Acts 27:21 - Meaning and Application

We have here the outcome of Paul’s distress and that of his fellow travelers. They escaped with their lives, and that was all, but even that was for Paul’s sake. We are told elsewhere the number on board was 276 people (Acts 27:37), including sailors, merchants, soldiers, prisoners, and other passengers. That detail matters, because it helps us feel the weight of the danger they were in. One Paul among them was worth more than all the rest.

We left them in despair, giving themselves up for lost. We are not told whether each person called on his own god, as Jonah’s sailors did. It would be good if that useful practice in a storm had not fallen out of use or become a joke. Paul, unlike Jonah on his ship, was not the cause of the storm. He was the comfort in it, and he honored the work of an apostle just as much as Jonah had brought shame on the calling of a prophet.

First, Paul encouraged them by assuring them, in God’s name, that all their lives would be saved, even when every human reason for hope was gone. He first pulled them out of despair, because despair can make people give up and perish in their fear. After they had gone a long time without eating, almost as if they meant not to eat until they knew whether they would live or die, Paul stood up among them. Until then, he had stayed with the crowd and worked with the rest, helping throw the ship’s tackle overboard (Acts 27:19). Now he stepped forward, though he was a prisoner, and spoke as their counselor and comforter.

He first corrected them for not listening to his warning. He had told them to stay where they were, in the roadstead of Lasea (Acts 27:8). “You should have listened to me,” he says in effect, “and not sailed away from Crete. If you had stayed, we could have made do there through the winter, and we would have avoided this harm and loss.” Yet even harm and loss in this world can become gain if God uses them to turn us from earthly things and make us think about eternity. They had ignored Paul when he warned them of danger, but if they will now admit their mistake and repent, he will still bring them comfort and help.

Paul does not begin by crushing them. He does not say, “You brought this on yourselves, so expect the worst.” Instead, he gives hope. “Be of good cheer,” he tells them, even though their case is serious. That is how we speak to sinners who see their folly and begin to grieve over it. “You should have listened and had nothing to do with sin. Still, take courage now. If you would not hear us when we said, ‘Do not presume,’ hear us now when we say, ‘Do not despair.’”

They had given up, thinking there was no hope of being saved. Now Paul urges them to take heart and do what they can for their safety. He tells them that if they will gather their strength again, their lives will be preserved. He says this when they are at their lowest, so the promise will be all the sweeter. They should expect to lose the ship. Those who cared most for the ship and the cargo were likely the same ones who had pushed ahead against Paul’s warning, and they must bear the loss from their rash choice. Many a grand, strong, costly ship has gone down in a short time. Truly, all is vanity and a chasing after the wind. But not one life would be lost.

That was good news for people who were nearly dying from fear of death, and whose guilty consciences made death seem very terrible. Paul also explains the ground for his confidence. He is not making light of their trouble or guessing at a hopeful outcome. He has a message from God. An angel of the Lord appeared to him in the night and told him that, for Paul’s sake, all the people on the ship would be preserved (Acts 27:23-25). That made their rescue even sweeter, because it would come not only by providence, God’s ordinary care, but also by promise, as a special favor to Paul.

Paul then makes a solemn statement about his relation to God, the one who had given him this good news: “I belong to him, and I serve him.” He sees God, first, as his rightful owner. God has an unquestionable claim on him and full rule over him. Because God made us and not we ourselves, we are not our own, but his. We belong to him by creation, because he made us, by preservation, because he keeps us alive, and by redemption, because he bought us. We belong to him more than we belong to ourselves.

Paul also sees God as his sovereign ruler and master. Since God gave him life, God has the right to give him commands. So Paul says, “I serve him.” Because we belong to God, we are bound to serve him, to live for his honor, and to do his work. Paul has Christ in view here. Christ is God, and the angels belong to him and carry out his errands.

Paul often speaks of himself as a servant of Jesus Christ. He belongs to Christ, and he serves him, both as a Christian and as an apostle. He does not say, “Whose we are and whom we serve,” because most of the people there were strangers to him. Instead, he says, “Whose I am and whom I serve,” no matter what others do. He means, “I am now actually serving him, on my way to Rome, not on some worldly errand, but as a witness for Christ.”

He tells the company this so that, since relief was coming from the God whose he was and whom he served, they might be drawn to take that God as their own too. They should also learn to serve him. Jonah said something similar to his sailors: “I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land” (Jonah 1:9).

