Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 20:6
And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days.
6. And we unleavened bread ] St Paul seems to have stayed in Philippi because of the Jewish feast. As there could be no sacrifice of the Passover out of Jerusalem, the Apostle would feel no difficulty about remaining at any other form of the feast, and we know how loath he was to sever himself from his people in all things which he might lawfully share with them.
and came unto them seven days ] Troas could not be without much interest both to St Paul and Luke and Timothy, for at least these three had been here together, on that former visit when they were called over to Macedonia by a vision. Aristarchus and Secundus represented in part the fruits which God had granted to their work.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
After the days of unleavened bread – After the seven days of the Passover, during which they ate only unleavened bread. See Exo. 12.
In five days – They crossed the Aegean Sea. Paul, when he crossed it on a former occasion, did it in two days Act 16:11-12; but the navigation of the sea is uncertain, and they were now probably hindered by contrary winds.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Act 20:6-12
Troas, where we abode seven days.
Paul at Troas
I. The first day of the week appears to have been the usual period of assembly, and no doubt was selected and consecrated by apostolical authority.
1. It was held–
(1) In honour of the Saviours resurrection–that event which proved His mission Divine, His mediation effectual, and His combat with death and hell victorious.
(2) Being the day of the Lords resurrection, it was noted as the Lords day, when His people meet for His worship and His truth is expounded, His name chanted, His Spirit poured down, His presence enjoyed, and His death showed forth.
2. The place of meeting in Troas would be an humble one, with no architectural decorations, the private dwelling of some large-hearted disciple, in whose upper chamber the sacred feast was observed.
3. It would appear that at first in Jerusalem, when the disciples kept free table, or had all things common, every meal was a sacramental feast, or that it was connected with every meal, as it had been with the paschal banquet. Out of this old practice may have sprung its early division into a love feast and a sacrament.
4. The disciples must have rejoiced at their privilege, and eagerly embraced it. What could keep any of them back from enjoying Paul? Alas! that so many in modern times regard so little the first day of the week. And how many stay away for reasons which would never keep them from a scene of secular enjoyment, or ordinary business.
II. Paul preached.
1. It was the high office to which he had been set apart by Him whom he preached. Moses enacted statutes; Samuel judged; David sang; Elijah battled for God; Solomon embodied his experience in pithy and pointed sentences. The prophets foretold Messiah, but did not preach Him: But the apostle preached.
2. It was his usual mode of address. Wherever he found himself, no matter who composed his audience, he preached. You do not discover him admiring works of art, or mingling with the populace for the sake of amusement. No; he saw man as Christ saw him–a being, guilty and helpless, to whom salvation might be offered, and by whom it should be accepted–saw his soul in its value and destiny, and urged him to accept Christ and His Cross. What else could he do? Necessity was laid upon him. What other substitute for preaching can be devised? Ceremonial will not do; souls may perish amidst genuflections and music. Satire will not suffice. What effect had Juvenal and Martial on their age, or on the world? Pauls was a nobler world. It is no gospel to tell men what they are, without showing them what they might be. If preaching was the presentation of the good news, what else could the apostle do than preach?
3. What better could he do? He might have done many things–might have prelected on Jewish history, Greek philosophy, morality, his own travels, etc. But with such employment never could he have saved a soul, or gathered a Church. (Prof. Eadie.)
Paul at Troas
I. An earnest preacher (Act 20:7, Act 9:20; Act 17:2; Rom 15:20; 1Co 9:16; Gal 1:16).
II. An inattentive listener (Act 20:9).
1. His condition–borne down withsleep (Jon 1:5; Mat 26:40; Mar 13:36).
2. His destruction (Act 20:9; 1Ki 17:17; Mar 9:26; Act 14:19).
III. A healing touch (Act 20:10; 1Ki 17:21; 2Ki 4:35; Mat 9:25; Joh 11:43-44).
IV. A sacred service (Act 20:11).
V. Lessons (Mat 26:26; Act 2:42; 1Co 10:16; 1Co 11:26).
1. Ones place for preaching need not be a city church, nor his time of preaching eleven oclock Sunday morning, yet he may speak very well for Christ. Paul preached earnestly in an upper room at midnight.
2. One doubtless needs a fair amount of sleep, but during the sermon is not the time to seek such refreshment. The house of God was never intended for a dormitory.
3. Ones danger in sleeping through Gods service now is none the less real because no such evident disaster at present attends it as overtook Eutychus.
4. One may preach or teach with all the eloquence of a Paul, and yet come who ought to heed will only nod and doze.
5. One can hope for no such re-awakening from spiritual death as came to this young man upon whom his own inattention had brought bodily death.
6. One does well to observe the sacrament of the Lords Supper at the stated time, regardless of interruptions. (S. S. Times.)
Paul at Troas
We have here religious institutions–
I. Sanctioned by Christianity.
1. The first day of the week. This is the first account we have of the observance of this day, and from that time to this it has been observed for religious purposes (1Co 16:2; Rev 1:10).
2. The Lords Supper, which has also been observed ever since, and so has–
3. The preaching of the gospel.
II. Intruding on the claims of nature. Paul continued his speech until midnight. Night is the time for rest, not for labour; but many reasons would perhaps justify Paul. The people were ignorant, he had much to communicate, and had to depart on the morrow. Still, a result occurred which marked such long services as an evil. Religious institutions intrude on the claims of nature–
1. When they are employed for the purposes of inordinate excitement. Some so-called revivals furnish many sad examples.
2. When they are protracted beyond a certain period. Long sermons are a sin against nature.
III. Associated with supernatural power (Act 20:10). This was an undoubted miracle, performed in somewhat She same manner as that in 2Ki 4:33-35, and may be regarded as emblematical of the Divine power of restoration associated with the preaching of the gospel.
1. Man is the organ of it. God could have raised Eutychus directly, but He worked through Paul; so in quickening dead sinners now, He employs the ministry of the Word.
2. Man is the subject of it. Eutychus was raised. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread.—
A primitive Sunday
I. A Sunday at Troas. What is Sunday? Not the Jewish Sabbath; not a day of gloom and bondage, of restrictions and penalties, of meritorious observance or sanctimonious austerity. It is the weekly, as Easter is the annual, festival of our Lords resurrection. The very place of the fourth commandment, standing in the midst of moral rules, proves conclusively that there is a moral principle involved; that man needs a periodical rest, and that God requires of him the separation and the religious observance of such a periodical rest. Mans restlessness, selfishness, and irreligion, being what they are, how should man have invented it? Little does the working man know his own interest when he secularises the Sunday! Once destroy the sacredness of the day, and the liberty of the day will follow; and, depend upon it, irreligious employers will soon find reasons for engrossing it, till Gods gift perishes through the ingratitude of those to whom He gave it. It may not be true that the day of the Sabbath was ever formally changed from the seventh to the first; but this I say, that the moral law prescribes a day of religious rest, and that Sunday is, for us, the day so prescribed, and living where we live, and when, Sunday is a necessity of existence, if we are ever to win or fight our way through this world to a better. And this I say, too, that, as it is a necessity, so it is also a duty. The fourth commandment enforces itself still: so long as it is a sin to swear, to kill, or to steal–so long the consecration of a portion of time to special religious purposes will be a duty, and its desecration a sin; and he who profanes the Sunday by business, dissipation or frivolity, will be guilty of sin against God, and of cruelty towards the best and highest interests of man.
II. The employments of this day. Sunday is our periodical rest, but it is not designed to be a day of mere inactivity. The body rests by repose, the soul by action. Therefore that day of rest which body and mind want for relief from labour, the soul wants rather for that occupation which is at once its business, its food, and its repose; intercourse with God; expatiation in the things of God; communion with the people of God. The congregation at Troas came together–
1. For worship. They did not forget that special promise which is attached to united prayer. We need to be brought back to the simplicity of common prayer. I often wonder whether we are praying in common. Two things go to this–
(1) That each one pray, and
(2) That each one pray as one among many; pray, that is, not his own selfish prayers, but his part in the prayers of the congregation.
