Agreeing and Disagreeing
TRANSLATION
(22) The apostles and elders along with the whole church family decided to appoint men from their fellowship and send them to Antioch along with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, leading men within the fellowship. (23) With them they sent the following letter: “The apostles and the elders, your brothers, to the Gentile brothers in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. (24) Since we learned that certain persons went out from us without our authorization and troubled you, unsettling your minds with their teaching, (25) it seemed good to us, after reaching a consensus, to choose men and send them to you along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul (26) who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (27) We are therefore sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we have written to you. (28) For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to place no greater burden on you than the following requirements: (29) that you abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these things, you will do well. Farewell.”
(30) When they were sent away, they traveled to Antioch. Having gathered the church together, they delivered the letter. (31) And when the church had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. (32) Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, exhorted the brethren with many words, strengthening them. (33) After they had spent some time there, they were sent off by the brothers with the blessing of peace to those who had sent them. (35) But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the Word of the Lord with many others as well.
(36) Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “We should return and visit the brethren in every city where we proclaimed the Word of the Lord to see how they are doing.” (37) Barnabas wanted to take with them John who was called Mark. (38) However, Paul did not think it wise to take with them someone who had left them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. (39) There arose such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, (40) but Paul chose Silas and departed, commended by the brothers to the grace the Lord. (41) He traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
OBSERVATIONS
The conclusion reached by the Jerusalem Council regarding the Gentiles firmly placed the early church on the side of grace. Repetitions in this segment emphasized the unity and joy that resulted from this momentous decision. Beside the names of “Paul” (vss. 22, 25, 35, 36, 38, & 40), “Barnabas” (vss. 22, 25, 35, 36, 37, & 39), “Antioch” (vss. 22, 23, 30, & 35), “Judas” (vss. 27 & 32), “Silas” (vss. 22, 32, & 40), and “Mark” (vss. 37 & 39), other repeated words included “apostles and elders” (vss. 22 & 23), “choose men and send” (vss. 22 & 25), “brothers” (vss. 22, 23, 32, 33, & 36), “letter” (vss. 23 & 30), “encouragement/encouraged” (vss. 31 & 32), and “take/took” (vss. 37, 38, & 39).
OUTLINE
I. Having concluded that Gentiles did not need to be circumcised, the church in Jerusalem sent a delegation to Antioch to inform them of the decision. (22-29)
II. Their decision greatly encouraged the believers in Antioch. (30-35)
III. Paul and Barnabas, while planning for a second missionary journey, parted ways when they could not agree on taking John Mark with them. (36-41)
IDEA STATEMENT
The church benefitted both from the agreement reached by the leaders in Jerusalem and from the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas that resulted in two teams being sent out to minister.
APPLICATION
Which side was right in the disagreement that arose between Paul and Barnabas over whether or not to include John Mark in their next missionary journey? Was it Barnabas who had earlier reached out to restore an almost forgotten Paul in Antioch and now wanted to do the same for John Mark, or was it Paul who felt strongly that John Mark’s failure had disqualified him for the strenuous life of an itinerant missionary? The answer any of us might give probably speaks more about our own personality than about our theology. Those who are encouragers like Barnabas would likely favor giving John Mark another chance to prove himself. Those who, like Paul, are more task oriented would likely agree that taking John Mark was not worth the risk.
Luke never offered his readers a “correct” answer. The chapter concluded with Barnabas taking John Mark with him to continue ministering in Cyprus while Paul enlisted Silas as a team member and headed off to Syria and Cilicia. One interesting thing to note: while we never hear about Barnabas’ ministry again, we do encounter John Mark in the last epistle Paul wrote. At the end of 2 Timothy, Paul sent this message: “Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry” (2 Tim. 4:11). From this request we can safely assume that Mark had grown significantly during the interceding years and that Paul’s opinion of him had changed by the time he sent his last epistle.