Acts 20:9

And there sat in the window a certain young man named Eutychus, borne down with deep sleep; and as Paul discoursed yet longer, being borne down by his sleep he fell down from the third story, and was taken up dead.

It should be remembered that this was a three-story fall. As Bruce said:

No wonder he was taken up dead, as Luke says, implying apparently that, as a physician, he had satisfied himself on the point ... Paul's words, "for his life is in him" should not be pressed to mean that he was actually not dead.[13]

We are grateful to Bruce for such a comment. The rationalizing of New Testament miracles is a devilish device; and believers in Christ should have no part in such wickedness.

Note the following:

Luke, the learned physician, pronounced him dead.

As a physician he had withdrawn from the case.

Paul said, "His life is in him," just as Jesus said, "The maid is not dead, but sleepeth," and "Our friend Lazarus is asleep."

Paul fell on him in a manner suggesting the action taken by Elijah and Elisha when raising the dead in the Old Testament (1 Kings 17:21; 2 Kings 4:34f).

It is impossible to believe that if Eutychus was not actually dead, that his loved ones, friends, and other members of the congregation would not have appealed to the physician Luke. As a matter of fact, they did; for nobody in similar circumstances would appeal to a preacher FIRST. It was only when Luke pronounced him dead that Paul entered the picture.

Acts 2p. 144.">[12] A. C. Hervey, The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, Publishers, 1950), Vol. 18, Acts 2p. 144.

[13] F. F. Bruce, op. cit., p. 408.