THEOSISAlexander Gorsky
After spending some time in the Church of Antioch, Paul and Barnabas decided to visit the churches they had founded during their first journey, and then to extend their activity still farther.
Barnabas again wanted to take his nephew Mark with him. But Paul did not agree. He could not forgive Mark for allowing attachment to his homeland to overcome in him the sense of his calling to the service of the Lord.
Paul considered someone who was not ready to sacrifice everything to Him unworthy of this calling. In the present case, the zeal of Paul's character was revealed. Where the demands of God's calling were concerned, Paul denied all personal and natural feelings in himself, and he wanted the same in others.
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Barnabas's condescension toward Mark may have arisen from the special gentleness of his Christian character. Or it may have come from the first stirrings of love for a relative, not yet fully overcome by the power of the Christian spirit.
That such human relations could still exert considerable influence on Barnabas is shown by his conduct in Antioch in the presence of Peter and Paul (Gal 2).
However it may have been, this momentary disagreement became the occasion for a division between two men who until then had acted together in the service of the Lord.
The result of the division between Paul and Barnabas was that a new sphere of activity was added for the sake of the Gospel. From that time, Barnabas formed a defined sphere for himself. He went first with Mark to his homeland, Cyprus, and then probably to other places for preaching.
That Barnabas was not inactive in spreading Christianity can be inferred not only from his former activity. It is also proved by the fact that Paul, long after this event, points to him as a man known for his ceaseless activity in preaching the Gospel (1 Cor 9:6).
Paul's severity toward Mark could also have been useful for Mark himself. It had to bring him to consciousness of his fault, and later he showed himself faithful to his calling.
Finally, this division was only temporary. Later we see Paul, Barnabas, and Mark again closely united among themselves, though from this time Barnabas seems to have had a separate and independent sphere of activity.
In his place, Paul took as his companion Silas, or Silvanus, who had been sent from the Church of Jerusalem to Antioch with the epistle.