Macedonia

in New Testament times, was a Roman province lying north of Greece. It was governed by a propraetor with the title of proconsul. Paul was summoned by the vision of the "man of Macedonia" to preach the gospel there (Acts 16:9 ). Frequent allusion is made to this event (Acts 18:5 ; 19:21; Rom 15:26 ; 2Cor 1:16 ; 11:9; Phil 4:15 ). The history of Paul's first journey through Macedonia is given in detail in (Acts 16:10 etc.; 17:1-15). At the close of this journey he returned from Corinth to Syria. He again passed through this country (Acts 20:1 -6), although the details of the route are not given. After many years he probably visited it for a third time (Phil 2:24 ; 1Tim 1:3 ). The first convert made by Paul in Europe was (Acts 16:13 -15) Lydia (q.v.), a "seller of purple," residing in Philippi, the chief city of the eastern division of Macedonia.

EBD - Easton's Bible Dictionary