Sec. 5. The Return to Antioch. 175
actual departure of Judas and Silas : but the officials of the Church in Antioch (the Elders?) simply informed Judas and Silas that their duties were concluded and they were free to return home, and Silas did not avail himself of the permission. Considering how XII 25 prepares the way for XIII 5, we must hold that XV 34 is genuine and prepares for XV 40 ; and the fact that the Bezan Reviser found 34 in the text and added to it the comment " and Judas went alone," constitutes a distinct proof of its genuineness. It is not that any diffi- culty need be found in Paul selecting Silas from Jerusalem, for Barnabas here takes Mark from Jerusalem (XIII 13). But it is one of the points of Luke's style to furnish the material for understanding a new departure, and the very marked statement that Silas voluntarily remained, when his official duty was declared to be at an end, makes the next event much more intelligible (p. 176). There is in the sequence of thought 33-4 a certain harshness (charac- teristic of Luke when he wants to draw attention to a point) ; and this led to the omission of 34 in the great MSS. and by many modern editors.
6.THE SEPARATION OF PAUL AND BARNABAS. (XV 36) AND AFTER SOME DAYS PAUL SAID UNTO BARNABAS, " LET US RETURN NOW AND VISIT THE BRETHREN IN EVERY CITY WHEREIN WE PROCLAIMED THE WORD OF THE LORD, HOW THEY FARE". (37) AND BARNABAS WAS MINDED TO TAKE WITH THEM JOHN ALSO, WHO WAS CALLED MARK. (38) BUT PAUL THOUGHT NOT GOOD TO TAKE WITH THEM HIM THAT WITHDREW FROM THEM FROM PAMPHYLIA AND WENT NOT WITH THEM TO THE WORK. (39) AND THERE AROSE A SHARP CONTENTION, SO THAT THEY PARTED
176 The Apostolic Council. Chap. VII.
ASUNDER ONE FROM THE OTHER ; AND BARNABAS TOOK MARK WITH HIM, AND SAILED AWAY UNTO CYPRUS; (40) BUT PAUL CHOSE SILAS AND WENT FORTH, BEING COMMENDED BY THE BRETHREN TO THE GRACE OF THE LORD : AND HE WENT THROUGH SYRIA AND CILICIA, CONFIRMING THE CHURCHES.
Barnabas here passes out of this history. The tradition, as stated in the apocryphal Periodoi Barnabce, a very late work, was that he remained in Cyprus till his death ; and the fact that Mark reappears at a later stage without Bar- nabas, is in agreement. At any rate his work, wherever it was carried on, did not, in Luke's estimation, contribute to work out the idea of the organised and unified Church. That idea was elaborated in Paul's work ; and the history is guided by Paul's activity from the moment when he began to be fully conscious of the true nature of his work. Others contributed to the earlier stages, but, as it pro- ceeded, all the other personages became secondary, and Paul more and more the single moving genius.
The choice of Silas was, of course, due to his special fitness for the work, which had been recognised during his ministration in Antioch. Doubtless he had shown tact and sympathy in managing the questions arising from the relations of the Gentile Christians to the Jews. His sympathies had also been shown by his preferring to remain in the mixed and freer congregation in Antioch, when he had been at liberty to return to Jerusalem.
The name Silas is a familiar diminutive of Silvanus ; and the full and more dignified form is employed in the superscription of the two letters to the Thessalonians. Silvanus is a Latin name ; and Silas is implied in XVI $J to have been a Roman citizen. It may, however, be
Sec. 6. The Separation of Paul and Barnabas. 177
looked on as certain that he was a Hebrew, for only a Hebrew would have been a leading man among the Brethren at Jerusalem (XV 22). His double character, Hebrew and Roman, was in itself a qualification for a coadjutor of Paul ; and, doubtless, the Roman side of his character caused that freedom from narrow Judaistic pre- judice which shines through his action.