And the contention was so sharp between them
About this matter; Barnabas insisting on it, that John Mark
should go with them, he being a relation of his; and in whose
favour it might be urged, that his mother Mary was an excellent
good woman, who had received the saints into her house, in a time
of persecution; and that it should be considered, that this her
son was but a young man, and could not be thought to have that
courage, resolution, constancy, and solidity, as older professors
and ministers; and that his crime was not very heinous, and
should be overlooked. Paul, on the other hand, opposing his going
with them, as a very unworthy person, because he had behaved so
cowardly, and had shown such a coldness and indifference to the
work of the ministry, and had so shamefully left them; and thus
they disputed the point till there was a paroxysm between them,
as is the word used: they were irritated and provoked by one
another, and were so warmed and heated on both sides,
that they departed asunder one from another;
thus as soon almost as peace was made in the church, a difference
arises among the ministers of the word, who are men of like
passions with others; and though it is not easy to say which was
to blame most in this contention; perhaps there were faults on
both sides, for the best men are not without their failings; yet
this affair was overruled by the providence of God, for the
spread of his Gospel, and the enlargement of his interest; for
when these two great and good men parted from one another, they
went to different places, preaching the word of God:
and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed unto
Cyprus;
(See Gill on Acts
13:4).