2. To hear preaching. I know you will say, It would be easy to listen if St. Paul were the preacher; it is because the preacher has nothing interesting or new that we find his words wearisome and his sermons long. A sermon has become in these days synonymous with dullness, and every newspaper has its jest at it. Nevertheless, there are those who believe that preaching is still, as of old, an ordinance of God; that the gospel, familiar as its central truth is to us, still needs enforcement; that the earnest words of a faithful man have instruction in them and carry a blessing from on high after them. There are those who have found by experience that they are the better for preaching. The humble and earnest hearer does not go away ashamed; nor will he go away to scoff at that instrumentality by which the instructions of Christ are ministered afresh to the congregation.
3. To break bread. In the first instance the reception of the Lords Supper was a daily act of the congregation (chap. 2.). Long did it continue the badge and the privilege of Christians to partake of that sacred bread and that Divine cup once in each week, on its first, its consecrated day. How shall we dare to touch on this subject in a modern congregation? How many suffer months and years to slip by without one participation in the ordinance. Worship is disregarded by many, and sermons by many more, but even worship, even preaching, is practically honoured far above Communion; the church may be half empty for worship, it is emptied again before Communion. These things ought not so to be. (Dean Vaughan.)
Paul taking leave of the brethren at Troas
As far as mortal may be compared with immortal, Paul, after his conversion, may be likened to the angel (Rev 14:6-7). Of this apostle the Fathers have spoken in the highest terms, styling him the trumpet of the gospel, the roaring of the lion of the tribe of Judah, the river of Christian eloquence, the teacher of the universe, to whom, says Chrysostom, God had committed the whole dispensation of His mysteries. He had made an extensive circuit, allowing himself but few intervals of repose; he had visited many Churches, giving them much exhortation, and at length he arrived at Troas.
I. The nature of this meeting. The disciples came together. It was not a meeting of philosophers, of senators, of literary men. Such had been passed over by the inspired penman. It was a meeting of the disciples of Christ. They were assembled for a devotional purpose. If there be a society on which the eye of Heaven rests with complacency it is a society of this nature. Devout associations draw after them great advantages. What scene can be more delightful than that of a company of Christians engaged in acts of sacred worship? Happy will it be for us, if, in the day of persecution, of affliction, of disease, and of death, when we can no longer thus associate, we can say, I never turned away from the ordinances of the Lord, never absented myself without just reason from His house; I never deemed religious instruction unnecessary, and never slighted the opportunity of obtaining it; Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thine honour dwelleth.
II. The time of this meeting. They came together upon the first day of the week. Thus they celebrated the institution of the Christian sabbath. It was on the first day of the week that Christ rose from the dead and accomplished the work of redemption. From that period the apostles and primitive Christians assembled on the first day instead of the seventh. The meetings of the apostles and first Christians, on this day, were sanctioned by the presence of their Master, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit; and in the annals of Christian experience, from their time to ours, this day will be found to have received particular notice and distinction. If the banished saint in the Isle of Patmos was favoured with a peculiar elevation of mind, and with extraordinary revelations on the Lords day, how many Christians in every succeeding age have, on the returns of the same day, been blessed with similar enjoyments! Christians should embrace all suitable opportunities of assembling together, but especially those presented on the Lords day.
III. The place of their meeting. They came together in an upper chamber. This reminds us of the persecuted state of the first Christians. Our forefathers were no strangers to this kind of affliction; they worshipped God in dens, and holes, and caverns of the earth. But happier times are afforded unto us: We sit under our own vine, and under our own fig tree, none daring to make us afraid. May the commonness of our privileges never render us insensible of their value! The worship of God is everywhere conducted most agreeably to the Christian plan, when conducted with simplicity. Christianity requires no splendid edifices; it asks for nothing to charm the senses. It says, God is a spirit, and they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Let us, therefore, neither despise a place because it is unadorned, nor imagine a place to be more acceptable to God because it exhibits elegance and splendour. Yet ought we not to forget the liberality of those who devote a portion of their worldly substance for the erection of commodious places for religious worship. It is the decree of our God that all things be done decently and in order. We ought not to be solicitous about our own dwelling, and indifferent about a place for His service.
IV. The design of this meeting. They came together to break bread. This phrase refers to their celebration of the Lords Supper–a service in which they appear to have been engaged the more frequently, as being doubtful whether they would be permitted to assemble for such a purpose much longer. They availed themselves of every opportunity to obey the last injunction of their Saviour–Do this in remembrance of Me. That Christian who, believing in the perpetuity of this ordinance, habitually neglects it, refuses to do his part towards keeping up in the world the remembrance of Christs death, and the expectation of His second coming. But it is not a simple remembrance of His death; it is the enjoyment of fellowship with Him, and communion with each other; that, as there is one Head, so we may be all as one body. To the disciples at Emmaus, Jesus was known in the breaking of bread; and how often has He manifested Himself to His disciples at the sacramental table, in a way most satisfactory and delightful! (O. A. Jeary.)
Points in Pauls preaching
I. This was the close of a ministry.
1. Is there anything more pathetic than the conclusion of a spiritual intercourse and fellowship? Paul is now leaving, and cannot leave. He began in the morning, and he was so filled with the spirit of grace that he never looked at the time. When was love ever patient with the clock? There is no long preaching so long as the thought continues. There are no long prayers so long as the heart has another desire to express. It is when we have said all that is in us, and then begin again that long preaching and prayer sets in. When was love ever quite done? When did love ever write a letter without a postscript? And love hearing is just the same as love preaching. Give me the attention of the heart. The mystery of the hearing ear is that it hears tones that do not utter themselves to inattentiveness. It magnifies the hint into a revelation. Give it one dawning ray of light, and out of that it will make a whole heaven of glory. The hearers were attentive; Paul was eloquent; the opportunity was closing; and the miracle was how to make the sun stand still until love put in another appeal. What long days the old Churches had! They had but one joy, and that was in doing their work. When preaching becomes one of a hundred other engagements; when church going becomes the amusement of Sunday, then they will be compared with what was seen yesterday and what will probably be heard tomorrow.
2. How hard it is in many cases to say Good-bye! When a friend leaves, he never says Good-bye less than six times! He begins early, then says a little more, and then says, Well, good-bye, and then begins again. Another object attracts his attention, a few moments more are spent, and then he says he must go. Not he. He will see some other object, stoop to bless some hitherto unseen little child, and then say, Now I must go. Not he. He waits at the gate, he shuts it twice, but it will not easily bolt, so he opens it again to see the reason why; then he waves Good-bye, then takes a few steps and turns round and says Good-bye. Why this delay? Do not ask; it is the mystery of love, the secret of heart tearing itself from heart. That, indeed, is the sweet secret of living; but for it death would be better.
II. The preaching was interrupted (verse 9). Eutychus was not in the congregation. He was in the room, and yet not in it, as is the case with many. When a man is not in the sweep and run of the great thought and the inspiring revelation, he is asleep. Well for some of us if we were now in a deep slumber! Somnolence due to physical weariness may be forgiven, For God knoweth our frame, He remembereth that we are dust. But there is a deadlier sleep. It makes the heart sad to see how men strip themselves of enthusiasm when they come into the church. Do not blame the child that lays upon its mothers lap and falls into a church sleep; but blame the soul that leaves the body in the church whilst itself goes out to turn six days business into seven. But there is no successful truancy from the church. We leave stealthily, but we are followed as quickly as we go, and the record is completed, though we know it not.
III. There were many lights in the chamber. Christianity has no dark seances; it is a mighty challenge to the attention of the universe. It only asks for silence that its speech may be heard the better. The magician wants arrangements made to suit him, but Christianity can preach anywhere. Paul preaches as eloquently in the upper chamber as he would preach on Mars Hill. That is the test of reality always.
