3rd Missionary Trip - Lorin

Bread, and in five days we joined them in Troas, where we stayed for seven days.
The plot to kill Paul forced a change of travel plans for Paul and the rather large delegation. The plan was
to take a ship from the port of Cenchreae, which served as the southern port for Corinth some nine kilometers
from the city. Phoebe served as a διάκονον τῆς ἐκκλησίας τῆς ἐν Κεγχρεαῖς, deaconness to the church at Cenchreae
(Rom. 16:1). As Paul wrote in Rom. 16:1-2, she had been a generous benefactor of many as well as of Paul in
Christian ministry: προστάτις πολλῶν ἐγενήθη καὶ ἐμοῦ αὐτοῦ. 191 This evidently includes hosting Paul and others
in her home during some of their time in Corinth. If the church met in her home, then her role as διάκονος in the
church would be entirely understandable.
The initial plan was to travel directly from Cenchreae to Syria (Antioch) and then on to Judea. With the
time frame being close to the Jewish Passover celebration (v. 6) we find a clue about background factors in the
plot to kill Paul. To celebrate Passover in the temple at Jerusalem was for a faithful Jew the ultimate religious
experience. Massive numbers of Jewish pilgrims traveled from all over the Roman empire annually to Jerusalem
for this celebration. The high point always came on Nisan 15 in the Jewish lunar calendar. By the beginning of the
Christian era the two Jewish festivals of Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread had been combined into a
single festival. 192 There is considerable likelihood that on the ship that Paul planned to use were large number of
Jewish pilgrims headed to Jerusalem for the Passover. Perhaps the plot was to get rid of Paul while at sea and
largely out of the reach of Roman authorities. 193 At any rate, the plot was uncovered in time for Paul to cancel his
plans in favor of an alternative, safer route.
Thus he opted to return through Macedonia before crossing over to Troas in Anatolia: ἐγένετο γνώμης τοῦ
ὑποστρέφειν διὰ Μακεδονίας, and so he decided to return through Macedonia. This would delay his arrival in Jerusalem
until well after Passover, and thus the number of Jewish pilgrims headed for Jerusalem would be down to
a small trickle. These Corinthian Jews would by this point be on ships headed back home to Corinth, thus giving
Paul safety from their intention to harm him. Additionally, it would greatly reduce the risk for the various members
of the delegation from the churches who were escorting the relief offering to Jerusalem.
Luke next lists several members of this delegation that accompanied Paul: συνείπετο δὲ αὐτῷ Σώπατρος
Πύρρου Βεροιαῖος, Θεσσαλονικέων δὲ Ἀρίσταρχος καὶ Σεκοῦνδος, καὶ Γάϊος Δερβαῖος καὶ Τιμόθεος, Ἀσιανοὶ δὲ
Τύχικος καὶ Τρόφιμος, He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Beroea, by Aristarchus and Secundus from
Thessalonica, by Gaius from Derbe, and by Timothy, as well as by Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia. Three Roman provinces
are mentioned here: Macedonia, Asia, and Galatia.
So Paul ended up coming back through Macedonia another time. It is interesting how God turns around
our plans. In Paul’s First Corinthians (16:5) he indicated his intention of coming through Macedonia to Corinth. 194
In 2 Cor. 1:15-16, his plans had changed to visiting Corinth first, then going to Macedonia, and then returning to
Corinth for the Corinthians to give him a send-off to Judea. 195 But these revised plans underwent another revision
so that Paul left Ephesus for Macedonia through Troas with the intention of going directly to Judea from Corinth
(2 Cor. 2:13; 7:5). But now in Corinth they get changed again. Paul will not go directly to Judea from Corinth
191Some are convinced that as a successful business woman, she had homes both in Corinth and Rome and traveled between the
two conducting her business. Such would have been rather typical for business operations in the ancient world. Thus Paul commends her
when writing from Corinth to the Roman church in her travels to Rome. The other suggestion that has surfaced is that Tertius, who did
the actual writing of Romans, was a slave of hers whom she lent to Paul for the project of writing this letter (16:22). Rome was known
to be a major center for the training of slaves in technics of note taking and proper writing both in Greek and in Latin. But there is no
affirmation of such either inside the NT text nor in early church tradition. So it remains merely a speculation.
192 “Biblical passages mentioning these festivals include: Exodus 12–13; Exod 23:15 and 34:18, parts of the two cultic calendars;
Lev 23:4–8; Num 9:1–15; 28:16–25; and 33:3; Deut 16:1–8; Josh 5:10–15; 2 Kgs 23:10–14; Ezek 45:21; Ezra 6:19–22; 2 Chr
30:1–27; 35:1–9.” [Baruch M. Bokser, “Unleavened Bread and Passover, Feasts of” In vol. 6, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, ed.
David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 756.]
193 “There is no means of knowing what the Jewish plot was. Bornkamm (4:136) thinks that the Jews, probably on pilgrimage to
Jerusalem for Passover, were travelling on the ship that Paul was intending to use and that it was for this reason that Paul, changing his
plans, decided to travel overland through Macedonia, and eventually picked up a ship in Philippi or Troas (vv. 5f.). This is an ingenious
suggestion, possibly correct.” [C. K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, International Critical
Commentary (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004), 946.]
1941 Cor. 16:3-7. 3 And when I arrive, I will send any whom you approve with letters to take your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems
advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me. 5 I will visit you after passing through Macedonia—for I intend to pass through
Macedonia— 6 and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way, wherever I go. 7 I do
not want to see you now just in passing, for I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.
1952 Cor. 1:15-16. 15 Since I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a double favor; 16 I wanted
to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on to Judea.
Page 449