Paul's Missionary Journeys Map

Map of Paul's all Four Missionary Journeys

When we pronounce the name of the apostle Paul, the first thing that comes to mind is his travels and his apostolic travails by sea and on land for the purpose of taking the Word of God and the message of the Gospel everywhere and establish Christian communities outside of Israel.

Paul's Four Missionary Journeys began with his first one around 48 AD and ended around 59-60 AD with his fourth and final voyage to Rome. They are recorded in the Book of Acts from chapter 13 to chapter 28.

First Missionary Journey

48-49 A.D.

Paul's First Missionary Journey is recorded in Acts 13 and 14.

Around 46-47 AD, Paul (a.k.a. Saul), a Benjamite born in Tarsus in Cilicia, and Barnabas (a.k.a. Joses), a Levite born in Cyprus, are anointed as apostles by the members of the church at Antioch, in Syria, an increasingly growing community that welcomed many believers fleeing Jerusalem due to rising persecution.

Paul's first missionary journey began from Antioch, where the two apostles and John Mark sailed to the island of Cyprus in 48 AD. They arrived at Salamis, a main city and seaport, and taught the Gospel in the synagogue on the Sabbath, where many of the Jews and devout proselyte Gentiles believed.

On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the Message of the Gospel, but some of the Jews began opposing the things spoken by Paul and stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from the city.

The three departed and continued preaching the Gospel across the island and arrived at Paphos, on the opposite side, by foot, where they were summoned by the island's Roman governor, the proconsul Sergius Paulus so that he could personally hear the Gospel of God.

However, a Jewish false prophet and sorcerer, Elymas, resisted the Gospel and tried to prevent the proconsul from receiving the Truth. But God filled Paul with the Holy Spirit and Elymas went instantly blind. The astonished governor upon witnessing this miracle believed.

Then Paul and Barnabas boarded a ship and sailed from Paphos to Perga, in Pamphylia, while John Mark abruptly left them to return to Jerusalem. At Antioch, in Pisidia, they preached in the local synagogue, where many Jews and Gentiles believed, however, the following week, when nearly the entire city gathered to hear the Word of God, the Jews began to persecute them.

Paul and Barnabas then departed and went to Iconium and taught in the synagogue there. Many believed, and Paul and Barnabas performed signs and wonders. Over time, however, the city became divided between those who sided with the Jews and those who followed the apostles. When Paul and Barnabas found out that the Jews were plotting to have them stoned, they fled to Lystra, Derbe, and the surrounding areas.

In Lystra, Paul performed a miracle healing a crippled man, but this event caused the people to believe mistakenly that the two evangelists were the gods Zeus and Hermes, who had come to earth in the form of men.

Paul and Barnabas had to work really hard to convince the people that they were not gods, but men. Then Jews from Antioch in Pisidia and Iconium came and stoned Paul, dragged him out of the city and left him for dead, but after the stoning, he got up and walked right back into Lystra.

Then, Paul and Barnabas traveled to Derbe, where they preached the Gospel, then retraced their steps through Lystra, Iconium and Antioch in Pisidia to encourage the believers there and to exhort them in the faith.

From Antioch in Pisidia they traveled to Perga and then to Attalia, preaching the Message in both cities. In Attalia, they boarded a ship to sail back to Antioch in Syria.

Second Missionary Journey

51-53 A.D.

Paul's Second Missionary Journey is recorded in Acts 16, 17 and 18.

Paul and Barnabas separate over a disagreement on whether or not to take John Mark on this second evangelistic voyage, because he had left them during the first journey. Eventually, Barnabas decided to take John Mark to Cyprus with him, while Paul took Silas to Tarsus.

Paul and Silas from there they journeyed to Derbe, then Lystra, where they met Timothy, a young but fervent believer, the son of a Greek father and a Jewish mother. The young man joined Paul and Silas and became a fellow laborer in the spreading of the Gospel.

The three men then visited the churches established during their first mission, exhorting them in the faith by sharing the decisions made at the Jerusalem Council.

Next, the three apostles traveled to Macedonia and at Philippi they met Lydia, a wealthy seller of purple originally from the city of Thyatira, who loved God and who received the Gospel Message.

Later, Paul cast a demon out of a slave girl, whose owners became enraged when they realized she could not make money for them anymore, and stirred up the city magistrates against him and Silas. The two evangelists were arrested, beaten and thrown in jail.

While incarcerated, Paul preached the Gospel to the prison guard who converted and was baptized. After their release, Paul, Silas, and Timothy went on to preach in Thessalonica, where some of the Jews and many Greeks believed. However, certain Jews formed a violent mob, so Paul and Silas escaped at night to Berea, while Timothy stayed behind at Thessalonica to establish the new Christians, joining the two sometime later.

At Berea, many received Paul's Message about Jesus after careful examination of the Old Testament Scriptures, but non-believing Jews from Thessalonica arrived in the city to cause more trouble, so Paul took off sailing to Athens by himself while Timothy and Silas remained.

While waiting in Athens for his fellow evangelists, Paul preached in the synagogue to the Jews and the Gentile worshipers and in the agora (= marketplace) to any Athenian willing to listen. After hearing his message, the followers of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophies took him to the Areopagus (a.k.a. Mars Hill to the Romans) to have him further expound what he taught.

