Paul’s Macedonian Call -- When Closed Doors Lead to an Open Door

Paul’s Approach to Preaching the Gospel—The Second Missionary Journey Gets Underway

Preaching first to Jews in local synagogues, where Paul could find a “common starting-point in the Jewish Scriptures,”[1] and then preaching to Gentiles in the city’s public spaces, Paul and his associates witnessed the conversion of sufficient numbers of Christian believers that an apparently thriving church had been founded in the Greek city of Thessalonica merely twenty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.[2] Our Lord’s promise to his disciples in Acts 1:8 comes to mind. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” In many ways, Paul’s missionary journeys are the means through which Isaiah’s prophecy of Israel’s Messiah serving as a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 49:6) is fulfilled, as well as our Lord’s promise in Acts 1:8. The gospel was now going to the ends of the earth, largely through Paul’s preaching to Gentiles.

The Macedonian Call – Two Doors Closed While Another Opened

The church in Thessalonica, along with the new churches in Philippi, Berea, and Corinth, all have their origin in the so-called “Macedonian Call,” which is recounted by Luke in Acts 16:6-10. As a result of a vision given Paul while he was still in Asia Minor, the second missionary journey got under way as the gospel came to several prominent Greek cities: Philippi (Acts 16); Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-9); Berea (Acts 17:10-15); Athens (Acts 17:16-34); and Corinth (Acts 18:1-17).

Coming on the heels of the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15), the “Macedonian Call” was a significant event in the early church, and is recounted in Acts 16:6-10,

And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Given what we know about him in light of his calling as the Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul continually sought direction from the Lord about where to take the gospel when planning his second missionary journey. Two apparent open doors slammed shut. Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit prevented Paul’s group of missionaries from going east into Asia (Cappadocia, Armenia, and Syria). Then, Luke says, “the Spirit of Jesus” blocked them from going to Bythinia, a region in the northern portion of Asia Minor extending to the Black Sea. But closed doors meant that the Lord would open others. The Spirit directed the missionaries to cross the Aegean Sea and “go west” into Macedonia, a Roman province which includes much of modern Greece and Albania. It was God’s appointed time for Paul to take the gospel into Europe.

From Troas (in Asia Minor) to Neapolis in Macedonia

In Acts 16:11 ff. Luke recounts that Paul and his three companions, of which Timothy and Silas (Silvanus) are specifically mentioned by Luke, went west to Troas. Troas is a small port at the Northwestern tip of Asia Minor. The missionaries crossed the Aegean Sea (a short voyage), heading for Samothrace, a small island in the Aegean Sea where Paul and his companions spent the night before going on to the city of Neapolis on the Macedonian mainland (Acts 16:11-12). It is worth noting that this is the first section in the Book of Acts where Luke likely includes himself in the narrative via the use of “we.”[3] The shift to “we” in verse 11, implies that Luke too went along with Paul, Silas, and Timothy from Troas to Neapolis. Neapolis (now the Greek city of Kavala) was a small village near Philippi where Luke seems to have remained when Paul and company went on to Thessalonica.[4]

The city of Neapolis may be insignificant, but the surrounding area plays a significant role in Greek and Roman history. Brutus and Cassius used the harbor at Neapolis to provision during the battle of Philippi in 42 BCE, when opposed by the armies of Octavian and Mark Antony.[5] By Paul’s time, Neapolis had become a way station on the Via Egnatia, which was the main Roman road through the area and built in the second century BCE. It ran from the Adriatic Sea in what is now Albania, to Philippi in Macedonia, and then on to Byzantium (modern Istanbul) in Asia Minor. The road provided an effective means of communication between Philippi and Thessalonica, which explains the rapid communication back and forth of news of Paul’s presence in both cities, as well as the rapid travel by missionaries between cities as implied in Luke’s account.

Paul in Philippi and Thessalonica

After landing at Neapolis, Paul went directly to Philippi, a Roman colony which was originally named in 356 BCE for Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great. Two doors close, but another opens wide. Luke recounts how Paul and his companions began preaching the gospel upon arrival in the city, but quickly found themselves at the center of heated controversy. They were subsequently arrested, imprisoned, and beaten for preaching Christ crucified. But as recounted in Acts 16:16-40, they were also vindicated by God, who delivered them by sending an earthquake to open the doors of the city’s jail. We read of the conversion of Lydia, a merchant dealing in purple dye and cloth, along with the account of the Philippian jailer. Both came to faith in Jesus Christ through the preaching of Paul, and then presented their households for baptism.[6]

Soon after, Paul and his companions were asked to leave Philippi (Acts 16:39). Luke tells us that “now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a “synagogue of the Jews” (Acts 17:1). The presence of a synagogue in Thessalonica meant an opportunity to preach the gospel to the Jews in the area. Luke’s account of the gospel reaching the city of Thessalonica and the subsequent founding of the church there is given in Acts 17:2-9.

And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

Forced to leave Thessalonica, Paul and company headed west to Berea, where the Jews once again managed to stir up trouble for Paul and Silas as we read in Acts 17:10-15.

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

While Paul apparently began his ministry in Thessalonica by preaching in the synagogue, even winning a few Jewish converts (Acts 17:4), likely the church was made up of mostly Gentiles including a number of women of high social standing. Paul informs us of this in the opening chapter of his first epistle (1 Thessalonians 1:9–10); “For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” The mention of Gentile idolatry is a clear indication that the varied practices of Greco-Roman paganism were embraced by much of the city’s population. Luke’s account confirms this by pointing out that, “some of them were persuaded [to leave the idols behind] and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women” (Acts 17:4). If most of the Jewish population was hostile to Christian preaching, a number of prominent Greek women were persuaded by the gospel, came to faith in Jesus, and made up a significant portion of the new church (Acts 17:4).

Two churches were planted in key locations, more were soon to follow. The Macedonian man’s call for help was answered!

While God is sovereign and directs all things to their appointed ends, we do learn from the Macedonian call that God will save his people, and that a closed door or two, may be precursors to a surprise open door to preach the gospel.

Note: Taken from episode one season two of the Blessed Hope Podcast on Paul’s Thessalonian letters and edited for publication here

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[1] George Milligan, Paul’s Epistles to the Thessalonians, reprint ed. (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, n.d.), xxvii.

[2] Bruce, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, xxi.

[3] F. F. Bruce, The Acts of the Apostles: Greek Text with Introduction and Commentary, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1990), 3-7.

[4] Luke switches back to the third person in Acts 16:40, an indication that he did not proceed with Paul and the others on to Thessalonica.

[5] For background see, https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Philippi-Roman-history-42-BC

[6] The practice of household baptism is an important plank in the Reformed argument for infant baptism. “The individualism of contemporary Western society would have been quite foreign to the way of thinking in Paul’s day. Decisions would have been taken corporately, or more probably, by the leading member of the household on behalf of others. Hence we read of household conversions and baptisms (Acts 16:15, 31–34; 18:8; 1 Cor 1:16).” See D. J. Tidball, “Social Setting of Mission Churches,” in Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid, eds., Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 888.