Match Quiz: New Testament Geography -- #3

Answer: Philippi

According to Acts 16:16-34, Paul and Silas were stripped and beaten and then severely flogged before being thrown into prison at Philippi. Despite all this, the two were praying and singing hymns at midnight when a violent earthquake struck, opening the doors to the prison.

The passage goes on to state the jailer took Paul and Silas home and was filled with great joy because he and his household had come to believe in God. Philippi was a city in eastern Macedonia and was abandoned in the 14th century during the Ottoman conquest.

Answer: Damascus

Paul was forced to flee Damascus after Jews living there were incensed with him for preaching the message Jesus is the Son of God. This from the same man who had spent much of his life persecuting followers of Christ.

According to Acts 9:24-25, the people were so angry they were plotting to kill Paul and the "disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket."

Mention is also made of Paul's unusual method of escape in 2 Corinthians 11:32-33.

Damascus is in the south-west of modern day Syria, a country that has been battered by civil war the past few years.

Answer: Patmos

Revelation 1:9 in the NKJV states: "I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus." What follows this verse is Scripture that has captivated and perplexed Christians for centuries. Patmos is in the Aegean Sea and is part of Greece.

Patmos is a wind-swept Greek island in the Aegean Sea. According to Wikipedia, it consists of area of 34.05 kilometers or 13.15 square miles. The current population of the island is about 3,000 people.

Answer: Lystra

According to Scripture, Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, first met Timothy in Lystra. Although young and apparently timid, Timothy would prove to be an extremely valuable worker in the early church. Acts 16:2 says the brothers all spoke well of Timothy so Paul opted to take him on a missionary journey. Verses 4 and 5 go on to state: "As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers."

Answer: Colosse

There is no smoking gun, but it is generally believed Onesimus served as a slave in Colosse. It is known Onesimus was a slave owned by Philemon and the book of Philemon was written by Paul to have Onesimus accepted back as an equal.

In Colossians 4:19, Paul makes mention of Onesimus, "a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you." Colossians was addressed to the people at Colosse.

Colosse was a community in what is present day Turkey.

Answer: No location given

No location is given in Scripture for the famous meeting between Nicodemus and Jesus. The only thing we know is the meeting took place at night.

It was during the conversation that Jesus told Nicodemus, a Pharisee, he must be born again. (John 3:3-5)

In John 3:16-17, Jesus makes the famous declaration to Nicodemus: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

Answer: Samarian/Galilean border

According to Luke 17:11 in the NIV, the mass healing of the lepers took place along the border of Samaria and Galilee. (The NKJV states the miracle took place while Jesus passed through "the midst of Samaria and Galilee".)

Scripture states Jesus cleansed ten lepers but only one, a Samaritan, returned to thank Him. This even though Jews and Samaritans generally despised each other. Similar to the Samaritan woman at the well, no name is given in Scripture for the thankful leper.

Answer: Aenon near Salim

According to John 3:23, John the Baptist was baptizing people at Aenon, near Salim, when he made the proclamation Jesus must increase and he must decrease.

Aenon was on the Jordan River, according to various Websites. Verse 23 states John was baptizing there because there was "plenty of water" there.

In John 3:36, John the Baptist also states: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."

Answer: Berea

Although Berea only rates a few lines in the book of Acts, it is apparent Paul had considerable success there in converting inhabitants to Christianity.

Acts 17:11 states, "they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so."

The following verse tells of "many" people becoming Christians with a number of them being Greeks.

Berea was just west of Thessalonica. Today the Greek community is known as Veria.

Answer: Ephesus

The burning of the scrolls about magic took place in Ephesus. (The NIV uses the word sorcery rather than magic). Acts 19:18-20 in the NKJV states: "And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed."

One coin was worth a day's wages, according to a footnote in the NIV Bible. It's abundantly apparent a vast number of scrolls were burned.

The ruins of Ephesus are in eastern Turkey and are a popular tourist destination, according to Wikipedia.