Duration o/ the Second Mitfionary Journey (Ac 16*^18*^.— That St. Paul should start so late in the year, while it would have been very unnatural when he waa breaking new ground in unknown districts, aa in the lat M.J., was natural enough when he was going primarily to revisit existing Churches ; the winter would be spent among them, and they would serve in turn for bases from which, in the spring, he might make his way on again to further and more strictly missionarj' labours. This, in fat't, (a what St. Paul probably did do on his 2nd M.J. He left Antioch S. by land, ' passing through Syria and Cilicia conflnningtheChurche8'(l&*ii«'j*-r.i/ij?fl»» ; cf. 142^ 1823), a phrase which certainly impliea a good deal more than a night's rest at each place. Thus several Churches, such as, no doubt, that of Tarsus, were ' visited ' before he reached the Churches of the Ist M.J. at all. That of these Derbe la first mentioned, and then Lystra (lOl), follows from the adoption on tliis occasion of the land route over Taurus, which must have been crossed not later than Novendwr. It ia not St. Luke'a habit to describe anything •n much detail but the foundation of new Churches.^ontnist, i.g., the first visit to Macedonia (16i2_i7i5) with the second (202), —eo that no deduction can be drawn from his ailence as to any events beyond the circumcision of Timothy (16^). On the contrary, the interjxiUtion at thia point of the fourth iieriod- Bummar>- in 1&>, though no doufct primarily intended to emphasize the great step forward into Kurope which follows, marks also a heating of time between the old work and the new, and suggest* that the one was more than a mere episode on the way to the other ; St. Paul must have stayed everywliere long enough to mark the progress going on, the 'daily increase in numbere.' Nor is it at all likely that fresh ground would be broken in the winter months. It can only have been after the passover (March 25-April 1) of a.d. 60 that he concluded at Antioch P. the seven months* 'visitation' of existing Churches, and plunged forward into the unknown.
That the phrase * Phr>-gian and Galatian district * (rr.* ^pvyiar ntii Vat\tKr,KT» :^mp<tt, 16^) or ' Oalatian and Phrygian diatrict ' (rr» r«A x*'P»* *" 4>«t^(«», 1823) means not two places, but one and
the same, follows as well from the inclusion of both under a !»ingle article, astrom the lael that the names are given in reversa order on the second occasion, though the direction of the journey was the same as on the first, from east to west. St. Paul's object on leaving Antioch P. was naturally the group of famous and populous cities on the western coast. [The Phrygo-Galatic region, if it lay on the route to Ephesus, can have had nothing to do with Galatia in the narrower ethnical sense, which was far away to the N. and N.E. ; and this is only one of many arguments which combine to make Ramsay's view that the ' Galatian ' Churches are those of Antioch P., Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, all but demonstrably true.) Entrance, how- ever, into the province of Asia was barred by divine intervention ; and St. Paul directed his eyes to the next great group of cities, and turned northwards for Bithynia, only to find the same check when he reached the Bithynian border. This time the western direction was left open, and the party skirted Mysia until they touched the coast at a point north of * Asia,* namely Troas. But as it is implied throughout these verses that no settlement was made for preaching, not more than a month need be allowed between the departure from Antioch P. and the arrival in Europe. The proclamation of the gospel at Philippi, Thessa- lonica, Beroea, and Athens must have occupied all the aunnner of A.D. 50 : the stay at the two former towns, at least, waa lung enough to found flourishing Churches, and the ' three Sabbaths ' at the synagogue of Thessalonica (172) represent, no doubt, not the whole of St. Paul's residence, but only the time anterior to the separation of Christians and Jews, cf. 18«- 7 198- ». Ramsay, indeed, allots eleven montha to these four places (Ch. in Rom. Emp. p. 85) ; but in the absence of any hint at specially lengthy sojourns — contrast IS-W 14^ etc. — six weeka at Philippi, two or three months at Thessalonica, and a few weeks each at Bensa and Athena must be considered sufficient. The sea route from Bercea to Athena is hkely to have been taken before the autumnal equinox, and the apostle was doubtless eager to get on to his future headquarters, so that the arrival al Corinth may be placed in October a.d. 50. Thetotalstay thereof eighteen months (for the iif^ipat /««»«* of IS^s are probably to be included in the iwat^-o* xxi ^^m* ij of 18^1) will last till April a.d. 52. thus covering two winters and a summer. St. Paul, as might be expected, arrives at the end of one travelling season and leaves at the beginning of another. The departure, if ma<le, as in other cases, immediately after the paschal season (cin-a April 2-9, A.D. 62), would be timed to bring St. Paul (rid Ephi-sus and Cffisarea, 181*22) to Jerus., as on the 3rd M.J., for the Keiisl of Pentecost. There the stay waa only for the purpose of ' salut- ing the Church,' and the apostle went on at once to his old home at Antioch S., arriving, say, in June a.d. 52, after an absence of two years and nine months.