Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood. For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn’t cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears. Now, brothers, I entrust you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build up, and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
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Acts 20:28-32 sits inside this longer paragraph.
“Now, behold, I know that you all, among whom I went about preaching God’s Kingdom, will see my face no more. Therefore I testify to you today that I am clean from the blood of all men, for I didn’t shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood. For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn’t cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears. Now, brothers, I entrust you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build up, and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I coveted no one’s silver, gold, or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands served my necessities, and those who were with me. In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Parallel Translations
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Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood.
For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn’t cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears.
Now, brothers, I entrust you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build up, and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
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Take hede therfore vnto youre selves and to all the flocke wherof the holy goost hath made you oversears to rule the congregacion of God which he hath purchased with his bloud.
For I am sure of this that after my departynge shall greveous wolves entre in amonge you which will not spare the flocke.
Moreover of youre awne selves shall men aryse speakinge perverse thinges to drawe disciples after them.
Therfore awake and remember that by the space of.iii. yeares I ceased not to warne every one of you both nyght and daye with teares.
And now brethren I comende you to God and to the worde of his grace which is able to bylde further and to geve you an inheritaunce amonge all them which are sanctified.
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Take heede therefore vnto your selues, and to all the flocke, whereof the holy Ghost hath made you Ouerseers, to feede the Church of God, which hee hath purchased with that his owne blood.
For I knowe this, that after my departing shall grieuous wolues enter in among you, not sparing the flocke.
Moreouer of your owne selues shall men arise speaking peruerse thinges, to drawe disciples after them.
Therefore watche, and remember, that by the space of three yeres I ceased not to warne euery one, both night and day with teares.
And nowe brethren, I commend you to God, and to the worde of his grace, which is able to build further, and to giue you an inheritance, among all them, which are sanctified.
Cross-references (140)
- 1 Peter 5:2-3 (v28) Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, not for dishonest gain, but…
- 1 Timothy 4:16 (v28) Pay attention to yourself and to your teaching. Continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear…
- Colossians 1:12 (v32) giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,
- Ephesians 1:14 (vv28, 32) who is a pledge of our inheritance, to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory.
- 1 Peter 1:18-19 (v28) knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your…
Show all 100 cross-references
- Isaiah 40:11 (v28) He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who…
- Acts 26:18 (v32) to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins…
- Colossians 3:24 (v32) knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
- 1 Timothy 3:2 (v28) The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching;
- Ephesians 1:18 (v32) having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his…
- Jeremiah 3:15 (v28) I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
- Acts 13:2 (v28) As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.”
- Colossians 2:7 (v32) rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving.
- Hebrews 9:15 (v32) For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, since a death has occurred for the redemption of the transgressions that were under…
- Matthew 7:15 (v29) “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.
- Hebrews 13:17 (vv28, 31) Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with…
- Psalms 78:70-72 (v28) He also chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the ewes that have their young, he brought him to be the…
- Jeremiah 3:19 (v32) “But I said, ‘How I desire to put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!’…
- 1 Corinthians 10:32 (v28) Give no occasion for stumbling, whether to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the assembly of God;
- Luke 12:32 (v28) Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
- John 21:15-17 (v28) So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?” He said to him,…
- Ephesians 1:7 (v28) in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
- Philippians 1:1 (v28) Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ; To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and servants:
- 1 Timothy 5:17 (v28) Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching.
- Ezekiel 34:31 (v28) You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am your God,’ says the Lord Yahweh.”
- 1 Timothy 3:5 (v28) (but how could someone who doesn’t know how to rule one’s own house take care of God’s assembly?)
- 1 Peter 1:4-5 (v32) to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you, who by the power of God are guarded…
- Jude 1:24-25 (v32) Now to him who is able to keep them from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory in great joy, to God our…
- Isaiah 53:10-12 (v28) Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He…
- Micah 5:4 (v28) He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God: and they will live, for then he…
- Micah 7:14 (v28) Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your heritage, who dwell by themselves in a forest, in the middle of fertile pasture…
- Acts 20:17 (v28) From Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to himself the elders of the assembly.
