As he waited at
Troas for indications of the will of his Creator as to his future movements,
he saw, in the vision of the night, a man from the opposite shores of Macedonia
standing before him and heard him cry."Come
over and help us":.Acts
16:9.
Paul recognized in this vision
a message from the Lord and the very next day set sail across the Hellespont,
which separated him from Europe and carried the tidings of the gospel into
the Western world. In Macedonia, churches were planted in Philippi, Thessalonica
and Berea. Leaving this province, Paul passed into Achaia 'the paradise
of genius and renown'. He reached Athens, but quitted it after, probably,
a brief sojourn:.Acts
17:16-34. The Athenians had received him with cold disdain and he never
visited that city again. He passed over to Corinth, the seat of the Roman
government of Achaia and remained there a year and a half, labouring with
much success. While at Corinth, he wrote his two epistles to the church
of Thessalonica, his earliest apostolic letters and then sailed for Syria,
that he might be in time to keep the feast of Pentecost at Jerusalem.
Prior to his trip to Syria,
for some reason.(maybe
this: 1Corinthians
9:20; Romans 11:14; *),
Paul appears to have taken upon himself the old covenant Nazarite
vow:.Acts
18:18. This could only be terminated by his going up to Jerusalem to
offer up the hair which till then was to be left uncut. But it seems to
have been allowable for persons at a distance to cut the hair, which was
to be brought up to Jerusalem, where the ceremony was completed. This Paul
did at Cenchrea just before setting out on his voyage into Syria.
On another occasion.(Acts
21:23-26), at the feast of Pentecost,
Paul took on himself again the Nazarite vow. "The
ceremonies involved took a longer time than Paul had at his disposal, but
the law permitted a man to share the vow if he could find companions who
had gone through the prescribed ceremonies and who permitted him to join
their company. This permission was commonly granted if the newcomer paid
all the fees required from the whole company.(fee
to the Levite for cutting the hair and fees for sacrifices).and
finished the vow along with the others. Four Jewish Christians were performing
the vow and would admit Paul to their company, provided he paid their expenses.
Paul consented, paid the charges and when the last seven days of the vow
began he went with them to live in the temple, giving the usual notice
to the priests that he had joined in regular fashion, was a sharer with
the four men and that his vow would end with theirs. Nazarites retired
to the temple during the last period of seven days, because they could
be secure there against any accidental defilement."....Lindsay's
Acts.
Paul was accompanied by Aquila
and Priscilla to Syria, whom he left at Ephesus, at which he touched, after
a voyage of thirteen or fifteen days. He landed at Caesarea and went up
to Jerusalem, and having "saluted the church" there and kept the feast,
he left for Antioch, where he abode for awhile:.Acts
18:20-23.
He then began his.third
missionary tour.(map
of third journey). He journeyed
by land in the upper coasts.(the
more eastern parts).of
Asia Minor and at length made his way to Ephesus, where he tarried for
no less than three years, engaged in ceaseless Christian labour. This city
was at the time the Liverpool of the Mediterranean. It possessed a splendid
harbour, in which was concentrated the traffic of the sea, which was then
the highway of the nations and as Liverpool has behind her the great towns
of Lancashire, so had Ephesus behind and around her such cities as those
mentioned along with her in the epistles.(letters).to
the churches in the book of Revelation, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis,
Philadelphia and Laodicea.(both
the FreeBible and
the Online Bible have maps of Paul's journeys).
It was a city of vast wealth and it was given over to every kind of pleasure,
the fame of its theatres and race course being world wide.(Stalker's
Life
of St. Paul). Here a "great door
and effectual" was opened to the apostle. His fellow labourers aided him
in his work, carrying the gospel to Colosse and Laodicea and other places
which they could reach.
Very shortly before his departure
from Ephesus, the apostle wrote his First Epistle to the Corinthians.
The silversmiths, whose
traffic in the little images which they made was in danger.(see
Demetrius),
organized a riot against Paul and he left the city and proceeded to Troas.(2Corinthians
2:12), whence after some time he
went to meet Titus in
Macedonia. Here, in consequence of the report Titus brought from Corinth,
he wrote his second epistle to that church. Having spent probably most
of the summer and autumn in Macedonia, visiting the churches there, specially
the churches of Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea, probably penetrating
into the interior, to the shores of the Adriatic.(Romans
15:19). He then came into Greece,
where he abode three months, spending probably the greater part of this
time in Corinth:.Acts
20:2. During his stay in this city he wrote his.Epistle.(formal
letter).to
the
Galatians.and
also the great.Epistle
to the
Romans.
At the end of the three months he left Achaia for Macedonia, thence crossed
into Asia Minor and touching at Miletus, there addressed the Ephesian
presbyters, whom he had sent for to meet him.(Acts
20:17).and
then sailed for Tyre, finally reaching Jerusalem, probably in the spring
of 58 A.D.
