Judas Barsabbas

bar-sab-'as (Ioudas Barsabbas): Judas was, with Silas, a delegate from the church in Jerusalem to the GentileChristians of Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. They were appointed to convey the letter containing the decision of "the apostles and the elders, with the whole church" regarding the attitude to be taken by GentileChristians toward the Mosaic law, and also to explain "the same things by word of mouth." They accompanied Paul and Barnabas to Antioch, and, "being themselves also prophets," i.e. preachers, they not only handed over the epistle but stayed some time in the city preaching and teaching. They seem to have gone no farther than Antioch, for "they were dismissed in peace from the brethren unto those that had sent them forth," and it was Paul and Silas who some time afterward strengthened the churches in Syria and Cilicia (Ac 15:40-41).

According to Ac 15:34 the King James Version, Judas returned to Jerusalem without Silas, who remained at Antioch and afterward became Paul's companion (Ac 15:40). The oldest manuscripts, however, omit Ac 15:34, and it is therefore omitted from the Revised Version (British and American). It was probably a marginal note to explain Ac 15:40, and in time it crept into the text. Judas and Silas are called "chief men among the brethren" (Ac 15:22), probably elders, and "prophets" (Ac 15:32).

Barsabbas being a patronymic, Judas was probably the brother of Joseph Barsabbas. He cannot be identified with any other Judas, e.g. "Judas not Iscariot" (Joh 14:22). We hear no more of Judas after his return to Jerusalem (Ac 15:22 ff).

S. F. Hunter