IV. Paul stopped his service to look after one injured man. In that particular he followed the example of Jesus Christ. Every life is of importance to God. Eutychus was not a great man; as his name implies, he was of the freedmen class. He belonged to the plebeian side of life, but to God there are no plebeians, except men who never pray, never love, never do works of mercy. But as for those who love Him and serve Him, though they have not bread to eat, and no pillows to lay their heads upon, they are of the very quality of heaven. (J. Parker, D. D.)
And continued his speech until midnight.–
A memorable nocturnal service
I. An instructive example of zeal for Gods Word.
1. On the part of the apostle who is not weary of preaching.
2. On the part of the congregation who are not weary of hearing.
II. A warning example of human weakness and sloth.
1. The sleep of Eutychus.
2. His fall. Watch and pray, etc.
III. A consolatory example of Divine grace and faithfulness.
A very long sermon
This is an unpardonable sin in modern preaching; nor is it very strange after all. Everything moves rapidly now, and everybody is restless. Any Church liturgy which cannot be curtailed, is commonly read prodigiously fast. Even political speeches are not nearly so long as they used to be, and long editorials seldom get read. Besides, very long sermons never were common. What is published as a single discourse was often preached in several parts. We have no reason to believe that Christ and His apostles were long preachers. Pauls sermon at Troas was exceptional, and will help us to discern the conditions which may justify a long sermon. A long sermon may be justified–
I. By an extraordinary occasion. Paul was at Troas at the last service of a protracted meeting, and gave a solemn farewell address, for he felt assured that they would see his face no more.
II. By a great fulness and variety of thought. Pauls mind must have been full of the great doctrines he had so recently addressed to the Galatians and Romans. He would wish to impress upon them the need of justification by faith, and that justification is not an encouragement to sin, but offers the only entrance upon a life of holiness. He would warn them against the Judaisers, and insist that Gentile Christians must stand fast in their Christian liberty. He doubtless gave them exhortations, such as he had addressed to the Corinthians. They must beware of party spirit. They must conduct their worship decently and in order. They must not be jealous of brethren who possessed shining gifts. They must cling to the great and blessed hope of the resurrection, and so be assured that their labour was not in vain in the Lord.
III. By the preachers extraordinary zeal. Paul felt himself to be debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians (Rom 1:14). He felt that there was a woe upon him if he did not preach the gospel (1Co 9:16). And daily there pressed upon him an anxiety for all the Churches (2Co 11:28). Such a soul as his, so filled with love to Christ and men, at such a farewell service, would naturally multiply his appeals and warnings. When he paused, one or another of the brethren would have a song or a prayer, or all together would chant some psalm or hymn, and then the apostle would begin again. Conclusion: But however justified by exceptional circumstances, a very long sermon cannot expect to set aside the laws of human nature. We may be sure that Eutychus was not the only one who grew sleepy. It is manifest that the apostle did not consider his as an inexcusable fault. Differences in constitution, in states of bodily health, in the habit of fixed attention, etc., must always be borne in mind in passing judgment under such circumstances. (J. A. Broadus, D. D.)
Preaching too long
After having long spent much strength and labour to little purpose, I was one day lamenting before God, as I walked to church, the little fruits of my exertions. As I went along I was overtaken by a vine dresser, who was going the same way. I took an opportunity of asking him how the missions were liked. Sir, replied the peasant, we all feel obliged to you for your kind intentions; we are all likewise sensible that everything you tell us is good, but you preach too long. We ignorant boors are just like our own vine vats; the juice must have plenty of room left to work; and once filled to the brim, if you attempt to pour in more, even if it were the very best juice in the world, it will only be spilt on the ground and lost. (M. Vincent.)
Long sermons
One day I was hurrying along Argyle Street to keep an appointment when a friend stopped me and said, Mr. Scott, you sometimes preach? Yes, often. Well, Ill tell you a story for your own benefit. In the country side from which I come there lives a woman called Mrs. Thomson, who had the name of making the best porridge in the country, in fact she was quite famous for her porridge, the flavour was so fine, and it was so smooth and free from knots. Her neighbours began to be anxious, and after a deal of talk decided to go in a body and ask the secret. This was the reply, Take care that your guests are hungry and that you dont give them too much; if you stop while they have an appetite for more, they will say, How good the porridge is, but if you give them too much they will say, a little of that is plenty. I try to take the advice always when I am preaching, and when I do, I find it successful. Long sermons are a weariness–the message of salvation is sweet, short, and simple, and it is for this the people are hungering. (J. Scott.)
And there were many lights in the upper chamber.—
Many lights
The common Oriental lamp was, and is, a shallow, oblong vessel of clay, containing oil, with handle at one end, and a lip for the wick to rest on, or a small aperture for it to pass through at the other. The illuminating power of these lamps is very small, and their power of defiling the atmosphere is great. Hence the need of many lamps; hence, also, perhaps, the heavy stupor which fell upon Eutychus. To this day one of the things which surprises a stranger on entering a Mohammedan mosque is the great number of suspended lamps which he sees. This is necessary from the small illuminating power of the lamps, and the great spaces which they have to illuminate. (S. S. Times.)
The upper room
Not all Oriental houses have upper rooms for many of them are only one storey high. Where, however, the house is two or three stories high, the upper room is the large and airy chamber beneath the roof. In many cases this room projects three or four feet into the street, the projection being formed chiefly of wood, with large latticed windows on its three sides, through which a cooling breeze blows. This seems to have been the kind of room in which Pauls meeting was held. Eutychus was probably sitting in one of the windows in this projection when he fell asleep. Losing his balance here, his fall from the oriel would be unbroken until he reached the pavement. (S. S. Times.)
The sin and folly of unventilated places of worship
Heat and smoke in a close and crowded room are solid obstacles to an intelligent hearing of the gospel, even with an inspired apostle for a preacher. Ventilation is often an important means of grace. That young man who sought it in the window was doing his best to keep awake, even at the risk of his life. It is not fair to ask so much as that of any man–young or old; or of any woman either. Remember that, preacher and teacher; and see to it that your hearers have fresh air as a help to keeping awake, while you are giving them the gospel. I knew a minister who had the valves to all the ventilating pipes in his church centre right under his pulpit, and when he noticed sleepy hearers in any part of the house while he was preaching, he would turn on fresh air to their neighbourhood, and so fit them to be wide-awake, if not profoundly interested, hearers. His example is worthy of mention, as over against the warning we get from the dangers of that badly ventilated room in Troas. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)
And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus.—
Eutychus an instructive warning to the unsteadfast
I. By his dangerous sleep. The heart may be overpowered by the sleep of a false security–
1. In the midst of the assembled congregation.
2. During the hearing of the Divine Word.
II. By his terrible fall–an admonitory representation of that from a height of imaginary faith to sin and perdition.
III. By his miraculous deliverance. In the arms of a Paul who penetrates him with his power of life and warmth of love, even the deeply fallen and dead may by the grace of God again become living. But it remains a miracle of which even the Scripture does not relate many similar. Let us not run the risk. Be sober and vigilant. (K. Gerok.)
Eutychus–a three-fold warning
I. To preachers. Half the blame for the sleep and fall of Eutychus has attached to Paul, because he preached long. And the man who, by making too great a demand on the physical endurance of his congregation, preaches them to sleep, is a great sinner. For he defeats the very ends of his ministry. But it is much to be doubted whether this is very frequently the ease. For the longest services rarely exceed two hours, and consist for the most part of worship; and to say that three quarters of an hour of Christian teaching is too great a strain on constitutions which can endure a two hours political speech or a three hours dramatic entertainment, is manifest absurdity and hypocrisy. The real ground of complaint is not the quantity, but the quality of the discourse. The real tax is not on the strength, but on the patience of the audience. People tire of one man in ten minutes; another they could listen to forever. The most popular preachers have not been short preachers; witness Chrysostom, Henry Smith, Whitefield, James Parsons, Punshon, Liddon, Spurgeon, Knox-Little, etc. And considering who Paul was, and what his message was, it is scarcely supposable that Eutychus was wearied with either him or it. Let the preacher make his sermons interesting and his congregation will be oblivious to considerations of time. Yet it is to be added that a wise man will respect the domestic arrangements, and the after religious engagements of his people in the Sunday school and elsewhere.
