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Maps: The journeys of Paul

Maps of Paul's missionary travels.
Contributed by The Bible Journey
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Paul’s early life. <br/>1. Paul is born in c.5AD and brought up at Tarsus. (Acts 9:30) He is taken to Jerusalem as a boy and is taught by Gamaliel, a respected Jewish Pharisee. (Acts 5:34, 22:3)<br/>2. Paul leads a violent persecution of the church in Jerusalem. (Acts 8:1-3) In 35AD, he sets off to Damascus. Just before reaching the city, the risen Lord Jesus appears to Paul – who falls to the ground blinded. He is led by the hand into the city, and spends three days neither eating nor drinking. (Acts 9:1-9)<br/>3. Ananias finds Saul and prays that he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. Something like scales fall from Saul’s eyes and he can see again. He is baptised and begins to teach that Jesus is the Son of God. (Acts 9:10-22) Paul journeys into the neighbouring desert area of Arabia Petraea to seek God in prayer about his future, then returns to Damascus where he preaches the Good News for three years. (Galatians 1:15-18) – Slide 1
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Paul’s early ministry.<br/>1. Paul goes to Jerusalem to meet the leaders of the Christian community in 38AD, but the apostles are afraid of his previous reputation and don’t believe he can really be a Spirit-filled disciple. (Acts 9:26-29)<br/>2. The disciples take Paul to Caesarea and send him home to Tarsus by ship. (Acts 9:30) Paul spends the next five years in Tarsus, extending his preaching ministry to the Greek-speaking Jews in Cilicia and Syria. (Galatians 1:21)<br/>3. Barnabas takes Paul from Tarsus to Antioch in Syria in 43AD. For a whole year they preach and teach in Antioch. (Acts 11:25-26)<br/>4. Barnabas and Paul visit the Jewish believers in Jerusalem with money for famine relief sent by their fellow believers in Antioch (Acts 11:27-30). – Slide 2
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Paul’s first missionary journey.<br/>1. Paul, Barnabas and John Mark set out from Antioch in 46AD. They sail from Seleucia to Cyprus, where they share the Good News in the synagogues at Salamis. (Acts 13:1-5)<br/>2. They walk across Cyprus, preaching at Jewish synagogues until they reach Paphos, where the Roman proconsul believes the Good News about Jesus. (Acts 13:6-12) <br/>3. They sail from Paphos to Perga on the coast of Pamphylia, where John Mark decides to return to Jerusalem. (Acts 13:13) <br/>4. From Perga, Paul and Barnabas head inland to Antioch in Pisidia where Paul preaches a long sermon on being put right with God through faith in Jesus Christ. (Acts 13:14-52)<br/>5. The local Jews expel Paul from Antioch, so he and Barnabas move on to Iconium in Galatia. (Acts 14:1-4)<br/>6. Facing a death threat in Iconium, Paul and Barnabas move on to Lystra in Lycaonia, where they heal a crippled man and the crowds think they are Greek gods. (Acts 14:5-18)<br/>7. After being stoned and left for dead, Paul moves on to Derbe, where many become followers. (Acts 14:19-21)<br/>8. Paul and Barnabas retrace their steps to Perga, strengthening the new believers. (Acts14:21-24)<br/>9. They sail back to Antioch in Syria from Attalia in 48AD and tell the church all that God has done. (Acts 14:25-28) – Slide 3
