On the Shores of Perga: How John Mark’s Departure from the First Pauline Missionary Journey Changed the Gentile World

By Erbey Galvan Valdez and Dr. Rudolph D. Gonzalez

In approximately AD 48, the Apostle Paul, his coworker Barnabas, and Barnabas’ cousin, John Mark, boarded a ship at Seleucia and headed for Cyprus to initiate what is now known as the first Pauline missionary journey. It was during this mission that an unexpected setback occurred. Mark left Paul and Barnabas shortly after their arrival at Perga in Pamphylia and returned to Jerusalem.

Throughout church history, this incident in the Book of Acts has often been overlooked or dismissed as either a mysterious or insignificant event to the story of the nascent church. But what if Luke intended for Mark’s departure to mean much more to his narrative? In On the Shores of Perga, author Erbey Galvan Valdez explores the literary and historical background behind this epic journey and discovers that Luke did not remain completely silent on this event. Was Mark’s departure meant to serve as a catalyst for one of the greatest challenges facing the early church—the Jewish-Gentile controversy?

On the Shores of Perga challenges Christians to rethink the story of Acts and rediscover one of the Bible’s great leaders in John Mark.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9781973695066

Erbey Galvan Valdez

Erbey Galvan Valdez, Senior Pastor at New Spirit Baptist Church, San Antonio, Texas, is a PhD candidate at Columbia International University. He holds multiple advanced degrees, including a Master of Theology, Liberty University; a Master of Theological Studies and Master of Divinity, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; and a Master of Education, Angelo State University. Mr. Valdez has been published in the Texas Study of Secondary Education and has presented for the Evangelical Theological Society. He is also a member of the Society of Biblical Literature. He and his wife, Maricruz, have two children and live in San Antonio.

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CONTENTS

Foreword

Preface

Chapter 1 An Identity Crisis Unfolds

Chapter 2 The Gentile Movement Begins to Rumble

Chapter 3 John Mark Enters the Narrative

Chapter 4 The Gentile Promise Is Fulfilled

Conclusion

Bibliography

FOREWORD

All’s well that ends well, or so goes the saying many people take as a sigh of great relief, especially when a critical outcome would seem to be in doubt, hanging in the balance as it were.

After reading On the Shores of Perga, I am convinced Erbey Valdez has advanced the needle in New Testament scholarship, strengthening the view of John Mark’s actions as reflecting a theological/cultural crisis as big as any at the earliest beginnings of the Christian community. Of course, it’s not that the issues, vehemently upheld by the Judaizers, aren’t evident in Saint Paul’s epistles, but these who are identified as the circumcision party are regularly depicted by the apostle as outsiders, bent on inserting their false gospel, requiring Gentile believers to uphold their Mosaic legalities. That said, to propose that John Mark may also have been a proponent of such views brings the problem closer to home than anyone may have realized heretofore.

To argue his perspective, Valdez puts forth a thoughtful theory for John Mark’s departure from Paul’s first missionary excursion, and it has nothing to do with an immature young man experiencing physical ailment, malaria, or perhaps homesickness. To be sure, Mark’s departure from the team happens abruptly, and illness or homesickness provides a convenient, albeit stereotypical, foil for his actions, but is this definitive? As Valdez shows, the Christian canon does not leave the reader with adolescent immaturity as the only possible explanation. As his insightful study reveals, Erbey Valdez applies the tools of historical and grammatical study to Luke’s usage of names to help us consider a more culturally attuned assessment, and one that resonates with the challenge that Judaizers posed throughout the tenure of Paul’s service.

As the book of Acts reveals, the full implications of outreach to the Gentile world could not be held up. Already, Gentiles were receiving the gospel with enthusiasm. And in response to the widening opportunity, the student of Gamaliel was all too eager to set aside his Hebrew name for a Gentile nomen palatable to Gentile sensibilities, but what of longstanding Jewish boundary issues? For Valdez, John Mark’s actions were principled rather than opportunistic, and it is to his credit that he stuck to his view of the gospel rather than violate his conscience. But biblical Christianity is nothing if it doesn’t confront the stated beliefs of people, and John Mark was surely challenged. Through his writings, Luke shows how Mark would yield and give way to the inexorable force of the gospel. In time, Mark came to understand that the good news of Jesus was for all people, Jew and Gentile alike, and it was based on faith and apart from the works of the law. Indeed, all’s well that ends well!

