The Origin of Paul's ReligionMachen, J. Gresham (John Gresham)
Religion
The Origin of Paul's Religion
Machen, J. Gresham (John Gresham)
Bible. Epistles of Paul -- Theology; Paul, the Apostle, Saint
existence of the Church would have been impossible if there had been
a permanent breach between the leader in the Gentile mission and the
leader among the original disciples of Jesus.
The Book of Acts does not mention the difficulty which arose
at Antioch with regard to table companionship between Jews and
Gentiles. But it does mention another disagreement between Paul and
Barnabas. Barnabas desired to take John Mark along on the second
missionary journey, while Paul was unwilling to take with him again
the one who had turned back on the former journey and had not gone
to those South Galatian churches which it was now proposed to
revisit. It was maintained by the Tübingen school of criticism that
the lesser quarrel has here been inserted by the author of Acts with
the express purpose of covering up the more serious disagreement
which was the real reason for the separation of Barnabas and Paul.
But the insertion of a quarrel is rather an unnatural way to cover
up the fact that there was another quarrel; it would have been
better to keep altogether silent about the disagreement. Moreover,
the good faith of the author is now generally accepted. There is
another possible way of explaining the omission of the incident
of Gal. ii. 11-21 from the Book of Acts. It may be surmised that
the incident was so unimportant in its consequences, Peter and
Barnabas were so quickly convinced by Paul, that a historian who was
concerned, not with personal details about the relations between
Paul and the other leaders, but with the external progress of the
gospel, did not find it necessary to mention the incident at all.
After the separation of Barnabas from Paul at the beginning of the
second missionary journey, it is not recorded that the two men
were ever associated again in missionary work. But in 1 Cor. ix. 6
Barnabas is spoken of with respect--"Or I only and Barnabas, have
we not a right to forbear working." Evidently Paul was interested
in the work of Barnabas, and was not ashamed to appeal to his
example. In Col. iv. 10, moreover, "Mark, the cousin of Barnabas"
is mentioned, and is commended to the attention of the Colossian
Christians. Mark here forms a link between Paul and Barnabas as he
does between Paul and Peter. Evidently the estrangement at Antioch
was not permanent even in the case of Mark, against whom there was
the special objection that he had withdrawn from the work at Perga.
According to 2 Tim. iv. 11, Mark became exactly what he had not been
at Perga, "useful" to Paul "for ministering." And if the testimony
of 2 Timothy be rejected, the same cordial relationship between
Paul and Mark appears also in Col. iv. 10, 11; Philem. 24. The
scanty indications all point very decidedly away from any permanent
estrangement as resulting from the incidents at Antioch.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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