Acts 20:1-12
Review:
Background:
Text:
Paul in Macedonia and Greece
20 After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. 2 When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. 3 There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. 4 Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus. 5 These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, 6 but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.
And he asked them, tellingly, to pray for the success of his special work, to which Luke, perhaps tactfully, draws no attention at this point (though he does later, in 24:17): the collection of money from the Greek churches, to give to the poor Christians in Jerusalem, as a sign of something Paul was constantly emphasizing, that Greek and Jew in Christ form a single family (Romans 15:25–33). Perhaps part of the reason for the enlarged company, representative of so many churches (Acts 20:4), is that Paul wanted to have both the safety of a larger group of travelling companions when carrying a substantial amount of money and the clear accounting of several who could witness that the money had safely reached its destination.
20:2 came to Greece. Paul arrives at Corinth, where he spends the winter of A.D. 56–57. During this time he writes his epistle to the Romans, announcing his plan to deliver an offering from Gentile churches to believers in Judea before setting off for Rome, a journey which he has long desired to make (Rom. 1:11–15; 15:23, 24, 26).
Eutychus Raised from the Dead
7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. 9 And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. 10 But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” 11 And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. 12 And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted
20:7 Paul and his traveling companions spent a week in Troas (20:6), evidently awaiting the departure of their ship. On their last day there, which happened to be a Sunday, Paul met with the Christians for worship. This is one of the earliest references to Christians meeting for worship on Sunday, the first day of the week. Christians may have continued to observe the Jewish Sabbath as well, but eventually the Lord’s resurrection day became the sole day of worship for Christians.
at Troas we are given a glimpse into the main elements of an early Christian worship service. It was observed on the first day of the week and consisted of the breaking of bread (the Lord’s Supper) and preaching. That the Lord’s Supper was accompanied by a larger fellowship meal may be indicated by the reference to their “eating” in v. 11 (cf. 1 Cor 11:20f.).
20:8–9 The story of Eutychus is one of those delightful anecdotes with which Acts is filled. That Luke intended a gentle touch of humor is altogether possible. One can sympathize with the lad. A warm spring evening, a room filled with torches burning up the oxygen supply, a long-winded preacher going into the wee hours of the morning and probably long past the lad’s normal bedtime—all these factors conspired against the youth. He probably had taken refuge in the window to catch a breath of fresh air, fighting his drowsiness. That effort, however, brought disastrous results. He fell asleep, lost his perch, and tumbled from the third story to the ground below. This, of course, was not a laughing matter. The fall evidently killed him. It could only be viewed with humor retrospectively in light of its happy ending because through the apostle, God turned tragedy into joy.
And, given that Eutychus may have been working all day (it was a Sunday, but of course that was an ordinary working day, and the church would meet either very early in the morning or very late at night, or both), and that there were oil lamps burning in the room, it is hardly surprising that he nodded off and fell out of the window where he was sitting.