Acts 9:27

But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken unto him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.

We may never know until the judgment day how much is owed by all men to the loving trust of Barnabas, not merely for his advocating the case of Saul of Tarsus here, but also for his advocating that of John Mark, whom Paul was so ready to reject, following that defection of the young Mark in Perga of Pamphylia (Acts 13:13; 15:38,39). All that is revealed of Barnabas in the New Testament justifies the affirmation that he was a good man full of wisdom and of the Holy Spirit. In his espousal of Paul's sincerity in this episode, there is an illustration of the truth that it is better to trust than to distrust; it is better to believe the best of men than it to believe the worst of them.