II. To hearers. The other half of the blame is attached to Eutychus. Yet the narrative contains no hint that Paul thought him blameworthy. However, there are sleepy hearers who are to blame.
1. Those who bring a body and mind already exhausted to the house of God. People who have been up half Saturday night, or who have spent the Saturday afternoon in laborious dissipation, are to blame if they succumb to the spirit of slumber.
2. Those who are indifferent to the main object which should bring them to the house of God; who have no sense of the awfulness of Gods presence, and their need of instruction in His Word. Such would go to sleep over business, but for their sense of its overwhelming importance. Let them but take the same interest in higher concerns and they will be wide awake enough.
III. To Church managers. These are most to blame and yet get the least. Paul must have been an interesting preacher and it is quite possible that Eutychus may have had a deep interest in Paul. His somnolence was most probably due to the conditions of the atmosphere. The many, badly smelling lamps, and the vast congregation must have vitiated the air, and Eutychus, higher up than the rest, was in the worst position for keeping his eyes open. Instead of blaming the preacher or the hearer let church managers look after the ventilation. Any theatre would be doomed if as badly constructed or attended to as many of our churches. Let the most interesting play be performed in the atmosphere breathed by many of our congregations, and it would be repeated to an empty theatre. The preacher himself is often lifeless, not from any lack of natural or Divine enthusiasm, but from lack of oxygen. Let, then, our church managers exercise the same common sense as our theatre managers. A congregation starved with cold in the morning and suffocated with heat in the evening will be a diminishing one, even if Paul himself occupied the pulpit. A little less expenditure on the aesthetic and a little more on the sanitary would awaken many a drowsy congregation, and fill many a deserted sanctuary. (J. W. Burn.)
Sleeping in the kirk
Of all the ills that flesh is heir to, insomnia is one of the worst. This desperate disease requires a desperate cure, and Hugh Latimer tells of an afflicted lady who had, without avail, tried everything in the whole range of the medical pharmacopoeia, and at last, in this desperation spirit of Physic, Ill no more of it! cried out, Oh, do take me to the parish church! Ive slept soundly there the last forty years, and I think I could sleep again! Taken to the parish church she was, and to be sure sleep soundly she did! Some of us ministers thank God and take courage when we see here that churchly somnolence is not to be always laid at the door of our prosy preaching, for here the doughty Paul was the preacher. Andrew Fuller did right well that day in Kettering when, observing several in his congregation give way almost at the beginning of the service, he flung consternation into their heavy-headed midst by bringing down the big Bible three times on the desk, and exclaiming, What! asleep already! I often fear I preach you asleep, and grieve over it; but the fault cannot be mine today, for I have not yet begun! Ah! but there is in the Church today a sleep worse a million times than this excusable napping of the lad Eutychus–the slumber inexcusable and profound of the unsaved soul! Asleep in the arms of the sleepless devil, who keeps cuddling and crooning over you as the anxious mother does over the starting, nervous child lest the slumber should be anywise broken. Around you now, unconverted Church member, are ease, and comfort, and prosperity. A cosy position brings drowsiness, and it has brought it to you. You are asleep now, asleep in the never-dying soul of you, asleep in the Kirk of God! How to arouse you from this slumber, how to awaken you from this sleep of the spirit, is the problem that presses for immediate solution. Oh, to lift the knocker of your slumbering soul chamber, and give one mighty house-quivering crash this day! Why, I heard of a man on whom this awful sleep of indifference had stolen till nigh shaken to pieces in a carriage collision, who remarked as he drew a long breath at the very thought of it, Ay, God knocks hard sometimes. Before I would awake, He knocked me fifty feet down a railway embankment! A hard knock indeed, because a loving one! And such may be yours. Sleeper, arise and call upon thy God! for now it is high time to awake out of sleep. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Awake! awake!
I. The sleeper is insensible. Tick-tack, tick-tack goes the clock in the still muffled chamber of sleep; you hear it not. Eyes closed, limbs motionless, you are unconscious. So with the spiritual sleeper. The soul is unconscious and insensible. The mighty movements of God are unheard. Up and down the Bethel ladder do the angels go, but the rustle of the garments of glory never touches the ear; the great daily traffic from heaven to earth passing by your very door, and shaking every casement in the house, affects you not the slightest. Oh, the multitude of slumbering souls in the gospel Kirk of this gospel day! The pulpit is taken as a matter of course, with the tang and gust of a penance about it. Oh, the bitter waste of preaching Sabbath after Sabbath, year after year, the sweat and toil for nothing! Oh, what will arouse the masses of the sleeping in the Holy Sanctuary? Can nothing he done with them? Wake! awake! Some years ago a minister, sad at heart with this pulpit sadness, at the close of a heavy Sabbath day flung himself down, as Elijah did under the juniper tree, collapsed: O Lord, let me die! He fell asleep, and in his sleep he dreamed, and this was his dream: His own people, his own pulpit, himself the preacher. Never before had he felt so near to God, so conscious of the powers of Eternity. His heart overflowed in holy yearning, his lips had been touched by the live coal, and the words like flowing lava burned as they came. Unction, fire, melting, beseeching even to tears, his that day. And in this ministers dream, how did the congregation appear? Never before had they been so listless and inattentive; heads swaying in somnolence from side to side; yawning to right of him, yawning to left of him, gaping from gallery to floor, and from floor to gallery; watches fumbled out on all sides to see when this weary plish-plash harangue would come to a close. This the only response to the pulpit, and as the vessels thermometer suddenly sinks to zero before that polar iceberg swept along on the ocean way, so suddenly sink to despair did this poor preachers heart before the arctic heartlessness of his flock. Just as he is closing one moving appeal to be reconciled unto God, and to come to Christ in that day of fleeting grace, the door of the church opens, and a stranger walks up the aisle, and seats himself right in front of the pulpit, and listens to it all. Every eye is turned upon him as he slowly rises. Hush! he addresses the heart-broken preacher! Oh, sir, come you to hell with that offer of mercy, and youll not have an unmoved congregation! And the minister stops and looks at the stranger and he is the devil! That the dream, but this the fact. Ah! if I could go down to the black mouth of the, bottomless pit with this gospel of Christ, if I could take this offer of mercy, and make the gloomy caverns echo with this call to the Saviour, all hell would arise in delirious joy; the very devil would leap from his throne, and come to be saved!
