Step 12 - Mission

Era summary

God uses Paul and others to take the good news about Jesus to non-Jewish people all over the known world.

Era Overview

Figure: Paul
Location: Antioch
  1. Antioch to Galatia – Pauls first journey
  2. Antioch to Greece – Pauls second journey
  3. Antioch to Asia – Pauls third journey
  4. Rome – Paul taken to Rome and executed

See the details page here for more maps:

 

Map:
Map of Pauls imprisonment journey

Event Summary

  1. First Journey : Paul and Barnabus travel to Galatia and take the gospel to Gentiles living there.
  2. Second Journey : Second Missionary Journey: Greece for three years
  3. Third Journey : Third Missionary Journey: Asia for four years
  4. Trials and Imprisonment : Paul is arrested, sent to Rome for trial and dies there

Event Details

First Journey

First Missionary Journey: Galatia for two years

(Acts 13— 14)

In Paul’s first missionary journey, he and Barnabas are selected by the Holy Spirit to travel to Galatia and take the gospel to Gentiles living there. They depart from Antioch, the point of departure for all three missionary journeys, and are in Galatia for two years, experiencing encouraging results. After they return to Jerusalem, a council is held amid much controversy, which determines that the Gentiles do not have to become Jewish in addition to becoming Christians.

Second Journey

Second Missionary Journey: Greece for three years

(Acts 15— 17)

Paul leaves from Antioch to visit the believers from his first journey. However, he receives a vision of a man in Macedonia (Greece) and changes his plans, going to Greece with the gospel message for the Gentiles there. He travels in Greece for three years.

Third Journey

Third Missionary Journey: Asia for four years

(Acts 18— 21).

Again, Paul leaves to encourage the believers from his first two trips and to spread the message of the gospel into Asia. He has great success and great opposition. In Ephesus, the whole city breaks out in riot over his visit. Though Paul is warned that he will be imprisoned upon his return to Jerusalem, he returns anyway, after being in Asia for four years, and is immediately arrested.

Trials and Imprisonment

Trials and Imprisonment: Roman prison for two years

(Acts 22— 28)

Jewish leaders in Jerusalem have Paul arrested on false charges. Since his life is threatened there, even under guard, he is moved to Caesarea, the Roman capital in the area. There, he is tried under three men: Felix, Festus, and Agrippa. In order to thwart a miscarriage of justice in the process, Paul exercises his right as a Roman citizen to take his case before Caesar in Rome. He is taken to Rome, but his case never comes to trial. After being in a Roman prison for two years, it is said he was beheaded (the established means of execution for a Roman citizen).

Extra Notes

The Conversion of Saul Acts 9:1-19
Peter’s Ministry in Judea Acts 9:31-11:18
The Mission of Barnabas and Paul Acts 13:1-14:28
The First Great Council Acts 15:1-35
St Paul’s 2nd and 3rd Missions Acts 15:36-28:31
The Destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the Old Covenant  70AD Hebrews 8:6-13 and 9:8