Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 15:39

"And there arose a sharp contention, so that they parted asunder one from the other, and Barnabas took Mark with him, and sailed away unto Cyprus;" — Acts 15:39 (ASV)

And the contention was so sharp between them, that ...—Literally, there was a sharp contention, (or paroxysm), so that ... The warmth of previous affection, of a friendship begun probably in boyhood, and cemented by new hopes, and a great work in which both were sharers, made the breach between the two more painful.

At this stage, both Barnabas and Mark disappear from the history of the Acts, but it is worthwhile to note the chief facts in the later history of each.

1. Probably Barnabas and Paul met again in the visit of Acts 18:22, unless we refer the incidents of Galatians 2:11-13 to an earlier period; in that case, there was a further cause of division in his yielding to the dissimulation of the Judaizing teachers.

2. In writing to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 9:6), the Apostle names Barnabas as setting the same noble example as himself in labouring with his own hands and accepting nothing from the churches.

3. Regarding the later life of Mark, see the Introduction to St. Mark’s Gospel. Here it will be sufficient to note that the discipline did its work.

After labouring with his cousin in Cyprus, he appears to have returned to St. Peter, as his first father in the faith, and to have been with him at Babylon (1 Peter 5:13). He and St. Paul met during the latter’s first imprisonment at Rome (Colossians 4:10; Philemon 1:24), and the Apostle learned to recognize in him one who was profitable to him for the ministry (2 Timothy 4:11), and whom he wished to have with him at the last.