Acts 20:1 - Meaning and Application

These travels of Paul are only briefly described. If everything memorable and worthy of a golden record had been written down, the world could not hold all the books. For that reason, we have only short hints of what happened, and those hints should be treasured all the more.

Paul leaves Ephesus first. He had stayed there longer than at any other place since he was appointed apostle to the Gentiles. Now it was time to move on, because he had to preach in other cities too. From this point on, as far as the Bible records his life, we do not see him starting new work in places where Christ had not been named before, as he had done earlier (Rom. 15:20). Soon after the riot stopped, he took it as a sign of God’s direction that he should not remain there any longer (Acts 20:1).

His leaving may also have calmed some of his enemies’ anger and given the Christians there more peace. It is wise to step back during a storm. Some think that before he left Ephesus, he wrote the first letter to the Corinthians, and that his “fighting with wild beasts at Ephesus” in that letter was a picture of this uproar. I think he meant that phrase more literally.

Paul did not leave in a rush or in fear. He gathered the disciples, the leading people in the church, and took a solemn farewell from them. The Syriac version says he left them with the kiss of love, according to the custom of the early church. Loving friends often do not realize how deeply they care for one another until they must part.

Then he visited the Greek churches he had planted and helped more than once, churches that were clearly close to his heart. He went first to Macedonia, as he had planned before the uproar (Acts 19:21; Acts 20:1). There he visited the churches in Philippi and Thessalonica and gave them much encouragement (Acts 20:2). Paul’s visits to friends were also times of teaching. He had much to say, and he did not hold back. He urged them on many duties, in many situations, and with many reasons and arguments.

He stayed three months in Greece (Acts 20:2, 3), likely in Achaia, and perhaps especially in Corinth and nearby places, as he had intended (Acts 19:21). There too, no doubt, he gave the disciples much instruction to guide and strengthen them, and to help them keep close to the Lord.

Paul’s plans then changed, because we cannot always carry out what we first intend. Unexpected events often force us into new decisions. He had been ready to sail for Syria, to Antioch, the place from which he had first been sent out to serve the Gentiles. He usually tried to pass through there on his journeys. But he changed course and decided to go back through Macedonia instead.

The reason was that the Jews had laid a trap for him. They expected him to take the usual route, and they planned to kill him. Since they had often tried to stir up mobs and officials against him, and had not succeeded, they now planned murder. Some think they were lying in wait to steal the money he was carrying to Jerusalem for the poor believers there. But given how bitter they were against him, it seems likely they wanted his blood more than his money.

The next part names his travel companions when he went into Asia (Acts 20:4). Some of them were ministers, though we cannot be sure all of them were. Sopater of Berea was likely the same as Sosipater mentioned in (Rom. 16:21). Timothy is counted among them, even though Paul had left him at Ephesus when he departed from there (Acts 20:1). Paul later wrote his first letter to Timothy there, giving him direction as an evangelist about how to order the church and in whose hands to leave it (1 Tim. 1:3; 1 Tim. 3:14, 15). That letter was meant to guide Timothy not only at Ephesus, where he was then, but also in other places where he might be left or sent to serve in the same way.

Still, Timothy soon joined Paul again, along with the others named here. At first, it may seem like poor planning to have so many worthy men with Paul, since there was more need for them where Paul was not. But God ordered it that way for good reasons. They could help Paul teach those who had been awakened by his preaching. Wherever Paul came, people were stirred, and then many hands were needed to help the weak. It is wise to work while the iron is hot.

They were also learning from Paul and being prepared for later service. They would come to know both his teaching and his way of life well (2 Tim. 3:10). Paul’s bodily presence was weak and unimpressive, so these friends went with him to support his reputation. They also showed strangers, who judged by outward appearance, that he had real worth that could not be seen at first glance.

Then Paul came to Troas, where he had arranged for a meeting with his friends. They went ahead and waited for him there (Acts 20:5), planning to go with him to Jerusalem, as Trophimus later did also (Acts 21:29). We should not think it burdensome to wait a little for good company on a journey. Paul traveled there as quickly as he could, and it seems Luke was with him then, since he says, “we sailed from Philippi” (Acts 20:6). The first time Luke is clearly with Paul in the story is at Troas (Acts 16:11).

The days of unleavened bread are mentioned only to show the time of year, not to suggest that Paul was keeping the Passover in the Jewish way. Around this same time, he had written in his first letter to Corinth that Christ is our Passover, and that the Christian life is a feast of unleavened bread, a life set apart from sin (1 Cor. 5:7, 8). When the reality has come, the shadow is no longer needed.

He came to Troas by sea in five days, and stayed there seven days. There is no avoiding it, much time is lost in travel for those who go about doing good. Yet such time is not wasted in God’s account.

Paul thought it worthwhile to spend five days traveling to Troas, even though he could stay there only seven days. He knew, and we should know too, how to make good use of even travel time and turn it to some benefit.