The Acts of the Apostles

How the Gospel was carried from Jerusalem to Rome

David M Pearce

Chapter 7

The Gospel reaches Europe

After the favourable decision of the Council at Jerusalem, Paul enjoyed a period of tranquillity at Antioch which must have been one of the happiest times of his life. The controversy over membership of Gentiles had been resolved, and his brothers and sisters, both Jew and Gentile, could grow together in knowledge, love and grace.

Eventually, however, the urge to return to his work of preaching seized him once more, and he held a consultation with his friend Barnabas. "Let us return" he suggested, "and visit the brethren in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are" (Acts 15:36 ). Barnabas was happy to go, but insisted they should take his relative John Mark as their assistant. An unhappy quarrel developed, because although Mark had gone with them during their first expedition, he had abandoned the work after they left Cyprus and returned to Jerusalem. Paul wanted someone more reliable; Barnabas stuck up for his young cousin. It is surprising, after working together for so many years, that the two veterans should have had such an argument, but neither would give way, and a rift developed which could not be healed. We are left with the embarrassing spectacle of the partners going separate ways. Barnabas and Mark set off for Cyprus, his native island,

while Paul teamed up with Silas, who had moved to Antioch from Jerusalem. It should be added that in later years Mark must have redeemed himself in Paul's eyes, for later he is mentioned with approval in three of Paul's letters. We all make mistakes when we are young, and no one deserves to be branded for life because of an early weakness. Besides, Paul himself probably mellowed as he got older.

Paul and Silas spent some time in Galatia, visiting their old friends and passing on the decisions of the elders at Jerusalem. At Lystra Paul invited a young disciple called Timothy to join his band. Timothy became his assistant, replacing John Mark, and stayed faithful to the apostle's service right to the end of Paul's life. He became as close as a son, and Paul's two letters to Timothy are the most personal and tender in the New Testament.

At this stage Paul seems to have been given strong hints about where he should go next. The record in Acts is cryptic – they were "forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia" … "they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them". "A vision appeared to Paul in the night. He saw a man of Macedonia … saying 'come over to Macedonia and help us'" (Acts 16:7, 8, 9 ). Evidently the Lord Jesus was deciding their priorities. One result of this manoeuvring was a stay at Troas, a sea port on the northwest coast of Turkey, where someone else joined Paul's travelling company. The fact is not underlined, and the person is not named, but as we read through Acts chapter 16 the grammar alters abruptly between verse 9 and verse 10. It changes from 'they', in the third person, to 'we', in the first person plural. With one brief exception, it stays that way for the rest of Acts. The implication is that the writer of the book of Acts, Luke, is now reporting to us what he experienced firsthand. We thus discover that Luke, the doctor, came from Troas. His presence during Paul's journey is confirmed by occasional mention of his name in Paul's letters.

Mount Korab, Republic of Macedonia.
Photo by Don Macedone

The province of Macedonia was part of Greece, on the opposite side of the Aegean Sea to Troas. Paul boarded a ship and sailed part of the way, coasting northwards in two days to Neapolis, not far from modern Thessalonika, averaging 75 miles per day. This excellent time implies a following wind or, as Luke puts it, "a direct voyage" (Acts 16:11) . As they landed at Neapolis, the travellers crossed over an invisible boundary into what we now call Europe. The gospel was marching west.

Philippi, a few miles inland, was Paul's next stop. There was no synagogue in that city, but the Jews who lived there met for prayer outdoors on the bank of a river. By coincidence, a business woman from Thyratira, 300 miles south, was among the worshippers. Lydia was a trader in purple cloth, and may well have come to Philippi looking for customers. She was deeply moved by Paul's quiet reasoning, and was eventually baptised, along with other members of her family.

We do not know how long Paul spent at Philippi, but his sojourn there came to an abrupt and dramatic end. He had just healed a mentally disturbed slave girl. Her masters, annoyed because people used to pay them for her to tell their fortunes, dragged Paul and Silas before the magistrates of the city.

