Acts 13:13-21

3. The mission to Asia Minor 13:13-14:21a

Having evangelized Barnabas’ homeland the missionaries next moved into southern Asia Minor (modern western Turkey).

"The contact with Sergius Paulus is the key to the subsequent ininerary of the first missionary journey. From Cyprus Paul and Barnabas struck east to the newly founded colony of Pisiddian Antioch, miles away from any Cypriot’s normal route. Modern scholars have invoked Paul’s wish to reach the uplands of Asia and recover from a passing sickness. . . . We know, however, that the family of the Sergii Pauli had a prominent connection with Pisidian Antioch . . . the Sergii Pauli’s local influence was linked with their ownership of a great estate nearby in central Anatolia: it is an old and apt guess that these connections go back to the time of Paul’s governor. They explain very neatly why Paul and Barnabas left the governor’s presence and headed straight for distant Pisidian Antioch. He directed them to the area where his family had land, power and influence. The author of Acts saw only the impulse of the Holy Spirit, but Christianity entered Roman Asia on advice from the highest society." [Note: R. L. Fox, Pagans and Christians, pp. 293-94.]