Expositor's Bible Commentary 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)

Paul probably booked passage for Caesarea, the port city of Jerusalem since the time of Herod the Great (cf. comments on 10:1). From Caesarea, he “went up” to Jerusalem, some sixty-five miles southeast. While the name “Jerusalem” does not appear in the text, it is certainly implied by the expressions “went up” and “went down,” and also by the absolute use of the term “the church.” At Jerusalem, then, he met with the mother church. In addition, he undoubtedly entered into a thirty-day program of purification for his Nazirite vow, after which he presented his shorn hair to God in thanksgiving and offered sacrifices. Then he “went down” to Antioch of Syria, some three hundred miles north, reporting to and ministering within the church that originally commissioned him to reach the Gentiles (13:1–4).