To get their attention, he used references to their own "unknown god" and quoted a Greek poet much admired in antiquity, Aratus of Soli or Tarsus, both in Cilicia where Paul was from, and his poem "Phaenomena" (= "Appearances"). Some understood and received the message, others mocked, while others were triggered simply by intellectual stimulation, so Paul continued on to the city of Corinth.

In Corinth, he met Priscilla and Aquila, both in the tent-making trade like him. Silas and Timothy joined him there. He preached the Gospel every Sabbath in the synagogue until he formed a new community of believers, mostly Gentiles. The Jews brought Paul before the judgment seat of Gallio, the proconsul of Achaia, accusing him of wrongdoing, but Gallio dismissed their claims and released Paul.

Before returning to Antioch in Syria, Paul traveled to the port city of Cenchrea, where he had his head shaved to end a vow he had taken. Priscilla and Aquila boarded a ship with Paul as he sailed to Ephesus and preached the Gospel there. Priscilla and Aquila stayed behind in Ephesus while Paul sailed on to Caesarea, so that he could be in Jerusalem on time for the Feast of Sukkot (=Tabernacles). After the Festival he returned to Antioch in Syria.

Third Missionary Journey

54-57 A.D.

Paul's Third Missionary Journey is recorded in Acts 19 and 21.

Paul embarked again on a third voyage to strengthen the congregations of believers he had established before. He visited the Christian communities in Derbe, Lystra, Iconium and Antioch in Pisidia, and then continued on to Ephesus.

There, he met twelve men who had been baptized in John's baptism of repentance by the teachings of Apollos, who in turn had only heard about the teachings of John the Baptist and was unaware that Jesus, the Messiah John spoke about, had already come.

Paul taught them the full Gospel message and they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In Ephesus, Paul preached about Jesus in the local synagogue, however, some started to oppose Paul and spoke evil of God's way, so the congregation split and those who believed the Gospel left.

A curious episode happened in Ephesus when the seven sons of a Jewish priest named Sceva, who practiced witchcraft, arrived. The sons were itinerant Jewish exorcists and pretended to cast demons out of people. When they saw Paul casting out demons, they decided to do the same by using Jesus' and Paul's names to perform the exorcism on someone possessed by an evil spirit.

But the evil spirit did not submit to them and instead, the possessed man attacked the seven brothers overpowering them, so they had no choice but to flee the house naked and wounded.

After witnessing this episode, many who practiced witchcraft repented of their sinful practices and burned their books of incantations.

A silversmith named Demetrius and his fellow tradesmen, whose business centered on fashioning idols to the goddess Artemis (a.k.a. Diana to the Romans), started a riot against Paul because Paul's teachings caused a significant loss of profits, when the people of Ephesus stopped worshiping false gods and purchasing idols from them.

Then, Paul left Ephesus and sailed to Macedonia visiting the churches in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea before making a short trip to Corinth.

There he planned to sail to Syria, but discovered a plot against him by the non-believing Jews, so he decided to return through Macedonia instead. When he arrived in Miletus, he requested that the elders of the church in Ephesus visit him and when they arrived, he shared a final word of encouragement and a warning about the coming apostasy among them.

Then he announced that that would be the last time they saw him, he was going to sail back to Jerusalem not knowing what would await him there, but for sure nothing less than persecution and chains. The farewell was in tears and deep sadness.

He arrived at Caesarea where he stayed at the home of Philip the evangelist. A prophet from Judea named Agabus, took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and gave a prophecy about the manner of Paul's capture: imprisoned by the Jews and delivered to the Gentiles. Many brothers and sisters in the faith pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem, but Paul declared:

Acts 21:13 - "What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."

Then, Paul returned to Jerusalem, where he was eventually imprisoned and turned over to the Gentile authorities, the Romans, just like Agabus had prophesied.

Fourth Journey to Rome

Journey 59-60 A.D. - House arrest ca. 60-67 A.D.

Paul's Fourth Journey to Rome is recorded in Acts 27 and 28.

The circumstances of Paul's Journey to Rome were far different from his earlier travels. Before, he was a free man; this time, he was a prisoner of the Romans.

After Paul arrived in Jerusalem, he went up to the Temple and some Jews stirred up a riot against him, but a Roman officer arrested him and took him to safety. From that moment on, Paul remained in custody, until he invoked his right as a Roman citizen to appeal his case to Caesar himself. So the governor arranged for Paul to be taken by ship to Rome under escort.

The approach of the winter season did not prevent the ship from setting sail from Caesarea; the route skirted Sidon and the island of Cyprus, with transshipment on an Alexandrian ship at Myra in Lycia.

Along the way, they stopped at the southern coast of Crete for safe harbor. The centurion and the owner of the ship chose not to wait out the weather at Fair Havens and headed for the port of Phoenix. However, a catastrophic storm drove the ship to wreck in Malta, but the crew was saved. There they stayed for three months until the arrival of spring.

From there, in a relatively short time, stopping in Syracuse, Rhegium and Puteoli (= modern day Pozzuoli), the apostle finally reached Rome, traveling the rest of the journey along the Appian Way.

Paul was allowed to dwell on his own under house arrest, enjoying the regime of custodia militaris (= military custody) awaiting his trial before Caesar.