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CHAPTER 20 [20.1] Chapter 20 of Acts begins in the late
summer of the year AD 55. The whole of the next year fits into verses 1 and
2. The three months in Greece in verse 3 are the winter of the year AD 57.
Verse 6 speaks about ‘The days of unleavened bread’, that is the Jewish
Passover time. In AD 57, this was from April 7th - 14th. So we know little
about what happened up to this time. There is a little that we can add to
what Luke tells us here. From verse 5, Luke joins Paul’s party again. He is
with Paul at least until verse 15 and probably until 21:18. So Luke is able
to tell us a great deal about Paul’s journey to Jerusalem.
Verses 1-5 : Paul begins the journey to Jerusalem
(Verse 1) One of our problems is this. Paul probably wrote 1 Corinthians
earlier on in his stay in Ephesus. If we could be sure when he wrote 2
Corinthians, this would help us. It is not easy. In 1954 a German scholar
call Schmithals thought that the two letters to Corinth were made up of six
letters. In later years he thought again. Now he has taken the view that
there were thirteen letters! [20.2] All sorts of ideas have been put
forward.
What happened may well have been like this.
1. Paul sent Timothy to Corinth about the time when he wrote 1 Corinthians.
See 1 Corinthians 4:17.
2. Paul was afraid that Timothy would have a bad time in Corinth. See 1
Corinthians 16:10-11. Paul was right in this.
3. Probably Timothy came back from Corinth to Paul at Ephesus. The news
about Corinth was bad. We cannot say whether this was before or after the
riot in Chapter 19.
4. Now Titus went from Ephesus to Corinth. By this time, Paul was ready to
leave Ephesus and he hoped to meet Titus again at Troas. See 2 Corinthians
2:12-13.
5. Paul left Timothy in Ephesus. Paul gave him the letter which we know as 1
Timothy. See 1 Timothy 1:3. [20.3] This was to help him in his work the
church.
6. Paul started to write 2 Corinthians in Ephesus with Timothy. Paul took
the letter with him and he added to it when he reached Troas. Titus was not
there. Paul still worried so much about Corinth that he moved on from Troas.
7. Then Paul reached Philippi. ‘Macedonia’ often means Philippi. See 2
Corinthians 2:13, 7:5 11:9 and perhaps 9:2. Then Titus came from Corinth to
Philippi and brought with him good news from the church in Corinth. See 2
Corinthians 7:6.
8. Paul then sent Titus back to Corinth with two other men. See 2
Corinthians 8:16-24. This was to do with the collection for the Jerusalem
church.
9. Paul must have been in Macedonia for sometime before he wrote 2
Corinthians 8:1-2.
10.Probably Paul had now finished 2 Corinthians and he sent it from Philippi
to Corinth with Titus. It may mean that Paul was in great danger after the
riot in Ephesus. He may have been in prison for a while. This may have been
the time when he sent the Letter to the Philippians. This does not seem very
likely. Now we still do not know quite what Paul means in 2 Corinthians
1:8-10.
(Verse 2) Paul spent the whole year, AD56, in the north of Greece. Romans
15:19 tells us that Paul preached the Good News in the west of Macedonia,
where it joined on to the Roman province of Illyricum. Paul wrote the Letter
to the Romans from Corinth. This was in the next winter. In Romans 15:23 he
says that there is nowhere fresh for him to preach the Good News in Greece.
So although we know almost nothing about what Paul did at this time, he was
very busy. It is not always a good sign when we hear a lot about what a
preacher or a church is doing. Sometimes a church or a preacher works so
hard in God’s service that they have no time to tell other people about it.
Greece at the end of verse 2 means the province of Achaia, and the city of
Corinth. The three months was at the end of AD56 and early AD57. Timothy
joined Paul. See Romans 16:21. Paul lived with a man called Gaius: see 1
Corinthians 1:14 and Romans 16:23. This may not be the same Gaius as the one
in Acts 19:29; he came from Derbe.
