Acts 14:27

Acts 14:27. They rehearsed all that God had done for them. The exact time during which the apostles had been absent is uncertain; we have, however, two definite points of time to assist us in determining the length of time taken up in the First Missionary Journey.

Paul returned from Jerusalem to Antioch after having carried the alms from the Antioch Christians to the poor Jerusalem saints (see chap. Acts 11:29-30; Acts 12:25), A.D. 44. In A.D. 51, Paul and Barnabas went up again to Jerusalem from the Antioch Church to confer with the elder apostles on the matter of the circumcision of the Gentile converts (chap. Acts 15:2).

Six years, then, were spent in Antioch and on the First Missionary Journey: out of those six years the most likely computation seems to be that which allows three or four years for the journey. The work accomplished, the account of which they formally gave to the Antioch presbytery, included the preaching in the island of Cyprus; and in those districts of Asia Minor termed then Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia, four churches were founded and definitely organised, Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe.