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Gal_1:21. After this stay of fifteen days in Jerusalem ( ἔπειτα , comp. Gal_1:18), I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; and consequently was again far enough away from the seat of the apostles!
τῆς Συρίας ] As it is said in Act_9:30 that Paul was accompanied from Jerusalem to Caesarea, it is assumed by most modern expositors: “Syriae earn partem dicit, cui Phoenices nomen fuit,” Winer. So also Koppe, Rückert, Usteri, Matthies, Schott. Comp. Mat_4:24; Act_21:3. This view runs entirely counter to the design of the apostle. For here his main concern was to bring out his comparatively wide separation from Judaea, as it had occurred in his actual history; the whole context (comp. Gal_1:22) shows that it was so, and therefore the reader could only understand τῆς Συρίας as meaning Syria proper (with Antioch as its capital). It could not in the least occur to him to think of Phoenicia (which even Wieseler, though not understanding it alone to be referred to, includes), the more especially as alongside of τῆς Συρίας Cilicia, which borders on Syria proper, is immediately named (comp. Act_15:23; Act_15:41; Plin. v. 22, xviii. 30). An appeal is also wrongly made to Mat_4:24 (where, in the language of hyperbole, a very large district—namely, the whole province of Syria, of which Judaea and Samaria formed portions—is meant to be designated) and Act_21:3 (where likewise the Roman province is intended, and that only loosely and indefinitely with reference to the coast district[38]). The relation of our passage to Act_9:30 is this: On leaving Jerusalem, Paul desired to visit Syria and Cilicia; he was accordingly conducted by the Christians as far as the first stage, Caesarea (the Roman capital of Judaea, not Caesarea Philippi), and thence he went on by land to Syria and Cilicia. Comp. on Act_9:30.
For what object he visited Syria and Cilicia, he does not state; but for this very reason, and in accordance with Gal_1:5, it cannot be doubted that he preached the gospel there. Tarsus was certainly the central point of this ministry; it was at Tarsus that Barnabas sought and found him (Act_11:25).
[38] For any one sailing from Patara and passing in front of Cyprus to the right has the Syrian coast before him towards the east, and is sailing towards it. Thus indefinitely, as was suggested by the popular view and report, Luke relates, Act_21:3, ἐπλέομεν εἰς Συρίαν , without meaning by the καὶ κατήχθημεν εἰς Τύρον that follows to make this Συρίαν equivalent to Phoenicia. For instance, a man might say, “We sailed towards Denmark and landed at Glückstadt,” without intending it to be inferred that Denmark is equivalent to Holstein.