‘And he went forth to Tarsus to seek for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came about that even for a whole year they were gathered together with the church, and taught much people, and that the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.'
Barnabas was not only a great man, but a humble one, and he was willing to call to his side a man who would one day surpass him. He recognised that what was involved was too much for him, and even possibly that someone of a superior calibre of reasoning to himself, was needed here (that is one of the signs of true greatness). So he set out for Tarsus to seek out (‘hunt out' - see Acts 9:30; Acts 21:39; Acts 22:3; Luke 2:44-45) Saul whom he knew would be the ideal man to take on the responsibility with him. And when he had found him he brought him to Antioch.
That Saul had continued to proclaim the Good News in Tarsus and Cilicia we need not doubt. Some have suggested that a number of the punishments which he described in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27, which are not mentioned elsewhere, might have been dispensed to him by the synagogues of Tarsus and Cilicia. (We can remember how the Cilicians treated Stephen). Others have argued that Philippians 3:8 suggests that he had been disinherited by his family. But it is all surmise, although he clearly suffered these things at some time.
Then for a whole year he and Saul laboured together among the people of God (‘the church'), and they taught ‘large numbers of people'. And so great was the impact of the work that it came to the attention of the inhabitants of the city, and they began to speak of the believers as Christiani (‘Christ-men' - ‘Christians'). They were no longer being seen as semi-Jews who followed the Jewish Messiah. They were being seen as a distinctive people. This had its dangers. Once Christianity was seen as separate from Judaism it would lose the favoured status of being a Licit Religion which Judaism enjoyed, and would become liable to persecution. But that would not be yet.
There are three elements to the name Christiani. It contains the name of the Jewish Messiah, expressed in Greek (Christos) with a Latin ending ‘-iani'. It was thus cosmopolitan, and was very suitable for the new cosmopolitan Christian church.
This giving of a name to the Christians in Antioch was clearly seen as significant by Luke. This church was the first one which had been formed and united together by the conversion of large numbers of both Jews and Greeks. The giving of a name (whoever gave it) was therefore seen as an indication of its recognition by God and His Son. The Gentiles, equally with the Jews, were seen by God and by men as Christ-men, and acknowledged by God as such.