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Acts 20:7–12
“A young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, ‘Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him’” (vv. 9–10).
Having traveled through Macedonia after two years of ministry in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul began making his way east to Jerusalem, taking with him relief monies he had collected from the gentile churches to help the Jewish Christians suffering in severe poverty (Acts 20:1–5; see Rom. 15:22–29). After leaving the city of Philippi in Macedonia, Paul arrived in Troas, a Roman colony and city in the northwest corner of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). Paul and his traveling companions, including Luke the physician, would stay there for seven days (Acts 20:6).
Today’s passage describes an episode that happened on the first day of the week when Paul, Luke, and other believers “gathered together to break bread” and to hear the Apostle’s teaching (v. 7). Commentators including Matthew Henry and John Calvin believe that this is a reference to the Lord’s Supper, and they are likely correct, since reference is also made to Paul’s laboring to instruct them. We have, then, one of the earliest descriptions of believers’ meeting on Sunday, the Lord’s Day, for worship and fellowship. From the earliest days, Christians understood that Jesus’ resurrection on the first day of the week meant that the new covenant Sabbath is Sunday, not Saturday.
The Christians gathered in an upper room—on the third story, to be precise. This suggests a large house and that its owner was a believer with considerable wealth, though some commentators think it could have been a tenement in which many poor people lived. In any case, Paul was teaching into the very late hour of midnight. One of the attendees was a young man sitting at the window named Eutychus. While Paul was speaking, Eutychus fell asleep by the window and plunged three floors to his death (vv. 8–9).
Eutychus, however, would live again. Paul went down to the boy and bent over him, raising him back to life (vv. 10–12). This recalls the miraculous resurrections performed by earlier prophets such as Elijah (1 Kings 17:17–24), demonstrating Paul’s role as a new covenant prophet and bearer of divine revelation. The Apostle’s miracle, then, served to confirm the truth of his instruction, helping the believers in Troas to understand that they must continue to follow it once Paul moved on. Today the church must continue to follow the teaching of the Apostles.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
In the Nicene Creed, we confess that the church is Apostolic— that is, founded on and subject to the teaching of Jesus through His Apostles. The New Testament is the inspired record of Apostolic teaching, and it serves as our only infallible rule of faith and practice along with the Old Testament, the inspired record of prophetic teaching.
For further study
- 2 Kings 4:18–37
- Matthew 9:18–26
- Matthew 11:1–6
- John 11:38–44
The bible in a year
- Proverbs 2–4
- 1 Corinthians 12:12–31