With this testimony, the Apostles accepted Saul, and gave him their companionship. Soon Saul was preaching in Jerusalem as boldly as he had in Damascus. In his disputes with the Grecians, he evidently confounded them as he had those in Damascus, and with the same effect—"They went about to slay him."
Back to Tarsus.
When the brethren learned this, "they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus" back to his old home, to his parents and to his sister. But what a changed man from what he was when he left to practice in Jerusalem. In name he was still "Saul of Tarsus;" but in nature he was Paul the disciple of Jesus Christ.
CALLED TO ASSIST BARNABAS
During the persecution in which Stephen was martyred, the Saints scattered to different places, and where ever they went, they preached the Glad Tidings of Great Joy. "And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord."
Christians.
A large number of these converts gathered in Antioch and it was there as you already know that the Saints were first called Christians. It was first applied to them in derision just as the word "Mormon" was first applied to the Church in this day, but later was accepted as an honorable title.
Barnabas Seeks Saul.
Barnabas, who "was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith" was appointed to look after the Saints in that great city. Finding a great missionary opportunity in that field, and desiring able assistance in carrying on the great work assigned him, Barnabas decided to go to Tarsus, his old home, and try to find Paul. What a happy time these old playmates must have had when they met once again in the familiar scenes of their boyhood days! We are not told what they did, nor what they said, nor what their old friends and relatives thought of their new religion. We do know, however, that Paul accepted the call to go with Barnabas to Antioch. There "they assembled themselves in the Church, and taught much people." This seems to have been Paul's first definite assignment in the Church.