Paul also tells them about the vision he had. “There stood by me this night an angel of God,” a messenger from heaven who had often brought him messages before. The angel stood by him and appeared to him clearly, likely while he was awake in bed. Though Paul was far out at sea (Psalm 65:5), even at the farthest reaches of the sea (Psalm 139:9), that did not block his fellowship with God or keep him from God’s visits.

From there Paul could send a prayer to God, and from there God could send an angel to him. Paul may not have known where he was, but God’s angel knew where to find him. The ship was being tossed by wind and waves, shaken violently, and yet the angel still found a way in. No storm can stop God from helping his people, because he is a very present help, a help close at hand, even when the sea roars and is troubled (Psalm 46:1, 3).

We may think Paul, as a prisoner, had no private cabin on the ship, and no place in the captain’s room. He was probably put down in the hold, with the other prisoners, in any dark or dirty place that seemed good enough for them. Even there, the angel of God stood by him. Low rank and poverty do not put anyone beyond God’s favor. Jacob, when he had no pillow but a stone and no covering but the clouds, still saw a vision of angels.

Paul had this vision only the night before. A previous vision had already told him that he would go to Rome (Acts 23:11), which could lead him to think he himself would be safe. But this new vision also assured him that those with him would be safe.

The vision gave him these comforts. First, he was forbidden to fear. Though everyone around him was desperate and at their wit’s end, he is told, “Do not be afraid, Paul; do not fear what they fear, and do not be terrified” (Isaiah 8:12). Let sinners in Zion be afraid, but let God’s people not be afraid, even at sea in a storm, because the Lord of hosts is with them, and their place of defense will be the strongholds of rocks (Isaiah 33:14-16).

Second, he is assured that he himself will come safely to Rome: “You must stand before Caesar.” Neither the rage of the strongest enemies nor the rage of the wildest sea can stop God’s witnesses until they finish their work. Paul must be kept alive in this danger because he is kept for more service. This is a comfort to faithful servants of God in hard times: as long as God still has work for them, their lives will be preserved.

Third, for Paul’s sake, everyone else on the ship would also be kept from dying in the storm. “God has given you all those who sail with you.” The angel could have taken Paul away safely and left the rest to perish, even those who were his friends, because they had refused Paul’s advice. But God chose to save them all for Paul’s sake, showing how great a blessing good people are to the world. He did this rather than saving Paul alone, which would only have shown that God sets his people apart from the world.

“God has given you all those who sail with you” means either that God spared them in answer to Paul’s prayers, or that he spared them for Paul’s sake. Sometimes good people save no one else, but only their own souls (Ezekiel 14:18). Yet here Paul delivers a whole ship’s crew, almost three hundred souls. God often spares wicked people for the sake of the godly, as he spared Zoar for Lot’s sake, and as Sodom might have been spared if ten righteous people had been found there.

The world hates and persecutes good people as if they were not fit to live in it. Yet the truth is that the world stands for their sake. If Paul had rushed needlessly into bad company, he might justly have been lost with them. But since God called him into that situation, they are preserved with him. It is also hinted that Paul saw this as a great kindness to himself, that others were saved for his sake: “They are given to you.” Nothing gives a good man greater joy than knowing he is a public blessing.

He then comforts them with the same comfort he himself had received (Acts 27:25): “So, men, be of good cheer. You will see this end well, for I believe God, and I trust his word, that it will be just as I was told.” He would not ask them to believe what he did not believe himself. So he openly says that he believes it, and that belief gives him peace: “I have no doubt it will be as I was told.”

In this way he does not doubt God’s promise through unbelief. Has God spoken, and will he not make it come true? Of course he can, and of course he will, because he is not a man that he should lie. If it will be as God has said, then be of good cheer and take courage. God is always faithful, so all who have a share in his promise should be cheerful too. If, with God, speaking and doing are not two different things, then with us believing and enjoying should not be either.

He also gives them a sign by telling them exactly how this storm-tossed voyage will end (Acts 27:26): “We must be cast on some island.” That will break the ship, but save the passengers, and so the message will prove true in both ways. The pilot had left his post, and the ship was left to drift at random. They did not know where they were, much less how to steer. Yet Providence would bring them to an island that would become a refuge for them.

When the church of God, like this ship, is tossed by storms and not comforted, when there is no guide left among her children, God can still bring her safely to shore, and he will do it.

