ACTS: Paul's visit to Troas

Paul’s visit to Troas

The Passage: Acts 20:3-14

Structure:

a. 20:3-6, Journey of Paul

 b. 20:7-8, he kept speaking until midnight

  c. 20:9, when he was picked up – he was dead

  c’. 20:10, don’t be alarmed – there life/soul in him

 b’. 20:11-12, long conversation until daybreak

a’. 20:13-14, Journey of Paul

Historical and geographical context:

Within the few verses we see a long travel of St. Paul, surrounded by many companions from different congregations: Berea, Thessalonica, Debre and other Asian territories. The last two places raise an interesting question: did they come from the Asia to meet him at Macedonia, or did they accompany him during the whole Third Missionary journey?     

In this lesson we also see new places mentioned – the ones that were not on the mission trajectory before (v. 13-14), lit. Assos and Miletus.

There is something in the realm of chronology that we need to pay attention to: the bulk of the story develops within about 40 days. Starting chronological point is the feast of Unleavened Bread (Acts 20:6), while St. Paul hopes to conclude his travels BEFORE the celebration of Pentecost (Acts. 20:16). Well-known period 50 days long, meaning that he had to leave Troas within first 40 days.  

 

Theology:

Image of St. Paul as a lonely super-hero. Sometimes we run into a wrong picture of the apostle – he is like Captain Church (America was not found yet) or super-apostle. He was NEVER alone – cp. 2 Tim. 4:11. Yet, this passage shows that he was always surrounded with brothers (cp. Ps. 133:1). We can take it in two opposite directions: it was a group of guys who would dedicate their lives spreading the fame of this super-man. Another approach is seeing St. Paul who gave his live to raising the faithful man who (if it ever would be needed) could correct him, at least to check the balance of his ministry. 

Plot against St. Paul. St. Luke is not withholding this information, but he is hanging on this. Remember, after a while St. Peter simply sleeps in the prison being chained to two of his guards (cp. Acts 12:6, Lesson 26: Peter’s prison story). St. Paul shows the same quality - it’s just A plot, one of many; a reason to be careful, but not a reason for canceling the mission.      

Midnight story. Holy Scriptures tells us many midnight stories – Passover, salvation of the Jews during the reign of Artaxerxes (Est. 6:1), betrayal of Judas (John 13:30), St. Peter’s release from a prison (Acts 12:6-11). On the other hand, we are promised the Sun of Righteousness which will begin a New Day (Mal. 4:1-2). So, seeing the apostle who waits for daybreak should not be confusing – he understands and brings into reality a paradigmatic shift from night to day, he leaves in the morning, unlike Judas who walked Jesus into the night.    

Another story of resurrection. There are a few stories about the Old Testament prophets bringing people back to life (1 Kg 17:17-24; 2 Kg. 4:18-37). Reading the Bible as a whole, we know that the culmination of the resurrection ministry was done by the One who claims to be “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Yet, this aspect of the Good News did not stop with the Ascension – St. Peter raises Dorcas/Tabitha during his travels to Joppa (Acts 9:36-43). Here we have St. Paul raising the young man. His name was Eutychus – meaning “fortunate” or “good fortune.” St. Luke as an author of Acts (being a physician, Col. 4:14) was quite capable to differentiate between “supposed to be dead” (Acts 14:19) and “being dead” which is attributed to this instance.       

Other themes:

Life and soul. We talked about life after death before, this is another example when we see the separation of body and soul. At the brink of death our body will stop function – heart stops, lungs give in, and brain dies. Yet, from the very beginning of creation humans are called “living creature [lit. ‘soul’]” (Gen. 2:7; 1 Cor. 15:45). Therefore, Judgement Day will be a day of re-union of our souls with glorified bodies.