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Mark is the Evangelist Mark, but there is no evidence on this point. It is not clear why
one who served both at the beginning and the close of Paul's ministry should be the
"interpreter", as Mark is called by Peter, but again, that does not constitute evidence on
either side.
This introduction leads us to Antioch and the movement that commenced there. It is
with this that we are concerned, and so we pass on.
Acts 12: 24 - 16: 5.
Justification by faith.
A | 12: 24. "But the word of God grew and multiplied."
B | 12: 25. | a | Barnabas and Saul.
b | John Mark taken with them.
C | 13: 1-3. Barnabas and Saul "separated" by the Holy Ghost.
D | 13: 4 - 14: 28. |
c1 | Departure from Antioch.
d1 | Justification by faith apart from law of Moses.
c1 | Return to Antioch.
D | 15: 1-35. |
c2 | Men from Judæa raise the question.
d2 | Except ye be circumcised after the manner Moses,
ye cannot be saved.
c2 | Men that had hazarded their lives for the Lord Jesus
bring the answer.
B | 15: 36-39. | a | Barnabas and Saul.
b | John Mark taken to Cyprus.
C | 15: 40 - 16: 4. Saul and Timothy approved by the brethren
(15: 26, 27 and 16: 2).
A | 16: 5. "And so were the churches established in the faith,
and increased in number daily."
At its opening Paul's ministry circled round a statement of truth and a conflict for that
truth. The statement was the glorious doctrine of justification by faith (13: 39): the
conflict was the fight against the Judaism which imposed law and circumcision as
necessary to salvation. We are therefore to become witnesses of one of the most
important controversies that the world has known; a controversy ever fresh in its
applications; a fight for the faith in which we are called upon to engage to this day.
By this time the church at Antioch had been established for at least a year
(Acts 11: 26), and the two men who played so prominent a part in its inception and
upbuilding were present among the prophets and teachers there assembled (Acts 13: 1).
The passage concerning the apostle's namesake would probably flash across his mind:
"Is Saul also among the prophets?" (I Sam. 10: 11, 12; 19: 24); and, if it did, we can
well imagine his prayer for grace to finish his course, and not turn aside in the tragic
manner of his namesake. He would probably remember that Saul had persecuted David,
even as he had persecuted the Lord.