Acts 20:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Paul often parted from the disciples. So now he himself goes by land, while they set out by ship. He grants them the easier course and chooses the harder for himself.

He goes on foot both in order to arrange many things along the way and so that they should not fall behind him.

For the writer says that he was hastening, if possible, to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Consequently, for this reason also, he could not remain in Ephesus.

See how he too is guided by human considerations. He wishes, he hastens, and often does not obtain what he wishes. This is so that we should not think he was above human nature.

The holy and great men had the same nature as we do, but not the same disposition. Therefore they were counted worthy of great grace.

Although he himself was intending to go on foot. He himself went on foot, allowing them what was easier and choosing for himself what was harder. At the same time, he taught them many things and accustomed them to being separated from him.

That Luke was Paul’s inseparable companion and labored with him in the Gospel, he himself declares, not boasting, but compelled by the truth itself.

For he says: “When Barnabas and John, called Mark, separated from Paul and sailed to Cyprus, we came to Troas. When Paul saw in a dream a man of Macedonia, who said, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us,’ we immediately sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the Gospel there. Therefore, sailing from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace” (Acts 16:8-11).

Then he carefully shows the whole rest of his journey as far as Philippi, and how they gave their first discourse. “Sitting down,” he says, “we spoke to the women who had gathered” (Acts 16:13).

The Law commanded all Jews to come to Jerusalem three times a year: on the day of Pascha, at Pentecost, and at the Feast of Tabernacles. But the apostle, having broken the bonds of this age, hastens to meet the fiftieth day, that is, the day of forgiveness and of the Holy Spirit.

This stay of the Apostle Paul in Troas was marked by one of the greatest works of the grace of God that accompanied Paul in his apostolic labor. This was the resurrection of a young man named Eutychus, who had fallen from the window of a house.

From Troas the Apostle Paul continued his journey in haste, directing his way toward Jerusalem, where he wished to be on the day of Pentecost.

Therefore, desirable as it was for him to visit the Christians in Ephesus on the way to Jerusalem, he passed that city by so as not to be delayed there. He came instead to Miletus, a coastal city south of Ephesus.

We, Paul's companions, sailed to Assos without Paul himself. Assos was a maritime city in Mysia, south of Troas, about ten Roman miles from it, roughly fifteen versts, opposite the island of Lesbos. The apostle traveled the road from Troas to Assos on foot, and apparently alone, without companions. The reason is not stated, and conjectures are unnecessary. It is probable, however, that the reason lay in some special evangelistic aims of the apostle (cf. Chrysostom).

Paul’s journey from Troas to Miletus is described in detail, evidently because the writer of Acts was with Paul the whole time. In most of the places named, Paul was there for the first time.

As is known, he considered this important, so as not to enter into another man’s labor.

Concerning Paul’s walking some distance on foot while his companions traveled by ship, Saint John Chrysostom remarks: “He grants them the easier course and chooses the harder for himself.

He goes on foot both in order to arrange many things along the way and so that they should not fall behind him. And see how they hasten after Paul. They do not stop, but pass by the islands.”