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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
15:36-41 Paul and Barnabas Differ over Mark. Before setting out on his new mission, Paul asked Barnabas to accompany him. A sharp disagreement arose between them over whether to take Mark, resulting in Barnabas taking Mark on a separate mission and Paul choosing Silas as his companion.
15:39 a sharp disagreement. In the sovereignty of God, out of this disagreement came a doubling of their labor, for Barnabas went to strengthen the churches in Cyprus and Paul went to the churches in Syria, Cilicia, and then Galatia. In addition, both of their assistants (Mark and Silas) went on to have significant ministries themselves.
15:41 Paul's route took him by foot to the churches of his first missionary journey in reverse order.
16:1-5 Timothy Joins Paul and Is Circumcised. Timothy joined Paul and Silas at Lystra. Because Timothy's mother was Jewish, Paul had him circumcised. They continued on their way, revisiting the churches of the first mission.
16:1 Probably Timothy, his mother, and his grandmother had been led to Christ upon Paul's first witness in Lystra (14:8-23; cf. 2 Tim. 1:5). Having a Greek father, Timothy had not been circumcised, though by Jewish law the child of a Gentile father and Jewish mother was considered Jewish.
16:3 because of the Jews who were in those places. Paul never abandoned his Jewish heritage, and so he circumcised Timothy. It was all the more necessary if Timothy was to join his mission. He did not want to fight on nonessentials (1 Cor. 9:19-21). Paul always began in the synagogues, and to have an uncircumcised Jew with him would have made any witness to Jews much more difficult. (Since Timothy had grown up in this region, the Jews would have known of his mixed family background.)
16:4 The decisions of the Jerusalem council were addressed specifically to believers in Antioch and throughout Syria and Cilicia (15:23), but since the issue of Gentile converts affected all the churches, Paul reported those decisions as he traveled through other cities as well.
16:5 As is frequent in Acts, the section ends with reference to the growth of the church.