(Verse 3) The plot that the Jews made would have been like this. Paul and
his party would have gone by ship from Cenchrea to Syria. They would have
taken the gifts which Paul had collected for the Jerusalem church. The plot
was to kill Paul and his friends while the ship was at sea. Then the Jews
could steal the gift. Paul tells us in Romans 16:1 that Phoebe had saved his
life and the lives of a number of the other Christians. She was a woman who
knew what went on in Cenchrea. She heard about the plot. She warned Paul
about it. He changed his plans. He could not now be at Jerusalem in time for
the Passover feast. He would aim to be there for Pentecost. [20.4]
So Paul and his friends went north from Corinth. We think that they went to
Thessalonica and then east to Philippi. We already know the names of some of
the people who were with Paul. They were men from some of the churches which
had given money for the collection. (Verse 5) Probably Paul wanted to stay
in Philippi for the Passover Feast. The other men sailed from Neapolis to
Troas. (Verse 6) Luke joins Paul now. About a week later, they too find a
ship in Neapolis to take them to Troas. It may be that the party now had a
small ship on their own. This would be safer than a journey on a ship with
other people. In 16:11, the journey from Troas to Neapolis took only two
days. Now the journey from Neapolis to Troas takes five days. The wind does
not help the ship.
Verses 7-12: Eutychus at Troas
Perhaps Paul and the party with him wished to meet with the Troas church for
worship. This may be why they spent a week in the port city.
Paul had not begun the church there. So he might not know the people there
as well as he knew the people in other churches. Perhaps the Troas church
met on the top floor of a warehouse or ‘godown’ at the harbour. They met on
the first day of the week, the Lord’s day. 1 Corinthians 16:2 may be an even
earlier verse which tells us that Christians met on the day when the Lord
rose.
The church at Troas met to break bread. They ate bread and drank wine to
remember the Lord’s death. They met at night because that was the only time
when some people could come. Some Christians were slaves and they would have
no free time in the day. No doubt Paul had a real preaching gift. He had a
great deal to say, and the people were happy to listen to him. (Verse 8)
There were many lamps or torches to light the dark room. They must have made
the air in the room hot. (Verse 9) Young Eutychus sat in a window. As Paul
went on and on until midnight, Eutychus became sleepy. When he was really
asleep he fell down out of the window and hit the ground. Perhaps Luke was
one of the first people to look at him. Luke the doctor says that he was
dead. (Verse 10) Paul put his arms round Eutychus and said: ‘His life is in
him.’
Now this is rather like Acts 14:19-20. Luke does not say: ‘This was a
miracle. A dead person came back to life.’ We, too, should be careful. We do
not doubt that God can give life back to someone who has died. Sometimes He
does. Yet we must not say too much to people who do not believe unless we
are very sure that the person really was dead. (Verse 11) Paul was sure that
Eutychus would live. Paul went back to the meeting. They ‘broke bread’ and
also, it seems, shared a meal. The Christians talked together for the rest
of the night. (Verse 12) Eutychus was able to go home.
Verses 13-16: The journey from Troas to Miletus.
(Verse 13) There is usually a north wind early in the day at Troas. So the
party would go on board early and the ship would sail south. It had to sail
round Cape Lectum and then go east to Assos. Assos was another Greek city
and port. We do not know quite why Paul chose to walk from Troas to Assos.
He had had no sleep and he had preached until midnight! Assos was 30
kilometres or perhaps rather more south of Troas. We may guess that Paul
wanted a little time on his own. The ship had to travel twice as far as Paul
did.
(Verse 14) The party on the ship met Paul at Assos and he joined them. The
large island of Lesbos is south of Assos, and Mitylene was its main port.
This was about 50 km. south of Assos. (Verse 15) Probably another day would
be needed to sail to Chios (or Kios). This was twice as far. The ship had to
make its way through the islands. At this time, after the Passover, there
would be little light from the moon. So the ship would not sail at night.
Samos was an island which was another day’s journey. After a night there it
was not far to the port of Miletus. (Verse 16) Now they had come beyond
Ephesus, which was about 50km. north of Miletus. Paul knew that if he went
to Ephesus, he would not get to Jerusalem by the time of the feast of
Pentecost
Verses 17-38: Paul speaks to the Elders from Ephesus
(Verse 17) It would take someone all day to walk from Miletus to Ephesus.
