New Testament History

The apostolate of Paul

The conversion
The first visit to Jerusalem
The second visit to Jerusalem
The third visit to Jerusalem
The first missionary journey

The fourth visit to Jerusalem and the second missionary journey
The fifth visit to Jerusalem and the third missionary journey
The sixth visit to Jerusalem
The imprisonment and the release
 
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The fourth visit to Jerusalem and the second missionary journey

Paul and Barnabas attended the Apostolic Council of August 48 AD. They had stayed in Antioch for no small amount of time (Acts 14:28), from the spring of 47 AD until the summer of 48 AD, i.e. for one year. After the reunion they returned from Jerusalem to Antioch (Acts 15:30) and remained there for some time (Acts 15:33, 36). A disagreement caused Paul and Barnabas to part company (Acts 15:39). Barnabas went with John Mark to Cyprus (Acts 15:39). Paul chose Silas as his new companion (Acts 15:40).[1] Since Barnabas sailed to Cyprus (Acts 15:39), the sailing season was open at that time; Paul left in the autumn of 48 AD.[2]

Paul traversed Syria-Cilicia, Lycaonia, Phrygia, Galatia, Mysia, and Macedonia (Acts 15:41-17:14), which probably took one year, from the autumn of 48 AD until the autumn of 49 AD.[3] He was imprisoned in Iconium (Acts 16:2) but set free again after Rome had been consulted[4] (cf. 2 Tim 3:11).[5] When Paul left Macedonia, he sailed to Athens (Acts 17:14-15). He continued to Corinth (Acts 18:1), where he met the Jew Aquila, who had recently arrived from Italy because Claudius had banished the Jews from Rome (Acts 18:2). The expulsion occurred in Claudius’s year 9 (25 January 49 AD/24 January 50 AD).[6]

Gallio, a proconsul of Achaia (Acts 18:12-17), assumed office around 1 May 51 AD. Paul appeared before him in early May 51 AD, after a sojourn in Corinth of 1½ year (Acts 18:11), from November 49 AD until early May 51 AD. Paul stayed for several days longer after the summons (Acts 18:18) and left in the first half of May 51 AD.[7]

 


[1] John Mark later again became Paul’s companion; he is mentioned as “Mark, the cousin of Barnabas” (Col 4:10, trans. NJB). He is also found in Phlm: a “Mark” appears in Col 4:10, 2 Tim 4:11, and Phlm 24, and an “Onesimus” in Col 4:9 and Phlm 10; since the Onesimus of Col and Phlm is apparently the same person, the Mark mentioned in Col (one verse after Onesimus) and Phlm (14 verses after Onesimus) is likely the same person as well.

[2] Mahieu 2012: 496.

[3] Mahieu 2012: 497.

[4] A.C.E., Vie, 6:429.

[5] This visit to Iconium without Barnabas (A.C.E., Vie, 6:426) is different from the two visits with Barnabas between the spring of 46 AD and the spring of 47 AD (Acts 13:51; 14:1, 21).

[6] Orosius 7.6.15-16. Among these Jews were also Jewish Christians since Claudius expelled the Jews because of Christ: Suetonius, Claud. 25.4 (Suetonius does not date the event). Claudius began to persecute the Jews in 41 AD already: Dio Cassius 60.6.6. He still persecuted the Christians at the time of his death (13 October 54 AD; Kienast 1996: 90): A.C.E., Visionen Januar 1821, 178: “Sie sagte […] daß sie die neun Martern der dreizehnjährigen Prisca gesehen, unter anderen, wie der Löwe sich ihr zu Füßen gelegt und einen Vetter des Kaisers Claudius zerrissen, wie der Regen das Feuer verlosch, wie sie enthauptet worden, zwei Adler sie bewacht, und wie der Kaiser bald nachher gestorben.”

[7] Mahieu 2012: 497-499.