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 Paul.

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.

Two acts of separation in Acts mark two steps toward a goal. First, the separation of

Barnabas and Saul, Acts 13: 1-3. Secondly, the separation of the disciples and the end

of Paul's synagogue witness (Acts 19: 9), which leads on to the close of one ministry

(Acts 20: 17-21) and the prospect of another, and a future ministry associated with

"bonds" (Acts 20: 22-25).  This "prison ministry" was entered when Israel were

dismissed and occupied the "two whole years" of Acts 28: 30, balancing as it does

"the space of two years" which followed the separation of Acts 19: 9, 10.  The

significance of these "two years" may be seen by reading Hos. 6: 1, 2 "Come, and let us

return unto the Lord". This is the fulfillment of Hos. 3: 5 "Afterward shall the children

of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God" and which brings an end to the lo-ammi

period, during which Israel were not be called "My people" (Hos. 2: 23; 3: 3, 4). "He

hath torn and He will heal us"; Acts 28: 27 the words occur "lest . . . . . I should heal

them".

If the words of Hos. 6: 2 "after two days will He revive us" refer to two literal days

of twenty-four hours, a Monday or a Tuesday for example, one wonders why such a

detail should be recorded, but if they are used prophetically, they, together with the