24. Paul and Barnabas Disagree
Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing." Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord (Acts 15:36-40). The story of the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas is a fascinating one with levels that we must think about to fully understand. The disagreement was evidently a major one between the two leaders (Acts 15:39), and even the NIVs wording "sharp disagreement" may not completely convey the severity of the difference. The word paroxusmos only appears here and as "provoke" in Hebrews 10:24 in the New Testament, but in the Greek Septuagint of the Old Testament we find the word used in Deuteronomy 29:27, "Therefore the Lord's anger burned," and Jeremiah 32:37, "the wrath of my anger." This was no small disagreement!
Why then was the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas so intense? It is perhaps easy to read the story and, with hindsight, to side with Barnabas who wanted to give the young Mark another chance, especially as we realize that it was Barnabas with his positive and accepting nature who had taken
Paul to the disciples in Jerusalem when everyone else feared to accept Paul (Acts 9:27).
But there are two details to the story we should keep in mind. Many translations of Acts simply say that Mark "left" Paul and Barnabas while they were on the first missionary journey, but his action at that time may have been more serious. The NIV says he "deserted" the two apostles, implying he left them in a negative manner, and the word Luke uses is afistemi which can mean not only to "desert," but also to "backslide" or even "fall away." It is exactly the word that Luke uses in his Gospel in recording the Parable of the Seed on different grounds, in which the seed that does not take root properly "falls away" under persecution. Further, Paul's opinion may have been a majority one, because we notice that after the disagreement "Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord" (Acts 15:40), which seems to imply it was Paul and Silas who were commended.
Whatever the cause and extent of the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas, it seems clear that in a sense both their opinions – Paul for truth and Barnabas for mercy – were correct. The work of Paul and Silas was greatly blessed in a situation where it could possibly have been hampered or compromised by the young Mark. On the other hand, Mark was given the opportunity he needed to grow under the accepting guidance of Barnabas, the "son of encouragement." The disagreement between Paul and Barnabas was certainly healed over time (1 Corinthians 9:6), and Paul would later speak of the matured Mark as someone who was useful to the work (2 Timothy 4:11), and he encouraged the Colossians to accept him (Colossians 4:10). The story carries a lesson from which we can all profit. Matters of truth and mercy are not always capable of easy decision. Sometimes the only way to choose between the two paths is to somehow choose both.