Acts 20:10 - Printer Friendly

ESV: 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."

NIV: Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. "Don’t be alarmed," he said. "He’s alive!"

NASB: But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, 'Do not be troubled, for he is still alive.'

CSB: But Paul went down, bent over him, embraced him, and said, "Don’t be alarmed, because he’s alive."

NLT: Paul went down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. 'Don’t worry,' he said, 'he’s alive!'

KJV: And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.

NKJV: But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, “Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him.”

Paul and his team are trying to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost (Acts 20:16). Many of those with him are probably accompanying donations from their church to the struggling believers in Jerusalem (Acts 20:4; Romans 15:26). Because of a series of misadventures, instead of sailing directly from Corinth to Caesarea Maritima, the team is skirting the coast of the Aegean Sea. They have reached Troas, a major port in modern-day Turkey, and Paul spends a week visiting with the church there.
On the first day of the week, the church gathers in the upper room of a home. Although a third-story room would typically be more open and better able to catch cross breezes than lower floors, this room is filled with people and oil lamps. Around midnight, a young man falls asleep and then tumbles out the window. By the time Paul reaches him, he's dead.

Paul's words bring to mind the story of Jesus and Jairus's daughter. Jairus left his mortally ill girl and rushed to Jesus, begging Him to come as she was "at the point of death." By the time they reached her, some in the house told them she had died. Jesus responded, "The child is not dead but sleeping." Jesus then went into her room and brought her back to life (Mark 5:23–24, 35–43).

Jairus's daughter and Eutychus stand in comparison with the resurrection of Lazarus. In his case, Jesus stayed away long enough that tradition would affirm Lazarus was good and truly dead. In fact, when Jesus told the mourners to remove the stone from the tomb entrance, Martha warned about the smell. Even so, Jesus raised him (John 11:1–44).

The wording of these verses allows for much debate. For example, there is disagreement on what Paul means by "his life is in him." Is Eutychus truly dead? Is he "just" brain dead? Genesis 9:4 says that life is in the blood. Luke, as a physician would know if Eutychus has a pulse; possibly the fall causes Eutychus's heart to stop beating. The Holy Spirit lets Paul know that Eutychus will live. Whether God heals him supernaturally, or whether all the jostling acts like chest compressions, we don't know.

It is easy to get bogged down in the details of a Bible story and miss the point. Paul is going to Jerusalem where Jews from Asia—the province that includes Troas—will incite the Jewish leadership and the Roman guards to arrest him (Acts 21:27–36). He will spend two years under house arrest in Caesarea Maritima, endure a dangerous sea voyage, and then spend two more years imprisoned in Rome (Acts 28:30). More than likely, while Paul is detained, the church in Troas will remember the night that Paul's long hours of teaching and discussion were interrupted by him bringing a man back to life, and they will trust in Christ all the more.

Acts 20 finishes Paul's third missionary journey. He leaves Ephesus after three years and travels to Macedonia and Corinth. Threats from the Corinthian Jews send him and his team back to Macedonia and Troas. In Troas, Paul gives a very long sermon and raises Eutychus from the dead after he falls—both asleep and out a window. In Miletus, Paul meets with the Ephesian elders. He reminds them to beware of false teachers and tells them he is going to be imprisoned and will not see them again. After a tearful farewell, he boards a ship for Judea.

Acts 20 records the last stages of Paul's third missionary journey. He started by visiting the churches he and Barnabas had planted in central modern-day Turkey (Acts 18:23). From there, he traveled southwest to the province of Asia, where he established a church in Ephesus (Acts 19). In Acts 20, he visits the churches in Macedonia and Greece before returning to Judea. When he lands, he meets briefly with Philip the Evangelist in Caesarea Maritima before going to Jerusalem and getting arrested. He will stay in house arrest for the next two years before embarking on a dangerous sea voyage to Rome (Acts 21—28).

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.