Paul in Troas

Acts 20:1-25

This follows on from the riot in Ephesus. Paul told the Ephesians he intended to move on. Acts covers a long period in a short book. Luke hurries through a lot and dwells on what seems to be a surprising passage.
Paul wrote 2 Corinthians in Macedonia, while in Greece he wrote Romans. His travels were very extensive in Macedonia, he reached Illyricum (on the Adriatic). He went to new areas and preached to new people. He came to Corinth in the wake of the two letters, there was probably a reconciliation.
Luke tells us of a long list of people, he does not say why. In Romans 15 Paul tells us he brought gifts from the saints in Macedonia and Greece to the poor in Jerusalem. In 1 Corinthians 16:1 we read of his instructions about this, these men took the gifts with letters from Paul. Paul was very careful with Church’s money, he took no money for himself, neither would he touch it. He wanted their people to look after the money. Luke talks of ‘us’ and ‘we’, he includes himself. He arrived in Troas near what was Troy. He stayed for a week. Luke concentrates on the Sunday meeting, the Corinthians met on Sunday as well. They met to break bread, was it a love feast or communion or both, we are not sure. It was unusual, Paul preached on and on past midnight and onto day break. It was an exceptional meeting, Paul would never meet these people again, he had a lot to say. They had no New Testament, only the Old Testament. He spoke of the death of the Lord Jesus, its implications, church government, communion etc. Some probably took notes. In the midst of this Eutychus fell asleep as Paul talked on and on and fell out of the window and was killed.
It was one of only two occurrences of raising people from the dead. It was reminiscent of Elijah who fell upon the dead body of the Shunamite’s son. Luke presents 3 things:
1. The death of Eutychus is the most striking thing here. It stirred up controversies. Some say he deserved to die because he fell asleep during the preaching. Matthew Henry held to this. Calvin disagreed with this. They met in the evening because they had to work long hours in the day. Paul spoke on and on and on. The room was crowded and many lamps were lit, this lowered the oxygen level and made people drowsy. We would probably drift off in similar circumstances. To berate him is mot reasonable. He fell out and was killed. The tendency of saying ‘if you experienced suffering now you must have committed a terrible sin’ goes back a long way. See the book of Job. The Jews in Jesus’ time held this – see Luke 13, Jesus spoke against this idea was believed by the disciples. Jesus corrected them too. Jesus said it was not a particular sin but that the glory of God would be seen in his life. Today this view is expounded and it causes a great deal of harm. When a leading believer is ill he will get letters to this effect. The holders of this idea get grief when they are ill. See Elijah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist and Job, they all suffered because they were good and followed God. There is a connection between some sins and some suffering – if you drink heavily your liver will pack up, if you are immoral you will get aids.
2. Paul’s departure caused sorrow. They would never see him again. Parting is painful – some parting is painful such as death. We lose grandparents, parents then brothers and sisters, then husband or wife. It is an unavoidable part of life. The people in Troas had to face this. They were comforted in their sorrows – see verse 12 by the young man restored to them. They were sad because of the loss of Paul but glad at the young man. They realised God was still with them. They were also reminded of the power of God, not of the gods of the Greeks and Romans, He could this for them. This was a reminder and evidence that there is a resurrection from the dead. They would meet again in eternity.
3. Eutychus was truly dead, he was resurrected. There will be a resurrection from the dead for all who truly love God. People can be left alone apart from their spouse and have no one once their spouse has died. We have a comfort that those who die in Christ, we will meet again. Only believers have this comfort. How many deaths would it take to make us pay attention to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? The people of God have this great comfort that the dead in Christ will be raised to life.