Philippi's forum and basilica as seen from the acropolis CC

"These men are Jews" they cried. It was an old ruse, guaranteed to arouse emotions. "They advocate customs which it is not lawful for us Romans to accept or practise" (Acts 16:20, 21). Without a trial, Paul and Silas were stripped, beaten heavily with rods and thrown into prison. The ruins of this ancient stone building are still shown to tourists, and it is easy to picture the two bruised disciples sitting side by side in the darkness, trying to keep their sore and bleeding backs from touching the wall. Sleep was impossible, so they passed the time in prayer and singing hymns. The sound of their voices, cheerful and confident in adversity, rings down the years to inspire all who suffer for Christ. It made a strong impression on the prison keeper. At midnight, a sudden deep rumbling hit the prison, followed by a violent earthquake tremor that shook the walls and loosed the prisoners' chain staples from their sockets. The terrified jailer ran to the prison, where Paul assured him that all the prisoners were still there, alive. His reaction was to take Paul and Silas upstairs into his own house and wash their wounds. He had never had prisoners like this before.

The irrepressible Paul, battered and shocked, at once seized on an opportunity. In the middle of the night he set to work to preach the gospel to the jailer and his family. Regardless of the cost to himself, he was always ready to save souls, and before long the jailer joined the infant church of Philippi.

Next day Paul left Philippi, Luke staying behind to look after the newly baptised disciples. Travelling southwest along the coast, he and Silas stopped at Thessalonica and Berea, but suffered from mob violence at both places. After Berea, the brethren decided Paul's life was in great danger, and escorted him down the coast road to Athens, leaving Timothy and Silas to follow more slowly on foot. This meant that Paul found himself in the capital city of Greece with time on his hands, waiting for his friends to catch up with him. What should he do till they arrived? What would you have done with a few days to spare in Athens? There was plenty of sightseeing, then as now, with the soaring pillars of the Acropolis white in the sun, the elegant temples, the busy shops and taverns humming with people. It would be easy to persuade yourself you deserved a break after the troubled time at Berea, and enjoy the attractions of the big city.

Athens and the AcropolisPhoto by Christophe Meneboeufv CC

Not so Paul. For him, the teeming crowds at Athens were a challenge – thousands of lost souls, doomed to perish unless he could win them to the service of Christ. The fact he was the only Christian in Athens did not deter him in the least. "He argued in the synagogue with the Jews" writes Luke "and in the market place every day with those who chanced to be there" (Acts 17:17) . What an example he is to us, when so often we discreetly hide our light under a bushel and let the world go by. Paul's teaching came to the ears of the philosophers of Athens, the descendants of Pythagoras, Aristotle and Plato, who had flourished in an earlier age. They conducted him to an open-air forum, the Areopagus, and asked for a resume of his beliefs. It was a golden opportunity, and Paul did his best, spicing his arguments with quotations from the Greek poets, to prove that there is only one God. That great, loving, Creator God, he warned, calls on all men to repent, because a Day of Judgement is coming, which has been guaranteed by an incontrovertible fact, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Paul's arguments were sound, but the wise men were unimpressed. Some laughed at him. Others put him off to another day.

Corinth CC

Disappointed, Paul moved on to Corinth. This was a great city where ships for Athens took a short cut over-landed to save the long trip round the southern isthmus. It teemed with a commercial population that was different to aristocratic Athens, a bit like Liverpool compared with Oxford. Here he decided to preach a very simple gospel. "When I came to you" he reminds them years afterwards, "I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom" That approach had not worked at Athens. Instead "I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified … that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God" (1 Corinthians 2:2,5). Paul's experience was bitter, but true to life. Professors and princes have always found it hard to listen to God. It is the fishermen and farmers, the tent makers and tradesmen, who are humble enough to accept that we are all sinners, and desperately in need of the mercy of God.

After a long and fruitful stay at Corinth, Paul eventually sailed back to Palestine and Antioch, full of the tales of his campaign. His second journey was complete. But it was not long, naturally, before he decided to set off on the road again.

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

Used with permission