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Paul’s second missionary journey.<br/>1. In 50AD, Paul suggests that he and Barnabas return to the towns in Galatia and Pisidia that they visited earlier. They argue about whether to take John Mark; so Barnabas sets sail for Salamis with his young nephew, and revisits the Jewish believers in Cyprus. (Acts 15:36-39)<br/>2. Paul and Silas travel through Syria and Cilicia encouraging the new believers. They pass through Derbe and go on to Lystra. (Acts 15:40-16:5)<br/>3. Paul, Silas and Timothy travel through Galatia and Phrygia as the Holy Spirit prevents them from preaching in the Roman province of Asia. They try to enter Bithynia, but the Holy Spirit will not allow them. So they travel through Mysia to Troas. (Acts 16:6-8)<br/>4. Paul dreams of a man from Macedonia begging him to sail across the Aegean Sea. Joined by Luke, Paul and his companions sail across to Samothrace, and on to Neapolis. Then they travel inland to Philippi where they stay with Lydia. (Acts 16:9-15)<br/>5. Paul casts an evil spirit out of a slave girl and is imprisoned by the magistrates. Set free by an earthquake, Paul causes so much embarrassment to the Romans that he and Silas are forced to leave. (Acts 16:16-40) They travel through Amphipolis and Apollonia to Thessalonica and Berea before being forced to move on to Athens (Acts 17:1-15)<br/>6. Paul reveals the ‘unknown god’ to the philosophers of Athens before travelling on to Corinth, where he stays with Aquila and Priscilla for a year and a half before sailing to Ephesus. (Acts 18:1-19)<br/>7. Paul preaches in the synagogue at Ephesus and is encouraged to stay. Instead, he leaves Aquila and Priscilla there, promises to return at a later date, and sets sail for Caesarea. (Acts 18:20-21)<br/>8. After landing at Caesarea in the autumn of 52AD, Paul goes up to Jerusalem to report back to the church leaders. (Acts 18:22)<br/>9. Paul then returns to his ‘home’ church at Antioch in Syria. (Acts 18:22) – Slide 4
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Paul’s third missionary journey.<br/>1. Paul sets out from Antioch in Syria with Timothy in 53AD, and revisits the believers in Galatia and Phrygia. (Acts 18:23)<br/>2. When Paul arrives in Ephesus, he prays with the new believers and they are filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul and Timothy make Ephesus their base for the next three years (53-56AD). (Acts 19:1-10)<br/>3. Paul falls foul of Demetrius – a silversmith who makes images of the goddess Artemis. (Acts 19:23-41) After a riot, Paul is forced to leave for Troas before sailing on to Macedonia. (Acts 20:1)<br/>4. After encouraging the believers in Philippi, Paul turns south and visits Achaia, where he stays over the winter of 56/57AD in Corinth. (Acts 20:2-3)<br/>5. Paul plans to sail from Corinth directly to Jerusalem, but he hears of a Jewish plot to kill him on board the ship, so he alters his plans and returns overland through Macedonia. (Acts 20:3-4)<br/>6. Paul’s travelling companions go on ahead to Troas. But Paul stays in Philippi for the Passover festival before sailing from Neapolis to join the others in Troas. (Acts 20:5-6)<br/>7. Paul walks overland to Assos, before continuing across the Aegean Sea to Mitylene on the island of Lesbos. The next evening they anchor off Chios. Then they cross over to Samos and arrive at Miletus, where Paul meets the elders from Ephesus. (Acts 20:13-16)<br/>8. Paul sails over to Cos, then on to Rhodes and Patara. (Acts 21:1)<br/>9. In Patara, Paul and his companions board a ship sailing to Phoenicia. They sail south of Cyprus and reach Tyre. (Acts 21:2-3)<br/>10. The believers in Tyre warn Paul of opposition in Jerusalem, but after praying with them on the beach, Paul sets sail for Ptolemais. (Acts 21:4-7) He then travels on to Caesarea, where he stays with Philip and receives a word of knowledge that he will be arrested in Jerusalem. (Acts 21:8-14)<br/>11. Paul sets off for Jerusalem, accompanied by Luke and some believers from Caesarea. They arrive in Jerusalem in the early autumn of 57AD. (Acts 21:15-19) – Slide 5
