In Paul and Barnabas, we find these two good men, these longtime friends, divided over a very small, insignificant question. The question is bound to come to our minds—how in the world does something like this happen?
It can happen because the best of men are not infallible. You know we need to understand that though a man is a good man, it does not mean that he is a perfect man. And that good people can still have honest differences. Good people can sometimes be strong-minded. Sometimes they can have unbending wills and though a person is a good person it does not mean they are perfect in any sense of the word. And as long as we are dealing with imperfect people there is the possibility of strong disagreement. One of the reasons why I am so grateful that this experience is in the Bible is that if it were not I might think that those early apostles were not men and women like you and me. But I suddenly realize that they were flesh and blood, that they had their weaknesses, that they had faults and God could still use them with all of their imperfections.