Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 18:22

"And when he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and saluted the church, and went down to Antioch." — Acts 18:22 (ASV)

And when he had landed at Caesarea.—It is obvious that a great deal is covered by the short record of this verse. In the absence of any data in the Acts for settling the question, we may possibly refer to some casualty in this voyage, one of the three shipwrecks of 2 Corinthians 11:25.

At Caesarea, we may believe, he would probably renew his fellowship with Philip the Evangelist. At Jerusalem, there would be the usual gathering of the Church, the completion of his Nazarite vow in the Temple, and a friendly welcome from St. James and the elders of the Church.

Peter was probably at Antioch (Galatians 2:11), or possibly at Babylon (1 Peter 5:13). To this visit to Antioch, we may probably refer the scene which St. Paul narrates in Galatians 2:11-14.

His long absence from Antioch had left the Judaizing party time to gather strength and organize a new attack on the freedom of the Gentiles. They brought fresh pressure to bear on the element of instability that still lingered in St. Peter’s character, and he had not been able to resist it.

It is, however, possible that the incident may have occurred before Paul and Silas had left Antioch. (See Note on Acts 15:39-40.)