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The Second Missionary Journey of Paul
Luke documents the beginn
ing of Paul‟s
second missionary journey at the end of  Acts chapter 15, sometime after the Jerusalem Council. The Apostle Paul decided to beginanother journey to return and encourage the churches they had planted and revisit thecities that they had evangelized on their first missionary journey.
He desired to, “see how they are” (15:36).
The journey, traveled on foot and by sea, takes them throughout at least15-20 cities and over approximately 2800 miles. As the preparation and planning for the second journey began, there ensued a
“sharp disagreement” (15:39) among
Paul and Barnabas. The conflict involved whether to bring John Mark with them on the journey or to leave him behind. Barnabas wanted to bring John Mark however, Paul believed it was unwise and therefore, strongly opposed.John Mark had traveled with them previously, on the first missionary journey, but hadabandoned them in Pamphylia. The argument was so great that the result was a divisioninto two missionary teams. Instead of traveling with Barnabas, Paul took Silas and left for Asia Minor. Barnabas took John Mark and set sail for Cyprus. In the book of Acts, Lukedescribes the events of the journey of Paul rather than Barnabas. About the argument Bruce writes,
“The story of the disagreement between Paul andBarnabas does not make a pleasant reading, but Luke‟s realism in recording it helps
us to
remember that the two men, as they themselves said to the people of Lystra, were „human beings with feelings like‟ any other"
1
. It is true that the Bible describes real human beingsnot superheroes. Consistently, throughout the Bible, great men of God tend to fail. It is a
1
Bruce, F.F.
The Book of the Acts. Revised edition. New International Commentary on the New Testament 
,(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 1988) 301
 
 further evidence that God is the author. In such an influential book, it is likely that a humanauthor would exclude the regrettable details and weaknesses of great men to make themappear flawless.Luke states that Paul traveled through Syria and Cilicia, to their first destinations of Derbe and Lystra. It is here that Paul meets Timothy, a new and respected disciple.Timothy was from a mixed heritage of Jewish and Greek parents. Paul chose to takeTimothy along on the journey as a companion and disciple.
Henry writes, “
That Paul wouldhave him
to go forth with him,
to accompany him, to give attendance on him, to receiveinstruction from him, and to join with him in the work of the gospel
—
to preach for him when there was occasion, and to be left behind in places where he had planted churches.
2
”
 This, in fact, is what Timothy will do; when Paul wrote his epistles, he wrote letters toTimothy to further instruct him in his ministry. As Paul visited the cities, he not only preached the Gospel and trained new disciples,he also delivered the results and decisions of the Jerusalem Council that took place in Acts15, to those who have not heard them and were certainly awaiting the results. In turn, this would strengthen the believers and expand the churches as God willed.Next, Luke describes God intervening in two separate occasions to guide the journey to more specific locations. As is found in the entirety of the book of Acts, the Holy Spiritguided the believers to establish the church. Paul, Silas, and Timothy traveled through theterritories of Phrygia and Galatia and had intended to travel into Asia to preach the Gospelhowever, the Holy Spirit, in some way, had forbidden them to enter Asia at that time.
2
Henry, Matthew:
 Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible : Complete and Unabridged inOne Volume
. Peabody : Hendrickson, 1996, c1991, S. Ac 16:1
 
 Instead of entering Asia they trekked to Mysia in a separate attempt to go to Bithynia but,
 yet again, the Spirit of Jesus “did not allow them” (16:6). Twice
, God had prevented themfrom delivering the Gospel to Asia. We are unsure exactly of the reasons why this hadhappened yet, we know that the Holy Spirit had the perfect plan and was at work using themissionaries for His glory and purpose. It is likely that Paul was a little confused wondering where to take the journey at this point but, still looking to seize every opportunity for Christ.Paul then headed west from there toward the city of Troas. It was here that he wasgiven a vision that he should travel to Macedonia. It is probable that this is the first timethey had received this kind of divine guidance. Paul has a vision, one night, of a
Macedonian man, standing and plea for them to come to Macedonia to “help us” (16:9).“
But it was a cry not of conscious
desire
for the Gospel, but of deep
need 
of it andunconscious
 preparedness
to receive it, not only in that region, but, we may well say,throughout all that western empire which Macedonia might be said to represent.
3
”
 Again, we see the guidance of the Holy Spirit as He uses the Apostles to deliver His message tothose who are prepared to receive it. This marked a major turn of events in the journey 
 because now they would travel to a region that they hadn‟t been to on the first journey.
 
Luke writes that they have concluded that, “God had called us to preach the Gospel to them”
(16:10).Immediately the missionary team headed to Macedonia as directed. Luke changes
the use of the pronouns, in this text, from “they” to “we” indicating that the author, himself,
3
Jamieson, Robert ; Fausset, A. R. ; Fausset, A. R. ; Brown, David ; Brown, David:
 A Commentary,Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments
. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos ResearchSystems, Inc., 1997, S. Ac 16:9
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