Acts 16:6 - Exposition

And they went for now when they had gone, A.V. and T.R.; through the region of Phrygia and Galatia for throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, A.V. and T.R.; having been for and were, A.V.; speak for preach, A.V. The region of Phrygia and Galatia . But Phrygia is always a noun substantive, and cannot be here taken as an adjective belonging to χώρα : and we have in Acts 18:23 exactly the same collation as that of the A.V. here, only in an inverted order: τὴν γαλατικὴν χώραν καὶ φρυγίας . Even if the τὴν is properly omitted, as in the R.T., before γαλατικὴν , the passage must equally be construed as in the A.V. The Galatians were Celts, the descendants of those Gauls who invaded Asia in the third century B.C. This passage seems to show conclusively that Derbe and Lystra and Iconium were not comprehended by St. Paul under Galatia, and were not the Churches to whom the Epistle to the Galatians was addressed; and forcibly suggest that the Galatian Churches were founded by St. Paul in the course of the visit here so briefly mentioned by St. Luke. Asia is here used in its restricted sense of that district on the western coast of Asia Minor, of which Ephesus was the capital. It is in this sense that it is used also in Acts 2:9 ; Acts 6:9 ; Acts 19:10 , etc.; Revelation 1:11 . St. Paul apparently wished to go to Ephesus. But the time was not yet come. It was the purpose of the Holy Ghost that the Galatian Churches should be founded first, and then the Churches of Macedonia and Achaia. The apostles were sent, did not go anywhere of their own accord (comp. Matthew 10:5 , Matthew 10:6 ).