Missionary Journey of the Apostle Paul

The second missionary journey of the Apostle Paul

Shortly after the missionary journey of the Apostle Paul to Jerusalem and the crisis over Jewish law, Apostle Paul set out on the second missionary journey of the Apostle Paul, which occurred between the years of 53 and 57 AD and took him to Galatia, Troas, Phillipi, Salonica, Athens and Corinth, all cities in the Grecian part of the Roman Empire. Barnabas wished to take Mark along again, but Paul refused because Mark had backed out midway on their first trip. So Barnabas and Mark journeyed together to Cyprus, and Apostle Paul went on without them. He did take along two other followers though, Silas and Timothy. Timothy was a Gentile with a Jewish mother, and it was reported that Paul circumcised him, which seems unlikely in view of his strong beliefs against such practices, but not impossible if his work at the time was in Jewish communities.

Third missionary journey of the Apostle Paul

During the third missionary journey of the Apostle Paul, he covered much of the same territory as his second trip, only this time he spent two and a half to three years in Ephesus, where he'd been prevented from establishing a church on his second visit by the intervention of the Holy Spirit. Ephesus, besides being a major port, was an ancient Greek city noted for its temple to Artemis. There were followers of John the Baptist in the area and also other Christian missionaries. The trip was a dangerous one, for Apostle Paul mentions in his letters not only that he was imprisoned, but that on part of his journey he had to fight off wild beasts.

It was during the period of his third missionary journey of the Apostle Paul, that he wrote his most important letters, which cover a whole range of issues including:

• how Christians shouldn't associate with immoral persons;
• the problem of rival teachers;
• problems of marriage and divorce; disorderly conduct at services;
• a definition of love;
• the practice of speaking in tongues; which foods a Gentile Christian might eat; and
• a case of incest that had gone unrebuked. Paul's advice that Jewish law did not have to be followed by Gentile converts had been twisted to mean open immorality.

The letters consistently show that Apostle Paul was especially devoted to protecting the life and teachings of Christ from being modified to suit Jewish practices or Greek philosophical ideas. And Paul the Apostle repeatedly reminded his followers of their responsibilities to each other, thus providing some of the basic ideas of Christianity.