ADAPTATION
ACTS 20:3-12
NASB
3 And there he spent three months, and when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. 4 And [a]he was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of [b]Asia. 5 But these had gone on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas. 6 We sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas within five days; and there we stayed seven days.
7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his [a]message until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. 9 And there was a young man named [a]Eutychus sitting [b]on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. 10 But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, “[a]Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.” 11 When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and [a]eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. 12 They took away the boy alive, and were [a]greatly comforted.
20:4 [a]Lit there accompanied him [b]I.e. west coast province of Asia Minor 20:7 [a]Lit word, speech 20:9 [a]Eutychus means Good fortune, i.e. `Lucky’ [b]Or at the window 20:10 [a]Or Stop being troubled 20:11 [a]Lit tasted 20:12 [a]Lit not moderately
NLT
3 where he stayed for three months. He was preparing to sail back to Syria when he discovered a plot by some Jews against his life, so he decided to return through Macedonia.
4 Several men were traveling with him. They were Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica; Gaius from Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. 5 They went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. 6 After the Passover[*] ended, we boarded a ship at Philippi in Macedonia and five days later joined them in Troas, where we stayed a week.
7 On the first day of the week, we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord’s Supper.[*] Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight. 8 The upstairs room where we met was lighted with many flickering lamps. 9 As Paul spoke on and on, a young man named Eutychus, sitting on the windowsill, became very drowsy. Finally, he fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his death below. 10 Paul went down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. “Don’t worry,” he said, “he’s alive!” 11 Then they all went back upstairs, shared in the Lord’s Supper,[*] and ate together. Paul continued talking to them until dawn, and then he left. 12 Meanwhile, the young man was taken home alive and well, and everyone was greatly relieved.
[20:6] Greek the days of unleavened bread. [20:7] Greek to break bread. [20:11] Greek broke the bread.
While Luke didn’t set out to write a biography of Paul, the Holy Spirit nevertheless directed him to use the apostle’s experiences to tell this part of the story of the church. By observing Paul’s three missionary journeys, we learn about the church’s extraordinary period of expansion. As he proclaimed the gospel, established new believers in communities, and then strengthened these churches, we discover how the world was changed at a grassroots level so quickly by so few. By the end of his third journey, Paul had honed his ministry method and planned to apply it in the west; however, his time in Achaia, the region where Corinth was situated, marks a transition. It is not obvious at first, but his leaving Corinth began a new phase in the life of the church as the Lord initiated a new strategy.
Paul would no longer travel the highways and byways of the empire; the Lord had prepared others to do that now. Instead, the apostle would scale the heights of power to preach Christ among kings and emperors. Luke’s narrative reflects this shift by focusing more on Paul, the man, and less on his work.
In writing about most of the events up to this point, Luke functioned like a typical historian. He researched, gathered facts, interviewed witnesses, double-checked his sources, and then compiled an accurate account of how the church formed, grew, survived, and expanded. Then, the Lord increasingly brought the storyteller into the story; the physician/evangelist/historian became a constant companion to Paul. As with the events of Acts 16:11-17, Luke would personally observe the historical events Paul shaped and, more importantly, witness firsthand the thoughts and choices of the man himself. Consequently, the book of Acts now begins to read like a travelogue or a diary, especially in the “we” passages of 20:5–21:18 and 27:1–28:16. Seemingly mundane details serve the important purpose of bringing us into the story with Luke to observe from the inside how God began to change the world at the highest levels of government.
— 20:3-5 —
Paul spent three months in Corinth, probably the winter of AD 56/57. During this time he lived in the home of a man named Gaius (Rom. 16:23), where he wrote his letter to the church in Rome (cf. Rom. 15:23–16:2). If Gaius was the same man as Titius Justus (Acts 18:7), which is possible, Paul lived next door to the synagogue and continued to lead church services there. Earlier, in Paul’s ministry in Ephesus, Crispus the synagogue leader had converted, along with a good portion of the synagogue’s members. Later, it appears that the successor to Crispus, a man named Sosthenes, also converted (cf. 18:17; 1 Cor. 1:1). As a result, there were nonbelieving Jews in Corinth who hated Paul. Unable to defeat him and the church politically, they turned to violence, hatching a plot to kill him. He planned to board a ship for Syria and then visit the temple for Passover (Acts 20:6), a journey many Jews would take around that time. His enemies could easily blend in with the other pilgrims and make certain the apostle disappeared somewhere in the Mediterranean.
The evil intentions of his enemies forced a difficult decision. Paul had hoped to reach Jerusalem in time to celebrate Passover in the temple one last time, but he couldn’t set sail from Corinth or any other nearby port without being discovered. The only other major harbor he could reach by land would take at least a week to get to on foot. The apostle had learned the crucial difference between trusting God and taking foolish chances, so he adapted his plan to meet his changing circumstances. This would be only the first adjustment of many.
