To the writers of the New Testament, a barbarian was simply someone whose language you did not speak. Paul says he is “debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians,” in Romans 1:14, and in 1 Corinthians 14:11 he warns that a person speaking in a tongue nobody understands will be a barbarian to the listener. The “barbarous people” of Malta in Acts 28 are the happiest picture: they showed Paul and his shipwrecked company “no little kindness,” lighting a fire in the rain. Acts 28:1-6 is the place to start.
5 verses
And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.
And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.
I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.
Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.
Matthew George Easton, 1897
A Greek word used in the New Testament (Rom. 1:14) to denote one of another nation. In Col. 3:11, the word more definitely designates those nations of the Roman empire that did not speak Greek. In 1 Cor. 14:11, it simply refers to one speaking a different language. The inhabitants of Malta are so called (Acts 28:1,2, 4). They were originally a Carthaginian colony. This word nowhere in Scripture bears the meaning it does in modern times.
William Smith, 1884
"every one not a Greek is a barbarian" is the common Greek definition, and in this strict sense the word is sued in (Romans 1:14) It often retains this primitive meaning, as in (1 Corinthians 14:11; Acts 28:24)