Acts Bible Study: Acts 20:1-16

Recap of chapter 19

Part 1: (v. 1-20)

Part 2: (v. 21-41)

Paul in Macedonia and Greece:

Acts 20:1–16 (NASB)

1 After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and when he had exhorted them and taken his leave of them, he left to go to Macedonia. 2 When he had gone through those districts and had given them much exhortation, he came to Greece. 3 And there he spent three months, and when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. 4 And he was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia. 5 But these had gone on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas. 6 We sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas within five days; and there we stayed seven days. 7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. 9 And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. 10 But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, “Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.” 11 When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. 12 They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted. 13 But we, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for so he had arranged it, intending himself to go by land. 14 And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene. 15 Sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios; and the next day we crossed over to Samos; and the day following we came to Miletus. 16 For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

Getting the Band Back Together: (v. 1-6)

1 After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and when he had exhorted them and taken his leave of them, he left to go to Macedonia. 2 When he had gone through those districts and had given them much exhortation, he came to Greece. 3 And there he spent three months, and when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. 4 And he was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia. 5 But these had gone on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas. 6 We sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas within five days; and there we stayed seven days.

***Take a look at the map again***

The “Band”:

- Paul

An Apostle. Dual citizenship as both a Roman and a Jew. Missionary. Occasional tent maker. The obvious leader of the band.

Remember, he had a Hebrews and Greek name. Luke often gives the Greek names because they were usually given to describe the person. For example Paul means “humble” in Greek and God did have to humble him as Saul in order to save him and use him as Paul.

Another example of this is Barnabas...

Acts 4:36 (NASB)

36 Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement),

- Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus

His name in Greek means “one who defends the Father”.

He is only mentioned here in the Bible. What we can learn from his title is that his Dad is Pyrrhus and they were from Berea.

The Bereans were the ones that searched the Scriptures to make sure what Paul was saying was true.

Acts 17:10–12 (NASB)

10 The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men.

Sopater was most likely one of these and someone Paul had led to the Lord and disciples then he was last in Berea.

- Aristarchus

His name in Greek literally means, “The best ruler/master” Aritos means “best” and archos means “ruler/master”.

Acts 19:29 (NASB)

29 The city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia.

Acts 27:2 (NASB)

2 And embarking in an Adramyttian ship, which was about to sail to the regions along the coast of Asia, we put out to sea accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica.

Colossians 4:10 (NASB)

10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you his greetings; and also Barnabas’s cousin Mark (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him);

Philemon 24 (NASB)

24 as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers.

- Secundus of the Thessalonians

In Greek his name simply means second. It was most commonly given to the second born son in a prominent Greek family.

The only things we know about Secundus are derived from this mention. He was from Thessalonica and a traveling missionary companion of Paul. Most likely someone Paul led to the Lord and discipled when on one of the journeys through Thessalonica.

He is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible.

- Gaius of Derbe

His name in Greek means, “one who rejoices”.

Acts 19:29 (NASB)

29 The city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia.

1 Corinthians 1:14 (NASB)

14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,

Romans 16:23 (NASB)

23 Gaius, host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer greets you, and Quartus, the brother.

3 John 1 (NASB)

1 The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

- Timothy (from Ephesus)

His name in Greek means, “one who honors God”.

Timothy was a traveling companion of Pauls on his missionary journey’s. He was led to Christ by Paul, discipled by Paul, ordained by Paul and eventually became the Pastor of the church in Ephesus. He’s also the obvious recipient of Paul’s letters, 1 & 2 Timothy.

- Tychicus

His name in Greek means “fortunate one”, in English, he’d be called “Lucky”. This could have been his given name or maybe it meant that the blessing of the Lord was obvious in his life.

Ephesians 6:21 (NASB)

21 But that you also may know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you.

Colossians 4:7 (NASB)

7 As to all my affairs, Tychicus, our beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bond-servant in the Lord, will bring you information.

He is also mentioned in 2 Timothy and Titus.

