Paul and Barnabbas

We have already been introduced to Paul (formerly Saul, zealous Jew who persecuted Christians and approved the stoning of Stephen) primarily through his extraordinary conversion experience on the road to Damascus. But we don't hear much about him after that experience, as the focus of the book of Acts has been on Peter's ministry. However, today we pick back up with Paul, who will dominate the second half of Acts and is responsible for writing 13 books of the New Testament! But what was Paul doing from the time he was converted until he pops on the scene as a leading evangelist? A timeline can be extrapolated from the book of Acts and Galatians. I have copied it below...


A. The period from the conversion of Paul until the lst trip to Jerusalem.

(Acts 9-l2). Paul was converted on the road to Damascus
He entered Damascus and stayed there for an unknown amount of time (Acts 9:19)
Paul went to Arabia for an unspecified period, and returned to Damascus afterward (Gal.1:17).
The whole period from his conversion until his departure from Damascus is given as "3 years"(Gal.1:18)
He went to Jerusalem at this time, and stayed for 15 days (Acts 9:26-29; Gal.1:18)

B. The period from the 1st visit until the 2nd visit to Jerusalem.

After the 15 days at Jerusalem, Paul was sent away to avoid capture, and sailed from Caesarea to the regions of Syria and Cilicia (Acts 9:30; Gal.1:21)
After a period ranging from 8 to 14 years, Paul traveled to Antioch with Barnabas and stayed for l year (Acts 11:25; Gal.1:21-2:1 see below).
Paul then traveled to Jerusalem from Antioch, staying for a short time. This was in connection with the collection taken up in Antioch because of Agabus' vision (Acts 11:27-30; Gal.2:1). He then returned to Antioch.

It seems from this timeline, that a period of at least 12- 15 years has elapsed since the time of Christ's resurrection. We can safely assume that Paul has been sharing the gospel, but none of his activities in those regions are recorded beyond his own brief description of his whereabouts in Galatians, which we will read tomorrow.

Tomorrow's reading: Acts 14:21-28; Gal. 1:1-3:23