Illyricum

Biblical Text

Illyricum appears only once in Scripture, in Romans 15:19. In this verse Paul, looking back on his ministry, says that "from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ." He goes on to explain that he strove to preach the gospel where Christ had not yet been named, so as not to build upon another man's foundation (Romans 15:20). He then shares his plan to travel by way of Rome to Spain, since he has "no more place in these parts" (Romans 15:23-24).

Background

The name Illyricum renders the Greek Illyrikon. It derives from the Illyrians who inhabited the region and refers to the eastern coastal area of the Adriatic Sea, corresponding roughly to present-day Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and northern Albania. Rome conquered the region in stages and organized it as a province. In the early first century the province was divided into Pannonia in the north and Dalmatia in the south, but the name Illyricum reportedly remained in use afterward for the Dalmatian region or for the area as a whole.

Dalmatia, where Titus is said to have gone in 2 Timothy 4:10, is the southern part of this region. The Via Egnatia, the major Roman road running from Macedonia toward the Adriatic, extended from Thessalonica to Dyrrachium (present-day Durrës, Albania) on the Adriatic coast.

Biblical Significance

In Romans 15:19, Jerusalem and Illyricum mark the two ends of Paul's ministry in the eastern Mediterranean. Paul says that he "fully" (that is, thoroughly and completely) preached the gospel throughout this broad region. Scholars generally understand this to mean not that he reached every individual but that he laid the foundation of a church in each major city. The verse is frequently cited as an expression of Paul's missionary principle of pressing on into unreached territory.

Interpretation and Debate

The book of Acts contains no record of Paul preaching in Illyricum. As a result, interpreters differ on how to read "unto Illyricum."

• One view holds that Paul actually entered Illyricum and preached there. According to this view, during the period described in Acts 20:1-2, when Paul had "gone over those parts" of Macedonia, he may have traveled west along the Via Egnatia and reached Illyricum.
• Another view takes Illyricum as a reference to the boundary of the region Paul actually traversed. On this reading, Paul means that he preached as far as the part of Macedonia bordering Illyricum.

The text does not say when or in which city Paul carried out any ministry in Illyricum. Any account of a specific ministry by Paul in Illyricum should therefore be treated as conjecture rather than as material grounded in the text. Likewise, although Scripture records that Titus went to Dalmatia (2 Timothy 4:10), it does not say what he did there.