Welcome to Acts 20

Acts 20 marks a poignant and significant phase in Paul's third missionary journey, as he begins his homeward journey to Jerusalem while concurrently strengthening and commissioning the churches. This chapter showcases Paul's unwavering commitment to The Great Commission and his deep pastoral care, particularly highlighted in his emotional farewell to the Ephesian elders. After the tumult in Ephesus, Paul departs for Macedonia, traveling through Greece for three months. A Jewish plot against him necessitates a change of plans, leading him back through Macedonia and then sailing from Philippi, rejoined by Luke ("we" passages resume), towards Asia.

Their journey brings them to Troas, where they gather with the disciples on the first day of the week for Teaching About Jesus and the Gospel and the breaking of bread. Paul, knowing he is departing the next day, preaches until midnight. In a remarkable incident that demonstrates The Holy Spirit's Role in divine intervention, a young man named Eutychus falls from a third-story window while listening and is taken up dead. Paul immediately goes down, embraces him, and miraculously raises him back to life, to the immense comfort and relief of the gathered believers. This miracle serves as a powerful validation of Paul's apostolic authority and the life-giving power of the Gospel he preaches.

As Paul continues his journey toward Jerusalem, he deliberately bypasses Ephesus, choosing instead to summon the elders of the Ephesian church to meet him in Miletus. His farewell address to them is one of the most significant speeches in Acts, functioning as a pastoral charge and a powerful summary of his ministry philosophy. He recounts his faithful service—how he taught publicly and house to house, always proclaiming Teaching About Jesus and the Gospel of repentance toward God and faith in Jesus. He speaks of his inner compulsion by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem, fully aware of the imprisonment and afflictions awaiting him, yet declaring that he considers his life of no value if he can complete his course and the ministry received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Paul warns them of future dangers: savage wolves entering the flock and perverse men rising from their own ranks to draw away disciples. He charges them to be watchful, to shepherd God's flock, and to remember his example of diligent, selfless service. His concluding exhortation, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35), encapsulates his sacrificial life. The chapter ends with a tearful farewell, as the elders deeply grieve, especially because he told them they would not see his face again, symbolizing the profound personal cost of The Great Commission and setting the stage for the climactic events of Christianity Accepted and Opposed that await him in Jerusalem, thereby Connecting Acts to the Rest of the NT through Paul's example of faithful endurance.