Paul's First Missionary Journey #96

Paul’s first missionary journey was the first extended trip to spread the gospel beyond Syria, undertaken by Paul and Barnabas with John Mark as an assistant. It is narrated in Acts 13 and 14 and is usually dated to roughly AD 46 to 48. It took them to Cyprus and the southern region of Asia Minor.

Biblical Account

The journey began in the church at Antioch in Syria. While the leaders there were worshiping and fasting, the Holy Spirit said to set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work to which he had called them, and after prayer and laying on of hands the church sent them off (Acts 13:1-3). They sailed to Cyprus, preaching in the synagogues of Salamis and traveling to Paphos. There the proconsul Sergius Paulus asked to hear the word of God, and a magician named Elymas tried to turn him away from the faith until Paul pronounced him temporarily blind. The proconsul believed. From this point the narrative calls Saul by his Roman name, Paul, and speaks of “Paul and his company” (Acts 13:4-13).

At Perga in Pamphylia, John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. In Pisidian Antioch, Paul preached in the synagogue on the Sabbath, tracing God’s work from Israel’s history to the resurrection of Jesus, and many Jews and God-fearing Gentiles followed. The next week, when jealousy arose among the Jewish leaders, Paul and Barnabas declared they were turning to the Gentiles, and the word spread through the region until they were driven out (Acts 13:13-52). At Iconium they met a divided response, and at Lystra Paul healed a man lame from birth. The crowd hailed Barnabas and Paul as Zeus and Hermes, and the apostles insisted they were only human. Opponents from other cities then won over the crowd, and Paul was stoned and dragged out of the city, though he rose and went on to Derbe (Acts 14:1-20).

They then retraced their route, strengthening the disciples and appointing elders in each church with prayer and fasting. Back in Antioch, they reported to the church “all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles” (Acts 14:21-28).

Theological Significance

The journey shows the church’s missionary pattern in action: commissioned by a local church under the Spirit’s direction, going first to the synagogue and then to Gentiles, and establishing communities with local leadership. It also raised the question of how Gentile believers were to be included, which led directly to the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15).

Scholars commonly connect the churches founded here with the region Paul later addresses in his letter to the Galatians, though the exact identification of “Galatia” with these southern cities or with a northern region is debated. The narrative is honest about hardship, including opposition, stoning, and a disagreement about John Mark, and it records Paul telling the new disciples that they must enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations (Acts 14:22).