But after the tumult had ceased, Paul having called the disciples to [him] and embraced [them], went away to go to Macedonia.
The uproar was not simply crowd trouble that fizzled out. One writer sees Satan behind the riot, and the same hand that once calmed the sea calming this storm too:
Satan was defeated. Then, after a pause — in which we read of Paul's "purpose in the spirit" to visit Jerusalem and Rome — he stirred up a public riot against the new teaching through Demetrius the silversmith. But He who had once stilled the storm on the lake of Galilee quieted these angry waves too. He rescued His servants and His people from the danger. The apostle's work, however, in Ephesus was now ended.
Paul does not slip away. He sends for the believers, encourages them, and says goodbye. One commentator sees the sharpest contrast between that time and ours right here — in the care given to converts after they believe:
In this passage, as in many others of Scripture, we see living proof of the ties that joined believers together. They worked so well in apostolic times, keeping the saints in unity, fellowship, and love. There was no lack of missionary zeal. But besides that, the Spirit of God worked much in the exhortation and encouragement of the saints. This is how the body of Christ was built up. It is in this care that we see the clearest contrast between modern times and the earliest days. If converts are guarded from turning aside, that is generally the most that is now attempted.
The same care also went out in writing:
A new and distinctive form of Christian teaching was now in full use: the letters the apostles wrote. No form of writing allows greater openness and closeness. None gives such scope to the affections of the heart. It was from Ephesus that the apostle wrote the First Letter to the Corinthians.
Paul's own letters fill in a journey Acts compresses into one line. He stopped at Troas, found an open door there, and could not stay:
From these verses we gather that Paul made a short stay at Troas on his way to Macedonia. But he was anxious to meet Titus and hear news of the Corinthian saints. So he left for Macedonia, despite the open door for service there. Once in Macedonia he was still in great distress and trouble. Yet there Titus did appear, and Paul was comforted. So after the trouble in Ephesus, more trouble followed at Troas and in Macedonia. Acts, however, says nothing about this whole side of things.
The same writer notes what changed and what did not. The danger outside stopped; the pressure inside did not:
He moved into an outward calm, but found himself plunged into conflict of an inward sort... From the outward dangers of Ephesus he had plunged into inward distress of spirit. It left him unfit for service in the gospel there. This inward distress was as decisive in its effects as the outward. The one sent him off in haste from Ephesus; the other in haste from Troas.
Why is the account here so short? One writer takes up an explanation others have given, and fills in what the visit involved:
The record before us is very brief. Some have thought the reason is that the Apostle had turned aside from His given ministry, so the Holy Spirit had nothing to report. We believe that this is correct... Paul's parting at Ephesus is the first farewell scene on this memorable journey. He must have visited Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea and perhaps other cities. Besides giving them much exhortation, he received their fellowship for the poor saints in Jerusalem.
Others read the brevity simply as Luke moving the story forward, and stress what Paul left behind and what he still gave:
Finally Paul follows Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia, leaving a field of labour that had been most fruitful. How long he spent in Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea we are not told, but he gave them much exhortation.
- Quieted — God stilled the riot, as He once stilled the sea. The same act rescued Paul and closed his work in Ephesus.
- Gathered — before leaving, he sent for the disciples. In those days zeal did more than win converts. It built the saints up in unity, fellowship, and love.
- Written — the same care went on by letter. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians from Ephesus. No writing gives more openness, or more scope to the heart.
- Hidden — Acts says nothing of Troas. His own letters show he left an open door there. Inward distress drove him on as hard as outward danger had.
- Debated — why so short a record? Some have thought the Apostle had turned aside from His given ministry, so the Spirit had nothing to report. Even so, he gave much exhortation and received their gift for the poor saints in Jerusalem.
And having passed through those parts, and having exhorted them with much discourse, he came to Greece.
Luke gives nearly a year of Paul's life a single line. Paul walks back through Macedonia, strengthens the believers there, and arrives in Greece. Behind it lie months of travel, letters we still read today, and deep strain of heart.
"Those regions" and "Greece" are not vague names. They cover towns where Paul had already preached, and he had already written letters to some of them.
We are not told how long he spent in Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea, but he gave them much encouragement. This of course took place well after his second letter to the Thessalonians. Luke was clearly there too, and joined Paul's party when he left. We are not told which places he may have visited in Greece (or Achaia): we know only of an assembly at Corinth. This visit also came after his second letter to the Corinthians.
Luke's record here is very short. Paul's own letters fill in what he leaves out.
The historian is very brief in his record of what Paul did at this time. He packs all his information into these words: "He said farewell and departed for Macedonia. When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. There he spent three months." Most take these few words to cover a period of nine or ten months. Happily, the apostle's letters supply what is missing. The letters written on this journey give us many historical details. Better still, they give us from his own pen a living picture of the deep and painful struggles of mind and heart he was going through at the time.
Paul went back to people who already believed. One writer sees in that care the clearest difference between those early days and our own.
This passage, like many others in Scripture, shows us the joints and ligaments that held the saints together so well in the days of the apostles, keeping them in unity, fellowship, and love. There was no lack of missionary zeal. But the Spirit of God also worked much in the exhortation and encouragement of the saints. This is how the body of Christ was built up. Here is where we see the clearest contrast between our own times and those earliest days. Keeping converts from turning aside is usually the most that anyone attempts now. Zeal usually goes out towards the conversion of sinners... Growth in the truth is rare, and almost unknown even among the teachers, let alone the converts.
The care shown in these visits was not only spoken.
In these early days we see the opposite: the greatest care and zeal in going back to visit those who had already been brought to God and gathered to the name of Jesus. And it was not only by spoken teaching. A new and distinctive kind of Christian teaching, which took shape in the letters of the apostles, was now fully at work. No form of writing allows greater openness and closeness; none gives such room for the affections of the heart.
Paul encouraged others while he waited for news from Corinth. His fellow worker Titus carried that news, and Paul's own words show the strain.
At last the long-awaited Titus arrived in Macedonia, probably at Philippi. Now Paul's mind is at rest and his heart is comforted. Titus brings him better news from Corinth than he had expected to hear... "For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn — fighting without and fear within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus."
Those three months in Greece produced one of the great letters of the New Testament. They also show God overruling a plan Paul had held for years.
It was during the three months spent there that he wrote the Epistle to the Romans. He had long wanted to visit Rome in person, but so far he could not. Urgent duties kept him elsewhere, and God purposed that His servant should enter Rome only as a prisoner. This is not how even the apostle would have arranged things, and still less the saints. It is good, however, to learn and accept God's profound wisdom in all these dealings of His.
- Silence — One sentence covers about nine or ten months. What Luke leaves out, Paul's own letters supply.
- Strengthening — Paul went back to believers he had already won. Building them up is how the body of Christ was built.
- Writing — The visits were not only spoken. The letters of the apostles were now fully at work, with an openness and closeness no other writing allows.
- Suffering — He encouraged others while he had no rest himself. There was conflict outside and fear inside, until God comforted him by sending Titus.
- Sovereignty — Those three months in Greece produced the letter to the Romans. God also kept His servant from reaching Rome except as a prisoner.
And having spent three months [there], a treacherous plot against him having been set on foot by the Jews, as he was going to sail to Syria, [the] resolution was adopted of returning through Macedonia.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.