Then the elders of the Ephesus church would have to get ready. It would take
them another day to walk from Ephesus to Miletus. There may have been some
Christians in Miletus who could find somewhere for Paul to speak. It seems
more likely that Paul spoke close to the sea. There he could see ships which
came into the port of Miletus.
(Verse 18) Paul’s speech here is his only speech to a group of Christians in
the Book of Acts. Everything in it should be thought about with great care.
Paul speaks about the great truths of the Good News. He speaks, too, about
himself. He is not proud of the work that he has done. He wants other people
to live and work in the way that he did. Then he warns the elders about the
dangers which will come to the church at Ephesus. [20.5] We may guess that
when Paul left Ephesus (20:1) after the riot, he could not say ‘Goodbye’ to
the elders. Nearly two years have gone by. Now Paul can talk to them at
last.
So first, Paul tells these elders what they already know. They knew how Paul
had lived in Ephesus. ‘The first day Paul came into Asia’ probably does not
mean his short visit. See 18:19-21. Paul means the whole time which began in
19:1. (Verse 19) What he did was not for his own good. He served the Lord.
The elders knew that he was not proud. Paul might have become proud because
of his work in other cities, or because he knew so much. Pride stops God’s
blessing on the ministry. Sometimes Paul wept. See 2 Corinthians 2:4 and
Philippians 3:18. Paul felt strongly about his work The plots which the Jews
made against him worried him.
(Verse 20) There may be a picture here. If Paul spoke to the elders on the
beach, they could see ships on the sea. As the ships came to the port of
Miletus, they would slow down. The sail which the sailors had spread out to
catch the wind was no longer needed. So the sailors ‘furled’ or ‘reefed’ it.
The sailors took it down and no doubt put ropes round it. Paul did not
‘reef’ his sail. He did not keep back any teachings which would do his
hearers good.
We are often tempted to keep back part of the truth. We know that we ought
to teach it. Yet we fear that people will not like it. We fear that we shall
lose friends and helpers. May God help us to be faithful.
Paul had taught in the lecture hall: see 19:9. Anyone could come and hear
him there. He had also taught in peoples’ houses. See 8:3. Once Paul had
gone from house to house to find Christians and put them in prison. Now he
goes from house to house to make new Christians.
(Verse 21) Paul had one message for both Jews and Greeks. They were very
different from each other. They thought in very different ways. But the Good
News is one. Remember the picture in Revelation 21:21. Each gate into the
city of God is made of a single pearl. You cannot polish a pearl. If you cut
it, you spoil it. The one message of Good News is the only way into the city
of God.
Someone had said that God does not half forgive. We must not half repent. So
Paul speaks here of repentance not just ‘towards God’ or ‘to God’ (NIV).
What he says is that we must repent ‘into’ God. To repent is to change our
mind. We turn right round in what we think about God. Paul says that this
will carry us not just part-way towards God. It will carry us into God. Then
we find that God is not just a Judge Who tells us how wrong our sins are. He
is the God of grace Who forgives all our sins.
Then Paul speaks about faith. This too is faith not just towards Jesus but
into our Lord Jesus Christ. Faith makes us one with the Lord Jesus. It
unites us with Him. All that He has done to save us is now ours. He died for
us. Then He rose for us. Now He lives in glory for us.
Paul here clearly places repentance before faith. We must be very careful to
keep this order. [20.7]
(Verse 22) Paul now turns from the Good News itself to speak about himself.
He does not have to go to Jerusalem. See 19:21, where Paul makes up his mind
that he really will go to Jerusalem. The other men in his party could go to
Jerusalem. They could take the money which Paul has gathered for the
Jerusalem church. Paul does not know quite what will happen to him there. We
need to be careful about this verse. ‘Compelled by the Spirit’ may be much
too strong. ‘Spirit’ here probably means Paul’s spirit, not the Holy Spirit.
Paul’s body is not yet ‘bound’. His spirit is already bound, though.
(Verse 23) Paul hears words of prophecy. Christians speak these things in
each city that he goes to. He is warned that he will be put in prison. He
will have a bad time. We would not know about this if Paul had not spoken
about it here. Now we might say that God gave Paul warnings and that Paul
should not have gone to Jerusalem after all. Yet we can see that that was
not why the prophets gave Paul this message. The words of prophecy came from
the Holy Spirit. They ‘bound’ Paul to go. We may need to think again about
prophecy and what it will do. See Acts 16:6-7 where the Holy Spirit leads
Paul not to go into Asia. In 18:9-11, the Spirit leads Paul to stay on in
Corinth.
