Acts 21:7 - Printer Friendly

ESV: When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day.

NIV: We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day.

NASB: When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and after greeting the brothers and sisters, we stayed with them for a day.

CSB: When we completed our voyage from Tyre, we reached Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day.

NLT: The next stop after leaving Tyre was Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed for one day.

KJV: And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, and saluted the brethren, and abode with them one day.

NKJV: And when we had finished our voyage from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, greeted the brethren, and stayed with them one day.

Months before, Paul planned to leave Ephesus, sail across the Aegean Sea to Corinth, and possibly leave Corinth for Jerusalem. A conflict with the Corinthian church led him to delay his trip to Corinth and visit Troas, Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea first. After spending three months in Corinth, he resolved to sail directly to Judea. A plot against him again sent him north to revisit churches before meeting the elders of Ephesus in Miletus (Acts 20). When he and his companions finally boarded a sea-going ship, they did not land at Caesarea Philippi, the closest large port to Jerusalem. Rather, they landed in Tyre in southern Syria (Acts 21:3). Now, they sail down the coast to Ptolemais, the southern-most port city in Phoenicia.

Paul had planted the church in Ephesus in his third missionary journey, and those in Macedonia and Greece with Silas in his second (Acts 19:8–10; 16:11–15; 17:1–4, 10–12; 18:1–4). Before Paul met Jesus on his way to Damascus, he so persecuted Jesus-followers in Jerusalem that they fled (Acts 8:1). Some of them probably planted the churches in Tyre and Ptolemais. After Ptolemais, Paul will spend days in Caesarea Maritima before finally reaching Jerusalem. We don't know who planted the church in Caesarea, but it may have been Philip (Acts 8:40). He also fled Jerusalem because of Paul (Acts 8:3–5). Or perhaps Peter planted the church there (Acts 10).

By the time Paul reaches Jerusalem, he'll have spent the last several months visiting churches he had a hand in establishing, even if inadvertently. He's seen their faithfulness and addressed their challenges. They show their affection for him and pray for him. Once he reaches Jerusalem, he will be arrested and spend the next five years under house arrest.

God is gracious. For the two years Paul is confined in Caesarea, he will be able to remember the churches that stand strong because of his work (Acts 24:27). When he faces a violent storm and a shipwreck, he will remember how he prepared the Jesus-followers for coming persecution—both political and spiritual (Acts 27). And as he sits in a Roman apartment, chained to a guard, he will visit with a parade of both Jewish and Gentile visitors who want to know more about how Jesus brings the kingdom of God (Acts 28:30–31).

Acts 21:7–16 records Paul and his companions stopping in Caesarea Maritima. They are there briefly with the evangelist Philip before finally arriving in Jerusalem. For months, now, the Holy Spirit has warned Paul that when he reaches Jerusalem, he will be imprisoned and afflicted (Acts 20:22–23). The church in Tyre tried to stop him from going; the church in Caesarea will beg him. Paul reorients their concerns: Jesus comes first and if Jesus wants him to be imprisoned, he will serve his Savior in prison. The Holy Spirit's influence is meant to prepare Paul, not discourage him.

In Acts 21, Paul returns to Judea from his third missionary journey and promptly gets arrested. He begins by visiting Philip in Caesarea Maritima. Church elders in Jerusalem ask Paul to help men fulfill a Nazirite vow, to dispel rumors he has apostatized his Jewishness. While doing so, Ephesian Jews accuse Paul of bringing one of his Gentile Ephesian companions into the temple. The Roman military tribune keeps the enraged crowd from tearing Paul limb from limb by arresting him.

Acts 21 fulfills the fears of many of Paul's friends. Throughout the last part of his third missionary journey the Holy Spirit has been telling him he will be arrested in Jerusalem (Acts 20:23–25). When Paul reacts to dire personal prophecy, the Jesus-followers in Caesarea Maritima try to stop him from going on (Acts 21:8–14). Through a complicated trail of rumors, lies, and wrong assumptions, things go according to the Holy Spirit's foreknowledge and Roman soldiers arrest Paul. He will face the next 5 years in custody in Caesarea and Rome, but he will spread Jesus' story the entire time (Acts 22—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.