Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Acts 18:22 - 18:23
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Act_18:22-23
22When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and went down to Antioch. 23And having spent some time there, he left and passed successively through the Galatian region and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.
Act_18:22 Act_18:21 ends with Paul sailing from Ephesus. Act_18:22 has him landing in Palestine (Caesarea) and visiting the church in Jerusalem ("he went up," theologically speaking) and then (down) to Antioch of Syria. It must be remembered that Luke is not recording a daily exhaustive travel itinerary, but jumping from one significant theological event to another. Acts is not modern history, but it is a good, accurate history! Act_18:22 ends the second missionary journey and Act_18:23 begins the third missionary journey.
▣ "the church" See Special Topic at Act_5:11.
▣ "the Galatian region and Phrygia" This phrase "Galatian region" is still the source of controversy among scholars as to whether this refers to racial or political divisions within modern central Turkey.
The Phrygian region is first mentioned in Act_2:10. Some who experienced Pentecost were from this area. Paul was forbidden to preach in this area in Act_16:6.
One wonders if the phrase "strengthening all the disciples" in the latter part of Act_18:23 refers to Pentecost converts in Phrygia or Paul's converts in Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium, which were in the Pisidian southern part of the Roman province of Galatia.
This is the beginning of Paul's third missionary journey (cf. Act_18:23 to Act_21:16).
▣ "strengthening all the disciples" Paul took the Great Commission of Mat_28:19-20 seriously. His ministry involved both evangelism (cf. Mat_28:19) and discipleship (cf. Act_15:36; Mat_28:20).