These prophets said that Paul would suffer. They did not say that he would
die. What Paul says in verse 24 is like Philippians 1:20-23. Paul may not
think that his life is of any value to him. Yet his work is of great value
to us. Still more it was of great value to Christ. He speaks now about the
Good News as ‘the Gospel of the grace of God’. There are many millions in
the world today who believe in God, but only as a Judge. This is a truth. It
is not the whole truth. As Christians, we know that God is full of love and
mercy and goodness. He is the God of Grace. ‘Grace is good because it makes
us good. Grace is so good that it makes bad things good’. [20.8]
In verse 25, Paul says that he has preached about the Kingdom, that is, the
Kingdom of God. He calls the message which he preaches by several names. In
the last verse, it was ‘the Gospel of the grace of God’. In verse 27, it is
‘the whole will of God’. Back in verse 20, it was ‘anything that would be
helpful to you.’ We need to bring together these names of Paul’s message. We
need to see what they add up to. [20.9]
We do not have to believe that Paul’s feeling that he would not see these
elders again was right. It seems from 2 Timothy 4:20 that Paul did visit
Miletus again. Verse 12 in that chapter shows that he did not go to Ephesus
at that time. Paul tells the elders about his feelings in order to add more
force to what he says to them.
Now we do need to be very careful about this. Paul could probably do no harm
when he talked like this. He probably did some good. But as a young man, the
great preacher George Whitfield spoke at times about his feelings. When he
was proved wrong, it did his ministry no good.
(Verse 26) So Paul says that he preached the Good News plainly. If any of
the Ephesians were not saved, they could not blame Paul. (Verse 27) Once
again, Paul says that he has ‘spread his sails’. There is no part of
Christian truth which has to be kept back for a few special people. No one
will be able to say: ‘Yes, we have gone wrong. It is Paul’s fault. There is
part of Christian truth which he kept from us.’
(Verse 28) Now Paul tells the elders these things:-
1. They are to watch over themselves. Christians are not usually very good
at this. We would rather watch other people. We need to watch ourselves to
make sure that we do not go wrong. We must not go back, either. We should go
forward in the Christian life. We should pray more. We should read God’s
Word more. We should know God’s will better. We should feel more hope and
love.
2. Then they are to be like shepherds. God’s people are like a flock of
sheep. They are weak. They cannot fight their enemies. They need a shepherd
to keep them together. They need a shepherd to guide them to places where
they can feed.
3..It was not just men who had given the elders this work. It was not just a
church vote. It was God. It was the Holy Spirit who gave them this work.
4. The church does not belong to its leaders. It belongs to God. It is the
shepherd’s work to bring it to God.
5. The high value which God sets on the church is plain for us to see. He
bought the church with His blood. We sometimes pay only part of the price
for what we buy. We pay the rest later. God paid the full price when Christ
died for us on the cross. So we are His by right. We are bought and paid
for.
The oldest copies of the New Testament do not agree with each other here.
Some read ‘the church of God,’ which is more difficult but probably right.
Some read ‘the church of the Lord.’ We should probably translate ‘the church
of God, which He bought by means of the blood of His own Son’. [20.10]
(Verse 29) Jesus warned His followers about false teachers in Matthew 7:15.
He said that they came ‘in sheep’s clothing’. They do not look cruel or bad.
Yet they are like wolves. Wolves are hungry, strong and violent. They move
fast. False teachers have wrong reasons for teaching. It is not love for
their hearers and the wish to do them real good. See also Matthew 10:16 and
John 10:12. It is bad enough if false teachers come into the church from
outside.
(Verse 30) Paul says that it will be even worse than this. These false
teachers will be some of their own people. They will be men who had shared
the wise teaching of Paul at Ephesus. They will twist the truth in some way.
Their purpose is clear. It is not the glory of God or the good of His
people. They want people to follow them. They are quite ready to divide the
church. (Verse 31) Paul tells the elders once again how he had worked for
three years among them. Paul does not say these things to boast. He does not
want to say how good he was. He wants the elders to remember how much the
Christian life matters. It is a matter of hell or glory for God’s people.
