Paul
The Apostle Paul (formerly Saul of Tarsus) is arguably the most influential member of the early Christian church outside of Jesus himself, because Paul's teaching and missionary work laid the social and theological foundations for the worldwide religion known as Christianity. Not only did Paul expand and refine Jesus' message, he carried this message to a much wider audience than ever before, preaching to Jews and Gentiles alike while traveling throughout the Roman empire. One of the most well-recorded of these travels is Paul's second missionary journey, which began in Jerusalem but then moved throughout the empire. By examining Paul's second missionary journey, and particularly his visit to Philippi, it will be possible to not only trace Paul's travels on one of his most important missionary trips, but also understand how these travels influenced the theological content of his later epistles.
Paul set out to begin his second missionary journey around 48-49 CE, traveling from Jerusalem to Antioch (Pollock 101). Paul had begun his journey with Barnabas, a fellow Christian, but something occurred at Antioch which created a dramatic rift between the two men. There are two accounts of incident, and they give slightly different reasons for the split between Barnabas and Paul. In Acts it appears that the two men disagreed about bringing someone named John Mark with them, with Barnabas saying that he should join them while Paul disagreed, due to the fact that John Mark had abandoned them on a previous journey (Acts 15:37-38). However, the true reason for their split is somewhat more complicated, because in Galatians, Paul reveals how he and Peter had a bitter disagreement regarding the status and behavior of Gentiles, a disagreement in which Barnabas sided with Peter ( Gal. 2:11-13, Pollock 103-104). Thus, it seems that the split between Paul and Barnabas must be considered both personal and public; not only did they personally disagree about a potential traveling companion, but they also had a fairly public falling out over matters of theology. Thus, Paul and Barnabas separated, and Barnabas went with John Mark while Paul was accompanied by Silas (Acts 15: 39-41).
From Antioch, Paul and Silas traveled to Derbe and Lystra by way of Tarsus (Paul's hometown), and in Lystra they met Timothy, who would eventually become one of Paul's greatest companions and proteges. Timothy is included as an author in many of Paul's epistles, and Paul frequently dispatched Timothy as an independent missionary, "sent at Paul's behest to resolve problems in the mission churches" (Schnelle 149). At this point it is worth noting the particular method of missions work Paul engaged in, because it differed somewhat from earlier missionaries. While missionary journeys were something of a tradition, Paul expanded on this idea by attempting to establish "a church, that is, one or more house churches, in each provincial capital," so that any converts might still have a community even after the missionaries leave (Schnelle 149). Thus, Paul and his companions would travel somewhere, establish a church, and then remain "in each location long enough for the church to develop its own leadership structure, and [their] own presence was no longer necessary" (Schnelle 149). Of course, at various times certain circumstances conspired to confound this plan, for instance whenever Paul was thrown in prison, but all in all Paul's particular missionary "style" proved highly effective, because it ensured that the Christian community would remain robust even when the missionaries were no longer present.
When Paul and Silas left Lystra, Timothy accompanied them, and the three traveled throughout Asia on the way to Greece, although they were "forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia" (Acts 16:6). They traveled all the way to Philippi, and it was there that a number of things occurred which would be important for Paul's later ministry, including the conversion of the first Christians in Europe. However, before discussing Paul's time in Philippi, it will be instructive to consider the social, cultural, and historical background of the city itself, in order to better appreciate both Paul's time there and his later epistle to the Philippians.
Philippi was a city in Greece relatively close to the Aegean Sea, although at the time of Paul's visit it was a Roman colony, and had been for some time. Located on the Roman highway the Via Egnatia, the city of Philippi had originated as a Greek colony named Krenides, but just six years after its founding 560 BCE, the city was conquered by Philip II of Macedonia...
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