Acts 18.23-21.17 Intro

Paul's third missionary journey (18.23-21.17)

Throughout Paul’s third missionary journey, he showed a genuine concern for God’s people, and a steely determination to do the right thing. He performed miracles, worked to support himself, and, despite intense opposition, would not compromise the gospel.

Paul had a true shepherd heart. After planting local churches, he visited them, and wrote them. ‘Having spent some time [in Antioch], he departed and passed successively through the Galatian region and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples’ (18.23, NASB). Arriving at Ephesus, he discovered about twelve disciples who had not yet received the Holy Spirit, nor been ‘baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus’ (20.1-7). He corrected their misunderstanding, and went on to preach in the Ephesus synagogue for four months (19.8). When resisted, he disputed daily for two years in Tyrannus’ school, ‘so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus …’ (20.9, 10). A public outcry ended his time at Ephesus (19.23-41).

Paul sailed to Macedonia to teach and encourage the believers (20.1, 2). Three months in Greece ended with a Jewish assassination plot, necessitating a return through Macedonia to Philippi, where Luke re-joined him, and from where he sailed to Troas (20.3-6). At Troas, Paul broke bread with the believers, taught them late into the night, and resurrected a young man (20.7-12).

Wishing time alone, Paul walked from Troas to Assos while his companions took ship (20.13). The missionary group then sailed down the western coast of Asia Minor to Miletus, where Paul met and exhorted the Ephesian elders (20.14-28). After this, they sailed to Tyre and spent seven days with the believers (21.1-6). They sailed onward to Ptolemais. Here they met the Christians for one day (21.7). On arriving at Caesarea, they stayed with Philip the evangelist (21.7-9). Despite repeated warnings, Paul went to Jerusalem, where he was soon imprisoned. This imprisonment lasted to the end of the Acts of the Apostles.