Followup questions for Acts 15 & 16
 
1. As Paul and Barnabas prepare for a second missionary journey, a dispute arises between them regarding the place of John Mark resulting in them departing from one another. What can we learn from this seemingly unfortunate event?
 
 
Read chapter 16:1-5
 
2. Paul meets young Timothy, a Christian with a Jewish mother and a Greek father, and invites him to join the team (Silas and Paul). Before departing, Paul circumcises Timothy. Why would he do this after having just reaffirmed “salvation by grace and not by the keeping of the law” as spoken at the Jerusalem Council and written in the Jerusalem Decree?
 
 
Focus on verses 6-10
 
3. “Now when they had gone through the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. They tried to go into Bythnia, but the Spirit would not permit them. ( v 6-7 ). How would the Spirit have “forbidden them” or “not permitted them”? What happened as a result of being detoured from these places?
 
 
 
Focus on verses 11-15 
 
4. The pronoun “we” is used here for the first time. What does that imply? Who are the members of this quartet? How does each member enrich the team?
 
 
 
5. Who is Lydia? Why is she so noteworthy? What was the result of her conversion?