II. The sleeper is inactive. There is no increase to the wealth of the world from a sleeper. The work is done by active hands fingering along the looms and the distaffs of production, by busy feet erranding the goes and comes of the markets fluctuations, by broad brows throbbing hot with the fling-off of swarming thought, the mental electricity that is to pulse through humanity and gird the very ends of the earth together. But the sleeper there lies his lazy length; nothing he takes, nothing he makes, an inert useless log of unconscious flesh. Some time ago, at Falkirk Station, I read this notice of the railway company: Wanted to dispose of thirty thousand old sleepers! No longer can they uphold the rattling rails of the countrys rolling traffic, outlived their usefulness, their day done, sell them for firewood for what they will bring! As I read that, I thought, Well, I know some congregations very like that railway company, surplus stocked with a lot of old sleepers theyd better dispose of! If you are unconverted, the whole of your keen activity, dear organising worker for the Church, is just the galvanised twitching of a ghastly corpse. It has no value at all in Gods sight; nay, unconverted labour has been rated by the Master at the minus figure of His complete disallowing and disapproval. The ploughing of the wicked, God says, is sin. There is a certain kind of congregational activity very much in vogue, in which all vagaries of outward commotion and hop-step-and-leap exercises are gone through in the most genteelly pious fashion. But you may visit till your legs bend, you may sew till your Dorcas needle evaporate through ceaseless friction, you may spend and be spent, give and be given till you melt with fatigue, and all the time it is just for self; it is that zeal of Gods house that hath eaten up the Christ. You are asleep in natures sleep; and, worker, till you come to Jesus and give Him your heart all your labour is but beating the air. It is like the childs rocking horse, motion indeed, but no progress. You remember Luthers parable about this? A council is held in hell, the devil presides, and the fiends are competing for a prize for the best infernal service. I, says one–I saw a caravan of human beings crossing the desert. I called on the sirocco with its hot, foul breath, I whirled the sandy masses to the blotted-out heavens, and I buried them all, and their bones lie whitening on the surface flats. Well done, says the devil, but a greater work than this can be done. I, speaks another competitor–I beheld a gallant life-laden vessel skimming the surface of the glassy sea. I hissed afar for the roaring tempest; I piled the mountains of foaming surge on the deck, and the ship went down with a sullen plunge, and the ooze and the tangle of the deep are their unburying grave. Well done, says the devil, but a greater work than this can be done. I, and this last demon voice has the grim chuckle of conscious triumph in it–I witnessed a congregation in a gracious revival. Souls were flocking to Christ, and our kingdom of hell was suffering defeat. For spiritual fervour I substituted material good; I multiplied the funds and collections; I filled the pews to overflowing; I flung enchantment round the voice in the pulpit–outward prosperity I brought with a rush to everything, ease, and comfort, and success, and along with it I soothed them all to slumber; and now, minister and members they are all asleep! The prize is thine, for this is the greatest work! shouts the Infernal Arbiter, and hells rafters rang with approving applause!
III. The sleeper is in danger. Here is a sleeper. The couch is enveloped in a mass of flimsy inflammable gauze curtains. A table stands ready to topple, and right on the edge of the table a naked candle is burning to its socket. Danger, is it not here? Ay, it is, and the red flames roaring out at yon windows will summon in desperate haste the rush and rattle of the fire engines in the dead of night. A matter of life or death it is; danger is here indeed. Unconverted soul, you are the sleeper. The curtains of a delusive dreamland have wrapped your couch in an inflammable cloud, and the candle of time, alit with eternity, is spluttering in its holding bracket before the final flare-up and the never-ending, conflagration of the awful Too late! too late!–die! damned! The sleeper is in danger because entirely defenceless. Yonder the whole armed camp has succumbed to slumber, the picket has fallen asleep at his post. Hist! a low, soft, rustling noise out there in the forest, the momentary gleam of the moonlight on a glistening tomahawk! Silently, like tigers crouching and crawling for their mesmerised prey, dark forms are wriggling and gliding through the bush to that camp of doom. Still they slumber within half a minute of their destruction. A war-whoop that brings the double echoes back from the far-off Rocky Mountains! Yells on yells rending the midnight lift! The work of blood has begun, and in a few minutes all the reeking scalps are dangling at the chuckling redskins girdles! To a man that slumbering regiment has been annihilated. Sleep has done its fateful work. It always does. In sleep there is, too, the danger of all dangers, destruction incipient, death actually begun. It is a wild night on this Highland moor. Masses of powdery, feathery snow are whirled and hurled in continuous gusts from mountain tops to every nook of the glens. And that poor, faithful shepherd, with the icicles hanging at his shaggy beard, wearily wandering after his strayed sheep, is beginning to feel drowsy and dazed with that ceaseless beat of the icy avalanche from the frowning sky. It will be only for a moment or two and he will start up from his slumber refreshed for the search. Here is the very shelter, the bield side of a crag! Asleep! Ay, forever! The Ice Maiden, as they say in Danish song, has kissed him, and the press of that kiss on the cheek pledges to him the never awaking! Sleeper, sleep on, but the sleep slips into a frozen death! To sleep is to die, and he is asleep, and he is dead, and the other shepherds will tenderly lift him up in the clear calm of the fury-spent morning, a glazed corpse, a lump of lifeless ice! So, unconverted soul, sleeper in the Kirk of God, in this sleep of yours death has already begun. You have been kissed by the Ice Maiden of a lost eternity. You have given way to spiritual drowsiness, and you are already in the grip of the grave, and that cursed burial yours, of them who have come and gone from the place of the holy. O gospel tampering, temporising soul, fear this and flee. If you refuse Christ now, will your dead heart be moved to accept Him at your any time nod, at your mere wish? I trow not. Recently in an extreme case of comatose sleep, of stupor trance, when everything else failed, a famous doctor managed to awake the sleeper by focussing a beam of light into the upturned eyeball. Yours is this extreme case of trance, you Christ-rejector for years, your heart hardened with the crust of misused gospel privilege, you are dead. Yet here, blessed be God, is the famous Physician, the Lord. Wherefore He saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. (John Robertson.)
Sleeping in church
The weakness to which poor Eutychus succumbed is not altogether unknown in our modern churches, though all those who slumber in their pews cannot plead the excuse of having been kept up all night to listen to a sermon several hours in length; but perhaps if everyone who went to sleep in church fell down three stories and got picked up half dead, people would think twice before they indulged in a nap. When Paul noticed the irreverent taking of the Eucharist at Corinth, where each seemed bent on getting as much bread and wine for himself as he could snatch, he exclaimed, What, have ye not houses to eat and drink in? And when I see people mistaking their pews for dormitories, I have often felt inclined to say, What, have ye not beds and sofas at home to sleep on, that you thus profane the house of God with your indolence? If people are too tired on Sunday morning with the weeks work, they should rest their jaded bodies at home, rather than come jaded to church. Why give to God a worn-out brain and body, not good enough for man? Come rested and fresh, but dont forget to come. If you will listen to Paul you should try and get to church once on the Lords Day. Forsake not, so he pleaded, the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is; but remembering Eutychus, perhaps we may add, Whenever you come, try to keep awake. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)
Fell down from the third loft and was taken up dead.–
A sudden death
We have here the record of–
I. A sudden death.
1. How this affects the individual himself.
2. The consequences to survivors.
II. The sudden death of a man in the prime of life.
III. A sudden death under peculiarly awful circumstances. He was asleep. Is your soul asleep in–
1. Carnal security?
2. Sin.
3. Satans arms.
Conclusion: May the Holy Spirit–
1. Show you your danger.
2. Make you safe. (Biblical Museum.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. Days of unleavened bread] The seven days of the passover, in which they ate unleavened bread. See the account of this festival in the notes on Ex 12:1-51. It is evident, from the manner in which St. Luke writes here, that he had not been with St. Paul since the time he accompanied him to Philippi, Ac 16:10-12; but he now embarks at Philippi with the apostle, and accompanies him to Troas, and continues with him through the rest of his journey.
To Troas in five days] So long they were making this voyage from Philippi, being obliged to keep always by the coast, and in sight of the land; for the magnetic needle was not yet known. See the situation of these places upon the map.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
From Philippi; where they embarked, and sailed on the river first, then on the sea.
After the days of unleavened bread; though St. Paul would not have the Gentile converts to be burdened with the ceremonial law, yet, that he might not offend the Jews, for a while he complied with their rites, Act 18:21, they being indeed dead, but not yet deadly; and therefore he stays his journey all the time of the passover solemnity, instructing them in the mean while of the nature and use of such things.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. And we sailed . . . from Philippiafter the days of unleavened bread(that is, the Passover).This, compared with 1Co 16:8,shows that the three months spent at Corinth (Ac20:3) were the winter months.
came . . . to Troasforthe third and last time. (See on Ac16:8 and Ac 20:1).
in the five daysAs itmight have been done in two days, the wind must have been adverse.The vivid style of one now present will be here again observed.
where we abode sevendaysthat is, arriving on a Monday, they stayed over the Jewishsabbath and the Lord’s Day following; Paul occupying himself,doubtless, in refreshing and strengthening fellowship with thebrethren during the interval.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And we sailed away from Philippi,…. Which was in Macedonia, from whence they came in a straight course by Samothracia, over the Hellespont, to Troas, where the above six persons were waiting for them: and they set sail
after the days of unleavened bread; or the passover; which is mentioned only to observe the time of year when this voyage was taken; and not to suggest to us that Paul and his company stayed at Philippi, and kept this feast there; for the passover was only kept at Jerusalem, and besides was now abolished, and not to be observed by Christians:
and came unto them to Troas in five days; not that they were five days sailing from Philippi to Troas; but either they were so long in all, from their first setting out into Asia, to their arrival at Troas; or rather, they came to Troas within five days after the above six persons had got thither; so that they waited at Troas but five days for the apostle, and those that accompanied him.
