Paul's Missionary Journies

Jennifer Felsberg

Synopsis of Paul’s Missionary Journey’s Jennifer Felsberg Grand Canyon University BIB 123, New Testament History October 18, 2009

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Paul was considered the first missionary of the new church. He took three separate journeys’ to spread the gospel. Each journey was a little longer that the one before. He always had a traveling companion or companions to accompany him on these journeys. Paul, Barnabas and John Mark went on the first missionary journey. They left from Antioch, Syria for the coast of Seleucia to catch a boat for Cyprus. Paul immediately found a synagogue and started preaching.

They traveled all over the island preaching. When they got

to Paphos they met a sorcerer named Bar-Jesus. He worked for a proconsul which is similar to a governor. The proconsul wanted to hear the word of God and asked them to come see him. Bar-Jesus knew he would be out of a job if the proconsul heard them and believed what they had to say so Bar-Jesus opposed Paul and Barnabas. Paul became filled with the Holy Spirit and rebuked Bar-Jesus and struck him blind. When the proconsul saw this he believed. Then the three traveled to Perga. When they got there John Mark went home to Jerusalem. The reason is not given but there is much speculation, possibly he was sick or even homesick. Paul and Barnabas kept going and went to Antioch in Pisidian. As was the usual, Paul found a synagogue and started preaching the gospel. The people invited Paul and Barnabas to come back on the following Sabbath. They accepted the invite and when they showed up almost the whole town was there. The Jewish leaders were jealous of the crowds Paul and Barnabas were attracting so they started stirring up trouble until the Jews ran them out. Not to be deterred Paul and Barnabas traveled to Iconium and started preaching there. They preached to the Jews and the Gentiles. The unbelieving Jews were trying to turn people against Paul and Barnabas so they ended up staying in Iconium for a while to encourage the people that did believe. Paul and Barnabas uncovered a plot to stone them so they got out of town and moved on to Lystra. In Lystra, Paul healed a man who was born lame. The people of Lystra saw this and immediately thought Paul and Barnabas were gods. Paul and Barnabas

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explain that they are just human men and not to be worshiped, the one true God is only one to be worshiped. Some of the non believing Jews had followed Paul and Barnabas from Antioch and Iconium and started to turn people against them. The crowd stoned Paul and left him for dead outside the city. The next day Paul and Barnabas left for Derbe. In Derbe Paul and Barnabas won many believers for Christ. They then left to return home going the same route to encourage believers on their way back. They also made a stop in Atallia before sailing back to Antioch where they started. When Paul got home he reported his travels back to the church and opened the door to Gentiles. This completed Paul’s first missionary journey which is estimated to have taken about two years. Paul stayed preaching at the Church in Antioch for a while but then felt the call to make another journey. He wanted to see how all the people he had converted were doing. Barnabas wanted to take John Mark again but Paul did not because John Mark abandoned them on the first journey. This turned out to be such a big problem that Paul and Barnabas parted ways. Barnabas took John Mark and went to Cyprus. Paul took Silas and left. They visited churches in Syrian and Cilicia, encouraging and strengthening them. When Paul and Silas got to Derbe, Paul asked Timothy to join them. Paul got Timothy circumcised and away they went. They told of the decisions reached at the Jerusalem Council, giving instructions to help the Jews and Gentiles get along. This strengthened the churches and the Christian faith. Paul, Silas, and Timothy were kept by the Holy Spirit while traveling around the region of Phrygia and Galatia. When they tried to enter Bithynia the Holy Spirit would not allow them to. They passed it and went to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision to go to Macedonia. On a side note, during this time the writer of Acts, Luke, changes pronouns describing Paul from “he” to ‘we” so he must have joined Paul and his other traveling companions.

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The group left Troas and sailed to Samothrace, then to Neapolis, and on to Philippi. They stayed there for several days. They looked for a synagogue or place of prayer outside the city by on the Sabbath. They found a few women down by the river. One of the women was Lydia and she was a worshipper of God (Acts 16:14). She was converted to a believer in Jesus the Messiah. After Lydia and her family were baptized, they were invited to stay with her so they did. While they were in Philippi, they were followed by a fortune teller. She made a lot of money for her owners. She followed them for days until one day Paul had enough. He turned around and cast the spirit out of her. The Spirit left her and her owners were mad because they would not be able to make money from her anymore. They turned them in to the authorities who had Paul and Silas arrested, beaten, and thrown in jail in chains. Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God when an earthquake hit and shook their chains off and opened the cell doors. When the guards came the next morning they thought all the prisoners had escaped and they were going to kill themselves. Paul stopped them and converted them to believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The authorities released Paul and Silas when daybreak came. Paul and Silas said they were Roman citizens and should not have been treated that way and demanded escorts out of the city. The escorts were provided and after a stop by Lydia’s house they left. It is believed that Luke stayed in Philippi due the changing of the pronouns again. Paul and his companions went through Amphipolis and Apollonia to Thessalonica. They found a synagogue and started preaching. They preached for three weeks before once again, the Jewish leaders were jealous of the crowds they were drawing and started a riot. The believers hid Paul and Silas and got them to Berea during the night. In Berea Paul found a synagogue and started preaching. The Jews from Thessalonica found out about it and went to Berea and started a riot

