Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 15:36

"And after some days Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us return now and visit the brethren in every city wherein we proclaimed the word of the Lord, [and see] how they fare." — Acts 15:36 (ASV)

Luke now presents Paul as taking the initiative for another missionary journey. To Paul, of course, it was not intended as a new outreach but only a revisiting of believers converted on the first missionary journey. Nevertheless, God was to bring a second missionary journey out of it. This section provides something of a bridge between the completion of the advances reported in panel 4 and the beginning of those reported in panel 5.