Where did Paul first connect with Barnabas, and how did he get there?
Paul first connected with Barnabas at Antioch. He arrived there after he had been up to Cilicia. This occurred before the Jerusalem Council, within the timeframe between Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus and that council, which many chronologists date around 51 or 52 A.D.
Les explains that Paul hooked up with Barnabas up at Antioch. When did he get to Antioch? After he had been up to Cilicia. This comes within the larger chronology Paul gives in Galatians: fourteen years after his conversion on the road to Damascus, he went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas. Les notes there was also a three-year gap after Paul’s salvation, whether in Arabia and Damascus or, as Les feels, all in Arabia. Chronologists disagree on exact dates, but most feel the Jerusalem Council was around 51 or 52 A.D.