Act 19:21 | KingComments | STEP | Then comes the time for Paul to say goodbye to Ephesus. He has another purpose. Jerusalem keeps him busy. He would like to attend the feast of Pentecost there ( ). He even thinks beyond that. After he has been in Jerusalem he wants to go to Rome as well. And indeed he will come there, but not as he expects. Here he starts his journey toward Rome and at the end of this book he is there, as a prisoner. Jerusalem and Rome are the two places between which this book takes place. He yearns to bring the Word into the heart of the Gentile world, just as he brought it into the heart of the religious world. He wants to go to Jerusalem because of a burning love for his people. He sends forward two of those who serve him, while he himself stays in Asia for a while. Of the two he sends ahead, we know Timothy. The other, Erastus, is unknown to us. Erastus, like Timothy, will have received teaching from the apostle. Together they will go to Macedonia, probably to Corinth, where they can pass on the teaching received from the apostle as his representatives. They may have taken with them the first letter to the Corinthians that Paul wrote at this time.

‏ Acts 19:21

Jerusalem and Rome

Then comes the time for Paul to say goodbye to Ephesus. He has another purpose. Jerusalem keeps him busy. He would like to attend the feast of Pentecost there (Acts 20:16). He even thinks beyond that. After he has been in Jerusalem he wants to go to Rome as well. And indeed he will come there, but not as he expects. Here he starts his journey toward Rome and at the end of this book he is there, as a prisoner. Jerusalem and Rome are the two places between which this book takes place. He yearns to bring the Word into the heart of the Gentile world, just as he brought it into the heart of the religious world.

He wants to go to Jerusalem because of a burning love for his people. He sends forward two of those who serve him, while he himself stays in Asia for a while. Of the two he sends ahead, we know Timothy. The other, Erastus, is unknown to us. Erastus, like Timothy, will have received teaching from the apostle. Together they will go to Macedonia, probably to Corinth, where they can pass on the teaching received from the apostle as his representatives. They may have taken with them the first letter to the Corinthians that Paul wrote at this time.