Acts 20

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:

• Codex Vaticanus (AD 325–350)
• Codex Sinaiticus (330–360)
• Codex Bezae (~400)
• Codex Alexandrinus (400–440)
• Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450; extant verses 11–38)
• Codex Laudianus (~550)[2]

• Codex Laudianus (~550)[2]

And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.[4]

• "Sopater" (Greek: Σώπατρος, Sṓpatros, meaning "saviour of his father"[5][lower-alpha 1]) was the son of Pyrhus, a man from the city of Berea
• "Aristarchus": One of Paul's travel companions, a Macedonian from Thessalonica who is known from some references in the Acts of the Apostles (19:29; 20:4; 27:2) and Colossians 4:10.[8]
• "Timotheus" or "Timothy" (NKJV).
• "Tychicus": traveled with Paul on his third missionary journey (Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 4:7; 1 Timothy 4:12; Titus 3:12).[9]
• Tychicus and Trophimus are called Asianoi ("of Asia"), that is, natives of the Roman province of Asia. Making it still more definite, Trophimus is also termed an "Ephesian" and a "Gentile/Greek" in Acts 21.[10]

And in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.[11]

Eutychus was a young man of (Alexandria) Troas tended to by St. Paul. The name Eutychus means "fortunate". Eutychus fell asleep due to the long nature of the discourse Paul was giving and fell from his seat out of a three-story window.[12] Paul's immediate action to resurrect Euthycus (verse 10) recalls the miracles of Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 17:21–22; 2 Kings 4:34–35).[3] The term "dead" (Greek: nekros) is used to emphasize that this is to be seen as a real miracle (verse 10).[3]

• "Third story": this indicates a 'working-class insula or apartment block', not the atrium of a villa or town house.[3]

Paul raiseth Eutychus to life, from Figures de la Bible, 1728.

But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, "Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him."[13]

After Eutychus fell down to his death, Paul then picked him up, insisting that he was not dead, and carried him back upstairs; those gathered then had a meal and a long conversation which lasted until dawn. After Paul left, Eutychus was found to be alive. It is unclear whether the story intends to relate that Eutychus was killed by the fall and Paul raised him, or whether he simply seemed to be dead, with Paul ensuring that he is still alive.[14][15]

And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted.[16]

[Paul said:] "But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."[19]

[Paul said:] “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”[20]

• "Take heed...unto yourselves": translated from the Greek phrase προσέχετε ἑαυτοῖς, prosechete heautois), which is peculiar to Luke's writings (Luke 12:1; Luke 17:3; Luke 21:34).[21] Compare to 1 Timothy 3:2–7; 4:16; 6:11.[18]
• "Overseers": translated from the Greek word ἐπισκόπους, episkopous, which is usually also rendered as "bishops". Both "elders" and "bishops" have been originally and apostolically synonymous, that the distinction between these offices cannot be certainly traced until the second century, nor was it established until late in that century.[18]
• "To feed": translated from the Greek word ποιμαίνειν, poimainein; the proper word for "tending" in relation to τὸ ποίμνιον (to poimnion), "the flock", as ποιμήν (poimen), the "pastor", or "shepherd".[21] A 'pastor' is 'to feed the flock' (of Christ cf. John 10:11, 16; John 21:17; Hebrews 13:20; 1 Peter 5:2, 3). Peter applies the titles of "Shepherd and Bishop of souls" to the Lord Jesus (1 Peter 2:25). Paul does not use the metaphor elsewhere, except indirectly, and in a different aspect (1 Corinthians 9:7).[21]
• "Which he hath purchased": translated from the Greek phrase ἣν περιεποιήσατο, hēn periepoiēsato, "which He has acquired" for His possession (Ephesians 1:14; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 2:9) by His own blood (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Corinthians 7:23; 1 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 1:19.[22]
• "Church of God": translated from the Greek phrase ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ, ekklēsian tou Theou.[21] Textus Receptus has τοῦ Θεοῦ, tou Theou, whereas many uncials have τοῦ Κυρίου, "of [the] Lord" but the phrase ἐκκλησία τοῦ Κυρίου occurs nowhere else in Paul's writings, while the phrase ἐκκλησία τοῦ Θεοῦ occurs ten times in Pauline epistles.[21] Both the Codex Vaticanus (B; 03) and the Codex Sinaiticus (א‎; 01), regarded as two oldest manuscripts, have Θεοῦ (Θυ), as well as the Latin Vulgate and the Syriac versions.[21] The early Church Fathers Ignatius (in his Epistle to the Ephesians) and Tertullian use the phrase, "the blood of God," which seems to have been derived from this passage.[21]

This verse was engraved on a papal tiara which Napoleon gave to Pope Pius VII.[23]

[Paul said:] "I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"[24]

This verse is unusual in that it records a saying of Jesus that did not come to be recorded in any of the gospels.[25] In his homily on the Acts of the Apostles, John Chrysostom says,

And where said He this? Perhaps the Apostles delivered it by unwritten tradition; or else it is plain from (recorded sayings, from) which one could infer it."[26]

A similar saying is also found in the deuterocanonical book of Tobit (Tobit 12:8).[27]