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Bible Maps - Paul's first Missionary Journey

Maps of Paul's journey to Cyprus and Galatia.
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The Cilician Plain and Tarsus. <br/>Around 67 B.C. the Romans took control of the Cilician plain and made Tarsus the capital. Around A.D. 5 the apostle Paul was born in Tarsus, which he later described as ‘no ordinary city’ (Acts 21:39). Less than 90 miles (144 km) to the southwest lay Antioch, one of the largest cities of the Roman Empire and the place where believers were first called Christians (Acts 11:26). – Slide 1
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Antioch in Syria. <br/>By the time of the New Testament, the Romans ruled over all the Levant west of the Euphrates River, while the Parthians ruled over all the area east of the river. Antioch had become one of the largest cities of the Roman Empire, and it is where believers were first called Christians (Acts 11:26). The church at Antioch was also the location from which the apostle Paul began all three of his missionary journeys recorded in the book of Acts (13:1-3; 15:36-41; 18:23). – Slide 2
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Paul’s First Missionary Journey. <br/>During their first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas travelled to several cities in the Roman provinces of Cyprus (Barnabas’s home region; see Acts 4:36-37), Lycia, and Galatia. Along the way, some of these Jews fiercely resisted their message and this may have been what led Barnabas’s cousin John Mark (see Colossians 4:10) to leave them and return to Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas continued on and were able to preach the gospel in Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. – Slide 3
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Cyprus. <br/>The apostle Barnabas (and perhaps his relative John Mark) was from the island of Cyprus (Acts 11:19-20), and when Paul set out with him on the first missionary journey, they went first to Cyprus (Acts 13). Later Barnabas parted ways with Paul and returned to Cyprus with John Mark, on another missionary journey (Acts 15). – Slide 4
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Paul’s Travels in Southern Galatia. <br/>The map shown here depicts the inbound route Paul took during his first journey, though the exact route Paul followed to reach Pisidian Antioch from Perga is uncertain. Some scholars suggest he took the Sebastian Way, which was a well maintained but somewhat indirect route for traveling to Antioch. Other suggest Paul followed the more direct but also more difficult route along the valley of the Cestrus River. – Slide 5
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