Strategic Retreat of Paul to Troas

The Apostle’s circuitous route home

Today we join Paul’s in Troas, a strategic Roman port the Apostle visited on his second missionary journey.

Acts 20

Paul, led by the Holy Spirit, leads disciples and directs leaders of each church on mission.

PREVIOUSLY, Luke records in Acts 20 how and why Paul left Ephesus.

Mission to Macedonia with more exhortation

.. he came to Greece. And there he spent three months..

Corinth, as we noted earlier, is the primary large city of Greece.

.. and when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria,
he decided to return through Macedonia.

Strategic retreat AND extending Paul’s Third Mission

SYRIA under ROMAN rule is HOME to Paul. In Antioch and other Syrian cities Paul is well-known by all.

Tarsus, Antioch and Damascus lie along roads frequented by Jews traveling into Asia and Europe via an extensive network of Roman roads.

Although the Apostle to the gentiles had been persecuted in many cities the source of his pursuit is Jerusalem. Now is no time to return to Jerusalem.

Paul’s ‘pastoral team’

Acts 20:4

And he was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, and ..

Paul's 2nd mission had brought Berean Jews with ears to hear Scripture into the fold of Christ's Church.

.. by Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and ..

Thessalonica had been an important stop on Paul's 2nd missionary journey & he would encourage them with two letters in A.D. 50-51 while completing this 3rd mission.

.. Gaius of Derbe..

where the crowds sought to worship Paul as Hermes and Barnabas as Zeus

.. and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.

Timothy of Lystra near Derby has already been an important disciple and pastor since the 2nd mission of Paul and Silas.

An important Aegean port of Troas

But these had gone on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas.
Acts of the Apostles 20:5

Τρῳάς –

Troas = “a Trojan”

Troas, a city near the Hellespont, formerly called Ἀντιγονεια Τρῳάς, but by Lysimachus Ἀλεξάνδρεια ἡ Τρῳάς in honor of Alexander the Great; it flourished under the Romans (and with its environs was raised by Augustus to acolonia juris italici, ‘the Troad’)
Source: BlueLetterBible.org

Troas – important 1st C. A.D. Roman port

And we sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas within five days; and there we stayed seven days.
Acts of the Apostles 20:6 – the ‘we’ most likely: Paul, Luke the physician who journals their mission and other disciples

Note the timing AFTER the days of the Passover Feast.

And possibly in Philippi these disciples of the risen JESUS may have remembered HIS breaking of the Bread and taking the Cup commemorating HIS death for our sins.

The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ just a generation before would be foremost in the hearts of these disciples as Paul is about to preach the Gospel in Troas.

After some pause in A.D. 2023 for celebration of our Lord's birth, God-willing we will return to the witness of yet another miracle in ~A.D. 55 in Troas.

The Third Missionary Journey of Paul – ACTS from a stop in Troas – To Be Continued…

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