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Acts 18:21-23
New Catholic Bible
Acts 18:21-23
New Catholic Bible
21 but on taking leave of them he promised, “I will return to you, if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus. 22 When he landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the Church,[a] and then he went down to Antioch.
Ephesus[b]
Paul’s Third Missionary Journey[c]
23 Paul Strengthens the Churches. After spending some time there, he departed and traveled through the regions of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Acts 18:22 He went up and greeted the Church: although this could refer to a congregation in Caesarea, the words “he went up” indicate that it was the Church at Jerusalem, which was about 2500 feet above sea level.
- Acts 18:23 According to the author of Acts, Ephesus is the third center for the spread of God’s word. The city was a great center of commerce, and in it the cultural and religious currents of the Greco-Roman world and the East came together. Paul remains there for more than two years, and it is thought that he there wrote the Letters to the Corinthians, the Philippians, and perhaps the Galatians. Later on, the Letter to the Ephesians, one of the imprisonment letters, would be addressed to this community.
The early Church was now encountering other religious currents (besides the Judaic), and non-Jewish life was coming to the fore. The essence of the faith had to be brought out in the face of multiple cultural influences. - Acts 18:23 Paul remains at Syrian Antioch for some time, probably through the spring of 53, and then starts his third missionary journey. Setting out for Ephesus, some 1500 miles to the west, he revisits the Churches around Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. The account of this third journey focuses on his work at Ephesus (Acts 19:1—20:1).
