ACTS III – TURNING THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN

“Problems With People and Priorities” – Part Five

“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
brothers to the grace of the Lord.”
Acts 15:39-40

What happens when personalities collide, priorities clash and both parties are convinced in
principle they are right? One of the great things about the Bible is that it tells the truth about its
heroes. Both Paul and Barnabas were good men, legendary heroes of the New Testament Church,
and had worked together for years. But good men fall out. Author and Bible teacher, Charles
Price, provided insight into contributing factors surrounding their sharp disagreement over John
Mark, which had driven them to part ways. From their experience, we gain valuable perspectives,
applicable to our own lives when confronted with opposing views.

Paul and Barnabas had first met in Jerusalem. Barnabas came from Cyprus, had made his base in
Jerusalem, and was sent up to Antioch where the church was flourishing. Realizing how huge the
task was, he sought out his friend, Saul of Tarsus, and brought him back to Antioch, where they
had taught the Gospel for an entire year before being sent on their first missionary journey.
Along with them they had brought John Mark, but he had deserted the mission in Pamphylia and
returned home to Jerusalem.

On their second missionary journey, Barnabas wanted to bring Mark again, but because he had
abandoned the first mission, Paul was adamantly opposed. It became such a sharp dispute, that
they resolved the problem by parting ways. To understand why, we need to know something of
John Mark and to look at the differing personalities and priorities of both Paul and Barnabas.

John Mark was a cousin of Barnabas and a good friend of the Apostle Peter. His mother, Mary,
was a key person in the Jerusalem church and had hosted many people in her home. It was to her
home that Peter went upon his release from prison, and it was probably where Paul and Barnabas
stayed when they had delivered food to Jerusalem during the famine. It was also most likely that
it was in Mary’s Paul came to know John Mark.

Barnabas and Paul had taken Mark back to Antioch with them, so Mark is now brought into
relationship with Paul. Paul also had differences with Peter, largely concerning Jews mixing with
Gentiles. At the church in Corinth, there was one group who said, “I am of Peter”, another group
who said, “I am of Paul”, and still another more spiritual group who said, “I am of Christ”. Paul
was the liberal one, breaking the rules and being criticized for it, while Peter was the conservative
one. It may have been that Mark was more comfortable with Peter than with Paul.

These are two conscientious men, both Paul and Barnabas, wanting to do the right thing and are
faced with an issue many people in leadership roles are faced with. Is the work bigger than the
individuals performing it, or are the individuals more important than the work? In other words,
do you comprise the work for the sake of keeping an individual on the task and caring for him, or
does the importance of the work override the lack of ability in that individual?
Paul places the work first and Barnabas the individual. Paul’s reasoning is that they are on a
mission where men and women are dying apart from Christ and this task has to be fulfilled in the
best way possible, in the shortest time possible, and Mark had proved to be a liability. Barnabas
reasons that Mark has great potential and they need to invest more time in him. Give him another
opportunity but Paul is a straight shooter, direct, focused and committed. He’s a ‘Type A’
personality and a task-orientated man.

Barnabas is people orientated. His real name is Joseph but when he came to Jerusalem the
apostles called him, ‘Barnabas’, which means ‘Son of Encouragement’. He looks after the
underdog, a caring, nurturing, pastoral role. Barnabas had played that role in Paul’s life, which
everyone else had wanted to reject. He convinced the disciples to trust Paul, to take him on, and
now wanted to do the same in Mark’s life by convincing Paul to give him another chance.

The big question is who is right? Both Paul and Barnabas stood their ground, consistent with
their temperament, personality and background. The problem is they both believed each other to
be wrong, wrong enough to part ways. In Romans 14, Paul talks about one person thinking this
way and the other thinking that way, but as long as they are conscientiously doing this as “unto
the Lord”, they are both right. Later he says whatever does not come from faith is sin, meaning
whatever does not come from a disposition of dependency on God (which is faith) is wrong. If
both parties are acting out of a genuine, conscientious trust in the Lord, then Paul says, “let each
one follow the path they believe is right.”

We can look at this situation in two ways; one is the immediate, limiting here to Acts 15, and the
other is in the long term, where you have the benefit of hindsight to see what subsequently
followed. To take the immediate perspective, Paul had a reliable team and Acts follows his story
with churches flourishing in every city he worked in. Paul is the outstanding hero of the rest of
the book of Acts. The story doesn’t follow Barnabas simply because the book of Acts is a very
limited history of the first 30 years of the early church. But what did happen long term is that
Paul recognized Mark’s capability. Near the end of his life, in the last letter Paul wrote in 2
Timothy, he said, “Get Mark and bring him with you because he is helpful to me in my ministry.”
This is years later and its thanks to Barnabas. Mark, at some point, actually joins Paul’s team and
Paul sends greetings from Mark as well as others. Barnabas was willing to separate from Paul on
the grounds of nurturing this one individual and later, Mark becomes the writer of one of the
Gospels. Thank you Barnabas!

Most of us prefer a neatly connected story where there is either black or white, but sometimes we
need to live with a little grey. Sometimes iron has to sharpen iron. The message from this
incident is that personality is not obliterated when we come to Christ. We need different
personalities and perspectives as long as we live conscientiously before God. If we are called to
anything other than what is true to our personalities and temperaments, we are going to get
crushed inside. Rather than being a threat to relationships, it can deepen and enrich them as we
learn from each other. It is a matter of respecting our opposition, and allowing the Head, the
Lord Jesus Christ, to be in charge of the bigger picture. If Paul had been like Barnabas, perhaps
he would never have blazed a trail through Europe, and if Barnabas had been like Paul, he might
never have gone to Tarsus and trusted Paul enough to bring him back to Antioch, and we might
never have had the Gospel of Mark. The answer is that both Barnabas and Paul were right.

“And we know that in all things God works

to the good of those who love him, who have been
called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28