Reunited and It Feels So Good
Paul and his eight man team prepare to leave Europe and begin making the return trip home. Many of these men have likely joined the apostle from local churches in Asia, Macedonia and Greece as these congregations contributed to the famine relief offering for the church in Jerusalem.
According to Luke, the eight men listed in Acts 20:4 "went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas" (v5). We don't know why the team split up for a short while but it may well have been so Paul could hang with his friends in Philippi. He clearly had a special place in his heart for these people. His letter to the Philippians is the only one of his epistles that doesn't contain a major correction or admonition. Instead he writes of joy. His joy. Their joy. Earlier the apostle wrote to the Corinthians about the incredible generosity of the churches in Macedonia despite unspeakable poverty (2Cor 8:1-2). These would have been the Christ followers in Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea.
As these eight men sail on to the Turkish port of Troas, we see the not-so-subtle reunion of Paul and Luke in Philippi (v5). The good doctor begins using first person pronouns again in the narrative and writes of how the other men "were waiting for us at Troas." This is the second of three "us/we" passages in the book (Acts 16:10-17; 20:5-21:18; 27:1-28:16). This shift in grammar indicates three different occasions when Dr. Luke was part of Paul's team.
These clues tell us that Luke joined Paul in Troas on his second expedition just before he crossed into Europe for the first time (Acts 16:10). The change in the use of personal pronouns also leads us to believe the physician remained in Philippi after the huge controversy in that city (Acts 16:16-40). It appears that most of the anger of the locals was anti-Semitic and focused on Paul and Silas who are Jewish. As a Gentile, Luke is able to stay behind and continue to serve and minister to the Philippian church.
While it seems logical that Paul and Luke had seen each other when the apostle made his way through town on his way to Corinth (Acts 20:1-2), the author makes no mention of a reunion until now. There is a good chance that these two men probably haven't seen each other in the three years Paul ministered in Ephesus (Acts 20:31). Their reunion and the possibility to spend the Passover ("the days of Unleavened Bread" in v6) are probably the reasons they hung out in Philippi while the other eight sailed on.
Luke writes, "We sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas" (v6). Weather and currents clearly were not in their favor on this trip. An earlier trip in the opposite direction took only two days (Acts 16:11). They would have actually departed from Neapolis, a port city that served the nearby city of Philippi.
Paul and Luke rejoin the other men in Troas. This is near the ancient city of Troy. The Roman Empire had constructed a complex manmade harbor in the city. It was a critical seaport in northwest Asia. Troas plays a key role in Paul's life and ministry. It was here that God brought Dr. Luke into his life as well as giving him a vision to travel to Macedonia (Acts 16:8-11). Near the end of his life in a Roman prison, Paul pleads with Timothy to bring his cloak, books and parchments (2Tim 4:13). Some believe that Roman authorities arrested the apostle in Troas leading to his second imprisonment and eventual execution.
These 10 men remain in Troas for a week. While in town, they'll spend time with local believers. And Paul will preach a long and deadly sermon.
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