The right to be supported by the church was a right that belonged also to the apostles’ wives. At least some of the other apostles,
including Jesus’ brothers and Peter (Cephas
), took their wives with them as they went around to minister.
However, Paul and Barnabas did not make use of this right. This suggests that Paul’s unmarried state was a limitation that he willingly took on himself, for the sake of service to Christ (see also 1 Corinthians 7:32–35). If Barnabas had a wife, she evidently did not accompany him on his missionary journeys.
Neither Barnabas nor Jesus’ brothers counted among the twelve apostles. Yet they could be called apostles
in the broader sense of the word (see Luke 10:1; Acts 14:14; 1 Corinthians 15:5–9). Although Jesus’ brothers had not believed in him at first (John 7:5), they eventually became faithful leaders in the church (Acts 1:14; Galatians 1:19).
5 Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?