Acts 27:1

Luke appears to have remained with Paul from the time he left Philippi on his third missionary journey (Acts 20:5). He may have ministered to him during his entire two-year detention at Caesarea. We know he travelled with Paul to Rome (Acts 28:16). Here begins the longest of the four "we" sections of Acts, Acts 27:1 to Acts 28:16 (cf. Acts 16:10-17; Acts 20:5-15; Acts 21:1-18).

"For the sake of the credibility of his work as a piece of Greek history writing, at some point Luke needed to be able not merely to claim but demonstrate that he had participated in at least some of the events he chronicled." [Note: Witherington, p. 755.]

Scholars have not been able to identify the Augustan Cohort (a battalion of 1,000 soldiers, cf. Acts 21:31) with certainty. Some of them believe this was the cohort responsible for communications and service between the emperor and his provincial armies. [Note: E.g., Ramsay, St. Paul . . ., p. 315.] However this group may not have been in existence this early in Roman history. [Note: Longenecker, "The Acts . . .," p. 557.] Since "Augustan" was a title of honor that the government gave to several cohorts, this simply may have been one of the Augustan cohorts that was based in the Syrian province. [Note: Bruce, Commentary on . . ., p. 500.] These Augustan cohorts served various police and judicial functions. [Note: Longenecker, "The Acts . . .," p. 558.]

Since he was a Roman citizen who had appealed to Caesar, Paul would have enjoyed greater privileges than the other regular prisoners. Julius was another centurion (cf. Cornelius, ch. 10; Acts 22:26; Acts 24:23) who demonstrated fairness, consideration, and mercy, as this story will show. Adramyttium was a seaport of Mysia, opposite the island of Lesbos, 110 miles north of Ephesus. Sidon stood on the Mediterranean seacoast about 70 miles north of Caesarea.