How many years after Paul's first journey did he write?

Answer 1

Immediately after his conversion to Christianity, Paul went straight to Arabia (Petrea) and afterwards went to Damascus, but escaped the city when the governor under Aretas, king of the Nabateans from 9 BCE to 40 CE, had a garrison deployed to arrest him because of his Christian activities (2 Corinthians 11:32-33). He then spent time in Syria and Cilicia, and then jouneyed to Jerusalem (Galations 1:16 - 2:1). He must have spent 3 years in Damascus, 14 years in Syria and Cilicia, and indeterminate periods in the other centres. Therefore, his conversion would have been at least 18 to 20 years before he wrote Galations.

The three missionary journeys are a convenient classification developed by students of Acts, but in his undisputed letters Paul gives us no information about the first missionary journey. A difficulty in harmonising the epistle with Acts of the Apostles is that Paul speaks of his journey to the regions of Syria and Cilicia quite early in his mission, whereas Acts speaks of Paul journeying to Syria and Cilicia at the start of the second missionary journey. It is only with difficulty that the two accounts can be aligned. If in fact there was a "first missionary journey", this could have been completed any time between ten and more than twenty years before Paul wrote Galatians.