Acts 17:15
And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed. And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed.
Paul was sent on from Berea to Athens because unbelieving Jews from Thessalonica followed him to Berea and stirred the lower class against him, and the brethren feared violence would be done to him if he remained. His departure was a hasty retreat forced by persecution, and it deprived him of the opportunity he had anticipated to visit the brethren at Thessalonica again. He was conducted from Berea to Athens by some Bereans newly brought into the faith. These Berean conductors accompanied him because they desired to learn more of the way of life from his teaching.
Timothy had come to Berea and arrived there before Paul left. Silas and Timothy remained behind in Berea to carry on the work so well begun there and to guide and instruct the new converts in the mysteries and principles of their holy faith. When Paul arrived at Athens he sent his conductors back with an urgent command and message for Silas and Timothy to join him in that city immediately and with all speed. He did not wait at Athens for Silas and Timothy but left word for them to follow him and went on to Corinth, placing his departure from Athens and the beginning of his work in Corinth in sequence.
Persecution thus followed the teachers of truth from city to city and drove them from their field of labor, making the apostles' work exceedingly hard without preventing the actual advancement of the gospel. God in His providence permitted Satan to hinder Paul's return to the Thessalonians. Paul pressed steadily forward through opposition, conflict, and persecution to carry out God's revealed purpose, shown to him in vision, to send him far hence unto the Gentiles.