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there. So Paul left for the coast but, Silas and Timothy stayed in Thessalonica. Silas and Timothy would join Paul in Athens later. While waiting for Silas and Timothy in Athens, Paul noticed that the city was full of idols. He felt led to speak in the synagogues and market place. He was taken to Areopagus by a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. He preached the good news of Jesus Christ to them. He had a few converts, such as Dionysius and Damaris. Paul then left for Corinth. In Corinth Paul met Aquila and Priscilla who were Jewish. They had been ordered to leave Rome with all the other Jews. They were tentmakers so Paul stayed and worked with them (Acts 18:3). Paul continued to preach in the synagogues while he waited for Silas and Timothy to join him. The Jews opposed him so he went to preach to the Gentiles. Paul had a vision where the Lord soke to him one night: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”-(Acts 18:910). Paul found the Gentiles receptive to the gospel and stayed in Corinth a year and a half. During his time in Corinth, while Gallio was proconsul, the Jews brought charges against Paul of promoting a religion not approved by Roman law. They brought Paul before Gallio. Gallio said it was of no concern to him because it dealt with Jewish law and was not a misdemeanor and threw them out of the court. The Jews turned their anger against the synagogue ruler, Sosthenes and beat him if front of the court but Gallio was not concerned. When Paul did leave Corinth, Pricilla and Auila went with him. Before they set sail he cut off his hair. They landed in Ephesus and went to the synagogue to preach. They asked Paul to stay a while but he did not. He did promise to come back if it was God’s will. He left and landed at Caesarea and went to the church and then to Antioch. Paul spent several months in Antioch, probably resting and preaching. After a while he was ready to make his way to Ephesus. He traveled through Galatia and Phrygia encouraging

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and strengthening believers along the way. While Paul was making his way to Ephesus, a man named Apollos showed up on Ephesus. He was a Jew and knew a lot about the scriptures and Jesus. He was accurate with his information but only knew what John the Baptist said about Jesus, so he didn’t have the whole story. Pricilla and Aquila heard him speak in the synagogue and invited him home with them where they explained about Jesus to him. Apollos went to Achaia with the blessing of Christian disciples. While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul showed up in Ephesus. He met twelve men who had been baptized into John’s baptism but did not know the Holy Spirit. Paul baptized them in the name of Jesus and the Holy Spirit came upon them. Paul preached in the synagogue there for about three months. Some of the people opposed Paul’s teaching so Paul left and took the one’s that did believe with him. He taught them daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. He did this for about two years and all who lived there heard the word of the Lord. Paul performed many miracles with the Holy Spirit in him. There were some Jews who tried to drive out evil spirits in the name of Jesus; they were the seven sons of Sceva. Sceva was a Jewish priest. One day they were doing this and had an evil spirit speak to them and beat them. When the people of Ephesus found out about this they were fearful and held the name of Jesus in high honor. They turned from their evil ways and the word of the Lord spread quickly (Acts 19:20). Paul sent Timothy and Erastus as his messengers to Macedonia and Achaia, and stayed a little longer in Ephesus. A riot ended up breaking out against Paul because the gospel had turned many away from idolatry. This resulted in a decrease in revenue because Demetrius and his fellow silversmiths had a profitable business in making statuettes of the goddess. When Paul's message began to hurt their livelihood, they attempted to turn the people against Christianity. Paul gathered the believers and encouraged them when the riot had died down. He then left for Macedonia where he preached and encouraged along the way. He arrived in Greece and

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stayed 3 months. He was getting ready to sail to Syria but found out about a plot the Jews had to kill him. So instead he went back through Macedonia. He had several traveling companions who went ahead and waited at Troas. The pronoun has again changed to “we” so Luke must be with Paul again. Paul, and presumably, Luke joined the others in Troas after the Feast of Unleavened Bread in Philippi. They only stayed in Troas seven days. While they were there Paul preached past midnight. One man, Eutychus, fell asleep and fell out an upstairs window. He was picked up dead but Paul went down and put his arms around Eutychus and proclaimed him alive. Then Paul went back upstairs, broke bread, ate, continued preaching until daylight, then left (Acts 20:9-12). Paul traveling companions went ahead nand ailed for Assos. Paul was to get there by foot and join them. They all met up at Assos as planned and sailed to Mitylene, then on to Kios, and after that they crossed over to Samos and then arrived at Miletus the following day (Acts 20:13-15). Paul wanted to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and so he had to sail as fast as possible around Asia Minor without visiting the churches again. But he did stop at Ephesus and call the elders together to say goodbye and exhort them in the faith (Graves & Graves, 1995). From Ephesus Paul sailed to Cos, Rhodes, Patara, and Tyre. They stayed in Tyre seven days because they found disciples there. Then it was on to Ptolemais where they stayed a day and on to Caesarea where they stayed several days before returning to Jerusalem. Paul was warned in Caesarea not to go to Jerusalem because of the danger there. But Paul was ready to sacrifice his life for what he believed in. This concludes Paul’s three missionary Journeys’. He was able to do much good in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul was also able to encourage and strengthen the churches he planted. Although in the end he did sacrifice with his life and was proud to do so.

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“Whether Paul accomplished all he wished to is not known with any amount of certainty. However in a letter by Clement of Rome to the Corinthians written about A.D. 96, Clement states 'By reason of jealousy and strife, Paul by his example pointed out the prize of patient endurance. After that he had been seven times in bonds, had been driven into exile, had been stoned, had preached in the East and in the West, he won the noble renown which was the reward of his faith, having taught righteousness unto the whole world, and having reached the farthest bounds of the West and when he had done his testimony before the rulers, so he departed from the world and went unto the holy place, having been found a notable pattern of patient endurance.' 1 Clement 5”- (Graves & Graves, 1995).

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Jennifer Felsberg References Graves, D., & Graves, J. (1995). Paul's Missionary Journey's. Retrieved October 6, 2009, from The Scroll: http://www.abu.nb.ca/ecm/topics/event14.htm Life Application Study Bible. (1997). Grand Rapids: Tyndale House Publishers.

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