Exploring the Word of God Acts of the Apostles Volume 5: Chapters 15:36–18

By Paul Kroll

Paul Kroll continues his research and analysis for Paul's second missionary journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Grace Communion International
• Release date: Jun 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476005744

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Exploring the Word of God

Acts of the Apostles

Volume 5: Chapters 15:36–18

By Paul Kroll

Copyright 2012 Grace Communion International

Published by Grace Communion International

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com 

The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Artwork by Ken Tunell. Copyright Grace Communion International.

Table of Contents

The second missionary journey begins: preaching in Asia Minor (Acts 15:36-41)

Timothy joins the group (Acts 16:1-10)

Philippi and imprisonment (Acts 16:11-40)

Thessalonica and persecution (Acts 17)

Athens and Paul’s speech at the Areopagus (Acts 17:16-34)

Corinth, and return to Antioch in Syria (Acts 18)

About the author

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The Second Missionary Journey

Further Preaching in Asia Minor (Acts 15:36-16:10)

Visit the believers (15:36)

After the Jerusalem Council, Luke begins to narrate Paul’s second major journey. Paul’s original objective on this trip seems to be more pastoral than missionary. Paul says 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 (15:36).

Paul apparently wants to deliver the Jerusalem decrees to these churches personally. He is encouraged to have the support of the other apostles, especially Peter and James. He knows that the Judaizers have created problems among the believers in Galatia – problems that he addresses in his letter to the Galatians, which may have been written before the Council. Now he wants to see how the churches in the region have responded to his letter.

Controversy about Mark (15:37-39)

Barnabas agrees that another trip through Galatia is in order. However, he wants to take Mark as an assistant. Paul refuses, and their disagreement over Mark is so bitter that they parted company (15:39).

The story of the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas does not make pleasant reading, but Luke’s realism in recording it helps us to remember that the two men, as they themselves said to the people of Lystra, were human beings with feelings like any other (The Book of Acts, The New International Commentary on the New Testament [Rev. ed., Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1988], page 301).

Paul believes that Mark’s refusal to go with the missionaries into Galatia during the first missionary trip amounted to desertion (15:38). Perhaps Mark has some defect in his character that makes him unreliable.

On the contrary, Barnabas, the Son of Encouragement, sees some promising qualities in Mark and wants to give him experience and training. Mark is his cousin, and Barnabas knows the family traits (Colossians 4:10). Or perhaps family loyalty was more important to Barnabas than commitment to the work.

In the end, Mark proved Barnabas right, and perhaps Paul was being too hard-nosed (Colossians 4:10; Philemon 23). Years later, Paul would say to Timothy of the young man he had once rejected: Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry (2 Timothy 4:11). Actually, both Paul and Barnabas may be right: Mark would do poorly under Paul’s leadership, but would grow while helping Barnabas.

Barnabas has occupied a central part in Luke’s story as a trusted representative of the Jerusalem church (11:22-24). He has been vital to Paul’s work and his relationship to the church — as his associate on the first missionary tour (13:1-14:28); for intervening on his behalf with Jerusalem (9:27); in recruiting him for missionary work at Antioch (11:25-26); and in supporting his Gentile mission at the Jerusalem conference (15:12).

But after separating from Paul, Barnabas is not again mentioned in Acts. Luke’s story is about Paul, not anyone else. Barnabas is referred to in passing in only three other places in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 9:6; Galatians 2:1, 9, 13; Colossians 4:10). In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul speaks of his and Barnabas’ need to get jobs in order to support themselves while doing missionary work. Since this epistle was written after the split between the two men, it indicates that they worked together again, or at least had buried their differences.

Paul chooses Silas (15:40-41)

Barnabas takes Mark and sails for Cyprus, presumably to visit the churches on that island (15:39). Luke doesn’t tell us anything about this mission, probably because it isn’t a trip that advances the gospel toward Rome.

Paul chooses Silas as his missionary partner and sets out on a tour of the churches in eastern Asia Minor. Silas (or Silvanus) is a good choice as an associate. He was a leader in the Jerusalem church, and can speak with authority on its behalf (15:12, 27). He is a prophet (15:32) and a Roman citizen (16:27). He is respected in the church as well as in the wider Roman society.

With Silas, Paul begins his trip by traveling through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches in these provinces (15:41). But what begins as a pastoral visit turns into an extensive missionary journey through large parts of Asia Minor, as well as Macedonia and Greece. It is on this missionary tour that the gospel reaches the eastern frontier of Europe.

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The Second Missionary Journey, Continued

Acts 16

Derbe and Lystra (16:1-2)

After his pastoral visit to the churches in Syria and Cilicia, Paul travels to the city of Derbe. His first trip to this and other cities in Galatia was discussed in 14:6-21. After his activities in Derbe are completed (Luke gives no details), Paul takes the northwest road to Lystra. Again, Luke says nothing about what Paul does in the city. Luke’s main interest here is to show how Timothy becomes Paul’s associate.

Apparently Lystra is Timothy’s hometown (20:4). He is already a member of the church, as the disciples in Lystra and Iconium speak well of him. Most likely Timothy was converted as a result of Paul’s preaching on his first missionary journey. Timothy’s mother and grandmother are also Christian believers (2 Timothy 1:5). His mother, Eunice, is Jewish and has instructed Timothy in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Timothy will become the most important of Paul’s associates in his mission to the Gentiles. Luke mentions his role several times in Acts (17:14-15; 18:5; 19:22; 20:4). Paul