These going before waited for us in Troas;
Seven named men go on ahead to Troas, and the writer of Acts rejoins the story with one word: "us." Why did the party split? Why Troas? And why does Luke never name himself?
The previous verse named these seven. One writer sees in them how the work spread — through many travelling servants, not one leader.
It was not just that the apostle laboured in all directions. Here we find no fewer than seven companions in service, who were in no way tied to one fixed local sphere. The elders laboured and took the lead locally. Many others besides the apostles moved about with perfect liberty. They sought the blessing of the faithful and the spread of the gospel. Among these labourers we can see at least two classes. A few attached themselves as much as possible to Paul's company, and we have a sample of them before us. But others, like Apollos, worked in a more independent way. They spent less time with him, though they had his entire love and confidence.
One commentator reads their scattered origins as evidence of what the gospel does:
Seven names of those accompanying him are listed in this case, from four different areas. This is a lovely testimony to the unity the Gospel of Christ brings about among people of different backgrounds and cultures.
The seven were not only travelling companions. One account explains their errand and Paul's roundabout route:
The list of names in Acts 20:4 — Sopater, Aristarchus, Secundus, Gaius, Tychicus, and Trophimus — are thought to be brothers carrying the collections made at the different places named. Instead of sailing straight to Syria, he goes round by Macedonia, because of the Jews who were lying in wait for him. At Troas he spent a Lord's day, and even a whole week, to see the brothers.
With the word "us," the narrator puts himself into the scene without announcing himself.
In verse 5 we learn of another deeply attached personal companion, Luke, the inspired writer of this very Book. "These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas." This honoured man quietly shows that he too was with the apostle at this time and at Philippi. It will be remembered that it was in these regions that Luke had first become the companion of Paul.
Commentators differ. One takes it that Paul went ahead with the seven, and that Luke stayed on at Philippi for the feast days:
These seven and Paul left Philippi before Luke and whoever was with him. No doubt Luke, who had already spent some time at Philippi, wanted a longer visit there, taking in "the days of unleavened bread," that is, the week following the Passover.
Kelly reads it the other way. He will not guess further, and he is sharp about one popular theory:
Why the party did not move together, why the others went before, and Paul and Luke waited till after the feast, we can only guess. But we see the special association of Luke with the apostle, and we utterly reject the empty explanation Wieseler suggests, that Luke travelled with him as his physician.
This "us" is the only trace Luke leaves of himself anywhere in two long books.
The Gospel of Luke and its sequel, the Acts of the Apostles, are unique in this. They are books of important historical events, and the writer took part in many of them. Yet he never once mentions himself as having done or witnessed anything at all. He does not even mention his own name or existence. The only way he lets us hear of his presence is where he sometimes changes the pronoun from "they" to "we."
And it is not a small role he is covering over:
Through it all he certainly filled no unimportant place — more so, one would say, than others who are named. Yet he keeps to the reserve that marks him all along the way. There is no trace of self-consciousness about him; and how beautiful this is in the inspired historian of such a book as this! What an example for us! Sadly, we are so quick to give all our own doings at least their due value.
The delay was not empty time. Believers already gathered at Troas:
Leaving Philippi, in five days they come to Troas, and there stay seven days. Everywhere assemblies had been formed… We do not know how the gathering at Troas began; but there was one, and we are allowed to look into it a little — not at its discipline or gifts, as in Corinthians, but at its ordinary walk.
- Sent. Seven men from four areas travelled with Paul, tied to no one place, while elders led at home.
- Trusted. They are thought to be carrying the collections made in the places they came from.
- Waiting. Troas already had an assembly, so the delay became a Lord's day and a whole week among believers.
- Rejoining. The word "us" puts the writer back with the party; commentators differ over who waited at Philippi for the feast days.
- Hidden. Luke names everyone but himself — the model of a servant who fills a large place and leaves no trace of self in the record.
but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and we came to them to Troas in five days, where we spent seven days.
