From  January 2021  The Primitive Baptist   

Acts 15:37-39 "And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other; and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus."

Paul and Barnabas had been close friends and companions in gospel labor, traveling many miles preaching the gospel through all sorts of difficulties. After they had the confrontation with Elymas the sorcerer at Paphos, John Mark decided for some reason that he did not want to continue with them on their preaching tour and returned to Jerusalem. This did not sit well with Paul, and when he and Barnabas were getting ready to leave on their next journey, Paul strongly objected to taking Barnabas with them, evidently considering him unreliable.

We do not have the whole story of this conflict recorded for us in the Bible. Barnabas took Mark and sailed away. Paul chose Silas and traveled through Syria and Cilicia. Thus two dear friends were sundered over a difference of opinion. We find no indication that Paul regarded Mark as a evil man; it was just that he had lost confidence in him. Knowing the rigors of the trip they were about to make, he did not want anyone traveling with them that he did not feel he could trust.

If this were all we knew of the story, it would have ended on a very sad note. However, tucked back in the "footnotes" of the last chapter of 2nd Timothy we find this simple request from Paul to the younger preacher: "Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry."

(v. 11). It appears likely that this was the last epistle that Paul wrote, and if so, then in these last few verses he is "tying up the loose ends" that remain in this life. One of them was the issue with Mark.

Paul here admits that he had been wrong, or at least that things had changed to such a degree that his qualms about Mark were no longer valid. We do not know how things ended between Paul and Barnabas. If Paul made this admission, we can hope that his relationship with his old friend was mended. We can learn from this event, however, that even the best and wisest of men can be wrong. We can also gain from it that friendships are precious things, and we ought to be careful not to let momentary disagreements strain them.