"This report of Paul's return visit to Macedonia and Achaia is the briefest account of an extended ministry in all of Acts--even more so than the summary of the ministry at Ephesus (cf. 19:8-12). Nevertheless, it can be filled out to some extent by certain personal references and historical allusions in 2 Corinthians and Romans, which were written during this time."810
20:1 Evidently soon after the riot Paul left Ephesus to pursue his plan to return to Jerusalem through Macedonia and Achaia (19:21). He travelled up to Troas where he could have ministered for some time because "a door was opened"for him there (2 Cor. 2:12). Nevertheless he was uneasy about the trouble in the Corinthian church. He had sent Titus to Corinth, evidently from Ephesus, with a severe letter to the church. He was eager to hear what the reaction to it had been (2 Cor. 2:3-4; 7:8-12; 12:18). So rather than staying in Troas, Paul moved west into Macedonia where he met Titus who was returning from Corinth (2 Cor. 7:5-8). After receiving Titus' favorable report of affairs in Corinth, Paul wrote 2 Corinthians from somewhere in Macedonia, probably in the fall of 56 A.D. (cf. 2 Cor. 12:14; 13:1-2).
20:2 Paul's ministry to the province of Illyricum, which lay to the northwest of Macedonia, may have taken place while he was in this area or during his three-year ministry in Ephesus (cf. Rom. 15:19). "Greece"here refers to Achaia. Paul may have sent his Epistle to Titus at this time, but he probably wrote it after his acquittal in Rome and after he resumed his missionary travels (Titus 3:12).
20:3 The "three months"appear to have been the winter months of 56-57 A.D. Paul probably spent most of this time in Corinth where Gaius (Titius Justus?) was his host (Rom. 16:23; cf. Acts 18:7). There he wrote the Book of Romans as he anticipated visiting Rome. From Rome he planned to move farther west into Spain (Rom. 15:24). During his time in Macedonia and Achaia Paul was also busy collecting the gift for the poor saints in Jerusalem (Rom. 15:26). He evidently planned to travel on a ship from Cenchrea to Caesarea and Jerusalem to celebrate one of the spring Jewish feasts there (vv. 6, 16). However when he learned of the Jews' plot to kill him on the way, he changed his plans and decided to go to Jerusalem by way of Macedonia.
"Often from foreign ports Jewish pilgrim ships left for Syria to take pilgrims to the Passover. Paul must have intended to sail on such a ship. On such a ship it would have been the easiest thing in the world for the fanatical Jews to arrange that Paul should disappear overboard and never be heard of again."811
20:4 The men Luke identified here were the representatives of the churches in the provinces of Macedonia, Galatia, and Asia who accompanied Paul with the gift of money for the Jerusalem church. Sopater may be the Sosipater of Romans 16:21. Paul himself may have represented the province of Achaia and the church in Corinth while Luke may have represented the Philippian Christians, but Luke did not make this clear.
20:5-6 Apparently these men travelled from Corinth to Philippi with Paul. In Philippi Paul met Luke who may have ministered there since Paul had founded the Philippian church (cf. 16:10-40). Paul's team celebrated the feast of Unleavened Bread, which followed immediately after Passover, in Philippi.812Then Paul's companions proceeded on to Troas. Paul and Luke, and perhaps Titus and two other representatives of the church in Achaia (cf. 2 Cor. 8:6-24), remained in Philippi briefly.813They did so to celebrate the Passover and Unleavened Bread feasts in the spring of 57 A.D. Then they sailed from Neapolis, the port of Philippi (16:11), to Troas and joined the other messengers. This crossing took five days whereas previously Paul's ship from Troas to Neapolis made the trip in only two days (16:11).814