Luke describes a sizable entourage, mentioning several people for the first time. In fact, he had never before mentioned other individuals traveling with Paul unless they played a direct part in the narrative. But it appears the group had been steadily growing throughout Paul’s travels. Timothy had joined Paul in Lystra during his second journey. Gaius of Derbe came from Timothy’s region, perhaps joining earlier, in Paul’s third journey. Paul picked up Tychicus and Trophimus in Asia while ministering from Ephesus. When he passed through Thessalonica, Aristarchus and Secundus followed. The same would be true of Sopater from Berea, just down the road.
This entourage included representatives from each of the Roman provinces touched by the gospel through Paul’s ministry: Galatia, Asia, and Macedonia. The churches in these provinces contributed sizable sums to help the impoverished believers in Judea, which was a significant concern of Paul’s third expedition. Although Paul had originally hoped to reach Jerusalem in time for Passover, and he had undoubtedly looked forward to one last visit before evangelizing the western frontier, his primary purpose was to deliver the funds. His collection was as much symbolic as practical. As a Jewish apostle to the Gentiles, he longed to see the church unified, and he knew that grace is the glue that bonds the people of Christ together. What greater way to demonstrate the common bond Jews and Gentiles share than to have representatives of the Gentile churches present tokens of their love in Jerusalem?
Clearly, however, these men didn’t join Paul merely to deliver the funds in person; all remained with him many years after this departure from Corinth. Aristarchus accompanied Paul to Rome and remained with him there even as a fellow prisoner (27:2; Col. 4:10). Sopater (also called Sosipater) attended to Paul in Rome as well (Rom. 16:21). Tychicus became an oft-used envoy of Paul and may have relieved Titus after his organization of the churches on Crete (Eph. 6:21; Col. 4:7; 2 Tim. 4:12; Titus 3:12). Trophimus traveled with Paul after his release from Rome (Acts 21:29) but fell ill and remained in Miletus to recover (2 Tim. 4:20).
When the time came for Paul to board his ship for Syria, it appears his entourage played the decoy. If Paul’s enemies saw these seven companions on the docks in Cenchrea, they would have suspected nothing while he took an overland route back through Macedonia. Instead of sailing for home, however, they crossed over to Troas and waited to rendezvous (Acts 20:5) before resuming their journey to Syria.
Paul wisely backtracked through Berea, Thessalonica, Apollonia, Amphipolis, and then Philippi, where he celebrated the Passover feast. “The days of Unleavened Bread” (20:6) refers to the week following the Passover meal, which occurred in late March or early April. While in Philippi, Paul picked up Luke. From this point onward, Luke uses the pronoun “we.”
One wonders how church history would have unfolded differently if Paul had followed his original itinerary and sailed directly for Syria from Corinth. Paul would not have bumped into Luke in Philippi; Luke would not have traveled with Paul to Jerusalem and had the opportunity to interview Peter, John, Mary, John Mark, and other eyewitnesses; perhaps he would not even have written the Gospel bearing his name or this account of the church. It’s pointless to speculate how God would have arranged to give us these treasures by some other means; as always, His plan unfolded like He wanted! The evil intended by Paul’s enemies merely advanced the Lord’s agenda.
Paul adapted; God prevailed.
— 20:6-7 —
On the second missionary journey, Paul and his companions had the wind at their backs and made the trip from Troas to Neapolis in two days (16:11). The reverse course took five (20:6). (Paul was starting to sail against the wind in more ways than one.) He caught up with his companions and they remained in Troas another week. Either they found no suitable transport or they saw a need to strengthen the church before leaving. Luke never mentions their establishing a church in Troas, but it’s conceivable that Paul, Silas, and Timothy evangelized the city while waiting for the Lord’s instructions (16:8-11).
In Troas, the church assembled “on the first day of the week” (20:7). This is the first indication in Scripture that Sunday had become the customary day for Christian worship. It’s very likely the practice goes all the way back to the first believers in Jerusalem, who observed the Sabbath and then met for fellowship and Christian teaching the following day, which, for Jews, began at sundown Saturday evening. Paul may have had a hand in exporting the Jerusalem tradition to other communities, especially where large synagogues existed. In keeping with the new custom, the Troas believers gathered and “broke bread.” The idiom could mean either “shared a meal” or “observed communion.” In the beginning, the two meanings were combined. Christians gathered for a weekly banquet they termed a “love feast” (Jude 1:12), during which they used bread and wine to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
After the meal and communion, churches sang hymns, read Scripture, and listened to teaching (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16, cf. Matt. 26:30). Because Paul didn’t expect to visit Troas again, he extended his teaching late into the night.
— 20:8-9 —
Several factors conspired to put Paul’s audience to sleep, even with an engaging speaker. A full stomach, a warm room, and the late hour were reasons enough to nod off. Add to those factors a lowered oxygen content because of the many lamps burning, and a “deep sleep” is inevitable. The Greek term rendered “young man” indicates a boy of about ten to seventeen years of age. Writers frequently use the word to describe those who exhibit behavior characteristic of a teenager: impetuous, active, spirited, willful.
