Acts 16:5

Established. Or, “strengthened.” The church, coming out of infancy, is preparing to make great progress, and the missionaries are strengthening its members for that development.

Increased in number. A highly significant barrier to the admission of Gentiles had been removed, and the number of Christians multiplied daily. But here the reference may be not only to an increase in the number of believers but also to an increase of congregations. No further information is given. Three centuries later, when Christianity was legalized, a church included all the believers in a city, organized into a number of congregations. Congregations in surrounding villages were also included in this “church,” after the style of the Greek and Roman city-state. The presiding elder of the central congregation by that time had become a bishop who held heavy responsibilities in both church and state. In Paul’s day, and for more than two centuries thereafter until Christianity became the state religion, Christians possessed no church buildings. See pp. 26,38.