Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 16:5

"So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily." — Acts 16:5 (ASV)

This summary statement, concluding a crucial phase of Luke’s narrative, is comparable to the summary statements of 6:7; 9:31; 12:24 that culminate their respective panels (cf. also 19:20 and 28:31 later). It stresses the strengthening and growth of the churches as a result of Paul’s missionary policy and the response of the Jerusalem church to it.

Panel 5: Wide Outreach Through Two Missionary Journeys (16:6–19:20) Panel 5 presents the wide outreach of the Christian mission through two further missionary journeys of Paul in the eastern part of the empire. Having described the gradual extension of the Gospel to new groups of people and through a new missionary policy, Luke now shows its entrance into new areas. Notable in this panel are Luke’s emphases upon (1) God’s direction in and supervision of the Gospel’s outreach, (2) Christianity’s right to be considered a religio licita (see Introduction: Luke’s Purposes in Writing Acts), and (3) Paul’s circumstantial preaching in terms of proclamation and persuasion. Also of interest is the fact that the missionary outreach was confined to the major cities of the Aegean coastline connected by the main Roman roads, and that at the beginning of this panel we have our first “we” section (16:10–17; cf. 20:5–15; 21:1–18; 27:1–28:16). Temporal references in the panel are fairly general, and even when datable—e.g., the Edict of Claudius (18:2) and Gallio’s proconsulate (18:12)—they leave some margin for dispute. Generally, however, the material given here covers the years A. D. 49–56, with the journey into Macedonia and Achaia taking place about 49–52 and the one centered in Ephesus during 53–56.