When
they had gone through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they had come opposite Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit didn’t allow them. Passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. A vision appeared to Paul in the night. There was a man of Macedonia standing, begging him, and saying, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go out to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the Good News to them. Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis; and from there to Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, the foremost of the district, a Roman colony. We were staying some days in this city.
Acts 16:6-12
Acts 16 [1.] He came to Derbe and Lystra: and behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewess who believed; but his father was a Greek. The brothers who were at Lystra and Iconium gave a good testimony about him. Paul wanted to have him go out with him, and he took and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts; for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered the decrees to them to keep which had been ordained by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem. So the assemblies were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.
Acts 16 [6.] When they had gone through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they had come opposite Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit didn’t allow them. Passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. A vision appeared to Paul in the night. There was a man of Macedonia standing, begging him, and saying, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go out to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the Good News to them. Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis; and from there to Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, the foremost of the district, a Roman colony. We were staying some days in this city.
Acts 16 [13.] On the Sabbath day we went outside of the city by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down, and spoke to the women who had come together. A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and stay.” So she persuaded us.
Meaning:
Paul, Silas and now Timothy had strengthened the churches of Galatia, which “increased in number daily” (Acts 16:5). Paul seems to have planned to go west into the province of Asia, with its great city of Ephesus. Instead, God closed one door after another until a vision in the night led the missionaries across the sea to Macedonia.
- “Forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia”
Luke does not say how the Spirit made his will known, whether by a prophetic word, an inner conviction or circumstances. The point is that the missionaries were led. The time for Asia would come: a few years later Paul taught in Ephesus for two years, “so that all those who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 19:10). A “no” from God is sometimes a “not yet.”
- “They tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit didn’t allow them”
They turned north toward Bithynia, by the Black Sea, but again the way was closed. Paul did not sit still waiting for guidance; he kept moving and trying, and God redirected him. Others would later bring the Good News to Bithynia; Peter wrote to believers there (1 Peter 1:1). As the proverb says, “A man’s heart plans his course, but Yahweh directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).
- “Come over into Macedonia and help us”
At Troas, a port on the Aegean Sea, Paul saw a man of Macedonia pleading for help. The help Macedonia needed was the Good News. The missionaries understood the vision as God’s call and acted “immediately.” Later Paul passed through Troas again, and “a door was opened to me in the Lord” there (2 Corinthians 2:12).
- “Immediately we sought to go out to Macedonia”
Here, for the first time in Acts, the narrator says “we.” Most readers understand that the author, traditionally Luke, joined Paul at Troas. Paul calls him “Luke, the beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14). Others suggest that Luke is using a travel diary or source. The “we” passages give these chapters the vivid detail of an eyewitness: the route, the islands and the days.
- “Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, the foremost of the district, a Roman colony”
With favorable winds they crossed in two days, by way of the island of Samothrace, to the port of Neapolis, and then went inland to Philippi. Philippi was a Roman colony, settled by veteran soldiers and proud of its Roman citizenship and laws. This background shapes the events that follow, and it gives meaning to Paul’s later words to the Philippians: “For our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). The church born there became one of Paul’s dearest, his partners “from the first day until now” (Philippians 1:5-6).
The Significance of Acts 16:6-12
- Guidance through closed doors
God guided Paul not only by the vision but also by the doors he shut. Closed doors can be part of God’s leading, steering his people toward the place where they are most needed.
- Responding promptly
When the call was clear, Paul and his companions went at once. Obedience that is quick and wholehearted opens the way for God’s work.
Cross-References:
Proverbs 16:9: "A man’s heart plans his course, but Yahweh directs his steps." God guides our plans.
2 Corinthians 2:12: "Now when I came to Troas for the Good News of Christ, and when a door was opened to me in the Lord." Troas later became a place of opportunity.
Philippians 3:20: "For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior." Words for the believers of a Roman colony.
Acts 19:10: "All those who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks." Asia reached later.
Conclusion: The Holy Spirit kept Paul and his companions from preaching in Asia and from entering Bithynia, and led them to Troas, where Paul saw a man of Macedonia begging for help. Concluding that God had called them, they sailed at once to Macedonia and came to Philippi, a Roman colony, where the Good News would take root.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible