On
the first day of the week, when the disciples were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and continued his speech until midnight. There were many lights in the upper room where we were gathered together. A certain young man named Eutychus sat in the window, weighed down with deep sleep. As Paul spoke still longer, being weighed down by his sleep, he fell down from the third floor, and was taken up dead. Paul went down, and fell upon him, and embracing him said, “Don’t be troubled, for his life is in him.” When he had gone up, and had broken bread, and eaten, and had talked with them a long while, even until break of day, he departed. They brought the boy in alive, and were greatly comforted.
Acts 20:7-12
Acts 20 [1.] After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, took leave of them, and departed to go into Macedonia. When he had gone through those parts, and had encouraged them with many words, he came into Greece. When he had spent three months there, and a plot was made against him by Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he determined to return through Macedonia. These accompanied him as far as Asia: Sopater of Beroea; Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians; Gaius of Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia. But these had gone ahead, and were waiting for us at Troas. We sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas in five days, where we stayed seven days.
Acts 20 [7.] On the first day of the week, when the disciples were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and continued his speech until midnight. There were many lights in the upper room where we were gathered together. A certain young man named Eutychus sat in the window, weighed down with deep sleep. As Paul spoke still longer, being weighed down by his sleep, he fell down from the third floor, and was taken up dead. Paul went down, and fell upon him, and embracing him said, “Don’t be troubled, for his life is in him.”
Acts 20 [11.] When he had gone up, and had broken bread, and eaten, and had talked with them a long while, even until break of day, he departed. They brought the boy in alive, and were greatly comforted.
Acts 20 [13.] But we who went ahead to the ship set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for he had so arranged, intending himself to go by land. When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard, and came to Mitylene. Sailing from there, we came the following day opposite Chios. The next day we touched at Samos and stayed at Trogyllium, and the day after we came to Miletus. For Paul had determined to sail past Ephesus, that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening, if it were possible for him, to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.
Meaning:
Paul and his companions had spent a week at Troas (Acts 20:6). On the last night of his visit the believers met together, and Luke, who was present, records one of the most vivid scenes in Acts: a long night of teaching, a fatal fall, a young man restored to life, and a church greatly comforted.
- “On the first day of the week, when the disciples were gathered together to break bread”
This is one of the earliest clear references to Christians meeting on the first day of the week, the day of Jesus’ resurrection (Mark 16:2; John 20:19). Paul also told the Corinthians to set aside their gifts “On the first day of the week” (1 Corinthians 16:2), and John speaks of “the Lord’s day” (Revelation 1:10). Readers differ on whether this meeting began on Saturday evening, counting the day from sunset in the Jewish way, or on Sunday evening in the Roman way.
“To break bread” may refer to the Lord’s Supper, to a shared fellowship meal, or to both together, as was common in the early church (Acts 2:42). Paul wrote, “The bread which we break, isn’t it a sharing of the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16). The meal came after midnight, following Paul’s teaching.
- “Continued his speech until midnight”
Paul was leaving the next day and might never see these believers again, so he taught long into the night. Most of the believers were probably slaves or workers who had laboured all day. “Many lights” (oil lamps) in a crowded upper room would have made the air warm and heavy.
- “A certain young man named Eutychus”
His name means “fortunate.” Sitting in the window for fresh air, he sank into deep sleep and fell from the third floor. Luke, a physician, says plainly that he “was taken up dead.” Some suggest he only appeared dead, but Luke presents the event as a raising from the dead, like Peter’s raising of Tabitha (Acts 9:40).
- “Paul went down, and fell upon him, and embracing him”
Paul’s action recalls Elijah, who stretched himself on the widow’s son, and “the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived” (1 Kings 17:22), and Elisha, who “stretched himself on him; and the child’s flesh grew warm” (2 Kings 4:34). Paul’s words, “his life is in him,” echo Jesus, who said of Jairus’ daughter, “The child is not dead, but is asleep” (Mark 5:39).
- “They brought the boy in alive, and were greatly comforted”
Paul calmly returned upstairs, broke bread, ate and kept talking until daybreak. The church was comforted not only because a friend was alive, but because they had seen the power of the risen Lord.
The Significance of Acts 20:7-12
- The Lord’s day and the gathered church
The believers met on the day of resurrection to hear the word and break bread. Gathering with other believers remains vital: “not forsaking our own assembling together” (Hebrews 10:25).
- God’s mercy in human weakness
Eutychus did nothing evil; he simply fell asleep. God met his weakness with life, and turned a tragedy into comfort for the whole church.
- Resurrection hope
The raising of Eutychus is a sign of the greater resurrection promised to all who belong to Christ.
Cross-References:
1 Corinthians 16:2: "On the first day of the week, let each one of you save, as he may prosper," The first day as a day of Christian gathering.
Acts 2:42: "They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer." The early pattern of worship.
1 Kings 17:22: "Yahweh listened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived." An Old Testament parallel.
Acts 9:40: "Turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, get up!”" Another raising from the dead in Acts.
Conclusion: At Troas the believers gathered on the first day of the week to break bread, and Paul taught them until midnight. When Eutychus fell asleep and was killed in a fall, Paul embraced him and he was restored to life, and the church was greatly comforted. The passage points to the importance of Christian gathering and to the life-giving power of the risen Lord.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible