The Battlefield Disagreement of Paul and Barnabas

At the end of Acts 15, the missionary team of Paul and Barnabas have a sharp disagreement and separate (Acts 15:36-41). Paul wanted to return and check on the communities where they had evangelized in their first missionary journey. Barnabas wanted to bring with them John Mark to do that work.  Paul vehemently opposed this idea, arguing that John Mark had left them in Pamphylia without helping them do any of their work (Acts, 15:38, John 13:13).  This disagreement led to a rift, so Barnabas left with John Mark in one direction, and Paul chose Silas as a helper and went in another direction. Luke gives us no clue as to why Paul was so strongly opposed to John Mark joining them again, but he does tell us that the church at Antioch commended Paul and Silas to the grace of the Lord, and that the two of them went about “strengthening the churches.” Luke does not tell us whether or not the church commended Barnabas and John Mark in their efforts.  Apparently, Barnabas is never mentioned as a potential active agent again in scripture. 

Since Luke (perhaps wisely) gives us no more details, we are left to speculate about Paul’s mindset regarding the matter.  Because of Paul’s extensive and in-depth knowledge of Old Testament law, some Christian thinkers have noted that he might have been invoking the concept behind Deuteronomy 20:8, where leaders are told to prevent fearful men from joining the ranks of soldiers prior to a battle. The idea was that fearful men will make everyone else fearful, which will then retard a unit’s ability to fight well when fighting is needed most.  This idea fits well with Paul’s cosmology, since he clearly saw the world as a battlespace where the people of God are in active combat with spiritual forces (Ephesians 6:10-18). Because of  John Mark’s previous failure to stay in the battle, Paul might have seen him as a liability to their effectiveness in a fight. Maybe, John Mark, in Paul’s mind, was a boy not ready or mature enough to do the soldierly work of a man. While he had faith enough to be saved, he might not have had enough trust to engage the battle with necessary courage and sacrifice (Deuteronomy 20:1, Judges 7:3). Paul may have felt that he couldn’t risk his mission with a fearful boy, and perhaps he felt that he couldn’t risk a fearful boy to the dangers of a serious mission where people literally risk their lives (Acts 15:26, Acts 14:19-23).

But regardless of whatever caused Paul’s strong-willed opposition, it didn’t prevent a future re-unification with John Mark. While we never again hear about Barnabas as an active agent, we know that Paul eventually saw John Mark as one. Paul’s letters mention his work in Colossians 4:10. And Paul sends greetings on his behalf in a  letter to Philemon (Philemon 1:24). Finally, Paul requests from prison in his second letter to Timothy, that John Mark be brought to him because he is “very useful” to his ministry (2 Timothy 4:11). 

In any case, God used the split of Barnabas and Paul to spread the gospel in different areas, so that even the disagreement of two Godly friends was used for good.