They at last came to anchor on an unknown shore (Acts 27:27-29). They had already been in the storm for two full weeks, always expecting death. It was the fourteenth night before they came near land. That night they were driven about in Adria, not the Adriatic Gulf by Venice, but the Adriatic Sea, a part of the Mediterranean that included both the Sicilian and Ionian seas and reached toward the African coast. In that sea they were tossed about and did not know where they were.

About midnight, the sailors realized they were getting close to land. This confirmed what Paul had already told them, that they would be driven onto some island. They checked the water depth with a sounding line, and the water grew shallower, first to twenty fathoms, then to fifteen. That was clear proof they were nearing shore. God has wisely given sailors this kind of warning in the dark, so they can be careful.

They took the warning seriously. Because they feared rocks near the shore, they dropped anchors and waited for daylight. They did not dare go forward, and they would not go back, so they just held on and hoped for morning. No one can blame them when the danger had come to its worst point. When they had light, they could see no land. Now that land was near, they had no light to see it by, so it was natural that they longed for day.

When people who fear God walk in darkness and have no light, they should not say, “The Lord has forsaken us,” or, “Our God has forgotten us.” They should do what these sailors did, drop anchor and wait for day. Hope is the soul’s anchor, sure and steady, and it reaches into what lies beyond the veil. Hold firmly to that. Do not think of setting out again, but stay with Christ and wait until the day breaks and the shadows flee away.

Next comes the frustrating attempt of the sailors to abandon the ship. A new danger was added to their distress, and they narrowly escaped it. The sailors planned to leave the sinking ship. In other people, that might have been wisdom, but in men who had been trusted with the ship’s care, it was the basest kind of fraud (Acts 27:30). They concluded that when the ship ran ashore, it would break apart. Since they controlled the boat, they meant to get into it and save themselves, leaving everyone else to die.

To hide this wicked plan, they claimed they were going to cast anchors from the front of the ship, or carry them farther out. For that purpose they lowered the boat, which had been taken aboard earlier (Acts 27:16, Acts 27:17), and were about to get in it. They had agreed that once they were in, they would make straight for the shore. These treacherous sailors were like the false shepherd who runs away when danger comes and is needed most (John 10:12). Solomon spoke truly: trusting an unfaithful man in trouble is like a broken tooth or a foot out of joint. So let us stop relying on man.

Paul had assured them in God’s name that they would reach land safely, but they preferred their own false hope to God’s word and truth. Paul saw through the scheme and reported it to the centurion and the soldiers, saying plainly, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved” (Acts 27:31). A sailor’s skill shows best in a storm, and in the ship’s distress, that was the right time for him to act. The hardest part still lay ahead, so the sailors were needed more than ever.

It was not by their skill that they were brought this far, because the danger was beyond human skill. But now that they were near land, they had to use their knowledge to get the ship safely in. When God has done for us what we cannot do ourselves, we must then do what we can, relying on his strength. Paul spoke here as a careful man when he said they could not be saved unless the sailors stayed aboard. He was not weakening the promise he had received from God that all would be saved.

God appointed both the end and the means. He meant for them to be saved, and he also meant for them to be saved with the help of these sailors. Even if the sailors had left, God could have kept his word another way. Paul was speaking as a prudent man, not as a prophet, when he said these men were necessary for their safety. Duty is ours, and outcomes belong to God. We do not trust God, but test him, when we claim his protection and refuse to use the proper means that are in our power for our own safety.

The soldiers ended the plot at once. There was no time to argue with the sailors, so they simply cut the ropes of the boat. The boat might have helped them in their present trouble, but they chose to lose it rather than let it harm them. Once the sailors were forced to stay aboard, they were also forced to work as hard as they could for the ship’s safety, because if the others perished, they would perish too.

Paul then gave the whole company new heart by urging them to eat and by repeating his assurance that their lives would be spared. How happy those people were to have Paul with them. He not only knew heaven’s support, but he also had a cheerful spirit that strengthened the people around him, as iron sharpens iron. Such a friend is real comfort in trouble, when there is fighting outside and fear inside. Good counsel is like ointment and perfume, which gladden the heart, and so was Paul to those suffering with him (Proverbs 27:9).

Day was now coming on. Those who long for the day should wait a little while, and they will get what they want. As the light began to break, it gave them a little strength, and Paul gathered them together. He rebuked them for neglecting themselves, since fear and despair had kept them from eating: “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been waiting and have gone without food” (Acts 27:33). This does not mean they had all gone fourteen full days without any food at all, but they had not eaten regular meals as usual. They had eaten very little, almost nothing.

Or Paul may mean, “You have been fasting in the sense that you have lost your appetite. Fear and despair have taken away your desire for food.” A very sad condition is described the same way: “I forget to eat my bread” (Psalm 102:4). It is wrong to mistreat the body and refuse it what it needs. A man who does not care for his own flesh is unnatural, since he should nourish and care for it. And it is a sad thing under the sun to have enough of this world’s goods and still have no power to enjoy them (Ecclesiastes 6:2).

If this comes from worldly sorrow, or from unreasonable fear and distress, that does not excuse it. It is still another sin. It is discontent, distrust of God, and entirely wrong.

What folly it is to die from fear of dying! Yet that is what worldly sorrow does. It leads to death, while joy in God gives life and peace even in the worst distress and danger.

Paul then urges them to eat their food (Acts 27:34). “I ask you to take some food. We still have a hard struggle ahead. We must try to reach land, and if our bodies are weakened by fasting, we will not be able to help ourselves.” The angel told Elijah, “Arise and eat,” because the journey would otherwise be too much for him (1 Kings 19:7). In the same way, Paul wants these men to eat, or the waves will be too strong for them. He says, in effect, “I urge you, if you will listen to me, take some nourishment. You may not feel like it, and you may have gone so long without food that your appetite is gone, but reason should lead you to eat. This is for your health, or rather, for your safety, for you cannot save yourselves without strength.”

As someone who will not work should not eat, so someone who plans to work must eat. Weak and trembling Christians often give in to doubts and fears about their spiritual condition. They keep themselves from the Lord’s Supper and from God’s comforts, and then complain that they cannot go on in their spiritual work and battle. The trouble is with themselves. If they would feed on the provision Christ has made for them, as they should, they would be strengthened, and it would be for the health and salvation of their souls.

Paul also assures them of safety: not a hair will fall from the head of any of them. This was a common saying that meant complete protection. It appears in (1 Kings 1:51) and (Luke 21:18). In effect, he says, “You cannot eat because you fear death. I tell you, you are sure to live, so eat. You will reach land cold and wet, but whole and unharmed. Your hair may be wet, but not one hair will be lost.”

Then Paul himself set the table, because none of them had the heart to do it. When he had said this, he took bread from the ship’s stores. Everyone could safely use it now, even though none of them had any appetite. They were not down to short rations, as sailors sometimes are when storms keep them at sea longer than expected. They had plenty, but what good was it when they had no stomach for it? We should thank God that we often have both food and appetite, and that our souls do not reject even rich food (Job 33:20) through sickness or sorrow.

Paul was, in a sense, chaplain to the ship, and they had reason to be glad of him. He gave thanks to God in front of them all. He had likely often prayed with Luke and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions, and with any other believers among them. But we cannot be sure that he had ever prayed with the whole crew before this. Now he thanked God publicly for their being alive, for the protection they had received so far, and for the promise that their lives would yet be spared in the danger ahead. He also gave thanks for the food and asked God to bless it. We must give thanks in everything, and especially remember God when we eat, because food is made holy for us by the word of God and prayer, and it should be received with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:3-5). We do not live by bread alone, but by the word of God, and that word must be received with prayer.

He gave thanks before them all, not only to show that he served a Master he was not ashamed of, but also to invite them into that service. If we ask God to bless our food and give thanks rightly, we will not only enjoy fellowship with God ourselves, but also honor our faith and make it attractive to others.

Paul also set them a good example. After giving thanks, he broke the bread, which was ship’s biscuit, and began to eat. Whether they would be encouraged or not, he would eat. If they chose to sit gloomy and refuse their food like stubborn children because everything was not as they wanted, he would still eat and be thankful. Those who teach others are without excuse if they do not do what they teach. The most powerful preaching is often done by example.

This had a good effect on them all (Acts 27:36). They all became encouraged. They were willing to believe the message God had given through Paul once they saw that Paul believed it himself, even though he shared the same danger. In this way God sends good news to a dying world through people who themselves are in the same danger and are sinners too. They must be saved, if they are saved at all, in the same way they urge others to trust. The message is one common salvation, and people are encouraged to commit themselves to Christ when those who invite them clearly do so themselves.

