The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 11

a living One, even J8Bus Christ. It is, indeed, to honour his Name (seo text), but it ie also and chiefly to exalt and extol him and make him very high (lsn. Iii. 13) in the estimation and affection of the world, that hie servants strivo and suffer. 2. Ourselves and all that we have are his due; therefore our lives, when he asks us to lay them down at his feet. 3. There e.re those who recognize his clainl, but do not comply with his desire. '!'here are those who do; men that have hazarded their lives far Jesus Christ, from Paul and Barnabas down to our own Christian martyrs ; men and women who, on various fields of holy, daring, and heroic suffering, have cheerfully sacrificed all to honour him and do his bidding; but there are too many that acknowled"e the validity of his claim but do not respond to his call. '!'here are in our congregations and even in our Churches (1) men who withhold themselves from missionary or minis- terial service, because, though well fitted for it, they are not prepared to make the necessary sacrifices; (2) men that will not step into the breach when some other kind of holy activity is demanded, because they shrink from the burdens or the annoy- ances it will entail; (3) men that will not encourage some good work of Christ, because, to do so, they must part with that which the world counts precious. These are far from being numbered with the "good and faithful serve.nts."-C. Vera. 3~41.-.Apostle., at fault. When a grave and critical juncture had been safely passed without damage done to any, there arose e. qua1Tel about an unimportant and insignificant matter, which had regrettable, not to say deplorable, results. The heart of the earnest and affectionate Paul yearned to know how their converts fared in "every city where they had preached the Word of the Lord" (ver. 36). Barnabas immediately acquiesced in Paul's proposal to visit them; everything promised another useful mission journey, in which the calmer and more genial qualities of the one man would supplement the intenser e.nd more vehement characteristics of the other. But there arose a question as to companionship, which wrecked their agreement to work in one another's company, and which separated the two friends for life. Barnabas wished to take Mark, and would not abandon his desire; Paul would not consent to take him: "and the contention was so sharp, •• that they departed asunder" (ve_r. 39). We learn from this incident-- L THAT AN ACT OF MORAL WEAKNESS MAY HAVE FAR LONGER AND MORE SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES TH..!.N WE CAN POSSIBLY FORESEE. Could Mark have foreseen that his desertion of the cause in Pamphylia would have led to the lifelong separation of his uncle from Paul, be would probably have remained with them, and "fulfilled the work," even as they did. But he did not reckon on after consequences. It is well for us to consider that our acts of minor wrong-doing, of moral weakne~s, of spiritual short- coming, may do an amount of mischief from the commission of which we should shrink with dismay if we could only look it in the face. II. THAT BETWEEN THE TWO APOSTLES A DECIDED AND BEGBETTABLE P'AULT WAB COM- MITTED. Their intention to work together in the cause of Christ need not and should oot have been broken off by their disagreement. They ought either to have compromised the matter by mutual concession, or one of the two should have yielded to the other. Paul owed too much to Barnabas to be justified in pushing his own will to the point of separation. Barnabas owed too much to Paul to make it right for him to insist 80 pertinaciously on his particular desire. One should have yielded if the other would not. It was an unedifying, unseemly, unchristian thing for two apostles to throw up a plan on which they had sought Divine direction, and which must have received the sanction of the Church, because they could not agree on a matter of detail. They must both have lived to regret it. Men in prominent positions, and those who are engaged in great matters, are bound to be above such unseemliness of bebavionr. Either (1) the ingenui-ty of love should devise a middle way, or (2) the 6acrificial epirit of love should yield the point altogether. ill THAT IN EACH CASE THE FAULT COMMITTED WAS THE BHAOOW 01!' HIS OWl!I PAll.TICULAB EXCELLENCY. Probably both of the apostles were blameworthy, But 80 far as Paul was to be condemned, his failure was the shadow of his intensity. Such was the entirety of his devotedness, such the intensity of his zeal, such the strenuous- ness of his soul, that he aould not brook anything which looked like half-heartedness. i&-Jl.d 10 far as Barnabas was to blame, bis fa.ult was the shadow of hiB kind-heal'tedness, cu. xv. 1-41.J THE .AOTS OF THE .APOSTLES, 13