Bible Study Lesson for Acts 20:1-6: Through Macedonia and Greece

Acts chapter 20 can be broken up into two short and one long section. Verses 1-6 briefly describes Paul's travels in Macedonia and Greece. Verses 7-12 describes the story of how a young man named Eutychus was raised from the dead. Verses 13-38 describes Paul's emotional farewell to the elders from Ephesus.

Read Acts 20:1. Paul, remember, is currently on his third missionary journey. { Hand out books with the third missionary journey maps. Ask them to find Ephesus on their maps } My commentary said Paul had four main things he wanted to accomplish: 1) Leave Ephesus; 2) preach in Troas on his way to Macedonia { Ask the group to find Troas on their maps }; 3) meet Titus at Troas with a report from Corinth. This is based on 2 Corinthians 2:12-13; and 4) continue collecting an offer for the church in Judea. This is based on 1 Corinthians 16:1-4, 2 Corinthians 8:1-4. The Jerusalem church, at this time, may have been poverty stricken either because of famine or because of persecution.

Read Acts 20:2-3. Luke does not give us specifics about Paul's travel through Macedonia into Greece, but it is believed that the three months spent in Greece was in Corinth. { Ask group to look at their maps again and trace Paul's estimated path from Ephesus to Corinth } My commentary said that these three months were probably the winter months, when it would not have been safe to sail. It is during his time in Corinth that he would have received the collection for the relief of the Judean Christians. { Put up symbol of money bags on flannel board }

When Paul's three months are up, he wants to sail back to Syria (that is Antioch), but discovers a plot against him. My commentary proved this information: "The Jews were determined to take Paul's life; also, at this time he was carrying the offering for the Christians in Judea, so there would have been a temptation for theft as well. The port at Cenchrea would have provided a convenient place for Paul's enemies to detect him as he entered a ship to embark for Syria." So, at the last minute, it sounds like, he changes his mind and decides to retrace his route through Greece and Macedonia.

Read Acts 20:4-5. We don't know much about these men beyond their names and origins, so we won't spend much time on them. It appears that these men were delegates and/or representative treasurers sent to accompany the offering. Remember, you couldn't simply do a bank transfer back then, or write a check, or provide a credit card number when you wanted to give an offering. All that heavy coin had to be physically carried and protected. Also, I don't doubt, there was a certain amount of accountability involved here, too, to make sure no one man falls into temptation and steals what was intended to go to help out fellow needy brothers. Now whether the delegates walked with Paul up to Philippi and sailed from there ahead of Paul from Philippi's seaport, Neapolis, or from Corinth's seaport Cenchrea is unclear. We just know that they arrived in Troas ahead of Paul and Luke.

Read Acts 20:6. { Ask group to follow route on map from Corinth to Philippi } So Paul and Luke (? - it is unclear where exactly Luke caught up with Paul) walk to Philippi, where they decided to stay long enough to celebrate the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. As I was reading this verse it suddenly occurred to me that since many of the early church was made of Jewish Christians, celebrating the traditional Jewish festivals would have been common. I can't help wondering if one of the reasons why the other men, the delegates, went on ahead was because they were Gentiles and though they would undoubtedly have been welcome to stay and celebrate the Feast, it wasn't as important to them as it may have been for Paul, with his cultural background. Or it may have been simply because of practical reasons, as they had the moneybags to guard.

For some reason, it takes Paul five days by ship to go from Philippi (Neapolis) to Troas. { Have group find Troas on map } Interestingly when they had taken a ship from the other direction (Troas to Philippi) it had only taken two days. Read Acts 16:11. Perhaps this second trip they had bad weather, which slowed their crossing.

To be continued...

Sources
Editors. Compton's Interactive Bible (software)
Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford (notes). The Student Bible. NIV Version