And when he had landed at Caesarea, and gone up, and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch.
And when he had landed at Cesarea (leaving the vessel there), and gone up (that is, to Jerusalem), and saluted the church. In these few words does the historian despatch the apostle's FOURTH VISIT TO JERUSALEM after his conversion. The expression 'going up' is invariably used of a journey to the metropolis; and thence, naturally,
He went down to Antioch. Perhaps the vessel reached too late for the feast, as he seems to have done nothing in Jerusalem beyond 'saluting the church,' and privately offering the sacrifice with which his vow (Acts 18:18) would conclude. It is left to be understood, as on his arrival from his first missionary tour, that 'when he was come, and had gathered the church together, he rehearsed all that God had done with him' (Acts 14:27) on this his SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY.
Remarks:
(1) The language of the apostle, in taking leave of the synagogue of Corinth - "Your blood be (or is) upon your own heads; I am clean; from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles" - is so strong, that one is apt to conclude that, having opened a place of meeting of his own at the house of Justus, he never thereafter entered the synagogue, but commenced a purely Christian service, and perhaps at the regular hours of Jewish worship. But though we have no certainty on the point there are the strongest grounds for questioning this.
(a) It would have certainly soon come to be known among the Jews, far and near, that he had entirely broken with them, and this would have shut him out from all access to them; and as it was to prevent this that he circumcised Timothy before taking him with him on this journey, it is not likely that he would so soon act upon a policy the very opposite.
(b) As the mention of Justus' house being situated "hard by the synagogue" is immediately followed by the statement that "Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house," it is hardly credible that the worship of the two places went on at the same time, or even that they stood in an entirely hostile attitude to each other; nor is it easy to believe that the new meeting would have been allowed to continue for such a length of time undisturbed as it appears to have done, with its members continually increasing. But if we suppose that all the apostle meant to intimate in the synagogue was, that from that time forth he would dispute no more with them there; if we understand him to have continued his attendance at the synagogue, though only as a simple worshipper, and held his own meeting, perhaps, at the close of the synagogue services-thus enabling, and indeed enticing as many of the worshippers as still desired to hear him, to drop out of the one place into the other; and finally, if he made it understood that he was no enemy of "Moses and the prophets," but only their faithful interpreter, in preaching Him who came not to destroy, but to fulfil, and was the true "Hope of Israel:" - all becomes intelligible. We can then understand how Crispus, though the ruler of the synagogue, might think it no inconsistent thing, when his services at the synagogue were over, to listen to the expositions of Paul at his own meeting, until, unable to resist the conviction that Jesus was the Christ, he yielded himself to baptism. And as the apostle would thus be free from at least captious opposition, and be at liberty to expatiate in his own mighty way on the unsearchable riches of Christ, the number of the believers would thus be steadily increased, until, with large accessions of Gentiles, the unbelieving party could no longer stand it, but took their usual course of raising a commotion, and dragging the apostle before the magistrate as a disturber of the peace. This, too, would account for his having the same access to the Jews of other places as before, notwithstanding his apparent secession at Corinth. Perhaps others might learn from this not to be too precipitate in severing themselves entirely even from corrupt systems with which they have been long connected, and to try first the effect of faithful testimony for the truth, and next, the effect of initiatory measures of separation, when no hope of general reformation appears to remain.
(2) If the apostle came home to Antioch, after his first missionary tour, brimful of intelligence which could not fail to thrill his bearers, as he "rehearsed all that God had done with them, and (particularly) how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles," what must have been the feelings of his auditors as he related to them the details of his second journey, now concluded! Doubtless, there was now no such novelty in the accession of the Gentiles as had given such interest to the former mission. But this mission had a novelty of its own, perhaps hardly less thrilling-the plantation of the Gospel in Europe; and that not in obscure and uninfluential places, but in the important capital of eastern Macedonia (Philippi), in the populous and stirring capital of its western division (Thessalonica), and in the great capital of Achaia, the seat of so much Greek culture and refined sensuality-Corinth. Those who heard the narrative of these great triumphs of the Gospel must have seen in them the evidence of a power which nothing could withstand, and have beheld in spirit the mystic Warrior on his white horse, with the crown that was given him, going forth conquering and to conquer (Revelation 6:2). And with such feelings, what enlargement and elevation of soul must have been imparted to the brethren at Antioch, and how ready would they be to encourage still further the great missionary work! And is it not thus that the two great departments of the Church's work act and re-act upon each other-spiritual life within begetting the irrepressible desire to impart itself to those that are without, and the tidings of success in the ingathering of those that are afar off warming the affections, quickening the energies, and enlarging the whole character of the Church at home?
Visit to the Churches of Galatia and Phrygia (18:23)