THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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th a t not being able to see into th e ,fu t ure, he had only th e unfavourable past to judge by and th a t in refusing to take Mark he was not judging his Christian character nor pronouncing on his fitness for fu tu re service, b u t merely provid ing against being again p u t to serious inconvenience and having th e ir hands weakened by a possible second deser tion. In these circumstances it seems quite possible th a t they m ight have am icably agreed to differ, each tak ing his own companion, as they did; b u t the “ paroxysm,” (as th e word “ contention” ' is) which is expressly given as th e cause of th e ir parting, shows th a t hum an in firm ity am idst the great labors of the church a t Antioch a t length sundered those who had lovingly borne togetner th e h eat and burden of th e day. “There fore let no man glory in men” (I Cor. 3 :2 1 ). How w atchful should Chris tian s be ag ain st giving way to ho t tem per towards each other, especially where on both sides th e glory of Christ is the ground of difference.— Jam ieson. v. 41. W ent th rough Syria. This second tou r appears to have proceeded a t first solely from th e desire of visit ing th e churches already planted. In th e end it took a much w ider sweep, for it brought th e Apostle to Europe.—Ols- hausen. v. 1. Named T iniothcus. As P au l styles him “his own son in th e fa ith ” (I Tim. 1 :2 ), he must have been gained to Christ a t th e Apostle’s first visit, and as P aul says he “ had fully known his persecutions” (II Tim. 3:10, 11), he may have been in th a t group of discip les th a t surrounded the apparently life less body of th e Apostle outside the walls of Lystra, and th a t a t a tim e of life when the mind receives its deepest impressions from th e spectacle of inno cent suffering and undaunted courage. —Hows. v. 3. H im would P au l have go fo rth . So far as appears, Timothy is th e first Gentile who, after his conver sion, comes before us as a regu lar mis sionary, for w hat is said of T itus in Gal. 2:3 refers to a la ter period.—Wies. Took and circumcised him . In th e last chapter we find P au l against those who made circumcision necessary to salva tion. Why, then, would he have Tim othy circumcised? To th e Jew he be cam e a Jew th a t he m ight gain th e Jews for Christ. While it was not essential in any way, it gave them access into th e synagogues (21:29, 30 ).— Sel. Had
(8 ) Follow these m issionaries on th eir mission of mercy and love.
v. 36. L et u s visit o u r b reth ren and see how th ey do. See w hether they were advancing or declining— a p attern for churches and successful m issionar ies in every age. C o m m e n t s f r o m .—Bengei. we MANY SOURCES notice h ere for By K eith L. B rooks th e first tim e a trace of th a t ten der solicitude for his converts which ap pears in th e le tte rs he w rote afterw ard as one of th e most attractiv e featu res of his character.-1—Hows. , v. 38. P au l th o u g h t it n o t good. H ere one of the saddest things recorded in the' Acts occurred. Barnabas made up his m ind to tak e Mark along. This was against P au l’s best judgment. Mark had been given a fair tria l on a form er journey and had failed them a t a critical moment. Surely it would not do to experiment in th a t direction again. Missionary work is not for feeble men. But Barnabas had affection for his re lative (Coi. 4 :10 ) above th e in te rest of th e work and stood firmly by his ill- advised determ ination. We h ear very little of Barnabas afte r this, b u t God honored P aul and his work as never before.— Torrey. Evidently Mark lacked backbone in persecution as he had once before deserted them . He took down his colors ju s t as they were about to en gage in battle. There are many church members to-day who do th e same thing. —Henry. v. 39. The contention was sharp. “ Such was th e irritatio n between them .” Said they no t tru ly to th e Lystrians th a t they were “men of like, passions w ith them ” ? (1 4 :1 5 ). B u t who was to blame? P au l concluded th a t what Mark had done he m ight and probably would do again. Was he wrong in this? See Prov 25:19. Barnabas m ight reply th a t no ru le was w ith out exception and th a t one failure in a young Christian was not e- nough to condemn him. Since Mark did retrieve his ch aracter in these respects and a reconciliation took place between P aul and him so th a t the Apostle more th a n once expresses his confidence in him (Col. 4:10, 11; IX Tim. 4 :1 1 ), it may seem th a t events showed Barnabas to be in the righ t, bu t on behalf of P aul it may be answered
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