Though Luke does not give the motive, the explosion in numbers and the need to conserve the harvest through careful grounding in the faith may have moved Barnabas to recruit Paul, still called Saul (E. F. Harrison 1986:194). He travels northwest to Tarsus in Cilicia, east Asia Minor, to look for Saul in his hometown (the term implies a thorough search; compare Lk 2:44-45; Acts 9:30; 21:39; 22:3). For a whole year Barnabas and Saul work together in the church, teaching great numbers of people. As Luke uses the concept and as Paul articulates his calling (2 Tim 1:11), teaching (Christian nurture) and evangelism are not necessarily mutually exclusive activities (compare 4:2; 5:42). When the gospel and the Christian way of life are correctly understood, teaching and evangelism are distinct but must be seen as inseparable.

The believers are first called Christians at Antioch. Literally the verb means "to transact business." Hence to transact business under a particular name is to be known by that name (Bruce 1988:228).