Acts 18:22

Sunday, 16 July 2023

 

And when he had landed at Caesarea, and gone up and greeted the church, he went down to Antioch. Acts 18:22

 

Luke uses participles to keep the motion rolling along. The verse more accurately reads, “And having landed at Caesarea, having gone up and having greeted the church, he went down to Antioch” (CG).

 

In the previous verse, Paul took leave of those in Ephesus, noting that he needed to keep the coming feast in Jerusalem. He did, however, commit to returning if it was the Lord’s will. With that, it now says, “And having landed at Caesarea.”

 

Probably to show the hurried nature of Paul’s travels, Luke skips all of the interim stops that would have been made as the ship traveled the long distance from Ephesus to Caesarea. He will continue to convey almost nothing about what Paul does for what would be an extended period of time, brushing over many major events in just two verses.

 

Upon arriving at Caesarea, he would probably have visited friends there, maybe including Philip the Evangelist who will be introduced in Acts 21. Or it might be that he secured passage to Jerusalem and went right there. As it next says, “having gone up and having greeted the church.”

 

All of his time in Jerusalem is summed up in five Greek words. Even the name of the city is left out of Luke’s narrative. And yet, there would have been a considerable amount of things he did, including spending a week enjoying the feast he had mentioned in the previous verse to those in the synagogue in Ephesus. Likewise, he had family in Jerusalem that he surely would have visited. Also, during that time, there surely would have been long periods of telling all that had happened in his previous years of travel. Despite that, Luke next records that after this, “he went down to Antioch.”

 

Some scholars believe this is the time when the events of Galatians 2:11-14 occur. As noted in the commentary on Acts 15:35, that is unlikely. Rather, Paul would have received his welcome and then he would have surely spent a great deal of time repeating all that he had been up to over the past three years, just as he would have done in Jerusalem. Despite this, these words are all that is recorded concerning the trip to the church that sent him forth with Silas some three years earlier (Acts 15:40).

 

Life application: The amazing brevity of Luke’s words now is instructive. God is revealing to us things that are pertinent to our spiritual lives. Despite the considerable time involved in the trip from Ephesus to Jerusalem and then on to Antioch, nothing that occurred was relevant to the redemptive narrative that is found in the pages of Scripture.

 

This may have been Luke’s way of expressing Paul’s desire to get back onto the mission field, but it is ultimately information that was inspired by the Holy Spirit. In just a few verses, Paul will again be in Ephesus, and the narrative of his time there will slow down to a crawl as minute details of events are brought forth by Luke.

 

Pay heed to these things as you read Scripture. We are being given just what God feels we need to understand the history of the church and the unfolding of His plan of the ages for His people. At this point in the narrative, God is moving away from having His attention on Israel, Jerusalem, and the Jewish people and onto the Gentile areas of the world.

 

The next time Paul is in Jerusalem, Luke will spend a great deal of time explaining the events that take place. And yet, those details will confirm this movement from Jew to Gentile and from Jerusalem and Israel to the nations beyond. Contemplate such things and know that we are being given valuable insights into the very mind and heart of God.

 

Heavenly Father, Your word is an incredible journey through the history of mankind as it reveals how we are being brought back to a close and intimate relationship with You once again. May we carefully and methodically consider each detail of this precious treasure all of our days. Thank You for this wonderful word! Amen.