my house. When my grandparents were children, they could not do this. Their homes did not have electricity in them.

Today your faith lets you turn on your lights, television, phone, computer, car, and many other things they did not know about. You believe these devices will work and that is a substance that you use daily. That faith is your proof that those things will start when you need them. We were all disappointed when they failed to work.

Jehovah God has never failed me. I hope you can say the same. Life is frustrating enough without those we depend on failing us. But that is life. Jesus is also life. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) You can accept this on faith as I have.

Let’s talk more about this book in the Bible called Hebrews. Bible scholars have asked who the author was for years. In college, it was dealt with in a separate class. When I took the class on Paul’s letters the instructor added Hebrews as another class, he taught that was also probably written by the apostle Paul. Some theologians do not agree with this.

I am not a scholar. I am merely a student of Jesus and God’s word to us. I ask Him a lot of questions. Eventually He gives me those answers. Recently I learned that some believe Barnabas, the son of encouragement that was one of Paul’s early Christian friends may have been the author of this letter.

It sounds a lot like what Paul said in his other books. He did not use the style we are used to reading because he did not say that it was from him. This writer does not tell us who this letter is for. It does not read like a letter as others in the New Testament do. It is more expository in nature and begins by pointing out that Jesus was how God chose to speak to us at this time.

These are some of the reasons I believe Joseph called the son of encouragement or Barnabas wrote it. We will continue with more about him and who he was in the church. I think that you will find it interesting and you may learn some things that God has not shared with you before. See you next time.

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger