Paul made four great missionary journeys. The first took him and Barnabas through Cyprus and into Asia Minor. The second took him through Galatia and into Macedonia and Greece. The third centered on Ephesus, where he stayed for three years. The fourth was not a missionary journey at all: he was arrested in Jerusalem and taken to Rome as a prisoner.
The First Journey (c. 47–49 AD)
Sent out from Antioch by the church there, Paul and Barnabas travelled first to Cyprus, then to Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe in Asia Minor. The journey is recorded in Acts 13–14. The pattern Paul established here would be repeated: he began in the synagogue, preached to Jews and God-fearers, was opposed by some, and turned to Gentiles.
The Second Journey (c. 50–53 AD)
After the Council of Jerusalem, Paul set out again, this time with Silas, and later joined by Timothy and Luke. He travelled through Asia Minor, crossed into Macedonia, and established churches at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. He then went south to Athens and spent eighteen months at Corinth. The journey is recorded in Acts 16–18.
The Third Journey (c. 54–58 AD)
Paul returned to Asia Minor and settled at Ephesus for three years, the longest stay of any of his journeys. From Ephesus he wrote 1 Corinthians. He then travelled through Macedonia and Greece, wrote 2 Corinthians and Romans, and returned to Jerusalem. The journey is recorded in Acts 19–21.
The Fourth Journey (c. 59–60 AD)
Paul was arrested in Jerusalem and imprisoned at Caesarea Maritima for two years. When he appealed to Caesar, he was sent by ship to Rome, with a stop at Malta after a shipwreck. He arrived in Rome around 60 AD and spent two years under house arrest, preaching and writing. The journey is recorded in Acts 27–28.
Peter
Peter is harder to trace than Paul. He was in Antioch, where Paul confronted him over table fellowship with Gentiles (Galatians 2:11–14). He wrote to Christians scattered across Asia Minor (1 Peter 1:1). By the end of his life, tradition places him in Rome, and the earliest reference to his martyrdom there is in 1 Clement, written around 96 AD.
1 Clement on Peter and Paul
“Let us set before our eyes the good apostles. Peter, through unjust envy, endured not one or two but many labours, and at last, having delivered his testimony, departed unto the place of glory due to him. Through envy Paul obtained the prize of endurance, having taught righteousness to the whole world, and having gone to the limits of the West, he gave testimony before the rulers, and so departed from the world and was taken up into the holy place.”
1 Clement 5:4–6
Written from Rome around 96 AD, within thirty years of the deaths it describes.
The Other Apostles
Beyond Peter and Paul, the wider apostolic band carried the gospel to the edges of the known world. Thomas, according to a tradition that can be traced back to the sixth century, went east to India. The Mar Thoma Christians of Kerala claim him as their founder. Andrew, according to later tradition, preached in Scythia. John, according to Irenaeus, settled at Ephesus and died of old age.
What is certain is that by the second century there were Christian communities across the Mediterranean world, and that the church spread along the trade routes of the empire as well as along the roads. The gospel did not stop at the borders of the Jewish world. It went out to the nations.
It is the spring of 50 AD, and Paul is standing on the Areopagus in Athens, surrounded by philosophers who want to hear about this new teaching. He quotes their own poets, Aratus and Epimenides, and he tells them about a God who made the world and does not live in temples made with hands.
Some mock. Some say they will hear him again. One man, Dionysius the Areopagite, believes. And Paul leaves Athens for Corinth, where he will stay for eighteen months.
Why This Waypoint Matters
Within thirty years of the crucifixion, the gospel had reached the capital of the empire. Within sixty years, there were churches in every major city of the eastern Mediterranean. The men who started it were not powerful. They were not wealthy. They were not organized. But they would not stop telling the truth.
