Troas and Truth
Those who study New Testament worship are familiar with Acts 20:6-7 because this text shows that the disciples met on the first day of the week “to break bread.” Christians use this verse as a safe pattern to follow for our meeting on the first day of the week for worship as well. The significance of these verses is even greater when we examine the full context pertaining to Troas.
The first two of the six times the city is mentioned may be found in Acts 16. Paul had begun his second missionary journey, having chosen Silas to accompany him. The two of them traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches Paul had established on his first missionary journey (Acts 15:40-41). The pair visited Derbe and Lystra, where they found a disciple named Timothy, who “was well-spoken by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium” (Acts 16:1-2). Timothy traveled with them as they continued westward through Phrygia and Galatia toward the Aegean Sea, strengthening the churches in the faith as they traveled (Acts 16:6).
At that time, the Holy Spirit forbade the evangelists to go north into Bithynia or south into Asia Minor. Instead, they traveled past Mysia and ended up in Troas, which today is located in the northern tip of Turkey’s west coast (Wikipedia). The full name of the city was Alexandria Troas, although it was at times called by either name. According to the Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature:
Under the Romans it was one of the most important towns of the province of Asia. It was the chief point of arrival and departure for those who went by sea between Macedonia and the western Asiatic districts; and it was connected by good roads with other places on the coast and in the interior (10:560).
The Romans believed that Troas might have been the ancient city known as Troy, which was destroyed by the Greeks. The Trojan city was of special interest to Rome, since Aeneas escaped from there, wandering about for many years before coming to Italy. Aeneas’ descendants were Romulus and Remus, the former of which founded the city of Rome.
It was at Troas that Paul saw the vision of a man of Macedonia pleading with him to come there to help them; Paul concluded that “the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them” (Acts 16:9-10). Therefore, Paul sailed from Troas to Neapolis and went on to Philippi (16:11-12). No mention is made of how long Paul was in Troas before he saw this vision. He could have had the vision the same night he arrived, or it could have been a few weeks later. We do know, however, that when Paul returned to Troas, the church was meeting there.
Return to Troas
The remainder of Acts 16 records Paul’s imprisonment at Philippi and the conversion of the jailer there. Paul then went to Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-9), then Berea (17:10-13), and on to Mars Hill in Athens (17:14-34). Paul spent a year-and-a-half in Corinth before going to Ephesus, where he stayed briefly before sailing to Caesarea, also visiting Antioch (18:1-22).
Paul began his third journey by strengthening the disciples in Galatia and Phrygia (Acts 18:23) before moving on to Ephesus, where he spent three years (Acts 19:1-20). Paul’s next plan was to pass through Macedonia and Achaia before going to Jerusalem and then Rome (Acts 19:21). He went through Macedonia to Achaia, but changed his plans due to a Jewish plot, and came back through Macedonia (Acts 20:1-3). He ended up sailing from Philippi to Troas, where several of his co-workers were waiting for him (20:4-5).
When Paul arrived in Troas, he stayed there seven days (v. 6), and he was ready to depart the next day (v. 7). Why didn’t he meet with the brethren sooner? The answer is that Paul arrived on a Monday, and the church did not meet until the following Sunday. He had just missed their weekly assembly. However, Paul desired to meet with them—and to speak with them, but unlike most congregations today, for whom transportation is speedy, they did not have the luxury of meeting during the week.
Nor did the church gather on the Sabbath day. To facilitate evangelism, Paul often spoke first on the Sabbath day in the synagogues that would grant him the opportunity, as did the one in Thessalonica (Acts 17:2) and the one in Corinth (Acts 18:4). But Acts 20:7, which begins the description of the church in Troas, does not mention the Sabbath at all. The church was not meeting on the Sabbath—but on the first day of the week. Neither is anything mentioned of a synagogue in this text.
Two More Visits to Troas
Before looking at other points concerning what occurred on this visit to Troas (in Acts 20), we should point out the other two verses related to this city. In 2 Corinthians 2:12, Paul states that, when he came to Troas “to preach Christ’s gospel,” a door was opened to him by the Lord. However, his soul was restless because Titus was not there; so, Paul left the work and went to Macedonia. This account of his work does not fit the circumstances of his first visit to Troas (Acts 16:8-12). None of Paul’s group had been in Macedonia yet; therefore, Titus would not have been there and could not possibly be reporting on Corinth, since the congregation had not yet been established (2 Cor. 7:12-13).