- Trophimus of Asia (from Asia, obviously)

His name has an interesting meaning. Tophimus means “foster child”. Most likely a description of his relationship with Paul.

Obviously he is from Asia, specifically “Ephesus”. Luke tells us that...

Acts 21:29 (NASB)

29 For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

2 Timothy 4:20 (NASB)

20 Erastus remained at Corinth, but Trophimus I left sick at Miletus.

- Luke

We know Luke is back with Paul again because the pronouns change again. Not gender pronouns!

Acts 16:11 (NASB)

11 So putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis;

Luke joined up with Paul in Troas and stayed in Philippi until they reconnect here.

From Acts 16:22 through Acts 20:4 the pronouns do not include Luke but from Acts 20:5 through the end of Acts.

Acts 28:16 (NASB)

16 When we entered Rome...

Paul’s Killer Sermon: (v. 7-12)

7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. 9 And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. 10 But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, “Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.” 11 When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. 12 They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted.

The sermon itself:

- 1st day of the week (The Lord’s Day; Resurrection Sunday)

Revelation 1:10 (NASB)

10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet…

(The NASB, ESV and KJV all cross reference Acts 20:7)

- It was also a Sunday night sermon. Not

- At the latest is was supper time (“break bread”) so this is at least a 6 hour sermon.

- This isn’t the usual sermon length. Luke makes that clear because he says, “he prolonged his message”.

- They had midnight snack (v. 11a)

- He continued to preach another 6 hours (v. 11b)

- All in all, it was a 12 hour sermon and Bible study session with an incredible miracle in the middle.

- No one else appears to be drifting off to sleep. Eutychus was likely the youngest person there. “young man” but in (v. 12) it is “boy” .

- The Greek words are different “neanias” translated here, “young boy”, means anyone male under 40 years of age. So not specific other than not old.

- “pais” is the word used in v. 12 translated boy. It means a male child between infancy and the end adolescence. Most scholars believe it means a teenager or younger. So that is much more specific but also a pretty broad range of about 20 years.

- All that to say, because both terms are used to describe him, most scholars think he was a teenager because 13 was official entering “manhood” but one wouldn’t be considered a man until at least 30 and often 40. But because he was also described as a young boy, he had to be under 20 or so.

Resurrections in the OT: (3 occurrences)

- Elijah raised the widow of Zarephath’s son (1 Kings 17:17-24)

- Elisha raised the Shunammite woman’s son (2 Kings 4:18-37)

- The man in Elisha’s grave (2 Kings 13:20-21)

Resurrections in the NT: (7 occurrences )

- Jesus raised the widow of Nain’s son (Luke 7:11-17)

- Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus (Luke 8:40-56)

- Jesus raised Lazarus (John 11)

- Multiple believers raised at the crucifixion (Matthew 27:50-53)

- The resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 28:1-15; Mark 16:1-13; Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-18)

- Peter raised Tabatha/Dorcas (Acts 9:36-43)

- And Eutychus here by Paul (v. 7-12)

Headed to Jerusalem through Miletus: (v. 13-16)

13 But we, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for so he had arranged it, intending himself to go by land. 14 And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene. 15 Sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios; and the next day we crossed over to Samos; and the day following we came to Miletus. 16 For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

***Take a look at the map as we close***

Miletus is modern day Milas in Turkey. It was named after the fabled son of the Greek god, Apollo. This passage, Acts 20:17 and 2 Timothy 4:20 are the only places we find Miletus in the Bible. It was a was a large city with four ports, located right where the mouth of the Meander River runs into the Mediterranean Sea. Interesting fact… the Meander River is carries a lot of sand and silt. It is a muddy, dirty river, and as a result, it has changed the landscape significantly over the year. In fact, it is so full of sand and silt that the coast line today is 10 miles further out than it was in Paul’s day. Today, Milas, which is modern day Miletus, is 10 miles off the coast. You can’t port there today because there is no port. Not only is the Med. 10 miles away, the Meander River is about 8 miles away.