Acts 16:6-10 reads, "6 Having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia, they went through the

region of Phrygia and Galatia. 7 When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the

Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; 8 so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a

vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." 10

When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had

called us to proclaim the good news to them."

Did Paul and his colleagues travel to Troas via the cities of Pessinus, Ancyra and Tavium, as the north Galatia

theorists suppose?

1. Let us first consider the purpose of the divine guidance that is given to the group in these verses. According to

the north Galatia view Paul was instructed not to enter Asia and consequently went to north Galatia. Later the

apostles did enter Asia, against the instruction of the Holy Spirit, and traveled to the approach to Mysia, which is

in Asia, and from there to Troas, which is also in Asia. The problem with this view is that it is unlikely that Luke

would present Paul as indifferent to divine guidance and it also makes the divine guidance inconsistent. The

purpose of the divine guidance in 16:7-10 is to bring Paul to Macedonia as soon as possible, so why would Luke

report that the Holy Spirit sent them off in the wrong direction in 16:6?

A better interpretation of 16:6 is that the apostles were instructed to pass through Asia without stopping to preach

there. The usual practice of the group on entering a large city was to wait for the Sabbath to preach there and to

stay several weeks to nurture a new church. The instruction of 16:6 was to pass quickly through Asia. The nearest

destination that could be reached by passing through Asia was Bithynia, so the apostles headed north-west

towards Dorylaeum near the border between Asia and Bithynia. Their route would have taken them through

Phrygian Galatia, especially if the guidance from the Holy Spirit was received in Iconium. It therefore seems likely

that FRUGIAN KAI GALATIKHN refers to the single region of Phrygian Galatia. It is possible that their route took

them through Pessinus, but Ancyra and Tavium are out of the question. The common purpose of all three pieces of

divine guidance was to get them to Macedonia without delay.

2. Gal 4:13 says that Paul first preached the gospel to the Galatians because of a physical infirmity. On any

hypothesis the letter was addressed to a region rather than to a single city, so Paul's physical infirmity did not

prevent him from traveling. So why would the physical infirmity have caused him to decide to preach to the

Galatians? I suggest that the infirmity prevented Paul, not from traveling, but from working. This explains why he

may have chosen south Galatia as his destination on the "first missionary journey". The missionaries may have

originally intended to travel from Perga into Asia, but with their earning potential reduced, they may have decided

to scale down their ambitions so that they could return to Antioch before their money ran out. This change of plan

on the first missionary journey may explain why Mark returned to Jerusalem. Perhaps he has originally accepted a

mission to Asia but was unwilling to accompany Paul and Barnabas to south Galatia where persecution was

inevitable because of the conservative Jews who lived there. Furthermore, if south Galatia had originally been part

of the plan it is likely that Paul and Barnabas would have gone there directly via the Cilician gates and visited

Cyprus on their way back to Antioch. This would have avoided the difficulties and dangers of westward sailing

against the prevailing winds.

In any case, it is hard to see how an illness could have caused Paul to go to the cities of north Galatia or to

preach there. North Galatia would have involved a large detour. See the works of W.M.Ramsay, and the more

recent books by Stephen Mitchell, "Anatolia: Land, Men, and Gods of Asia Minor", from which the road map above

was derived.

3. Chronological considerations also weigh against a preaching tour of north Galatia. The Gallio incident probably

took place in 51 so Paul's arrival in Corinth was probably in 50. The earliest likely date for the Jerusalem visit of

Acts 15 is 48, so we probably have just two years to squeeze in the Jerusalem visit, a stay in Antioch, a visit to

south Galatia, the evangelization of Macedonia, and Paul's journey to Corinth. This chronology is explicable if, as I

have argued, the apostles hurried through Asia to Macedonia, but it is very strained if we have to add a preaching

tour of north Galatia.

4. In his letter to the Galatians Paul responds to the misunderstanding that he preached circumcision (e.g. 5:11)

and that he had preached non-circumcision only to please the Jerusalem leaders. This misunderstanding is

exactly what we would expect to arise in South Galatia after Paul circumcised Timothy and delivered the decisions

of the Jerusalem church leaders (Acts 16:1-5). See here.