The Founding of the Philippian Church: Paul's Missionary Journey

Pauline Church Project Amy A. Taylor BIBL 362- Acts Professor Paul Brewster

Philippi In Acts 16:1-40, the church of Philippi was founded by Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke during their second missionary journey. As their journey began, Paul and Timothy travelled from town to town. As they travelled trying to get to Asia province, the Holy Spirit blocked that route. So, they went to Mysia and tried to go North to Bithynia, but the Holy Spirit wouldn’t let them go there either. As they went down to Troas, Paul had a dream. In this dream a Macedonian called from the sea telling him to come to Macedonia and help them. The dream gave Paul a map. Through their preparations for travel, everything came into place and the Gospel would be spread to Europeans. They headed out on ship and once docked at New City, they walked over to Philippi. On the Sabbath, they headed down the by water for a prayer meeting. There they met a woman named Lydia. She was a God-fearing woman, and she had an open heart to what Paul and Timothy were teaching. She accepted Jesus and was baptized alongside everyone in her family. Lydia was a hospitable woman and requested that Paul and Silas join her in her home as her guests. They couldn’t refuse as Lydia was persistent. (Acts 16:13-15) While Paul and Silas were on their way to pray, a young slave girl who was a psychic and fortuneteller started following them, taunting them, and causing a stir. She did for this for days until Paul had enough and cast the demon out of her. Her owners didn’t appreciate that because they lost their money that they were making through the young girl; so, they attacked Paul and Timothy and beat them up. The police came and arrested Paul and Timothy. In court, the judges agreed with the accusers and ordered a public beating and afterwards they threw them in jail. They were ordered to be in a maximum-security cell and chained up so they couldn’t escape. (Acts 16:16-24)

At midnight, Paul and Silas were in prayer and singing hymns to God. As they were worshipping, the jailhouse shook, and all the doors flew open, and all the prisoners were loose. The jailer woke up and saw what was happening and thought all the prisoners escaped. He was about to kill himself when Paul told him to stop, all the prisoners were still there. The jailer was relieved and led Paul and Silas out of prison. He asked them what it meant to be saved and they explained that you had to put your trust in the Master Jesus. He did and brought them home to his family where they all received Jesus and were baptized. (Acts 16:25-34) At daybreak, the judges ordered them free, but Paul refused since they threw them in jail as Roman citizens. As soon as the judges realized what they had done, they apologized and escorted them out of the jail. After being released from prison, they went straight to Lydia’s house, encouraged them in their faith and moved on. (Acts 16:35-40) Twice in Philippi, Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned. It was during the second imprisonment in Rome that Paul wrote to the Philippians (Philippians 1:7, 12-14, 17, 30). His letter to the Philippians is one filled of joy and encouragement to the Philippi church. They were enduring the same persecution that he had once faced in Philippi (Philippians 1:27-29). In Philippians 1:30, he told the church to be of courage and unity through the persecution and suffering and reminded them that they saw him in the same struggles in Acts 16. He also addresses their generosity and the funds they sent for Paul’s missionary journeys (Philippians 1:5, 4:15-16, 4:10-19) and money to the Jerusalem church. The rest of his letter he warned them of different types of persecutors, Judaizers and enemies of the cross of Christ. In Philippians 4:2- 3, Paul also addresses some problems between two women, Euodia and Syntyche. They were leading women in the church, and he called on them to fix their issues and be of the same mind in the Lord. He commended the two women and said that they had been by his side in the cause

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of the gospel. It doesn’t mention it, but I wonder if these two ladies were part of the group of women that Paul and Silas first met when they arrived in Philippi?

Thessalonica After leaving Philippi, they (Paul, Silas, and Timothy) headed south to Thessalonica. Paul met with a group of Jews and for three Sabbaths he preached the Scriptures to them. Many Jews, Greeks, and women who came to know Jesus. However, the hard-core Jews were furious over the conversions. They gathered a group of brawlers and a mob developed and they went throughout the city hunting down Paul and Silas. The mob came to Jason’s home and broke into it think he was hiding Paul and Saul. Once they saw that Paul and Silas weren’t there, they took Jason into the streets and started accusing him. Once the city officials heard what was going on they made Jason post a heavy bail while they investigated what was going on. (Acts 17:1-9) Under the cover of night, Paul and Silas fled Thessalonica and went to Berea. They taught the Jewish community and were treated better there than when they were in Thessalonica. Once the Jews in Thessalonica heard that Paul and Silas were preaching there, they created another mob. Paul was able to escape in a boat headed to Athens. (Acts 17:10-15) The two letters to the Thessalonian church were written during his second missionary journey around AD 50. Paul wrote the first letter to as a thanksgiving to God for all the faith, love and hope that flowed in the church. The second letter was written as persecution intensified. Paul also addressed the coming of the Lord and continuing to work. 1 Thessalonians 2:1-2, Paul writes about what had happened to them in Philippi (Acts 16:16-40) and despite the suffering, they were excited to be able to share the good news with the church of Thessalonica. In Acts 17:15, Silas and Timothy join Paul in Athens. Paul tried several times to get back to the church in Thessalonica, but Satan’s opposition stopped him, so he sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to cheer up the church during difficult times. (I Thessalonians 3:1- 2) Timothy returned to Paul and told him everything that the church was doing through love and

faith. Paul in turn answered questions the church had for him about the return of the Master. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11) The Thessalonica church consisted of Gentiles who turned from idols (1 Thessalonians 1:9), some Jewish believers (Acts 17:4) and the artisan class (I Thessalonians 4:11).

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Corinth After a trip to Athens, Paul headed to Corinth. Aquila and Priscilla who migrated from the Jews in Italy as Claudius ordered the general expulsion of Jews from Rome. Paul moved in with Aquila and Priscilla and together they were tentmakers. Priscilla and Aquila are mentioned six times in different letters that Paul wrote to churches. They travelled as missionaries with Paul and eventually were martyred for their beliefs. Every Sabbath, Paul would go to the meeting pace and preach to Jews and Greeks about Jesus. Once Silas and Timothy arrived, Paul was able to focus all his time on preaching. Paul became frustrated with the Jews because they argued and contradicted him every time he spoke. Paul left and went to the home of Titius Justus. Crispus, the meeting-place president, and his family trusted in Jesus. Many Corinthians believed in Jesus and were baptized. Paul stayed a year and a half in Corinth teaching the Word of God. (Acts 18:1-18) The letters that Paul wrote to the Corinth church was because the church seemed to always have problems. The church was broken into disputes and taking sides. Church members took each other to court. They argued over spiritual gifts. Church members visited prostitutes and were involved in immoral practices. 1 Corinthians 1:11-12, someone from Chloe’s family brought Paul a report about what was happening in the Corinth church, and the letter contained a bunch of questions for Paul to answer. I Corinthians was written in response to the letter from Chloe. After Paul wrote the first letter, Timothy went to Corinth and when he arrived, he saw that the church was not doing well. Paul found out there were false apostles in the church; so, Paul headed from Ephesus to Corinth. This second visit of Paul to Corinth was a painful visit. He

was met with opposition from the congregation. Paul left and wrote the second letter to the Corinthians. After writing the letter, Titus delivered it to the church.

Ephesus Paul ministered to the church of Ephesus for two or three years (Acts 19:1, 10, 20:17-18, 31). After leaving Corinth, He arrived in Ephesus with Priscilla and Aquila. Paul stayed shortly in Ephesus only to go to the meeting place and preach to the Jews. Priscilla and Aquila stayed in Ephesus while Paul sailed on to Caesarea and then to Antioch and then to Galatia and Phrygia. Priscilla and Aquila hosted church meeting in their home. While he was traveling, Priscilla and Aquila met a man from Egypt named Apollos. Apollos was knowledgeable, a terrific speaker and was a powerful preacher of the Scriptures. Priscilla and Aquila had to opportunity to share the rest of the story about the Messiah and Apollos accepted Jesus. They met with Apollos in their home and studied the Scriptures with him. The church of Ephesus wrote a letter of recommendation for Apollos and the church in the Achaia province welcomed him, and Apollos was a great help to that church. While everything was happening with Apollos, Paul made his way back to Ephesus. There he preached and baptized converted Jews. He preached inn the meeting place for three months. However, a resistance began to form against Paul and the Christian way of life. Paul left and went to the school of Tyrannus and taught there. Before Paul left for Macedonia, he called the disciple together to encourage them to keep up the good work in Ephesus. (Acts 20:1) He wanted to visit the church but felt the urgent need to get to Jerusalem. In Acts 20:17-38, Paul said his final goodbyes to the Ephesians. He loved them and they loved him. The pain of saying goodbye was deep as he knew this would be the last time, he would see them. While Paul was imprisoned in Rome, he wrote the letter Ephesians to the church of Ephesus. While the book of Ephesians is confusing at first because Paul is addressing people he has never met (even though in Acts he deeply loved the Ephesians church); it is likely he is

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writing to the Gentiles who would have joined the church after Paul’s last visit. At the same time, he also wrote a letter to the church of Colossians which is why the two letters have the same tone and use a lot of the same verbiage.

Works Cited “Access Your Bible from Anywhere.” BibleGateway.com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 150 Versions and 50 Languages. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://www.biblegateway.com/. Burge, Gary M., and Gene L. Green. The New Testament in Antiquity: 2nd Edition. A Survey of the New Testament within Its Cultural Contexts . s.l.: Zondervan, 2020.

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