Paul’s Third Missionary Journey

Overview

• Testament: New
• Book: Acts
• Chapters: Acts 18:23-21:16
• Summary: Paul travels through Galatia and Phrygia before settling in Ephesus for over two years, during which the gospel spreads throughout all of Asia Minor; after the silversmith’s riot drives him out, Paul travels through Macedonia and Greece, raises Eutychus from the dead at Troas, delivers a farewell address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus, and presses on to Jerusalem despite prophetic warnings of his coming arrest.

Details

The third missionary journey begins with Paul “strengthening all the disciples” through the regions of Galatia and Phrygia (Acts 18:23), a description that makes plain the pastoral reinforcement of existing churches as much as the planting of new ones. Meanwhile, at Ephesus, an eloquent and scripturally learned Alexandrian Jew named Apollos had been preaching “the baptism of John” — an accurate but incomplete gospel. Priscilla and Aquila, now settled in Ephesus, took him aside privately and “expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly” (Acts 18:26). Apollos, notably, received this correction and went on to mighty effectiveness in Achaia.

Paul’s Ephesian ministry was the longest and most fruitful single concentration of effort in Acts. Two years and three months (Acts 19:8-10) in the city that was the commercial and religious metropolis of Roman Asia — home of the great temple of Artemis (Diana), one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world — produced results of extraordinary geographic reach: “all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 19:10). The initial ministry in the synagogue lasted three months before opposition forced Paul to move his school of daily discussion to the lecture hall of a man named Tyrannus. Through this platform, and through extraordinary miracles — “handkerchiefs or aprons” that had touched Paul’s body were brought to the sick and the demonized, who were healed (Acts 19:12) — the entire province heard the gospel. Seven sons of a Jewish chief priest named Sceva attempted to exorcise demons using Jesus’s name without faith in Christ; the demon answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?” (Acts 19:15), overpowered them, and they fled naked and wounded. The episode so terrified Ephesus that many who practiced magic arts brought their scrolls and burned them publicly — fifty thousand pieces of silver worth (Acts 19:19).

This extraordinary success provoked the Riot at Ephesus (Acts 19:23-41), in which Demetrius the silversmith organized the craft guild against Paul on the grounds that his gospel was emptying the temple of Artemis of worshipers. The riot is treated as a separate companion event. Paul had already planned to travel through Macedonia and Achaia before going to Jerusalem, and from there to Rome — a statement of intent at Acts 19:21 that gives the rest of Acts its narrative momentum. The riot accelerated his departure.

The journey through Macedonia and Greece (Acts 20:1-6) was marked by continued threats from Jewish opponents, causing Paul to change his travel plans (returning overland rather than by sea). At Troas — where the Macedonian vision had come on the second journey — Paul spent seven days with the local church. On the eve of departure, during a late-night gathering, a young man named Eutychus fell asleep during Paul’s extended sermon, fell from a third-floor window, and was “taken up dead.” Paul embraced him, announced “his life is in him” (Acts 20:10), and returned to eat and talk until dawn — a miracle that recalls Elijah and Elisha’s similar acts and signals Paul’s apostolic authority.

The farewell address at Miletus to the Ephesian elders (Acts 20:17-38) is the most intimate and theologically rich speech Paul delivers in Acts, addressed not to unconverted audiences but to church leaders. He reviewed his three years among them, “serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears” (Acts 20:19), warned of coming persecutions and false teachers (“grievous wolves” entering the flock — Acts 20:29), committed them to “God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up” (Acts 20:32), and quoted a saying of Jesus preserved nowhere in the Gospels: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). The elders wept and embraced him, “sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more” (Acts 20:38). The pathos of the scene is among the most moving in the New Testament.

Despite repeated prophetic warnings — at Tyre, disciples “said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem” (Acts 21:4); at Caesarea, Agabus bound his own hands and feet with Paul’s belt and prophesied imprisonment (Acts 21:10-11) — Paul was “bound in the spirit” toward Jerusalem. His companions’ tears moved him but did not move him from his course: “What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13).

Key People Involved

• Paul (Apostle) — the journey’s animating figure; teacher, miracle-worker, pastor, and prophet-acknowledged prisoner heading to Jerusalem
• Priscilla and Aquila — at Ephesus; instructed Apollos; provided the relational infrastructure for Paul’s Ephesian base
• Timothy — present through much of the journey; sent on ahead from Ephesus into Macedonia (Acts 19:22)
• Gaius and Aristarchus — Macedonian travel companions; seized in the Ephesian riot (Acts 19:29)
• Eutychus — raised from the dead at Troas; his name means “fortunate” — an irony the text perhaps intends

Key Places

• Ephesus — the journey’s center of gravity; over two years; all Asia hears the gospel; the Tyrannus lecture hall; extraordinary miracles
• Troas — Eutychus raised; seven-day stay; departure point for Macedonia on the second journey, and now a significant church base
• Macedonia and Achaia — revisited; offerings for Jerusalem gathered from the Gentile churches
• Corinth — the letter to the Romans was written here during the three months Paul spent in Greece (Acts 20:2-3)
• Miletus — site of the farewell address to the Ephesian elders; the most pastoral speech in Acts

Important Verses

“All they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” — Acts 19:10

“Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?” — Acts 19:15

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” — Acts 20:35

“I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” — Acts 21:13

Cross-References

• Related: Riot at Ephesus — the silversmith’s riot that ends Paul’s extended Ephesian ministry; treated separately
• Related: Paul’s Second Missionary Journey — the immediately preceding journey; Paul returns to many of the same churches
• Related: Paul Arrested in Jerusalem — the immediately following event; the journey’s destination fulfills Agabus’s prophecy
• Related: Priscilla and Aquila — their instruction of Apollos is woven into the beginning of this journey’s Ephesian account