Acts 16:6

THROUGH THE REGION OF PHRYGIA AND GALATIA. Acts 16:6 a. Cf. Galatians 4:13-15; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2.

Acts 16:6 a

And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia,

Acts 16:6 a Although it is not mentioned in the book of Acts we could conclude from the account given in Galatians that during the time that Paul was in the region of Galatia he contracted some type of illness that made it necessary for him to remain here for some time. During the period of his convalescence he was enabled to do a wonderful work for Christ among the inhabitants of Galatia, much to his surprise, we are led to believe. The words of Canon Farrar are very much to the point. We reproduce them for their fine expression:

The providential cause which led to St. Paul's stay in the country was, as he himself tells us, a severe attack of illness, and the manner in which he alludes to it gives us reason to infer that it was a fresh access of agony from that stake in the flesh which I believe to have been acute ophtalmia (inflammation of the eye or eyeball), accompanied, as it often is, by violent cerebral disturbance (pertaining to the brain). In his letter to his Galatian converts he makes a touching appeal which in modern phraseology might run as follows:

-Become as I am, brethren, I beseech you-' (i.e. free from the yoke of external and useless ordinances), -for I, too, made myself as you are. Jew that I was, I placed myself on the level of you Gentiles, and now I want you to stand with me on that same level, instead of trying to make yourselves Jews. I do not wish to speak by way of complaint about you. You never did me any personal wrong. Nay, you know that when I preached the gospel among you on my first visit, it was in consequence of an attack of sickness which detained me in the midst of a journey; you could not, therefore, feel any gratitude to me as though I had come with the express purpose of preaching to you; and besides, at that time weak, agonized with pain, liable to fits of delirium, with my eyes red and ulcerated by that disease by which it pleases God to let Satan buffet me, you might well have been tempted to regard me a deplorable object. My whole appearance must have been a trial to youa temptation to you to reject me. But you did not. You were very kind to me. You might have treated me with contemptuous indifference; you might have regarded me with positive loathing; but instead of this you honored, you loved me, you received me as though I were an angelnay, even as though I were the Lord of angels, as though I were even He whom I preached unto you. How glad were you to see me. How eagerly you congratulated yourselves and me on the blessed accidentnay, rather, on the blessed providence of God, which had detained me amongst you. So generous, so affectionate were you towards me that I bear you witness that to aid me as I sat in misery in the darkened rooms, unable to bear even a ray of light without excruciating pain, you would, if that could have helped me, have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. (Galatians 4:12-15). Life Of Paul, p. 264-266).

545.

What did Paul and Silas do when they arrived in Antioch and Iconium? What was the result?

546.

What happened in the regions of Galatia and Phrygia?

547.

Was Galatia a town, city, country, province or what?

It might be well to turn to the book of Galatians and read its six short Chapter s to learn of the concern of Paul for these Christians in the section where he bestowed so much effort.
It appears from the text that this tour and stay in Galatia only occurred as a result of the prevention of the Holy Spirit from speaking the Word in Asia. Get a good look at the map so you will know the location of Asia and of Galatia. This whole trip was a long and difficult one; for a detailed account of the terrain read the comments upon it by Conybeare and Howson (Life And Epistles Of The Apostle Paul, pp. 233-238).

548.

Of what nationality were the Galatians?

549.

Did Paul establish one church, many churches, or no churches there?

550.

When, why and where did he write to those in Galatia?

551.

Was it the original intent of the apostle to go into Galatia? If not, what was his original plan?