At this point Luke notes the number of people on board, which had already been mentioned: there were 276 souls in all. We can see how many may be influenced by the good example of one person. They all ate, and they ate enough (Acts 27:38). They were fully satisfied and had a hearty meal. This explains their fasting for fourteen days. It does not mean they ate nothing at all during that time, but that they never had enough to satisfy them until now.

Once more they lightened the ship so it could better survive the coming blow. Earlier they had thrown the cargo and the ship’s gear overboard, and now they threw out the wheat, their food and supplies. Better to lose the food than to let it sink them. This shows why our Lord called bodily food “food that perishes.” We may sometimes need to throw away what we had stored for our own support in order to save our lives. It is likely that the ship was overloaded because of the many passengers, since the number of people is mentioned just before this, and that this is why they had to lighten it so often.

Then comes their attempt to reach shore and the breaking of the ship in the effort. It was about daybreak when they ate, and when it was fully light they began to look around. They did not know where they were. They could not tell what country they had reached, whether Europe, Asia, or Africa, since all three had shores along the Adriatic Sea. These sailors had likely traveled this route many times and thought they knew every nearby coast well. Yet here they were confused. Let no wise person boast in his wisdom, since it may fail him so badly even in his own field.

They saw a creek with a level shore and hoped to run the ship onto it (Acts 27:39). They did not know what country it was, or whether the people there were friendly or hostile, civil or wild, yet they were ready to trust themselves to them. Dry land would be a great relief to people who had been at sea so long. It would have been much better if they had received help from the shore, such as a pilot who knew the coast and could guide the ship in, or another ship to take some of the men aboard.

People who live near the coast often have chances to help those in danger at sea and save precious lives. They should do all they can, gladly and quickly, because it is a serious sin to refuse help to people who are being driven toward death and are ready to be killed. No one can excuse themselves by saying, “I did not know,” when they did know, or should have known, (Proverbs 24:11, Proverbs 24:12). I have heard that some people, even in our own country, will deliberately mislead ships in distress with false lights or other tricks so the ships are wrecked and they can steal the cargo. It is hard to believe that any human being could be so evil, so cruel, and so full of the devil. If such people exist, they should know for certain that they will receive judgment without mercy, because they showed no mercy.

They then made straight for the shore with wind and tide (Acts 27:40). They took up the anchors, the four anchors they had cast out from the stern (Acts 27:29). Some think they carefully hauled them up because they hoped to use them again near shore. Others think they acted so quickly that they had to cut the cables and leave them behind. The Greek wording allows either idea. They then committed themselves to the sea, with the wind set to carry them into the harbor. They loosed the rudder-bands, which had been tied during the storm to keep the ship steady, but were now untied so the pilot could steer more freely. Then they hoisted the main sail to catch the wind and headed for shore.

The Greek words here for the rudder-bands and the main sail give scholars much trouble when they try to fit them to modern terms. But they do not need to trouble us, if we are content to know that, when they saw the shore, they hurried toward it as fast as they could, and perhaps faster than was wise. Should a poor soul that has long struggled with the winds and storms of this world not long to enter the safe and quiet harbor of everlasting rest? Should it not get free from everything that ties it to this earth and keeps its desires from rising toward heaven? Should it not hoist the main sail of faith to the wind of the Spirit, and so, with longing, make for shore?

Then they managed to run the ship aground on a sandbank, or perhaps on a narrow strip of land with sea on both sides, so that waves from two directions met there. The front part of the ship stuck fast. Once it could no longer move, as a ship can when it is anchored, the back part would soon be broken by the force of the waves. I cannot tell whether the sailors did their part faithfully, or whether, angry that their plan to escape had failed, they deliberately ran the ship aground. Perhaps they did all they could, and God in his providence overruled everything to fulfill Paul’s word that the ship must be lost (Acts 27:22). But this much is sure, God will confirm the word of his servants and carry out the plans of his messengers (Isaiah 44:26).

The ship had strangely survived the storm in the open sea, where it could roll with the waves, but it was broken apart when it stuck fast. In the same way, if the heart settles down in the world, loving and clinging to it, it is lost. Satan’s temptations strike it, and it is ruined. But as long as the heart stays above the world, even if it is tossed by cares and troubles, there is hope for it. They could see the shore, and yet they suffered shipwreck in the harbor, which teaches us never to feel safe too soon.