Bible Study Lesson for Acts 20:7-12: Eutychus Raised from the Dead

Read Acts 20:7. Luke, as a Greek, would have seen Sunday as the first day of the week, as would have the residents of Troas, as it was a Hellenistic city. "breaking bread" means celebrating the Lord's Supper. Jesus commanded his followers to do this, in remembrance of him. Read Luke 22:19. This was practiced regularly in the early church. Read Acts 2:42. Notice how this is listed as a high priority, along with prayer, fellowship, and the apostles' teaching.

I admit that though I have read this story multiple times, I don't think I ever noticed before why Paul was talking for such a long time. (I just thought the poor man was naturally long-winded!) This verse makes it clear - Paul was going to be with them for only one more day, and so he had to cram in a lot of teaching in while he could. He must have had quite some stamina, to be able to teach until midnight!

Read Acts 20:8. Remember they would not have had any source of light except for these oil lamps. The room would have been crowded, and warm from the lamps. Add to this the fact that they had been sitting there for hours, what happens next is understandable.

Read Acts 20:9. Since the room would have been very crowded, I'm not surprised to find one of the youngest believers perched in the window. We don't know anything else about Eutychus except what is mentioned here. His name was common for the freedman class, that is for one who used to be a slave. As it approaches midnight, the boy (no surprise) falls asleep and falls out of the window and down three stories to his death.

Read Acts 20:10-12. I have to say that as I was reading this, I was somewhat puzzled why Luke didn't reverse the order of verses 11 and 12. Paul falls on the boy and says, "don't worry, he's alive", then gets up and does more preaching until daylight. We don't know that the boy comes back to life until the third verse in this sequence. Perhaps this was because this incredible miracle happens, but Paul makes it appear so ordinary and matter of fact? He pops up, raises the boy from the dead (another example of how Paul had the power to repeat even the most dramatic miracles of Jesus), then continues on with his activities as if nothing special had happened! Really quite incredible. It also seems to imply that Eutychus, after this incredible incident, stays through the rest of the preaching! { Put symbol for Eutychus on flannel board }

To be continued...

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