Why did Paul leave Barnabas and choose Dials?

This is a common question based on a misinterpretation of Acts 15. Paul and Barnabas had finished a successful missionary trip, spreading the gospel and establishing churches throughout Asia Minor (Acts 13-14). John-Mark, Barnabas' young cousin, had started out with them, but left shortly into the voyage. The text doesn't say why John-Mark left, it merely says, "From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem" (Acts 13:13).

Of course, speculation has arisen over the ensuing 2000 years as to why John-Mark left. Was he scared? Homesick? A fragment of the Gospel of John (no relation to John-Mark), found in the Oxyrhynchus garbage dump in Egypt, may shed some light. Although Paul is not mentioned in the Gospels, there is a hand-written note in the margin of John 11:39. The verse records Martha explaining to Jesus that since her brother has been dead four days, "by this time there is a bad odor." The note reads, "Not unlike Paulus."

Scholars have determined that Paul, ever zealous for Jesus, was less than zealous for bathing. John-Mark, a well-to-do young man from Jerusalem, couldn't handle the odor. He less-than-tactfully suggested Paul might want to bathe every once in a while, and Paul reacted strongly, sending John-Mark home. By the end of the trip, Barnabas realized John-Mark had a point. He told Paul he would not travel with him again unless he took soap and deodorant. Paul grew increasingly resentful, and the pair broke up.

Ironically, Paul brought Silas, and Silas always had soap, specifically Dial. Paul never used it, though, and years later, while preaching in Troas in a hot, stuffy room, his BO grew so bad another young man, Eutychus, passed out, fell out the window, and died.

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