4 And he was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia. 5 But these had gone on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas. Acts 20:4-5
Paul decided not to sail to Syria (in route to Jerusalem) from Greece after a plot to take his life on the boat was uncovered, but to retrace his steps through Macedonia to eventually arrive in Troas. Since he wasn’t going to arrive in Jerusalem by Passover as planned, he decided to celebrate the Feast of the Unleavened Bread in Philippi, and sent these men on ahead to Troas. He and Luke and possibly Silas would meet them there after celebrating Passover.
Once they finally reunited in Troas, they all were together there for seven days for “team building exercises.” Incidentally, it took Paul and Luke and others five rough days at sea to make the two day journey to Troas. This was par for the course.
Paul had recruited quite the entourage in Corinth to accompany him to Jerusalem. These men would take the financial gifts from their respective churches to the saints there who had fallen on hard times. A trip with Paul must have been like traveling with a head football coach. He spent his waking hours exhorting his team.
When he had gone through those districts and had given them much exhortation, he came to Greece. Acts 20:2
Something I picked up from this account having three sons (and a daughter), is that one’s success in fatherhood will tend to be either praised or questioned as people observe your progeny. In my case, it’s always a relief to hear “Oh, you’re his dad, I really like your son,” or “He’s doing such a great job,” and so forth. It works the other way too. Sopater of Berea is listed first among the seven men to accompany Paul to Jerusalem and is the only one whose father is mentioned (Acts 20:4). This could mean that Pyrrhus’ was well known in that church, and that his presence in Sopater’s life was relevant to the task at hand, perhaps as Billy Graham’s life and mission was to his son Franklin. The word “sopater” means “safe father” in the Greek and “pyrrhus” fiery red. Perhaps Pyrrhus was known for his red hair, or his fiery reputation, or both! We are reminded that both were Bereans, sticklers for accurately dividing the Word.
To review all the comings and goings alluded to in Chapter 20, we last see Paul in Ephesus in Asia, chomping at the bit to address the mob in the amphitheater (Chapter 19). He’s restrained and decides to move on from there to Macedonia by way of Troas, northwest of Ephesus, where he’d set sail for Philippi. He likely travelled to the port city via a road that hugged the eastern shore of the Aegean Sea, but he could have hopped a boat part of the way. It appears he stayed in Macedonian region (Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea) a good year, building up the churches, making disciples, making a run up north to Dalmatia (present day Croatia), and consulting with Titus, who came up with news from Corinth. Then he moved on south to Corinth for three months, only to return to Troas due to the plot against him. From Macedonia he wrote his “second” letter to the church at Corinth (actually his fourth), and from Corinth it is said he wrote his magnificent epistle to the Romans.
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