Acts 20:11 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed.

NIV: Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left.

NASB: When Paul had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left.

CSB: After going upstairs, breaking the bread, and eating, Paul talked a long time until dawn. Then he left.

NLT: Then they all went back upstairs, shared in the Lord’s Supper, and ate together. Paul continued talking to them until dawn, and then he left.

KJV: When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.

NKJV: Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed.

Men from all over modern-day Turkey, Macedonia, and Greece are with Paul and Luke, meeting with the church in Troas. We aren't told what they are discussing. If Paul's recorded teachings are any indication, it includes how Jesus fulfills Jewish prophecy, what the kingdom of God looks like, how to organize and manage a church, what ordinances identify a church, how Jews and Gentiles are to join as one body, and what kind of moral behavior God expects from His followers.

Around midnight, the discussion comes to a halt when a young man falls asleep and tumbles from the window to his death. Paul brings him back to life and the group returns to the upper room.

"Breaking bread" can have a couple of different meanings, including sharing a meal. This meeting, however, is on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7), suggesting it is communion. Communion, in part, is an opportunity to reaffirm one's faith in Christ and relationship with the church body. The "body" this night includes people from Troas, Derbe, Lystra, Ephesus, Thessalonica, Berea, and Tarsus. Some are Jews and some are Gentiles. That they can join in community to learn from each other how better to serve their Lord is a work only the Holy Spirit can accomplish.

The group continues to talk until daybreak. Paul wants to get to Jerusalem by Pentecost in about five weeks (Acts 20:16). He hadn't intended to come to Troas, but it has given him the chance to give the church last-minute instructions and discuss their concerns. Eutychus's resurrection not only comforts them (Acts 20:12), but it also verifies their faith and gives them hope for the challenges to come.

Acts 20:7–12 records a famous story from Scripture which is often referenced in humor. Paul is in Troas on his way back to Jerusalem. On the first day of the week, he meets with the church in a third-story room, and proceeds to lead a discussion that lasts for hours. One of the young men falls asleep by the window and tumbles out to his death. Paul brings him back to life, takes a meal that likely includes communion, and resumes the conversation. When dawn breaks, he and his team continue their journey.

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.