Where we abode seven days; by what follows they came into Troas on the Lord’s day evening, or early on Monday morning, and stayed there till the next Lord’s day, or first day of the week; for it follows,
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
After the days of unleavened bread ( ). Paul was a Jew, though a Christian, and observed the Jewish feasts, though he protested against Gentiles being forced to do it (Gal 4:10; Col 2:16). Was Luke a proselyte because he notes the Jewish feasts as here and in Ac 27:9? He may have noted them merely because Paul observed them. But this passover was a year after that in Ephesus when Paul expected to remain there till Pentecost (1Co 16:8). He was hoping now to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost (Ac 20:16) as he did. We do not know the precise year, possibly A.D. 56 or 57.
In five days ( ). Up to five days (cf. Lu 2:37). D has , “fifth day men,” a correct gloss. Cf. , second-day men (Ac 28:13). In Ac 16:11 they made the voyage in two days. Probably adverse winds held them back here.
Seven days ( ). To atone for the short stay in Troas before (2Co 2:12f.) when Paul was so restless. Now he preaches a week to them.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
In five days [ ] . Lit., “up to five days,” indicating the duration of the voyage from Philippi.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
ALL NIGHT MARATHON SERVICE AT TROAS V. 6-12
1) “And we sailed away from Philippi,” (hemeis de eksepleusamen) “Then we sailed away,” (apo Philippon) “from Philippi,” in Macedonia, after we had retraced our steps from Greece, Act 20:2-3. Neapolis was the seaport of Philippi from which Paul boarded the ship to sail. The writer of the book enters the tour of Paul, becomes a fellow-traveler with him and his missionary helpers again, refers to the group in the first person as “we,” hereafter.
2) “After the days of unleavened bread,” (meta tas hemeras ton azumon) “After (following) the days of unleavened bread,” after the passover, Act 12:3; Act 18:18; 1Co 5:7. Here Luke with Paul and his company celebrated the passover, then sailed to Troas, to join some of their company who had preceded them there.
3) “And came unto them to Troas in five days “ (kai elthomen pros autous eis ten Troas archi hemeron pente) “And we came to meet them in Troas after five days of sailing,” perhaps hindered by opposing winds, as the journey had been formerly made in two or three days, Act 16:11.
4) “Where we abode seven days “ (hopou dietripsamen hemeras hepta) “Where we stayed for a period of seven days,” before he sailed on to Assos, Act 20:13. During these seven days he preached to, taught, and fellowshipped with, the brethren of the church at Troas, Act 20:7-12.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
7.
AT PHILIPPI. Act. 20:6 a.
Act. 20:6 a
And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread,
Act. 20:6 a To arrive here Paul had to make a days journey off the main road. But the church and the leaders in this place were especially near to the heart of Paul. And then we conjecture that he went to secure Luke as his traveling companion and fellow worker. At any rate, Luke joined Paul here (Luke had been here since his mention in the second journey and they sailed away from the seaport of Neapolis after the days of unleavened bread.
These days of unleavened bread mark the time element in a very good way. Notice two things about it.
1.
Almost a whole year had elapsed since he left Ephesus. (Cf. 1Co. 16:8) Note that he had left Ephesus before Pentecost the previous year. You must know that the days of unleavened bread follow after the eating of the passover, and that the Passover and Pentecost are just fifty days apart. So now it is less than fifty days to Pentecost when Paul sails for Troas.
2.
He only has some forty days to reach Jerusalem with his bounty by Pentecost. This he was determined to do.
There must have been unfavorable winds in the sailing, for it only took one day on a previous voyage; now the same trip took five days.
786.
What is meant by the days of unleavened bread? What import here?
787.
Tell of the sailing conditions from Philippi to Troas?
8.
IN TROAS. Act. 20:6 b Act. 20:13.
Act. 20:6 b
and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we tarried seven days.
Act. 20:7
And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.
Act. 20:8
And there were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered together.
Act. 20:9
And there sat in the window a certain young man named Eutychus, borne down with deep sleep; and as Paul discoursed yet longer, being borne down by his sleep he fell down from the third story, and was taken up dead.
Act. 20:10
And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Make ye no ado; for his life is in him.
Act. 20:11
And when he was gone up, and had broken the bread, and eaten, and had talked with them a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.
Act. 20:12
And they brought the lad alive, and were not a little comforted.
Act. 20:13
But we, going before to the ship, set sail for Assos, there intending to take in Paul: for so had he appointed, intending himself to go by land.
Act. 20:6 b Paul was in Troas for seven days. Why spend such a length of time here when they were in a hurry to arrive in Jerusalem? No real authoritative answer can be given but it does seem that since they left immediately they waited there until the day came when they could worship with the saints. It could have been that they landed in Troas on Sunday.
b.
The worship on the first day of the week. Act. 20:7.
Act. 20:7 Be that as it may, when the Lords Day came they gathered together as a church and broke bread or had the Lords Supper. It would seem from the circumstances that the Jewish reckoning of time was used here and that after sundown on the Sabbath was the beginning of the first day of the week. It could have been that here at Troas as in Corinth a meal was eaten before or in conjunction with the Lords Supperas some call it the love feast. It was evidently customary to have a discourse at these gatherings and this time they had the priceless privilege of hearing the apostle Paul.
788.
Why spend so much time in Troas?
789.
How do you know a meal was eaten in conjunction with the Lords Supper?
Act. 20:8-13 The meeting was being held in a third story room and many torches had been set in the sockets around the walls of the room. The windows were naturally open for ventilation and seated on the window sill of one of the openings was a young man named Eutychus.
Someone suggested that this young man had worked all day and that the fatigue of his body overcame his interest in the message of the apostle and that when fully asleep he relaxed and toppled out of the open casement. Whatever was the cause of his sleep he did fall to his death on the street or ground outside the house.
It would seem that Paul was the first to leave the house and hurry around to where the young man lay, Paul treated Eutychus like Elijah treated the widows son. He compassionately fell on his prostrate form and drew him close to him in his arms. There must have been a prayer ascending from Pauls heart as he did this. Paul looked up to the anxious ones standing around him and said: Trouble not yourselves, for his life is in him. (K. J. V.) Now mark it carefully that Eutychus was taken up before Paul arrived and those that handled him and tenderly laid him out on the ground or whatever, took him to be dead; and without a doubt he was.
Upon returning to the third story room the breaking of bread took place for which they had originally gathered. We might remark that the Lords Supper here called the breaking of bread was partaken of on Sunday regardless of what time of reckoning for time is used. If you count the time from sundown to sundown (Jewish) it was on Sunday. If from midnight to midnight (Roman) it was on Sunday. Then following the breaking of bread a meal was also takenit usually was so done in the early church.
Paul took up his message following the meal where he had been interrupted and continued speaking even unto the break of day. Even Eutychus managed to participate in the last of Pauls visit. The saints here were greatly strengthened by the preaching and their faith was increased by the restoration of this young man.
Luke was present to hear this lengthy sermon but he only makes mention of the incident with Eutychus and then says that Paul plainly instructed him and the other seven brothers (brethren) to go ahead down to the ship and sail along the coast and pick him up at the town of Assos. Paul wanted to walk from Troas to Assos. Why walk? It was twenty miles or more and Paul had been up all night. He must have been fatigued in body and mind, but as some of you must know, solitude with God is the most restful experience one can find; if not for the body, at least for the spirit. As he walked these twenty miles, over none too easy a road, he had many things to settle alone with God.
