When we study the Apostle Paul as a man and as a teacher, there is no reason necessarily to describe his missionary journeys in any more detail. Nevertheless, it is good to know something about the towns where he mostly lived and worked and where he also wrote his teaching and pastoral letters. Ordinary maps of Paul's missionary journeys do not give estimates of the dates when his letters were sent. So it is difficult to outline his activities as a whole.

All three of his missionary journeys began from Antioch in Syria, which had become the most important centre of the early church. There disciples were first called Christians, in Greek "khristianous" (Acts 11:26). In practice this meant that Jesus was acknowledged as Christ, that is, as Messiah. The designation "Nazarene", which Paul's accusers used of him in Jerusalem (Acts 24:5), had a derogatory connotation. Nowadays too the Hebrew word for Christian, "notzri" or "Nazarene", has the same basic tone. However, Matthew 2:23 says of Jesus that "it was spoken through the prophets" that he would be called a Nazarene. This is connected with the "shoot" or "netzer" coming up from the stump of Jesse in Isaiah 11:1. One of the many Messiah's concealed names is "Netzer" or the corresponding Aramaic term "Netirutha".

It is difficult to outline and internalize Paul's missionary journeys. We found this difficulty when for seven years I was principal of the Helsinki Bible School. Over a period of three years we gave one thousand lecture hours on the Bible for each year-long course. In this connection we prepared for the same double page a diagram of Paul's missionary journeys, which always included a brief mention of his companions, the chapters in which each phase is dealt with, the main events in the various cities and the places where Paul wrote his letters. Thus we may perceive an overall picture of the ministry of the apostle to the Gentiles. Alongside them one can also study the early ministries of Philip, Barnabas and Peter.

Paul was not, of course, the only scholar who travelled round the contemporary Jewish centres of the Diaspora. The most important rabbi of his time, Rabbi Aqiba, also visited Arabia, Sicily, Cappadocia, Phrygia and Galatia gathering support for the revolt against the Romans at the turn of the 130s A.D. However, Paul's ministry concentrated only on preaching and on founding Christian churches.

When we evaluate Paul as a man and as a teacher, we are amazed at his energy and organisational abilities. Just a glance at the diagram of his missionary journeys shows how extensive and physically demanding his ministry was. The Acts of the Apostles and Paul's letters and their comparison with Jewish sources show some revolutionary decisions which Paul could take only on the basis of his rabbinic education. We wish to concentrate upon these great decisions of principle which illuminate the foundations of our faith.

When Paul and Barnabas had worked together in Antioch for about a year, the Acts of the Apostles tells two things connected with Paul's life. One concerns the taking of contributions to Jerusalem and the other Paul's and Barnabas' official "setting apart" for missionary work. "During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. This happened during the reign of Claudius.

The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul" (Acts 11:27-30). Thus Paul was able to act according to the advice of his great teacher Gamaliel. The historian Josephus also tells of this famine. In 46 A.D. Queen Helena of Adiabene, who had converted to Judaism, sent grain from Alexandria to Jerusalem and its surroundings in order to help those suffering from famine. Also, a letter has been discovered written by Claudius to the city of Alexandria, in which at the beginning of his reign, in the year 41, he forbids Syrian Jews from moving there. Later he expelled the Jews from Rome due to disturbances caused by a man "named Christos" in 52 A.D., as Acts 18:2 and the Roman historian Suetonius testify. Then Aquila and Priscilla moved to Corinth, where they became Paul's co-workers. It may be that the Apostle Paul did not choose Egypt as a mission field precisely because of these limitations imposed on Syrians by Claudius.

 "When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark" (Acts 12:25). Thus this cousin of Barnabas' joined Paul's team of co-workers.