Nor could what Paul describes in Troas have occurred on his way home in Acts 20 because he was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem, and a trip back into Macedonia would have delayed him tremendously.
Therefore, he must have been there on another occasion—between the other two. The only time this could have been was after Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians while he was in Ephesus. After he baptized twelve disciples in Ephesus, he was allowed to speak in the synagogue for three months (Acts 19:1-8). When opposition mounted, Paul and the disciples withdrew and reasoned daily in the school of Tyrannus with those interested (v. 9).
And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks (Acts 19:10).
So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed (Acts 19:20).
Could Paul have visited Troas at this time? Maybe, but there is another option. Paul had decided to go to Macedonia and Achaia before going to Jerusalem and Rome (v. 21). Luke records that Paul sent Timothy and Erastus into Macedonia while he stayed in Asia “for a time.” This continuance might also have afforded him a time to visit Troas. But most likely he made this unknown stop at Troas after the riot in Ephesus while he was on his way to Macedonia (Acts 20:1).
Paul visited Troas at least one more time prior to being imprisoned in Rome because he left his cloak there with Carpus. He requested it along with books, especially the parchments (2 Tim. 4:13). Nothing else is said about that occasion.
Truths from Troas (Acts 20:6-12)
All of this information has served to set the geographical and Scriptural background for what occurred in Troas, which remains significant for Christians still today.
The brethren in Troas did not meet on the Sabbath day. Paul waited there seven days to meet with the church, and they came together on the first day of the week (Acts 20:6-7). Had they been accustomed to meeting on the Sabbath, Paul would have met with them then, but such was not their custom.
They met every week. Paul established the church there, which included his showing them the proper way to worship. When he arrived there, he did not check the phone book or look at their website; he knew on which day they would be meeting.
That day was the first day of the week (not the Sabbath). They met on that day every week. The apostle did not wonder if they would be meeting that week or not. They would be.
They met on the first day of the week, which matches what Paul had written to the Galatians about the offering they were collecting for the poor saints in Jerusalem. They were to “lay something aside” on that same day (1 Cor. 16:1-2). Paul gave those orders to the churches of Galatia, also.
When the disciples came together, it was to break bread. This same phrase is used of a common meal or of the Lord’s Supper, but here it refers to the latter. (More information is provided in #8). 1 Corinthians 11:18-29 implies that the observance of the Lord’s Supper was a regular part of their assembly. For it to be considered in so many verses, it could scarcely be a monthly or an annual observance. We know that in Troas the church did not meet to observe it daily; they met every week to do so.
The church was not meeting in a synagogue. Luke has used the term many times in Acts; he does not refer to this building as such a place.
Brethren did meet in a building. When discussing expediency, it has long been pointed out that meeting together necessitates a meeting place—whether we own a place, rent a facility, or it is just loaned to us. The church in Troas met in an upper room, and a man fell asleep sitting in a window on the third story. (He was not the last person to fall asleep during a sermon.)
The specific acts of worship mentioned are the breaking of bread and the preaching of the Word. This fact does not mean they did not sing, give, or pray; they are simply not mentioned. Meeting “to break bread” is a synecdoche for all the acts of worship they engaged in (whether specified or not).
The fact that the Bible does not refer to these as “acts of worship” does not negate the truth that they are precisely that. Jesus said that God seeks true worshipers (John 4:23-24). If the five acts of worship we engage in does not constitute worship, pray tell, what does?
Paul taught the same doctrines in all the churches. He emphasizes this point repeatedly: “And so I ordain in all the churches” (1 Cor. 7:17). “But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God” (1 Cor. 11:16). “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints” (1 Cor. 14:33).
The brethren at Troas were provided the same teaching that Paul taught everywhere else. For that reason, they met on the first day of the week to worship God and to remember the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. Whether the church met in Troas, Jerusalem, or Rome, they worshiped the same, and they taught the same doctrine. This is the legacy we have from our brethren in the first century, and it depends on us to continue in the same way that they began. Anything different would be inappropriate. Let us continue to be the church Jesus built.