Missionary Journeys of Paul

Biblical Text and Content

The book of Acts gives a continuous account of how Paul, sent out by the church at Antioch, preached the gospel in many regions. Scripture does not number the journeys. They are commonly divided into three, however, according to the pattern of Paul's departures from and returns to Antioch.

• First journey (Acts 13–14): At the direction of the Holy Spirit, the church laid hands on Paul and sent him out, and he departed with Barnabas. They passed through Cyprus and went on to Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. Mark, who had accompanied them, turned back at Perga. After this journey, the question of whether Gentile believers should be required to be circumcised was taken up at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15).
• Second journey (Acts 15:36–18:22): After parting ways with Barnabas over whether Mark should accompany them, Paul set out with Silas. Timothy joined them at Lystra. At Troas, Paul saw a vision of a man of Macedonia asking for help (Acts 16:9), after which he crossed over to Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, and Corinth. In Corinth he met Priscilla and Aquila and stayed a year and six months.
• Third journey (Acts 18:23–21:16): Paul passed through Galatia and Phrygia and taught at length in Ephesus. Acts 20:31 describes that period as "the space of three years." He then traveled through Macedonia and Greece, and after delivering a farewell address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus, he went up to Jerusalem.

The voyage in which Paul was taken as a prisoner to Rome, recorded in Acts 27–28, is sometimes called a separate "fourth journey."

Background

Paul traveled along the roads and sea routes of the Roman Empire, visiting chiefly major cities. He usually preached first in the Jewish synagogue and then turned to the Gentiles. His stay in Corinth is commonly dated to the early AD 50s on the basis of the reference to the proconsul Gallio (Acts 18:12) and an inscription that mentions him. Scholars differ somewhat on the chronology of the journeys as a whole.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

These journeys show how the words of Acts 1:8, "ye shall be witnesses unto me... unto the uttermost part of the earth," came to be fulfilled in the Gentile world. Many of the Pauline epistles are regarded either as letters to churches founded during these journeys or as letters written while Paul was traveling. For example, 1 Thessalonians is commonly thought to have been written from Corinth during the second journey, and Romans near the end of the third journey.

Interpretations and Points of Debate

• The division into "three journeys" is a later scheme. In particular, the boundary between the second and third journeys is not clearly marked in the text.
• Views differ on the recipients of Galatians. The South Galatian theory identifies them as the churches in the southern region founded during the first journey, while the North Galatian theory locates them in the northern region.
• Acts 16:15 and 16:33 record that the entire households of Lydia and of the Philippian jailer were baptized. Denominations that practice infant baptism, such as Presbyterians and Methodists, cite these passages as support for household baptism. Baptists and others hold that the text does not say infants were included (see infant baptism debate).
• According to tradition, Paul was released from imprisonment in Rome and went as far as Spain. This tradition rests on Paul's stated plans in Romans 15:24, 28 and on early church tradition; it is not recorded in Acts.

In Korean Churches

In Korean Protestant churches, the journeys are frequently cited in sermons on missions and when commissioning teams for short-term missions, and the church at Antioch is presented as a model of a missionary church. Pilgrimages touring the sites of Paul's journeys in Türkiye and Greece are also common among Korean Christians.