790.
Why have the windows open? Why sit in the window?
791.
Why do you think Eutychus fell asleep?
792.
What Old Testament comparison can be made in the raising of Eutychus from the dead?
793.
What do you think about the idea that Paul was first to reach the young man?
794.
Was Eutychus really dead?
795.
How can you prove that the Lords Supper was on Sunday regardless of the time reckoning?
796.
Why walk instead of going by ship?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(6) And came unto them to Troas in five days.The voyage from Troas to Philippi (see Notes on Act. 16:11-12) had taken only three days, but the ship had now to contend against the south-west current that set in from the Dardanelles, and probably also against the Etesian winds blowing from the north-east that prevail in the Archipelago in the spring.
Where we abode seven days.It lies on the surface that the motive for this stay was to keep the Lords day (the name was probably already current; see Rev. 1:10), and to partake with the Church of what, even before the date of this journey, St. Paul had already spoken of as the Lords Supper (1Co. 11:20).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. The days of unleavened bread The Passover. Paul purposed to be at Jerusalem by Pentecost, seven weeks afterward. He, doubtless, solemnly observed the Passover, or at any rate the Christian Easter or resurrection day. The result was that, owing probably to bad weather, he was five days instead of two in crossing the Hellespont to Troas. Assuming with most commentators that this journey took place in the year 58, we can with tolerable certainty name the days of each advance. The passover feast closed on April 3, which appears to have been on Tuesday; and Paul started from Neapolis, the port of Philippi, on Wednesday, April 4. The five days to Troas would terminate Saturday, April 8. After a week at Troas, he left on Monday, April 17.
Seven days The Christian week.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came to them to Troas in five days, where we tarried seven days.’
Having taken another opportunity to visit Philippi, where he seemingly again met up with Luke (the ‘we’ passages recommence), and observed the Passover (which may explain why he sent his Gentile companions on ahead), he sailed for Troas, a journey which took five days. Travelling the other way it had taken much less (Act 16:11). This was immediately after the Passover feast (the days of unleavened bread). This distinction between himself and his Gentile companions illustrates that, as Jesus had before him, Paul probably continued to observe the niceties of Pharisaic teaching as well as he could in the circumstances in which he continually found himself. To the Jew he wanted to be as a Jew, to the Pharisee as a Pharisee. He was still a true ‘Israelite’ for the church was the Israel of God (Gal 6:16)
‘After the days of unleavened bread.’ Taken as it stands this can only signify that Paul was observing the feast, otherwise why wait until the end of it when he was in a predominantly Gentile city where there was no synagogue? Together with his sending on ahead of his companions all this points to his observing the feast, as Jewish Christians still did. In what is very much an abbreviated account by Luke this must be seen as significant. We must not portray Paul as always behaving like a Gentile. He would fight every inch of the way against Gentiles having to celebrate Jewish feasts as necessary for salvation (Gal 4:8-11). But he was himself very much a Jew, even though an emancipated one.
It will be noted that in describing all this we have had to fill in a few blanks ourselves, and even then much is missed out because this travelling and exhorting the churches has in fact taken many months, and valuable ministry has been carried out.
However, from the point of view of understanding Acts we must note that Luke has been deliberately silent on these matters. Having portrayed the false ‘royal rule’ and Satanic activity which has cut short his own activity at Ephesus he is hurrying on to the journey to Jerusalem and Rome. This is now what the remainder of Acts is to be about, the journey under God to Jerusalem and Rome, with its opportunity to witness to Jesus and the resurrection before rulers and its constant revelation of Paul’s innocence as accepted by those rulers, which will result in his triumphant ministry in Rome. Anything else is incidental.
Here at Troas he remains seven days. These seven day stops appear to be significant. They ensured that at least one Sabbath and one ‘first day of the week’ could be spent with the church in question, and probably also indicated a time of ‘divinely perfect’ (‘sevenfold’) fellowship. Compare Act 21:4; Act 28:14. In the analysis above and in the introduction this seven day fellowship here parallels that in Act 28:14. Luke wants us to be aware of the wonderful fellowship that Paul enjoys on his journey to Jerusalem and Rome, both at the beginning and at the end. God’s watch is over him.
It may be that this kind of seven day stopover had become an accepted courtesy when visiting places where there was an established Christian church, which may help to explain why Paul decided to bypass Ephesus because he could not afford another seven days.
On the other hand we must remember that the last time he had visited Troas he had hurriedly taken ship when they had wanted him to stay (2Co 2:12). Thus it may be that by this he was letting them know that even though he was in a hurry this time as well, he cared enough for them to remain with them for seven days. The seven days would give him good opportunities for teaching and admonishing the elders privately.
Alternately it may simply be that the ship on which they were travelling was unloading and loading, a process which would take seven days.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Paul at Troas:
v. 6. And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days.
v. 7. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
v. 8. And there were many lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered together.
v. 9. And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep; and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.
v. 10. And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves, for his life is in him.
v. 11. When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.
v. 12. And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted. Paul and his companions from the European congregations, including Luke, celebrated the Passover in Philippi. After the festival they sailed from the harbor of Neapolis, but on account of adverse winds did not reach Troas until the fifth day, whereas with favorable winds the trip could be made in two, chap. 16:11-12. In Troas all the delegates that were to represent the various congregations in Jerusalem, in bringing them the collection which Paul had ordered, were now together. Here Paul made use of the “open door” of which he speaks elsewhere, 2Co 2:12, remaining in the city as long as he dared without endangering his plans as to the time of arrival in Jerusalem. On the first of the Sabbaths, on the first day of the week, the disciples came together for services, mainly to break bread, to celebrate Holy Communion. Here we have the first reliable account of the choice of Sunday as the day of worship. Because the faith of the Christians is based upon the resurrection of the Lord, they chose this day, not from necessity or by divine command, but to hear the Word of God and to use the holy Sacraments. It was an evening service, since Paul intended to leave in the morning. Paul himself addressed the assembly in a long didactic sermon, prolonging his address till midnight. It was his desire to give the disciples all possible instruction and admonition while he was still with them. Luke relates that they had many lights in the upper chamber of the house which served as their place of worship, not to guard against the suspicion of sinful practices among the Christians, but simply as a bit of vivid description, and to account, at least in part, for the sleepiness of the young man, whom the many lights, with their fluttering flame, undoubtedly made drowsy, as well as his effort to follow the words of Paul closely. This young man, whose name was Eutychus, had chosen the window-sill as his seat and was there gradually borne down, overcome, by sleep. Nobody seems to have noticed him until it was too late; for his sleep finally became so sound that he lost his balance and fell out of the window of the third floor down to the pavement below. The noise drawing the attention of the assembly to the accident, they hurried down, but only to pick up the young man dead. But Paul, who had also come down, stretched himself upon him and held him closely to the warmth of his body. After that he told the anxious brethren not to make any outcry, since his soul was now in him. It was a miracle of bringing a dead person back to life, much like that of the Shunammite’s son, 2Ki 4:33-35. Paul then returned to the assembly-room, celebrated the Holy Communion with the brethren and apparently also the feast which was held by the early Christians in connection with the Sacrament. After the close of the regular service, the apostle still spoke to the assembled disciples in a more informal way, explaining to them many points upon which they were in need of information. Until the dawn of the new day the meeting lasted, when Paul set forth on his trip southward. But the disciples of Troas brought the boy alive and well, and were filled with great consolation and strength of faith. They realized that it was the power of God in Paul that had performed this miracle, and that this work therefore testified to the truth of Paul’s preaching. This same doctrine is the basis of every Christian’s faith to this day.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Act 20:6. Where we abode seven days. St. Paul might choose to do this so much the rather, as he had declined such great views of service as were open to him when he passed through it before, in his way to Macedonia, 2Co 2:12-13. Perhaps he might now lodge at the house of Carpus; but it seems to have been on a later journey, that he left there the books and other things to which he refers, 2Ti 4:13. It plainly appears, from the manner in which St. Luke speaks here, and all along afterwards, that he attended St. Paul in all this journey and voyage; though, by his altering the expression, he does not seem to have been with him since he was at Philippi, in his former progress. See ch. Act 16:10; Act 16:12.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
6 And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days.
Ver. 6. In five days ] Let them that please read here Ptolemy’s first table of Asia, where they shall have this whole voyage of St Paul daintily described.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
6. . . ] in five days , see reff. The wind must have been adverse: for the voyage from Troas to Philippi (Neapolis) in ch. Act 16:11 , seems to have been made in two days. It appears that they arrived on a Monday.
