Acts 20:13 - Printer Friendly

ESV: But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land.

NIV: We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot.

NASB: But we went ahead to the ship and set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for that was what he had arranged, intending himself to go by land.

CSB: We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul on board, because these were his instructions, since he himself was going by land.

NLT: Paul went by land to Assos, where he had arranged for us to join him, while we traveled by ship.

KJV: And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul: for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot.

NKJV: Then we went ahead to the ship and sailed to Assos, there intending to take Paul on board; for so he had given orders, intending himself to go on foot.

Paul, Luke, Timothy, and an assortment of men from Macedonia and modern-day Turkey leave Troas on the northeast Aegean coast and head for Jerusalem. They have just spent a week in the port city, culminating in an eventful night in which Paul spoke with the local church until dawn, breaking only to raise a young man from the dead (Acts 20:6–12).

Assos was a decent-sized city that housed a theater, a gymnasium, and a temple to Athena. The land rises steeply from the harbor, making the city well-protected. It was about twenty miles from Troas by foot.

We aren't told why Paul chooses to walk. Possibly, some of the church members from Troas want to discuss more with him. Or he may want one last journey by foot before he is confined to a ship.

"We" includes Timothy and several men who are accompanying Paul back to Jerusalem. Acts 20:4 says "Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus." They are probably bringing donations from their home churches to the church in Jerusalem (Romans 15:26). Nothing else is known about Sopater or Secundus. Aristarchus is the same man who was taken during the riot in Ephesus (Acts 19:29) but this is a different Gaius. Tychicus later becomes Paul's personal messenger (Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 4:7; 2 Timothy 4:12; Titus 3:12).

Trophimus will have a more unfortunate role in Paul's future. He is from the province of Asia, in southwest Turkey. When the men reach Jerusalem, Jews from Asia will see Paul with Trophimus in the city. Later, they will see Paul in the temple and assume he has brought the Gentile into the Jewish holy place. The Asian Jews will create an uproar, inciting a mob to drag Paul from the temple and try to kill him. He will only be saved when the Roman guards arrest him (Acts 21:27–36).

In Acts 20:13–16, Luke shows his love for the sea by including an inordinate amount of detail about the journey. Paul, Luke, Timothy, and companions from all over Macedonia and modern-day Turkey leave Troas for Jerusalem. Most of them board a ship directly; Paul joins them down the road in Assos. Ephesus, where Paul had recently spent three years, is along their route, but Paul doesn't want to get distracted. Seeking to arrive in Jerusalem by Pentecost, they sail past to Miletus, and the Ephesian elders join them there (Acts 20:17).

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.