Feared Then Accepted.

Known to be fighting against the Christ followers, known to be a terror- his very name bringing shudders to the people who heard it, people who were waiting for their turn under his imprisonment. Paul was very well known but not as a Christ follower- not yet.

Saved from being murdered by the Jews in Damascus, Paul went to Jerusalem and wanted to join with the Christ followers there. What he wanted didn't come to pass, not right away. The Christ followers of Jerusalem FEARED Paul, they didn't believe he was truly a Christ follower at all. They hadn't witnessed his preaching, they hadn't been a part of his conversion from Christian hater to Christian himself.  They had heard rumors perhaps but no solid intel. How could they let a persecutor of them and their kind into their fold. You don't invite the wolf into the sheep fold.

God had a plan for Paul though, and that plan wasn't going to be thwarted. Barnabas--

Act 4:36  And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, 

Act 4:37  Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. 

--  became a teacher--

Act_13:1  Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

-- Barnabas known to the Christ followers in Jerusalem as a trustworthy man, it was Barnabas who took Paul and BROUGHT him to the apostles. Barnabas knew Paul's back story and he declared it to the Apostles. He told them that Paul had seen Jesus, how Paul had spoken to Jesus and how Paul preached BOLDLY at Damascus all in Jesus' name.

Paul was vouched for! And Barnabas's word was good with the Apostles. They didn't reject Paul, they took Him in based on what Barnabas declared to them. From then on Paul was accepted as a Christ follower, a fellow disciple and even an apostle- in time.

People know those of us who haven't always followed Christ- as the people before our conversions and NOT all of them believe instantly that we've changed.  Becoming a Christ follower does bring about a change in people. Some are born into Christianity- raised to believe, accepting Christ out of that belief but even they often, but NOT always, will have a falling away only to return. Those who turned from being blatant sinners to those who are forgiven sinners- repenting of their sins and seeking to turn from them- do not always have friends and family that accept that change in them readily.  Some even disown their family members for changing, others destroy friendships because of the change.  Then there are those who didn't like the blatant sinner before the change and despised the willfully sinning ways they lived. These people won't instantly believe the change of the sinner, but if another who knows they've changed vouches for them, they'll trust them and then try that person to see if the change is real. This is how it is today for people, it is something that has been since Christianity's start.

Paul didn't want to be feared by the Christians, he was a Christian himself now.

Paul wanted only to follow the Lord's teachings and only time would prove this fully to those who had walked with Christ when He ministered on the earth.

We too need to let our LIVES speak for us and by the grace of God we will live for Christ and others will believe- not in us- but in CHRIST and His amazing POWER of SALVATION!

Act 9:26  And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. 

Act 9:27  But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.