This travel note gives a date, a route and a stop: a Jewish feast sets the season, the crossing takes five days instead of two, and the company stays at Troas for a week. Why does Luke bother to count the days, and why would Paul — racing to reach Jerusalem — spend a whole week in one port?
The small word "we" shows that the writer of Acts is travelling with Paul again. The "them" he joins at Troas are the companions who sailed ahead.
Verse 4 gives us the names of his travelling companions on this journey back. They went ahead across the sea and waited for him at Troas. In verse 5 Luke again uses the pronoun "us," which shows that at this point he again made one of the party. Paul, Luke and others had a five-day voyage. It brought them again to Troas, where not long before "a door was opened … in the Lord."
The phrase fixes the time of year. One commentator reads the longer stay at Philippi as care for fellow believers.
No doubt Luke, who had spent time at Philippi before (after Acts 16:40), wanted a longer visit there. That visit took in "the days of unleavened bread," that is, the week after the Passover. As a Gentile, Luke would himself attach little importance to this. But his care for the consciences of his Jewish brothers and sisters is beautifully clear (See Romans 14:1-6).
They had made this same crossing far faster once before. Something went against them at sea.
The voyage from Philippi took five days. That was probably longer than anyone expected the ship to take. We know that when they crossed into Europe on an earlier trip, they made the journey between the same towns in two days only. Two days stretched into five proves almost beyond doubt that contrary winds, or something like them, badly held the ship back this time.
A slow voyage need not be a waste. One writer hears God's kindness in it:
Was the Lord saying to His servants, "Come away by yourselves … and rest a while"? For the Lord tenderly cares for His servants, and knows when we have need of rest; and a sea voyage may be a great rest.
Seven days sit oddly beside Paul's hurry.
Why did Paul stretch out his stay in Troas, when we know he was hurrying to be at Jerusalem by the day of Pentecost (Acts 20:16)? He avoided Ephesus on purpose, because he would not let anything delay him on the way. Yet here at Troas he spends no less than seven days.
The delay at sea cost them one meeting. The week was the price of catching the next.
Unexpected delays on the voyage brought the travellers to Troas just too late for the usual weekly gathering of the disciples to break bread. So to share with them in the customary remembrance of Christ, they had to stay a week for the next one.
The seven days also show which day the early disciples gathered, and why.
In Acts 20 Paul and his company are at Troas, where he stayed seven days. He may have stayed to spend the first day of the week with the brothers and sisters there, so that they might break bread together. If that is so, the first day of the week, or Lord's day, was above all the day set apart for the Lord's supper. One thing is clear, even from this Scripture: the apostles and the early disciples had the habit of coming together on the first day of the week for the express purpose of breaking bread. Not for preaching, though Paul did preach, but specially to remember the Lord in His own appointed way.
The same length of stay turns up later in the journey. One commentator reads that repeat as a clue.
The apostle goes on his way, finds disciples, and stays among them at Tyre for "seven days," as we are told. This seems to have been a common length of stay, and we can easily see why. One great reason, I do not doubt, was to enjoy the fellowship of the saints together. It was to spend with the Christians in a new place that day which has the strongest possible claim on a heart that is true to Jesus — the first day of the week.
Commentators differ here. Some say Paul "possibly" stayed for that reason. Others read the breaking of bread as the plain motive of the story.
- Count the days. Luke dates the trip by the feast, counts five days at sea, and marks seven on shore. Each number carries weight.
- Days given to others. The stay at Philippi over the days of unleavened bread shows care for the consciences of Jewish believers. Luke, a Gentile, had no stake in the feast himself.
- Days lost at sea. A crossing once made in two days took five. Contrary winds held the ship back — and a forced delay can be the Lord's rest for His servants.
- Days redeemed on shore. Paul landed too late for one gathering to break bread. He waited a week for the next, though he had just avoided Ephesus to save time.
- Days that set a habit. Seven-day stops keep recurring. They point to the first day of the week as the set time when disciples came together to break bread.