Acts 18:22 - Exposition

He went up for and gone up, A. g.; and went for he went, A.V. When he had landed at Caesarea ; i.e. Caesarea Stratonis, or Sebaste, or παραλιός , as it was variously called, to distinguish it from Caesarea Philippi (see Acts 8:40 ; Acts 9:30 ; Acts 10:1 , etc., and frequently elsewhere in the Acts). "Caesarea, whither probably the vessel was bound, was the military capital of the Roman province of Judea, of which Felix was at this time procurator. It was also the harbor by which all travelers from the West approached it, and from whence roads led to Egypt on the south, to Tyre and Sidon and Antioch on the north, and eastward to Nablous and Jerusalem and the Jordan" (Howson, 1.455). He went up and saluted the Church ; meaning, without any doubt, he went up to Jerusalem, as both the word ἀναβὰς , and the object of his-going up, "to salute the Church," conclusively show. For ἀναβαίνω , whether coupled with εἰς ἱεροσόλυμα as in Matthew 20:17 , Matthew 20:18 , or standing alone as in John 7:8 , John 7:10 , and John 12:20 , is the regular word for going up to Jerusalem (see Acts 11:2 ; Acts 15:2 ; Acts 21:12 , Acts 21:15 ; Acts 24:11 ; Acts 25:1 , Acts 25:9 ); and ἡ ἐκκλησία , the Church, which Paul went to salute, can mean nothing but the mother Church of Jerusalem. No doubt he was received officially by the apostles, represented by James and the elders and the Church, as in Acts 15:4 ; and gave a formal account of the result of his second missionary journey, and of the great event of the introduction of the gospel into Macedonia and Achaia. It is a remarkable example of St. Luke's great brevity at times that this is the only notice of his arrival at Jerusalem, where his vow was to be fulfilled. Went down to Antioch ; from whence he had started with Silas, after his separation from Barnabas, some three years before, "being recommended by the brethren to the grace of God" ( Acts 16:40 ; comp. Acts 14:26 , Acts 14:27 ; Acts 15:30 ).