Acts · chapter 20 of 28
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Acts 20 tells of Paul's journey through Macedonia and Greece and his stop in Troas, where he speaks until midnight and raises Eutychus, who had fallen from a window. At Miletus he calls the elders of Ephesus, reminds them of his example and charges them to shepherd the church and guard against false teachers. After praying and weeping together, they accompany him to the ship.
After the riot in Ephesus in Acts 19, Paul sets out on his last journey through Macedonia and Greece toward Jerusalem. This chapter contains the only speech of Paul addressed to believers in Acts, and it is a pastoral farewell. It marks the start of the road to Jerusalem and, finally, to Rome.
After the uproar, Paul says goodbye to the disciples in Ephesus, goes through Macedonia encouraging the churches and spends three months in Greece. Because of a Jewish plot he decides to return through Macedonia. At Troas, on the first day of the week, the disciples gather to break bread, and Paul speaks until midnight. A young man named Eutychus, sitting in a window, falls asleep, falls from the third story and is picked up dead. Paul goes down, embraces him and says do not be alarmed, for his life is in him. Then he breaks bread, eats and talks until daybreak, and they take the young man away alive, comforted.
Paul reaches Miletus by sea, hurrying to be in Jerusalem for Pentecost. From there he sends for the elders of the church at Ephesus. He reminds them how he served the Lord with humility and tears, teaching publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ. Now, bound in the Spirit, he is going to Jerusalem not knowing what will happen to him, except that the Spirit testifies that imprisonment and afflictions await him. He counts his life of no value if he may finish his course and the ministry of the gospel of grace.
He tells them they will not see his face again and that he is innocent of the blood of all, for he declared to them the whole counsel of God. He urges them to pay careful attention to themselves and to all the flock the Holy Spirit entrusted to them, the church of God that he obtained with his own blood. After his departure fierce wolves will come in, and from among them men will rise up speaking twisted things. He commends them to God and to the word of his grace, and recalls Jesus's words: it is more blessed to give than to receive. They kneel and pray, weep, embrace him, grieved that they will not see him again, and accompany him to the ship.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
On the first day of the week the disciples gather to break bread, and Paul speaks to them at length. It is one of the earliest mentions of the church's weekly meeting on Sunday, with teaching and fellowship around the table.
Paul counts his life of no value if he can finish his course and the ministry of testifying to the gospel of the grace of God. The mission weighs more than his comfort, and grace is the center of the message.
Paul urges the elders to pay careful attention to themselves and to all the flock that the Holy Spirit has entrusted to them, which God obtained with his own blood. Shepherding means watching over one's own life and caring for people whom Christ paid everything to redeem.
Paul recalls the words of Jesus: it is more blessed to give than to receive. This saying, which does not appear in the Gospels, sums up the generous lifestyle Paul showed by working with his hands.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: On the first day of the week. — Acts 20:7
Answer: He fell asleep, fell from the third-story window and was picked up dead; Paul embraced him and said his life was in him. — Acts 20:9-10
Answer: The elders of the church at Ephesus. — Acts 20:17
Answer: That he counted it of no value if he could finish his course and the ministry of testifying to the gospel of the grace of God. — Acts 20:24
Answer: That fierce wolves would come in and that from among them men would rise up speaking twisted things. — Acts 20:29-30
Answer: It is more blessed to give than to receive. — Acts 20:35
Paul's farewell is a model for every leader: serve with humility, teach the whole counsel of God, live with integrity and do not seek money. In your group, ask what mark you want to leave on those you serve and whether you can say you have been honest and complete in teaching.
It also encourages us to take care of ourselves before the flock. Ask how you care for your spiritual life and what help you need, and pray for your pastors and teachers, who face wolves from outside and from within.
Acts 20 ends with the farewell from Ephesus on the shore. Acts 21 follows Paul's journey toward Jerusalem, with warnings from the Spirit and tears from the brothers, until his arrest in the temple.
The text says they gathered on the first day of the week to break bread. Together with other passages, such as 1 Corinthians 16:2, it suggests they met on the day of Jesus's resurrection. Christians understand the meaning of the day in different ways, but this passage shows the pattern of gathering around the table and the word.
The text says he was picked up dead and that Paul embraced him and said his life was in him. Most commentators understand that God raised him through Paul. Some think he was only unconscious, but the text stresses the community's comfort.
Paul calls the same men elders and overseers, and tells them to shepherd the flock. In the New Testament these terms refer to a church's local leaders and their task of teaching, guiding and caring.