Paul's Journeys

What happens in Acts 15–21

The church faces its most important theological crisis: must Gentile converts become Jewish first? Must they be circumcised and follow the Law of Moses to be saved? This question could have split Christianity in two. The Jerusalem Council (Acts 15) settles it: salvation comes through grace alone, not through keeping the Jewish law. James, the brother of Jesus, delivers the verdict: 'We should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.' The council sends a letter asking Gentile believers to avoid a few practices that would make fellowship between Jewish and Gentile Christians impossible. The gospel of grace wins.

With this settled, Paul launches his missionary journeys across the Roman Empire. On his second journey, Paul and Barnabas disagree sharply over John Mark, who had abandoned them on the first trip. They split, Barnabas takes Mark to Cyprus while Paul takes Silas to Syria and beyond. Even apostles had conflicts, but God used both teams.

Paul receives a vision of a man from Macedonia saying 'Come over and help us.' This is the moment the gospel crosses into Europe. In Philippi, Paul meets Lydia, a successful businesswoman, and the Lord opens her heart. She becomes the first European convert. But Paul and Silas are soon beaten and imprisoned for casting a demon out of a slave girl (her owners lost their income). At midnight, chained in a dungeon, they sing hymns. An earthquake shakes the prison open, but no one escapes. The jailer, ready to kill himself, falls before Paul asking 'What must I do to be saved?' Paul answers with the gospel's simplest summary: 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.' The jailer and his whole family are baptized that night.

In Thessalonica, Paul preaches in the synagogue and some believe, but jealous opponents accuse him of 'turning the world upside down', ironically, one of the best descriptions of what the gospel does. In Athens, Paul stands before the Areopagus, the intellectual center of the ancient world, and engages Greek philosophy on its own terms. He quotes their own poets, points to an altar 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD,' and declares that this unknown God has now revealed Himself through Jesus and proven it by raising Him from the dead. Some mock, some are curious, and some believe.

In Corinth, Paul stays eighteen months building the church. In Ephesus, his preaching causes an uproar because it threatens the silver shrine industry built around the goddess Artemis. A riot breaks out in the theater, the same theater visitors can still see today, with the crowd chanting 'Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!' for two hours. A city clerk finally calms things down.

Paul's heart increasingly turns toward Jerusalem, even though the Spirit warns him of chains and imprisonment ahead. In a farewell address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus, Paul declares: 'I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me, the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace.' He warns them that 'savage wolves' will come after his departure and charges them to guard the flock. It is one of the most emotional scenes in Acts, the elders weep, embrace Paul, and grieve that they will never see his face again.