Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Acts 20:1-12, The collection party and Eutychus at Troas
Paul leaves Ephesus for Macedonia and Greece, then sets out for Jerusalem with delegates from the churches. At Troas the believers meet on the first day of the week, and a young man who falls from a window is taken up alive.
Acts 20:1-12, in every translation this tool compares.
After the Ephesus riot Paul travels through Macedonia to Greece, then a plot changes his route home, and a group of men from several churches travels with him. At Troas the believers gather on the Sunday to share bread, and Paul talks with them late into the night in a crowded upper room lit by many lamps. A young man named Eutychus dozes off in a window and falls three stories. Paul goes down, embraces him and says he is alive, and the meeting continues until morning.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/collection-for-jerusalem\/","n":"The collection for Jerusalem","s":"Paul gathered money from his mostly Gentile churches for the poor believers in Jerusalem, much as Jews everywhere sent the temple tax to the holy city.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/the-lords-day\/","n":"The Lord's day","s":"The day early Christians kept for Jesus, most likely Sunday, the weekday of the resurrection. In the cities of Asia one day a month was already given to honoring the emperor.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/house-churches\/","n":"House churches","s":"For their first three centuries Christians met in homes, the way some Jewish groups and private clubs did. A host with a large house gave the church its room, its table and often its protection.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/eating-together\/","n":"Eating together","s":"Sharing a table made a bond of friendship, so who you ate with told everyone whose side you were on.","r":""}
Luke mentions the collection for Jerusalem only at 24:17, but Paul's letters show this journey was about it (Keener and his notes; Wright). Respected delegates carried each Jewish community's temple tax to Jerusalem, and Paul's companions from several churches follow that pattern (Keener and his notes); Wright adds that a large party gave safety with a sum of money and witnesses that it arrived. Most religious associations met monthly, while the Christians appear to have made Sunday their main meeting day, probably in honor of the resurrection (Keener). Sunday was a working day, so they met early, late or both (Keener; Wright); whether this meeting began on Saturday or Sunday evening depends on whether days ran from sundown, as Jews reckoned them, or from midnight, as Romans did (Keener). The heat or smell of so many lamps may have made Eutychus drowsy (Keener and his notes). His name, meaning Lucky, was a common slave's name, and he may have worked all day (Wright; Keener). Paul's embrace recalls Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 17:21; 2 Kings 4:34-35), and Wright notes that Luke does not say whether the boy had died or was stunned.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Acts 20:1-2, 20:3, 20:4, 20:7, 20:8, 20:9 and 20:10
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Acts 20:2, 20:3, 20:4, 20:7, 20:8 and 20:10
- N. T. Wright, Acts for Everyone, Part Two, comment on Acts 20:1-12