Compare notes, 2Co 2:12 , ff.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 20:6 . . ., cf. Act 12:3 , i.e. , the Passover. 1Co 5:7 shows us how they would “keep the Feast”. Ramsay’s “fixed date in the life of St. Paul,” Expositor , May, 1896, depends partly on the assumption that Paul left Philippi the very first day after the close of the Paschal week, but we cannot be sure of this, see Wendt’s criticism on Ramsay’s view, p. 326, edition 1899, and also Dr. Robertson “I. Corinthians” Hastings’ B.D., p. 485. . : “in five days,” i.e. , the journey lasted until the fifth day, so , cf. , Act 28:13 . In Act 16:11 the journey only lasted two (three?) days, but here probably adverse winds must be taken into account; or the five days may include a delay at Neapolis, the port of Philippi, or the land journey to the port; on see above Act 1:2 . , so as to include a whole week, and so the first day of the week, cf. 2Co 2:12-13 , which shows how reluctantly Paul left Troas on his former visit, but see on the other hand, Ramsay, St. Paul , p. 295, who thinks that St. Paul would not have voluntarily stayed seven days at Troas.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
sailed away. Greek. ekpleo. See note on Act 15:39.
Philippi: i.e. from Neapolis, its port.
days, &c. This was Passover, A.D. 57.
to. Greek. eis, as in Act 20:1.
five days. Compare Act 16:11.
abode. Greek. diatribo. See note on Act 12:19.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
6. . . ] in five days, see reff. The wind must have been adverse: for the voyage from Troas to Philippi (Neapolis) in ch. Act 16:11, seems to have been made in two days. It appears that they arrived on a Monday.
Compare notes, 2Co 2:12, ff.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 20:6. , we) Again the writer of the book was present with Paul.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
we
From the use of the pronoun, Luke here rejoins the apostle.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Philippi: Act 16:12, Phi 1:1, 1Th 2:2
the days: Act 12:3, Exo 12:14, Exo 12:15, Exo 12:18-20, Exo 13:6, Exo 13:7, Exo 23:15, Exo 34:18, 1Co 5:7, 1Co 5:8
came: 2Ti 4:13
seven: Act 21:4, Act 21:8, Act 28:14
Reciprocal: Exo 29:30 – seven days Act 20:2 – those Rom 15:19 – so that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
6
Act 20:6. Having been in Philippi some time (verse 3) on this return journey, he and Luke went aboard a ship bound for Troas, where the group of the preceding paragraph was waiting for them. Days of unleavened bread is mentioned only by way of indicating the date or time of year that had arrived.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 20:6. And came unto them in Troas in five days. This lengthy voyage was, no doubt, owing to contrary winds, or perhaps to a calm. On a former occasion, we read of this voyage being made in two days (see Act 16:11).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
The next journey of St. Paul is from Macedonia in Greece, to Troas in Asia, where he abode seven days. During his stay here, several are to be remarked and observed.
Observe here, 1. How this great apostle became all things to all men, though he would not become sin to any man: To the Jews he became as a Jew, for he stayed his journey all the seven days of the Jewish Passover solemnity, and would not set forth to travel that time, because he would not offend the weak Jews; accordingly he sailed not from Philippi till after the days of unleavened bread. Thus did St. Paul comply with the Jewish rites, which, though dead by the death of Christ, yet were not buried; and therefore his compliance was not sinful, but managed with design to gain the Jews.
Observe, 2. That the change of the sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, was of apostolical observation now, as it was before of Christ’s institution; on this day the Lord arose, on this day the disciples met, and Christ honoured them with his presence, Joh 20:1 on this day the collection for poor saints was made, 1Co 16:2.
Now this necessarily infers the abrogation of the Saturday sabbath: for six days they were commanded to labour, and if they rested the seventh day, and first too, they violated the law of God, which we cannot suppose they did, and consequently the apostles and primitive Christians observed the first day of the week in remembrance of the work of redemption, as the Jews of old observed the seventh in remembrance of the work of creation.
Observe, 3. The fervent zeal and unwearied diligence of the great apostle for the souls of men; and also the patience and complacency with which his auditors attended upon his sermon at this time: Paul preached till midnight, ver. 7. A very long sermon upon a particular occasion is neither unscriptural nor unapostolical. We do not find that either the apostle was weary, or the auditory drowsy, at the dead time of the night; their wakefulness at midnight under a sermon, condemns our sleepiness at mid-day.
Observe, 4. The pious and prudential care which the apostle and his hearers took that their night-meeting should not fall under any calumny, or their selves reproached, for doing any thing indecently in the dead of the night; to prevent this, the 8th verse informs us, that there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together; exposing themselves, and what they did, to the view of all.
Religious meetings in the night season are not only lawful in times of persecution, but necessary; yet a special care ought to be taken to avoid all occasion of calumny, that the least suspicion may not arise, concerning the honesty and holiness of those that do assemble at such unseasonable times.
Observe, 5. What a warning the Holy Ghost here leaves upon record for such as sleep under the preaching of the word: Eutychus, when asleep under St. Paul’s long sermon, falls down from the third loft, and is taken up dead.
Here note, The time when he was overtaken with sleep: not at noon-day, but at midnight; and it was not a sermon of an hour long that he was asleep under, but after St. Paul had preached several hours. This is not the case fo our common sermon sleepers, who at noon-day sleep under the word; nay, settle and compose themselves to sleep, and do what they can to invite sleep to them! What if with Eutychus any of them fall down dead! here is no Paul to raise them up; or, what if this wretched contempt of the word provoke God to say, Sleep on, and be so stupified that no ordinances shall awake you! Sleep on, till hell flames awake you!
Observe, 6. Eutychus is raised to life by a miraculous power communicated to St. Paul, which was matter of great consolation to the spirits, and great confirmation to the faith, of the disciples, ver 12. They brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted; not only for the young man’s sake, but especially for their own sakes:for hereby God gave a convincing testimony to the word of his grace,– God did hereby bear witness to it, and many were thereby confirmed in the belief of it.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
6. The delay of Paul at Philippi may be well accounted for by the strong affection which he bore toward the congregation there, and his present expectation that he would see their faces in the flesh no more. (6) “And we, after the days of unleavened bread, sailed away from Philippi, and came to them in Troas in five days, where we remained seven days.” The “days of unleavened bread” here mentioned remind us that it had been nearly one year since the close of Paul’s labors in Ephesus; for he was awaiting the approach of Pentecost when the mob was aroused by Demetrius. He probably left there between the Passover and Pentecost, and as the Passover had now returned again, the time he had spent in his tour through Macedonia and Achaia and back to Philippi must have occupied ten or eleven months.
The voyage from Philippi to Troas occupied, as here stated, five days, though, on a former occasion, they had sailed from Troas and reached Philippi in two days. The delay on this trip is suggestive of adverse winds.
The brethren who had preceded Paul and Luke to Troas had already spent there the five days occupied by the latter on the journey, and a portion of the seven days of unleavened bread which they spent in Philippi. The seven additional days now spent there by the whole company, making an aggregate of more than two weeks, gave sufficient time to accomplish much in a community where a door was already opened by the Lord.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 6
The days of unleavened bread. It seems that the passover occurred while they were there, and during its continuance their journey was suspended.