Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Acts 20:7 - 20:12
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Act_20:7-12
7On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. 8There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. 9And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. 10But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, "Do not be troubled, for his life is in him." 11When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. 12They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted.
Act_20:7 "On the first day of the week when we were gathered together to break bread" This shows the early Church's procedure of meeting on Sundays (the first workday of the week) to have a communal fellowship meal (Act_20:11) and the memorial supper ("breaking bread" is a NT idiom for the Lord's Supper). Jesus Himself set the precedent of Sunday worship by His three post-resurrection appearances (cf. Joh_20:19; Joh_20:26; Joh_21:1; Luk_24:36; 1Co_16:2).
The Helps for Translator series (The Acts of the Apostles by Newman and Nida, p. 384) says that Luke is referring to Jewish time and that this would have been Saturday evening (cf. TEV), but most translations are more literal, "the first day of the week." This is the only use of this phrase in Acts. Paul uses the phrase "first day of the week" only in 1Co_16:2, where it implies Sunday.
▣ "prolonged his message" Paul wanted to teach and encourage as much as possible (cf. Act_20:2; Act_20:31).
▣ "until midnight" The Jews began the day at twilight or evening because of Genesis 1, while the Romans began the day at midnight.
Act_20:8 "There were many lamps" This must have been a hot, stuffy, even smokey, atmosphere. It almost seems Luke is trying to explain why Eutychus fell asleep.
Act_20:9 "a young man" The term here denotes a man in the prime of life. A different term is used in Act_20:12. It denotes a child. Eutychus was a young adult.
▣ "Eutychus. . .was sinking into a deep sleep, and as Paul kept on talking" This present passive participle shows the biblical evidence both for long sermons and sleeping listeners!
▣ "was picked up dead" Apparently he was dead! See Act_20:12.
Act_20:10 "fell on him and embraced him" Paul acted much like Elijah and Elisha in the OT, who also raised the dead in this same manner (cf. 1Ki_17:21; 2Ki_4:34). He tells his audience not to be troubled, but in point of fact, I feel sure Paul was distressed by this event!
▣ "Do not be troubled" This is a present imperative with a negative article which usually means to stop an act already in process.
Act_2:12
NASB, TEV "and were greatly comforted"
NKJV, NRSV "they were not a little comforted"
NJB "and were greatly encouraged"
The NKJV and NRSV are literal and show Luke's propensity for negated understatements (cf. Act_12:18; Act_15:2; Act_19:11; Act_19:23-24; Act_20:12; Act_26:19; Act_26:26; Act_27:20; Act_28:2).