Rudolph D. Gonzalez

March 12, 2020

PREFACE

In approximately AD 48, the apostle Paul, his coworker Barnabas, and Barnabas’s cousin, John Mark, boarded a ship at Seleucia and headed for Cyprus to initiate what is now known as the first Pauline missionary journey. Set apart by the Holy Spirit and commissioned by the church at Antioch, these three men began a mission that, in retrospect, can be counted among the most pivotal events in world history. It is difficult to imagine that these men were cognizant of the impact their work would ultimately have upon the early Christian church, and especially in regard to Gentile Christianity. During this mission, an unexpected setback occurred—John Mark left Paul and Barnabas shortly after their arrival at Perga in Pamphylia and returned to Jerusalem. Although Luke offers no immediate details for Mark’s departure, the events that would unfold point to an unprecedented movement that occurs within the Gentile mission. For most scholars, there is no question that Gentile evangelism posed a serious challenge to primitive Christianity, but the reason for Mark’s departure from the first mission remains largely a mystery. Some regard Luke’s mention of Mark’s departure as but a mere side note to the story. For others, Mark’s actions spark curiosity but remain clouded within the narrative. Is it possible that Luke intended for Mark’s departure to serve as a critical juncture to the Gentile controversy that immediately unfolded?

John Mark, more commonly referred to as simply Mark, has always held a particular fascination for me.¹ Not many can claim the privilege of having worked alongside the two great pillars of the early church: Peter and Paul. This is particularly significant because of the distinct ministries for which they were called. As Peter was called to the Jews, so Paul was called to the Gentiles (Gal. 2:7). In the midst of the work of these two giants of the Christian faith, there stood Mark. Luke, as presumed author of Acts,² presents Mark as a character who flows between the ministries of these two men. In various scenes, he is found praying for Peter’s release in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12), ministering with Paul and Barnabas at Antioch (12:25), assisting on the first missionary journey to Asia Minor (13:5), watching intently from behind the scenes at the Jerusalem Council, sailing to Cyprus with Barnabas (15:39), reconnecting with Peter at Rome (1 Pet. 5:13), and serving Paul in his final days while in Rome (2 Tim. 4:11). In certain ways, Mark appears to function as a bridge between the Jewish and Gentile worlds, and perhaps for this reason, Luke placed Mark at the crux of the Jewish-Gentile controversy that occupies so much of his focus in Acts.

When I first began to examine this narrative, I was in the master of divinity program at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. In my research, I was struck by Mark’s departure in Acts 13:13 and wondered why Luke did not expound on this event. I was also confused by how few NT scholars had explored its possibilities or implications. Was Mark’s departure from the first mission as insignificant as its brevity implied? Despite the apparently casual reference, I sensed something profound behind Mark’s withdrawal. Yet, I also remembered Thomas Campbell’s warning, Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; and where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent.³ I assumed it was because of Campbell’s principle that so many scholars were reluctant to press too far on this episode, lest they commit the fallacy of presumption. However, as I continued to examine the events that soon followed, I became more and more convinced that the scriptures were not entirely silent on this issue. Indeed, Luke appeared to leave literary clues at every turn, all apparently connecting Mark to the emerging Gentile mission.

When I compared Mark’s actions on the first mission with his entire life of ministry, I was struck by its oddity. It seemed to me as if Luke was saying that something significant had occurred to Mark during that first mission that had never occurred before … nor would it happen again. Mark’s decision to return to Jerusalem, and not Antioch, also seemed unusual to the flow of Luke’s plot. Amazingly, as suddenly as he departed the first mission, Mark was ready and willing to join Paul and Barnabas on their second mission! Thus, it also seemed as if Luke was saying that something significant had occurred to Mark in the events that soon followed. Was Luke contextualizing Mark within his narrative in order to depict the Jewish transformation toward the Gentile mission?

Over the course of my seminary studies, I continued to work on this theory until it eventually became the subject of my thesis for my master of theology degree at Liberty University. Now that I have begun my doctoral work at Columbia International University, I have returned to this present work in order to strengthen my research using the critical methods I have explored. I have restructured my original thesis into a narrative form and applied a literary-critical analysis in order to better illustrate certain Lukan clues within the text. I have also applied socio-historical methods to recover certain aspects of the Sitz im Leben (life-setting) of the church community for which Luke wrote his gospel. The Jewish-Gentile controversy seems to be at the forefront of this community, and it certainly appears most prevalent in Luke’s writing.

We know that prior to Paul’s first missiological venture, Gentiles had been admitted into the Jewish faith through a process known as proselytization, the practice of Jewish conversion in which a Gentile submits to aspects of the Mosaic Law, including circumcision, dietary food restrictions, and observance of Jewish holidays. This practice naturally transitioned into the Christian movement since it began within the Jewish faith. It is also evident that the gospel message had been preached to Gentiles prior to Paul’s first missionary incursion into Asia Minor (Acts 8:26–40, 11:20). What we do not see, at least not formally, is the intentional evangelism of the Gentiles apart from submission to elements of the Mosaic Law. Although Peter’s witness to Cornelius and his household opened the gateway to the Gentile movement (10:34–48), Peter was never called as an apostle