Paul Begins His Third Missionary Journey: Strengthening, Straightening-out, Starting Churches

“After spending some time there, he (Paul) departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples…And when he (Apollos) wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.” Acts 18:23; 27-28. (ESV).

One verse in Acts 18:23 tells us of the beginning of Paul’s third missionary journey.  But the entire account of that important outreach is recorded in Acts 18:23 through Acts 21:16.  Various of Paul’s letters also add light on this journey as well as Luke’s summary account in Acts.  This journey began about 52 A. D. and lasted for five years, until 57 A. D.  It was primarily in the area of Ephesus and vicinity, a Roman province in Asia Minor.  Ephesus was a major commercial center.  The temple to Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was located at Ephesus. An eunuch priest was in charge of the Artemis shrine, and many virgin women participated in the rituals. The grandly constructed theater, reputedly with seating for 20,000, was enlarged under the orders of Emperor Claudius while Paul was in the city.  The theater was not the temple to Artemis, for it stood in another location, but theater events were begun by attendees chanting “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.”  In addition to the temple to Artemis, emperor worship was rife, with worship centers honoring Emperor Julius Caesar, the goddess Roma and other Roman leaders considered divine.  Ruins of the large Byzantine Church of Mary have been uncovered in archaeological explorations, as well as the large agora (marketplace), elaborate private dwellings and gardens, and evidence of silversmiths’ work.  Paul indeed went into a large, busy, pagan, challenging city to take the gospel.

Paul had promised persons in Ephesus (see Acts 18:21) that he would return to them if God willed.  He traveled overland from Antioch in Syria, going northwestward through Tarsus and Derbe in Cilicia, Lystra and Iconium in Cappadocia, on through Galatia and to Antioch in Pisidia.  We are told that in these places he “strengthened the disciples.”  In these three words of summary lie much to be imagined:  Paul greeting believers he and his team had led to Christ previously; inquiring of their health, both physical and spiritual; hearing stories of their church outreach and missions; teaching them further the great truths of the gospel.  We all like reunions; Paul was enjoying a reunion with those he had led into the kingdom of God through his earlier contacts with them.  And from these places he went on to Ephesus to fulfill his promise to return to them.  There he heard about Apollos, a native of Alexandria in Egypt, who had gone to Ephesus preaching and teaching.  He had much enthusiasm and success, eloquence and scholarship. But he knew only the “baptism of John” (John the Baptist, who preached repentance).  He had not heard fully of Jesus and His sacrificial death, burial and resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Paul’s friends, Aquila and Priscilla, whom Paul had left in Ephesus earlier, set Apollos straight in his doctrine and teachings.  Not embarrassing him publicly, they took him aside and instructed him more fully in the Way.  When he wished to go to Achaia (in particular, to Corinth) to witness, a letter of recommendation was prepared to introduce Apollos.   He was a powerful witness there, showing in public declamation that Jesus was the Christ.  Apollos evidently returned to Corinth and was with Paul when the latter wrote I Corinthians (see I Cor. 16:12).  Paul’s third missionary journey would strengthen believers, teach pure doctrine and start some new churches.  He taught us how missions should be done, with the modern missions movement following the pattern recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.  Selah.   

Paul’s Second Missionary Journey Ends at Antioch

“After this Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila.  At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow.  And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.  When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined.  But on taking leave of them he said, ‘I will return to you if God wills,’ and he set sail from Ephesus.  When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch.” –Acts 18:18-22 (ESV).

