The Bible Says
Acts 27:21-26 Meaning

In Acts 27:21-26, Paul reveals the message from God which he received through an angelic visitation. God promises that everyone on board will survive the storm, though the ship will be lost.

Paul is a prisoner on board an Alexandrian grain ship bound for Rome. It is already autumn, and the Mediterranean Sea is full of storms and violent winds. A storm has tossed Paul’s ship through the open sea in darkness for many days; the ship’s crew has done what it can to keep the ship upright, but otherwise they are subject to nature’s hostile whims. Most aboard have concluded that they will die sooner or later.

One man seems to still have hope. Paul speaks to the sailors to encourage them:

When they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, “Men, you ought to have followed my advice and not to have set sail from Crete and incurred this damage and loss (v. 21).

The crew has apparently been rationing their food, eating as little as possible to make their supplies last longer. But Paul has received a message from God, that everyone on the boat—soldier, prisoner, or sailor—will survive the voyage. In that knowledge, they should take courage. It was When they had gone a long time without food that Paul relays the message from God. This can also be rendered “there being much abstinence from food.” The crew at least, but probably everyone else aboard, has been abstaining from food. Eating less than usual so that they do not exhaust their supply. Eating less than our bodies need yields low energy, and tends to make us more susceptible to negative human emotions such as anger and fear.

Paul is hopeful, because God has assured his survival. He stood up in the midst of the crew and begins to speak to them. He begins by reminding them of their poor decision making: Men, you ought to have followed my advice and not set sail from Crete and incurred this damage and loss.

This may have felt like rubbing salt in the wound from the perspective of the crew. They are hungry, exhausted, and feel hopeless that they will escape this situation. But Paul isn’t merely saying, “I told you so.” He is demonstrating to them that his advice is worth listening to, so that they will be more receptive this time to what he is about to say. And it is true that the Men of the crew really ought to have followed Paul’s advice, especially the captain and pilot (Acts 27:11). Had they not set sail from Crete, they would not be in this deadly situation. Whatever damage the ship might have experienced in the less-than-ideal harbor of Fair Havens (Acts 27:12), they would not have incurred the extreme damage and loss which has befallen them in this raging storm. They would not be in a situation where they had no idea where they were, likely to wreck or capsize and ultimately drown.

Having reminded them of his former good advice which they ignored, Paul appeals to them to listen to his present advice:

Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship (v. 22).

Despite the seemingly hopeless situation, Paul says Yet now, even now, in this present danger, I urge you to keep up your courage. Do not give into despair just yet. Be brave.

There is good reason to keep up their courage. Paul prophesies that there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. The ship will be destroyed, in the end. There is no hope for it or their cargo. But to survive a failed shipping voyage is reason enough to take heart. No one will die, according to Paul. And he gets his information from the Almighty God:

For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you’ (vs. 23-24).

Paul reveals that he has had a visit from an angel of the God to whom he belongs. This visitation just happened this very night. Paul is telling them right away what he has been told by God. He is speaking to a crew of sailors on an Alexandrian ship, men who were possibly a mix of Greeks and Egyptians, as well as the Roman soldiers guarding him, and the other prisoners who were passengers (Acts 27:1). That being the case, these are all men who believe in different gods.

Paul tells them it is the God to whom he belongs, his God, the God whom Paul serves. By this time in the voyage all men on board probably knew who Paul was, a Jew who served the Jewish God. Paul explains that the angel stood before him; he saw this angel standing on the ship. It was not a dream. The angel was on board the ship. After over a week of storm weather and no sun or stars, the mere claim that an angel of God had visited the ship may have sparked hope in some of the men listening to Paul. The message of the angel was even more hopeful, for those who would believe it.

The angel said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’

Every man there other than Paul should consider it fortunate that they happened to be on a ship transporting this man to Rome. God did not want Paul to be afraid because his life was in God’s hands. God was not going to allow Paul to drown in the Mediterranean Sea. His will was that Paul must stand before Caesar. The other passengers may have known that Paul, as a Roman citizen, had appealed to argue his innocence before Caesar Nero, as was his right. God’s will was that this appointment would be kept. Paul must stand before Caesar. Storms and shipwrecks would not prevent that. And because it was a sure thing that Paul would reach Rome alive, God, in His mercy, has granted to all those who are sailing with Paul to also survive.

In that knowledge, the men on the ship could feel hope again. They could be brave, and continue to struggle in the storm, since they knew that Paul’s God would see them through:

Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told (v. 25).

Therefore means “because of what has just been said.” Because it was a sure thing that Paul would stand before Caesar and that God has granted that his fellow passengers would also make it out alive, they ought to keep up their courage. These men should feel courageous, says Paul, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told. Paul demonstrates his faith in his God. He says, I believe God. He trusts God has told him the truth of exactly what will happen.

The Greek, Roman, and Egyptian gods were not imagined as being perfectly righteous. In their mythology, the gods tell lies, they exploit one another and the human race, they do what they want on a whim and work against one another. But Paul’s God is the only righteous God. He knows all. What He says is true and trustworthy (Numbers 23:19, Titus 1:2). He is the God who loves His creation and shows mercy (Nehemiah 9:31). Therefore Paul believes Him when He says anything.

Paul now speaks beyond words of courage and promise, and predicts what specifically will happen that will keep them all alive:

But we must run aground on a certain island (v. 26).

This will prove true. In the following passage and chapter, though the ship will be lost, the men will take refuge on a certain island and find that they have been blown all the way to Malta, which is to the south of Sicily and Italy (Acts 28:1).

This is what must happen, according to Paul (and God). The ship will run aground on a certain island. There they will be safe from the winter storms of the Mediterranean, as God has promised. For the sailors and soldiers who believed Paul’s words, they may have taken courage. Others, such as the captain, may not have liked the warning that the ship would be lost. It was his job to get the ship safely to Rome. But the ship’s security was out of his hands. This man Paul assured them that there was life beyond the storm, given to them by his God.