Act 16:6-10 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Acts 16:6-10: 16:6-10 God directed the missionaries’ travels: The Holy Spirit had prevented them from proceeding westward into the province of Asia, the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go north to Bithynia , and then Paul had a vision calling them to go northwest over the Aegean Sea to Macedonia . God’s Spirit guided his servants in Acts in a variety of ways, including divine visions (see also 9:10 ; 10:9-16 ; 22:18 ), direct intuition (cp. 8:29 , 39 ; 10:19 ; 20:22 ), counsel with other believers (cp. 15:29 ), guidance through prayer (13:2 , 4 ), insight through Scripture (28:25-27 ), and prophecy (11:28 ). Guidance by the indwelling Holy Spirit helped them to accomplish their mission to be Christ’s witnesses (1:8 ; see also 4:8 , 31 ; 11:24 ; 13:9 ).

Summary for Acts 16:6-10: 16:6-10 ^a God directed the missionaries’ travels: The Holy Spirit had prevented them from proceeding westward into the province of Asia, the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go north to Bithynia, and then Paul had a vision calling them to go northwest over the Aegean Sea to Macedonia. God’s Spirit guided his servants in Acts in a variety of ways, including divine visions (see also 9:10 ^b; 10:9-16 ^c; 22:18 ^d), direct intuition (cp. 8:29 ^e, 39 ^f; 10:19 ^g; 20:22 ^h), counsel with other believers (cp. 15:29 ⁱ), guidance through prayer (13:2 ^j, 4 ^k), insight through Scripture (28:25-27 ^l), and prophecy (11:28 ^m). Guidance by the indwelling Holy Spirit helped them to accomplish their mission to be Christ’s witnesses (1:8 ⁿ; see also 4:8 ^o, 31 ^p; 11:24 ^q; 13:9 ^r).
16:8 ^s Troas, a major port on the Aegean Sea, was one of the more significant cities in the Roman Empire. Paul’s strategy was often to visit principal places such as Troas, Athens, Corinth, and Ephesus. When the Christian faith had been planted in major centers, local Christian workers could carry it into outlying areas (e.g., Epaphras took the message from Ephesus to Colosse, Col 1:7 ^t; 4:12-13 ^u).
Summary for Acts 16:9-10: 16:9-10 ^v a vision: See thematic note for Visions at end of chapter.
16:10 ^w we: The most natural interpretation of the shift from “they” to “we” is that Luke accompanied Paul from Troas to Philippi (16:10-17 ^x). Later Luke joined Paul again at Philippi and sailed with him to Troas, then to Miletus (20:5-15 ^y), then from Miletus to Jerusalem (21:1-18 ^z). After Paul’s two-year imprisonment in Caesarea, Luke traveled with him to Rome (27:1–28:16 ^aa).