(Verse 32) So he places his friends in God’s care. So often we cannot do
more than that for people we love. Really, we can never do more! Yet Paul
tells them how God will care for them. God’s Word is ‘the word of His
grace’. It is the word which speaks about His grace to sinners. That word
can do two things for us. First it can build us up and make us strong now.
If we do not make good use of God’s Word, we must expect to be weak. We
shall not grow in the faith or be ‘built up’. Secondly, Jesus taught us to
have ‘treasure in heaven’. See Luke 12:33 and 18:22, and also Matthew 6:20
and 18:22. Then there is
1 Peter 1:4. See too Acts 26:18 and Colossians 1:12. Paul tells us how God
will give us that ‘treasure in heaven’.
We may want to know what did happen in the church at Ephesus after this
time. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians will not help us to find out. John’s
first letter may do more to give us a picture of life in the Ephesus church.
So will Revelation 2:1-7. There is reason to believe that John spent many
years at Ephesus. Perhaps Mary the Lord’s mother lived there too.
Now Paul comes back in verse 33 to his own way of life and his work. He
began with this in verse 18. This may be the way that the first Christians
taught. They did not finish what they had to say about something. They would
speak about more than one thing. In the Epistle of James, suffering and the
Word of God keep on coming up. The things that the teachers wrote or spoke
about they would use in different ways. The letters that Peter wrote are
like this. Perhaps John’s first letter and even the teaching of Jesus is the
same. We would want to teach about something and finish with it. Then we
would go on to something different. [20.11]
So at the end of verse 32, we can best understand what Paul says if we look
at the next verse. God has adopted us as His sons. We are God’s sons by His
grace, so we are ‘heirs’. See Romans 8:17. And 1 Peter 1:4 says that in
heaven, God has an ‘inheritance’ for us. When a rich man dies, his son
usually ‘inherits’ all that he has. If he has brothers to share his father’s
‘inheritance’, he will not get so much. It does not matter how many sons
Jesus brings to God’s glory. Our inheritance will not be any less. The old
Cornish preacher, Bill Bray, said: ‘Come to heaven! If there is one crown
short I will willingly go without one’.
So what Paul says is this. In glory Paul has ‘treasure’. God has ‘an
inheritance’ there, ready for him. So when he worked in Ephesus Paul did not
want money or clothes from other people. He would wait for what God had
ready for him.
Our ‘inheritance’ is with God, in glory. It is not in this life. We have it
with those who are ‘sanctified’, that is those who are made really holy. Now
God’s work of making us holy must begin in this life. God uses His word, and
He works in us by His Holy Spirit. When Paul goes on to say that he did not
desire or ‘covet’, that was one part of a holy life. He was ‘content’. See
Philippians 4:11-13; 1 Timothy 6:6-8 and Hebrews 13:5. His hard work was
another part of his holy life. We must become more holy in this life. Only
in the life of glory will we be fully holy.
Verse 33 tells us what Paul did not do. In verse 34, he tells us what he did
do. He worked hard probably at tent making. God must have blessed his work.
He made enough money for himself and for the other Christian workers with
him. (Verse 35) It is a Christian duty to help the poor. The thought may
here be of those who are poor because they are ill. See Ephsians 4:28. It is
right to pray that we may earn more money so that we can give away more to
the poor.
Paul ends his speech with some words of Jesus. You will not find these words
in any of the four Gospels. There were sayings of Jesus which Paul knew. 1
Corinthians 7:8-9 may be another saying of Jesus like this one. [20.12] God
is of course most blessed. He gives us everything. He takes nothing from us.
So Paul ended this speech.
(Verse 36) The ship needed six hours of daylight to reach Cos. That was the
port on the island of Cos where the ship would spend the next night. There
were many small islands on the way. The ship could only make this part of
the journey by day. So the ship had to sail or Paul would lose a full day.
So Paul went down on his knees to pray. [20.13] His hearers put their arms
round his neck and kissed him. (Verse 38) They did not expect to see him
again. They had a real love for him. So they went with Paul and his party to
the ship. |