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Paul’s journey to Rome<br/>1. Paul meets violent opposition in Jerusalem in the autumn of 57AD. After a riot in the Temple, he is rescued by the Romans. (Acts 21:20-36) He is transferred under the cover of darkness to Antipatris, and is then taken to Caesarea. (Acts 23:23-32)<br/>2. Paul is left in jail for two years until a new Roman governor is appointed. When the Jews demand that he return to Jerusalem to be judged, Paul appeals to the Emperor in Rome. (Acts 25:1-12) Paul sets sail for Rome in autumn 59AD on a ship from Adramyttium. (Acts 27:1-3)<br/>3. From Sidon, Paul, Luke and Aristarchus sail to Myra, where they board a Roman grain ship heading from Egypt to Rome. (Acts 27:4-6)<br/>4. They sail along the coast of Lycia against a strong head-wind and reach Cnidus. (Acts 27:7)<br/>5. They head out across the Mediterranean Sea and sail along the sheltered south coast of Crete, where they anchor at Fair Havens. (Acts 27:8)<br/>6. Not wishing to over-winter here, the captain sets out for Phoenix, but a huge storm blows the ship out to sea. After fourteen days riding out the storm, they are shipwrecked off Malta and manage to swim ashore. (Acts 27:12-44)<br/>7. After spending three winter months on Malta, Paul and his companions join another Alexandrian grain ship heading for Rome. They sail through the Straits of Messina and disembark at Puteoli. From here, Paul travels by foot along the Via Domitiana and the Via Appia, arriving in Rome in the spring of 60AD. (Acts 28:1-16) – Slide 6
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Paul’s letters to the new churches. <br/>1. Paul wrote his Letter to the Galatians in Antioch in 50AD after attending the Council of Jerusalem.<br/>2. He wrote his First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians while staying in Corinth in 51/52AD after visiting Thessalonica on his second missionary journey.<br/>3. Paul sent his First and Second Letters to the Corinthians in 56AD when living in Ephesus on his third missionary journey.<br/>4. He wrote his Letter to the Romans in 57AD while in Corinth on his third missionary journey.<br/>5. Paul wrote his Letters to the Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians and to Philemon from Rome in c.60AD while awaiting trial before Emperor Nero.<br/>6. He wrote his First Letter to Timothy in c.63AD while in Philippi after leaving Timothy in charge of the young church in Ephesus.<br/>7. He wrote his Letter to Titus shortly afterwards from Corinth, having left Titus in charge of the church in Crete.<br/>8. Paul wrote his Second Letter to Timothy from the Mamertine Prison in Rome shortly before his execution in c.67AD. – Slide 7
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Paul’s fourth missionary journey. <br/>1. The evidence from the ‘pastoral letters’ suggests that the outcome of Paul’s trial before Nero in 62AD was positive. After his acquittal in 62AD, Paul left Rome and probably embarked on a ‘fourth missionary journey’. In Crete, Paul appointed Titus to be the leader of the local church. (Titus 1:5)<br/>2. Paul visited Miletus and left Trophimus there because he was ill. (2 Timothy 4:20) He then left Timothy in charge of the church at Ephesus. (1 Timothy 1:3)<br/>3. Paul may have visited Colossae (Philemon 1:22 ) before continuing to Troas where he left his coat with Carpus. (2 Timothy 4:13)<br/>4. Paul then went on to Philippi where he wrote his First Letter to Timothy and his Letter to Titus between 63 and 66AD. (1Timothy 1:3)<br/>5. Paul may have visited Ephesus again before travelling on to Corinth. (1Timothy 3:14, 4:13 & 2 Timothy 4:20)<br/>6. Paul spent the winter at Nicopolis, where he asked Titus to meet him. (Titus 3:12)<br/>7. Paul then returned to Rome where he was imprisoned in the Mamertine Prison. (2 Timothy 1:8, 16-17 & 2:9). He wrote his Second Letter to Timothy shortly before being executed in c.67AD during the intense persecution of Jews and Christians by Nero. (2 Timothy 4:6). – Slide 8
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