Acts 21:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

See how these also foretell afflictions for him. By God’s ordering they too say this, lest anyone think that Paul spoke of it merely from vainglory. When they had already drawn near to Jerusalem, they did not hurry, but stayed with the brethren "seven days." Let us count all the days. After the days of Unleavened Bread they reached Troas in five days. Then they stayed there seven days, making twelve in all. Then to Assos, Mitylene, Chios, Trogyllium, Samos, and Miletus, making eighteen days in all. Then to Cos, Rhodes, and Patara, twenty-one days. From there, in five days, to Tyre, twenty-six days. They stayed there seven days, making thirty-three. Then one day in Ptolemais, thirty-four. Afterward he remains in Caesarea longer than the other days.

"They said to Paul through the Spirit." If, then, the Spirit commanded this, why did he resist? The disciples spoke because they knew from the Spirit of the dangers threatening him. Yet they were not persuading him by the Spirit's prompting, nor were they directly foretelling the dangers before him. Rather, out of concern for him, they simply said that he should not go up to Jerusalem.

Question 29: What do the words in Acts mean: “They told Paul through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem”? Why did he not obey the Spirit and go?

Answer: The holy prophet Isaiah says in his prophecy that seven spirits shall rest upon the Savior Who grew from the root of Jesse (Is. 11:1-3). Yet he does not know seven Spirits of God, nor does he teach others to understand it so.

Rather, he calls the activities of one and the same Holy Spirit “spirits,” because in every activity the acting Holy Spirit is present wholly, fully, and proportionately.

The divine Apostle calls the diverse activities of one and the same Holy Spirit diverse gifts (1 Cor. 12:4), since they are the results of the activity of one and the same Spirit.

The prophecy was fulfilled which speaks to the Church in the song: "And the daughter of Tyre with gifts, and the richest of the people, shall entreat Your face" (Ps 44:13), and so forth to the end of the Psalm. For no city received the apostle, supported him, and sent him away with greater joy than Tyre. Even now they show the place in the sands where they prayed together.

The Apostle’s words made a deep impression on the hearts of his hearers (Acts 20:36). All wept. All fell upon Paul’s neck. All kissed him. The travelers could hardly tear themselves from their hands (21:1). This scene was afterward repeated in Tyre, and finally in Caesarea Philippi. The nearer Paul came to Jerusalem, the more clearly and strikingly the fate awaiting him there appeared before him. In Caesarea, Agabus came to him. This was the same man who, fourteen or fifteen years earlier, had opened Paul’s way to Jerusalem with alms by his prophecy of famine. Now, meeting him again with alms, he bound the hands and feet of the benefactor himself with his own belt. This means, said the prophet, that this man will be bound in Jerusalem and delivered into the hands of the Gentiles.

After taking leave of the Ephesian pastors, the Apostle Paul boarded the ship and set out toward Jerusalem with his companions, among whom was also the writer of Acts. Passing by the islands of Cos and Rhodes, they soon reached Patara, a large maritime trading city in the province of Lycia in Asia Minor. There they transferred to a merchant ship bound for Phoenicia. This ship brought them to Tyre, where the Apostle found Christians and stayed among them seven days. From some of them he received a new revelation of the Spirit of God, that bonds and afflictions awaited him in Jerusalem. From Tyre, through Ptolemais, a maritime city within the borders of Palestine, the Apostle and his companions sailed on and came to Caesarea. There, in the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven deacons, they remained many days.

There were several Christians there, and the apostle remained with them for seven days. The brethren, full of love and devoted to the apostle, received a special inspiration from above about the danger awaiting him in Jerusalem. They asked him to abandon his intention and not go to Jerusalem.

Having found the disciples: the expression presupposes that Paul and his companions sought out the disciples, that is, the Christians. This makes one suppose that Christians there were little known, and probably few in number (cf. Acts 11:19; Acts 15:3). Thus in a large city they had to be sought. Seven days: Paul now surely expected to arrive in Jerusalem in time for the feast of Pentecost (Acts 20:16). He had hastened his departure from Asia Minor, since he did not know whether the sea voyage would be successful, or whether something might delay him by sea. Now he spends a whole week in Tyre among the Christians there. He was probably waiting until the cargo had been unloaded from the ship, new cargo taken on, and the ship made ready to sail farther, nearer to Jerusalem.

The stop in the city of Tyre was both prolonged and significant. The ancient Phoenician city of Tyre was not far from Jerusalem. Therefore the Apostle could now expect not to be late for the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem. And so he delayed in Tyre. Christians were found there who showed great sympathy toward the Apostle. Some even urged him not to go to Jerusalem, sensing that afflictions awaited him there. But the Apostle remained unshaken. When the cargo had been unloaded after a week, he and his companions went to the ship. All the Christians of Tyre warmly accompanied them. On the shore all prayed on bended knees. The parting was tender, for those departing and those remaining said farewell like friends of many years. The warning to the Apostle not to go to Jerusalem "was one of those testimonies of the Holy Spirit, given in the cities, concerning the bonds in Jerusalem, which the Apostle mentioned in his speech to the Ephesian presbyters."