📖 Biblical Definition
Port city of Macedonia on the Aegean coast (modern Kavala in northern Greece). Acts 16:11 records the apostolic crossing from Troas to Neapolis after the Macedonian Call vision: Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis. Neapolis is therefore the first European port-of-call of Paul and his missionary company after the Macedonian Call — the literal first apostolic step on European soil. From Neapolis Paul traveled inland about ten miles along the Via Egnatia (the great Roman highway across Macedonia) to Philippi, where the substantive European church-planting work began with the conversion of Lydia, the deliverance of the slave-girl from the spirit of divination, Paul and Silas's imprisonment, the midnight earthquake, and the conversion of the Philippian jailer (Acts 16:12-40). The patriarchal-Reformed reader receives Neapolis as the literal threshold of European Christianity: the gospel that would over the next two millennia shape European civilization first set foot on European soil here. The geographical specificity of the Acts narrative anchors the redemptive-historical claim in concrete reality.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Port city of Macedonia (modern Kavala); first European port-of-call for Paul after the Macedonian Call (Acts 16:11); literal threshold of European Christianity.
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NEAPOLIS, proper n. (NT place; Greek Neapolis, new city) Port city of Macedonia on the Aegean (modern Kavala in northern Greece). First European port-of-call of Paul and his company after the Macedonian Call vision at Troas (Acts 16:11). From Neapolis Paul traveled about 10 miles inland along the Via Egnatia (great Roman highway) to Philippi, where the substantive European church-planting work began (Acts 16:12-40). Literal threshold of European Christianity.
📖 Key Scripture
Acts 16:11-12 — "Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis; And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days."
Acts 16:9 — "And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us."
Acts 16:14 — "And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul."
Philippians 1:5 — "For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
No major postmodern redefinition. The principal recovery is Neapolis as the literal threshold of European Christianity.
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Neapolis as a place name does not undergo lexical corruption. The principal contemporary recovery is the substantive historical-redemptive significance of Neapolis as the literal first European port-of-call for the apostolic gospel-mission. The gospel that would over the next two millennia shape Greek-Roman classical civilization, medieval Latin Christendom, the Reformation-Protestant nations, and the post-Reformation Western world first set foot on European soil at Neapolis. The patriarchal-Reformed reader notes the redemptive-historical weight: the Lord's deliberate calling of Paul into Europe through the Macedonian-Call vision, the concrete geographical first step at Neapolis, and the substantive church-planting work that immediately followed in Philippi.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Acts 16:11; Macedonian port; first European port-of-call; threshold of European Christianity.
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['Greek', 'G3496', 'Neapolis', 'new city']
['Greek', 'G3501', 'neos', 'new']
['Greek', 'G4172', 'polis', 'city']
Usage
"Neapolis: port city of Macedonia (modern Kavala)."
"First European port-of-call for Paul after Macedonian Call (Acts 16:11)."
"Literal threshold of European Christianity."