Paul ended his second missionary journey at Antioch in Syria, his sponsoring church, the one that had laid hands on him and Silas and sent them out.  What Luke recorded of it is from Acts 15:36 through 18:22.  When I think of any of Paul’s missionary journeys, I am reminded of a good teacher friend of mine, Rachel Higdon, now enjoying her reward in heaven.  Being a teacher of history and French, as well as an excellent student of and teacher of the Bible, she always wanted a map to point out the places mentioned in the Bible.  With Acts, she had a “map-happy” time with her teaching, because she had such knowledge from ancient history she shared as she taught the Word.  “We are talking about real people here,”  she would emphasize, “and real places!”  She would invite us always to imagine the dangers Paul faced on land and on sea as he traveled, and remind us of the compelling force of the Holy Spirit that propelled him on from place to place to complete his divinely-appointed mission.  In today’s passage, Paul stayed “many days longer” at Corinth—longer, perhaps, than the 1 and ½ years previously stated.  When he decided to set sail for Antioch of Syria, his friends and co-tentmakers, Aquila and Priscilla accomaanied with him.  Their first stop was at Cenchreae, about 6 ½ miles eastward from Corinth, the city of Corinth’s main port to the Aegean Sea. At that town, Paul got a haircut, but it had to do with his Nazarite vow (see Numbers 6:1-21 for laws concerning this rite). We are not told what the vow involved but it could have been one of gratitude or in fulfillment of his dedication to God.  They sailed to Ephesus in Asia Minor and there Priscilla and Aquila stayed to strengthen the ministry there.  The Christians at Ephesus begged Paul to stay, but he declined, saying he would return if God willed.  This invitation was the basis of Paul’s third missionary journey, as we will see later.  One sentence summarized the last very long lap of finishing up his second missionary journey.  From Ephesus the ship took the coastal route south eastward, weaving though islands, including Rhodes, the largest one, to the west of the ship’s route.  Then a long Mediterranean Sea journey southeastward to Caesarea in Palestine.  By orverland road to “the church”—which everyone understood to be at Jerusalem—and then northward overland through Damascus and Syria up to Antioch.  Paul had been gone for well over two years and had traveled thousands of miles, preached many sermons, taught many lessons, had personal advisement sessions, worked to make his own way, written his first epistles, been imprisoned, beaten, accused, reviled, had to sneak away at nighttime to avoid more persecution.  And here he was, safely back at his home church!  Can you imagine the joy of greetings and the crowds that gathered each time he gave his “missionary report”?  They might have asked, “Paul, will you stay here awhile?”  And this anointed, itinerant preacher would no doubt have answered:  “I can’t quit yet (can’t retire yet)!  God has more work for me to do!”  And soon he would launch upon his third missionary journey.  The gospel came to us on its way to someone else, just as it had to Paul on the road to Damascus.  Faithfulness marked Paul’s Christian call.  Where does the Lord want you to faithfully witness, diligently labor in His “harvest field”?  “For the fields are white already to harvest”…(John 4:35).  There’s an urgency now about getting the harvest of souls in:  “For the night cometh when no man can work” (John 9:4).

Paul’s Witness in Corinth

“After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.  And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.  And he went to see them, and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.  And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks…And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.’  And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.”  -Acts 18:1-4; 9-11. (ESV.  Read Acts 18:1-16).

Still on his second missionary journey, Paul stayed in the city of Corinth in Greece for a year and a half.  He had a good ministry there, established a strong church, and wrote his letters to the Thessalonian church while there.  He also “made his own way” financially by plying his trade of tentmaker, working in the shop of two Christian Jews, Aquila and Priscilla. Corinth was located about 46 miles west of Athens.  A Roman colony, it was the most influential city in the province of Achaia both economically and politically.  The major town was two miles inland from the seaport.  The city was set at the foot of Acrocorinth, a mountain that rose to over 1800 feet in elevation.  The famed Greek city of Corinth, famous for its wealth in bronze and other metals, was destroyed in 146 B. C. in a war with Rome.  It was reestablished as a Roman colony in 44 B. C.  Much archaeological work has been done in Corinth.  There is evidence of this 100-year gap in the city’s history.  In Paul’s time there, he would have seen temples to Apollo, Aphrodyte, Asklepois (god of healing) and others, including emperor worship and a shrine to Emperor Augustus’s sister Octavia.  Paul provided a faithful witness in the midst of this pagan stronghold.

When he stayed any length of time in a place, Paul made his way by making tents.  He became fast friends of Aquila and his wife Priscilla, likewise tentmakers. In his “old” life in the Jewish religion, Paul was a Rabbi.  A rabbi could take no money for teaching and must make his own way.  Likewise, when he became a Christian, Paul held to the belief that he should work at his trade to make a living. Jews had adages to encourage work:  “Love work; he who does not teach his son a trade teaches him robbery.” When Silas and Timothy arrived in Corinth, Paul was already working, both at his trade and as an example to the Jews.  But it was not long until the Jews began to revile him and forbade his teaching in the synagogue. In symbolic action of dismissing the Jews, Paul shook out his garments.  It was similar to shaking the dust from one’s shoes when hospitality and acceptance had been denied.  Paul got a place to teach next door to the synagogue in the house of Titus Justus. Crispus, ruler of the synagogue, and his household were converted, as were many of the Corinthians.  Soon, God appeared to Paul in a vision at night and reaffirmed his mission to the Gentiles, promising him safety and souls for his labors: “I have many in the city who are my people,” a promise and prediction of those who would come to the Lord there through Paul’s evangelistic efforts. The Jews sought to stop Paul, bringing charges against him to Gallio the proconsul of the province. However, Gallio ruled that it was a matter for the Jews themselves to settle in their synagogue, for it was a judgment not of a civil nature but of the Jewish law.  Dr. William Barclay comments:  “In this passage we see the indisputable value of a Christian life.  Gallio knew that there was no fault which could be found with Paul and his friends.  The only unanswerable argument for Christianity is a Christian.”  (Barclay.  The Daily Study Bible: Acts.  Philadelphia: Westminster, 1955, p. 149).  The results of Paul’s labors in Corinth can only be measured in eternity. He was faithful to the vision God gave him and worked both by example and through the Word to build a strong church there.  Amen!