The gathering met in the upper room of a home, three stories up, which meant he fell approximately 20 feet, maybe more. Dr. Luke pronounced him dead on the spot, but the young man’s name, Eutychus, would prove to be prophetic. It means “good fortune” or “lucky.”
— 20:10-11 —
Paul went out and “fell upon” the young man (20:10). Luke’s description of Paul’s behavior deliberately echoes that of Elijah and Elisha (1 Kgs. 17:21-22; 2 Kgs. 4:34-35). Elijah stretched himself across the son of his hostess three times, begging the Lord to raise the boy. When the boy’s life returned, the prophet presented him to his mother: “See, your son is alive” (1 Kgs. 17:23). She responded, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth” (1 Kgs. 17:24). Similarly, Elisha stretched himself across the dead son of a woman from Shunem who had shown him extraordinary hospitality. When the boy woke, the prophet returned him to his mother (2 Kgs. 4:36). In both cases, the miracle validated the man as an authentic prophet and affirmed the word of God spoken through him.
The incident with Eutychus put Paul on the same plane of authority as Elijah and Elisha, two of Israel’s most revered prophets. Theologically, this established a continuity from the Old Testament to the New Testament, affirming the church as an instrument of God just as powerful as Israel. In terms of the narrative, this miraculous display of divine power through Paul anticipated his visit to the temple, where he would be accused of preaching against the Law of Moses (Acts 21:20-21).
After the boy’s life had been restored, Paul and the gathered believers returned to the upper room and resumed their meeting. “Broken the bread and eaten” (20:11), in this case, refers to a regular meal. They enjoyed more conversation over a twilight breakfast before Paul would leave, never expecting to see them again.
— 20:12 —
Luke concludes the episode with the reassurance that the boy suffered no lingering effects from his ordeal. He wasn’t merely “lucky” to be alive; the power of God had restored him to complete health. The church in Troas had in their congregation a living reminder of God’s mercy. And if anyone doubted the authenticity of Paul as God’s spokesman, they need only talk to the boy who fell asleep in church.
APPLICATION: ACTS 20:3-12
No “Plan B”
Luke’s accounts of Paul’s hampered journey to Troas and his miraculous restoration of Eutychus’s life serve a literary and theological purpose. The rest of Paul’s life would be a series of adaptations to challenges presented by unfortunate circumstances, and his flexibility would become the means by which God would advance His agenda. Although Paul was prevented from spending Passover in Jerusalem, we have the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts because he adapted his itinerary to avoid danger and picked up Luke in Philippi. Although a boy fell to his death during Paul’s teaching at Troas, Paul’s compassionate response gave the Lord an opportunity to miraculously affirm the apostle’s authority, validating his ministry.
The Lord didn’t stop working in the first century. He still has a plan and He will continue to see it through. Therefore, we would be wise to observe Paul’s experience to find principles we can apply today.
First, hold all personal plans loosely. If anyone in the world could claim a direct line to heaven, it was Paul. He was fulfilling his calling and accomplishing his divine purpose. God used the apostle as His mouthpiece and He channeled His power through this servant to heal illnesses, cast out demons, and even raise the dead. Yet Paul encountered circumstances he could not change. He established noble plans to carry out his mission with selfless abandon, yet enemies forced him to adjust. If Paul had to remain flexible and adaptable, we shouldn’t be surprised when our plans come unraveled. Make detailed plans and follow them when you can. But hold them loosely. Expect changes.
Second, don’t waste time lamenting a ruined plan. I’ve served in ministry long enough to remember multiple occasions when a busted plan turned out to be a gift in disguise. I look back on those episodes and I shudder to think what might have happened if my plans —as good and as well thought-out as they seemed —had not been preempted by some unforeseen difficulty. I also recall how upset I was when my plans got dashed. On one occasion, I remember feeling like my life had been completely ruined. Today, as I reflect on the past, I see God’s loving, gracious hand steering me toward a future I could not have imagined. Having so many of these gifts of broken plans in my past, today I accept much more easily what I cannot change.
Third, be prepared to adapt your plans when circumstances change. The Marines never engage the enemy without a clear objective and a detailed plan. More than 235 years of combat experience have taught them that the first moments of battle can change everything —except the objective. So, they drill a mantra into each combat-ready warrior, from fresh recruits all the way up to the commandant: “Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.”
Keep your eye on the objective, but learn to flex with the changes to get the job done.
Fourth, never forget that your adaptation was always God’s “Plan A.” From Paul’s perspective, the plot to kill him required a shift to “Plan B.” From our perspective —graciously provided by Providence —we can see that God had always wanted Paul to pick up Luke in Philippi. The same can be said of each instance in which the church had to adapt in response to a difficulty. Time eventually revealed that each “adaptation” resulted in their following the path God had set before them.
God doesn’t have a “Plan B.” When plans fall apart, look for how the Lord might use the situation to advance His redemptive plan, and then join Him.