To set in bold relief the final episode at Ephesus, Luke, as he has done before (18:21; compare 15:36), breaks in with an overview of Paul's future movements expressed though his desires. Though there is a description of the intervening stops on the itinerary—Macedonia, Achaia, Jerusalem—the emphasis is on the final destination, Rome (23:11; Rom 1:13-15; 15:30-32). The NIV presents these plans as simply Paul's human desires and purposes: Paul decided. This translates the admittedly ambiguous phrase "he purposed in the spirit" (his spirit or the Holy Spirit?—compare the equally ambiguous Acts 20:22 and the definite 21:4). When this phrase is taken in combination with the must of the next sentence (dei, a term often used by Luke to indicate divine necessity—for example Lk 4:43; 9:22; 17:25; 22:37; Acts 1:21-22; 3:21; 9:16; 23:11; 27:24), Luke seems to be declaring Paul's conviction by the power of the Spirit that it is God's will for him to continue pursuing his calling by preaching the gospel in Rome. Once the northeastern portion of the Mediterranean basin is evangelized, there will be no more room for the apostle to the Gentiles to work (Rom 15:23). What better way to fulfill a calling to all the nations, to "kings" and the small and the great, than to proclaim the message of the kingdom at the very center of it all, the capital of the Empire? Through his converts, in centrifugal fashion, he can then reach to the ends of the earth, even the regions of the west, including Spain, which he also hoped to evangelize personally (Acts 9:15; 26:22; Rom 15:24). Ever the strategic thinker, ever under the Spirit's guidance, Paul plans for this divinely ordained "new Macedonia." And he works his plan by sending Timothy and Erastus to get a collection for him to take to Jerusalem (Rom 15:26).

Today the church desperately needs to listen to visionary strategists whose "mission advance and church growth" eyes help them define and articulate the task in doable terms. They call the church to finish the task: "It can be done; it ought to be done; it must be done—a church for every people and the gospel for every person."