NT Doctrine — Acts 20

Luke tells us Paul eventually got to Corinth, but refers to the wider region simply as “Hellas” after mentioning Macedonia separately. Thus, he spent three months in this return tour, most of it likely in Corinth. While there, he wrote his famous letter to the Christians in Rome. The Jews in Corinth had cooked up a murder plot against Paul as he was about to set sail for his home church of Antioch in Syria. So, he slipped out of town overland and made his way back up the way he came. Along the path he picked up an escort of men who stayed with him all the way to Philippi and across the sea back to Troas.

What Luke doesn’t tell us is that the churches had gathered up a relief offering for the first Christians back in Jerusalem; the area suffered a drought. This would go a long way to calm any residual tension between Jewish and Gentile Christians. It was this escort, each of whom their church appointed to carry this offering so that Paul could justly claim he never touched the money. The trustees carrying the offering went on over to Troas directly.

Then Luke inserts himself back into the narrative. He and Paul celebrated Passover and Unleavened Bread in Philippi, then they rejoined the trustees in Troas. We get a feel for how taking passage on a ship was a matter of just heading off in the right direction. It took five days on that boat to reach Troas. Then they all stayed a week there. In Troas there was a church that hosted them.

During one meeting, Paul must have had a lot to say, because he kept teaching into the night. One of those listening had been sitting on a window sill and dozed off, falling three stories to the ground below. Everyone rushed down, and someone declared him dead. But Paul dropped down and hugged him, then announced that this fellow was still alive. They all went back up; you can imagine the mood. They ate a late night snack and stayed up talking until dawn.

Luke boarded a ship with their entourage, but Paul decided to hike overland to the next port at Assos. It was a day long hike, still one of the most beautiful routes to this day. He joined the entourage on the ship and they set sail down the coast. Paul was in a hurry to make Jerusalem for Pentecost, and so had chosen a ship that didn’t dock in Ephesus at all, but landed somewhere south at the port of Miletus. It was a full day’s hike (30 miles) or more from Ephesus; Paul wanted to avoid any risk of conflict again.

It’s likely there was a small church in Miletus. Paul sent a message to the church leaders in Ephesus to come join him there. The ship must have stayed a couple of days; it would have taken at least that long for the messenger to go and the leaders to return with him.

Luke records a very touching message that Paul gave them. They knew what kind of man he was, and that he didn’t consider his life that important. He knew this was the last time he would see them. He wasn’t sure what would happen, but that it was not possible to avoid this visit to Jerusalem, for he was driven by the Holy Spirit. There were plenty of warnings that bad things would happen, but it didn’t matter; Paul was not intimidated.

He admonished the men to maintain their vigilance over the flock, because Paul knew that Jews had already made plans to infiltrate the churches. And then, there would be hucksters simply looking to make a buck from Christian generosity. He reminded them that he had paid his own way during his long stay in Ephesus. The whole point was that it’s simply preposterous for anything to think Paul might have tweaked the message for personal gain. He delivered what God had put into his life; it was all he had and all he would ever need.

Of course, the Ephesian elders were grieved and this was one long tearful departure.