And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.
And there accompanied him into Asia, х achri (G891) tees (G3588) Asias (G773)] - 'as far as Asia.' The natural inference from this expression would be, that some, at least, of the seven persons about to be named went no further than the Asian province; but since we know that some of them went with him all the way to Jerusalem, the probability is that they all did so, as representatives to the mother-church at Jerusalem of uncircumcised believers, gathered from the chief regions of the apostle's missionary labours among the pagan, and bearers of the collection from all the Gentile churches to the poor saints of the circumcision.
Sopater of Berea. The true reading appears to be 'Sopater, son of Pyrrhus' (so Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Tregelles) There is no sufficient reason for supposing that this person's father is here mentioned to distinguish him from Sosipater (in Acts 16:21), which is but a fuller form of the same word. It seems quite as probable that they were the same person.
And of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus - (see the note at Acts 19:29,) His name re-appears in Acts 27:2; Colossians 4:10; Philemon 1:24.
And Secundus - of whom nothing else is known.
And Gaius of Derbe. (This is merely the Latin name 'Caius,' written in the Greek form.) Since we read of a Gaius of Macedonia (Acts 19:29), and here of a Gaius of Derbe, of a Gaius of Corinth, who was the apostle's "host" there (Romans 16:23), and of a Gaius to whom the beloved disciple addressed his Third Epistle-in which he calls him "his well-beloved Gaius, whom he loved in the truth" (3 John) - it is a question of some interest whether we have any means of reasonable conjecture as to the identity or difference of some or all of these persons. We have only internal evidence to guide us; and considering the different regions in which the residence in each case is fixed, and the extreme commonness of the name 'Caius,' it seems better (though at one time we judged otherwise) to conclude that more than one such at least is meant in the four places referred to; and this is the general opinion. And Timotheus. The phrase "of Derbe," in the previous clause, is evidently meant of Gaius alone, and not intended to include Timotheus-whose designation was not here required after what had been said of him in Acts 16:1-40.
And of (the province of) Asia, Tychicus, and Trophimus. Since Trophimus is expressly said to have been an Ephesian (Acts 21:29), the probability is that Tychicus was so also. They seem to have put themselves from this time forward at the apostle's disposal, and to have been to the very last a great comfort to him (see Ephesians 6:21-22; Colossians 4:7; Acts 21:29; 2 Timothy 4:12; 2 Timothy 4:20). We have here enumerated seven companions of the apostle in his final journey to Jerusalem. All of them were Gentile believers, Three were Europeans-Sopater, Aristarchus, and Secundus; and four were Asiatics-Gaius, Timotheus, Tychicus, and Trophimus. No doubt they were deputed by their respective churches, with all who were associated with them, to carry their contributions for the poor Jewish disciples of Palestine. From the next verse we learn that our historian was now of the party; and, although he is not named (probably as having originally come from Jerusalem, to which the others were strangers), Silas must have been of it too, as Paul's companion on this third missionary journey.