- 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 (v28) For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; to another…
- 1 Corinthians 15:9 (v28) For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God.
- Galatians 1:13 (v28) For you have heard of my way of living in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the assembly of God and…
- Ephesians 5:5 (v32) Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the…
- 1 Timothy 4:14 (v28) Don’t neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the elders.
- 1 Peter 2:25 (v28) For you were going astray like sheep; but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
- Revelation 5:9 (v28) They sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals: for you were killed, and bought us for God with your…
- Acts 14:23 (vv28, 32) When they had appointed elders for them in every assembly, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had…
- 1 Corinthians 1:2 (vv28, 32) to the assembly of God which is at Corinth—those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all who call on the name of our…
- Song of Solomon 1:7-8 (v28) Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you graze your flock, where you rest them at noon; for why should I be as one who is veiled beside…
- Ezekiel 34:3 (v28) You eat the fat. You clothe yourself with the wool. You kill the fatlings, but you don’t feed the sheep.
- Luke 21:34 (v28) “So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you…
- 1 Corinthians 12:28-31 (v28) God has set some in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps,…
- Colossians 4:17 (v28) Tell Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you fulfill it.”
- 1 Timothy 3:15-16 (v28) but if I wait long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the…
- Titus 1:7 (v28) For the overseer must be blameless, as God’s steward, not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for…
- Hebrews 13:9 (v32) Don’t be carried away by various and strange teachings, for it is good that the heart be established by grace, not by food, through which…
- 1 Peter 2:9 (v28) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of…
- Jeremiah 13:20 (vv28–29) Lift up your eyes, and see those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock?
- 2 Chronicles 19:6-7 (v28) and said to the judges, “Consider what you do, for you don’t judge for man, but for Yahweh; and he is with you in the judgment. Now…
- Psalms 74:2 (v28) Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance: Mount Zion, in which…
- Proverbs 10:21 (v28) The lips of the righteous feed many, but the foolish die for lack of understanding.
- Isaiah 63:11 (v28) Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying, “Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his…
- Jeremiah 13:17 (v28) But if you will not hear it, my soul will weep in secret for your pride. My eye will weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because…
- Zechariah 11:4 (v28) Yahweh my God says: “Feed the flock of slaughter.
- Matthew 16:18 (v28) I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
- Mark 13:9 (v28) But watch yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils. You will be beaten in synagogues. You will stand before rulers and kings…
- 1 Corinthians 9:26-27 (v28) I therefore run like that, not aimlessly. I fight like that, not beating the air, but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by…
- 1 Corinthians 11:22 (v28) What, don’t you have houses to eat and to drink in? Or do you despise God’s assembly and put them to shame who don’t have enough? What…
- Ephesians 4:11 (v28) He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;
- Colossians 1:14 (v28) in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.
- Hebrews 9:12-14 (v28) nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained…
- Hebrews 12:15 (v28) looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many…
- 1 John 1:7 (v28) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses…
- Acts 20:24 (v32) But these things don’t count; nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I…
- Acts 20:29 (v28) For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
- 2 Peter 2:1 (v29) But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies,…
- Matthew 2:6 (v28) ‘You Bethlehem, land of Judah, are in no way least among the princes of Judah: for out of you shall come a governor, who shall shepherd my…
- Acts 19:8 (v31) He entered into the synagogue and spoke boldly for a period of three months, reasoning and persuading about the things concerning God’s…
- Jude 1:20 (v32) But you, beloved, keep building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.
- Jeremiah 31:10 (v28) “Hear Yahweh’s word, you nations, and declare it in the distant islands. Say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a…
- John 17:17 (v32) Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.
- Acts 19:10 (v31) This continued for two years, so that all those who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
- Acts 20:19 (v31) serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears, and with trials which happened to me by the plots of the Jews;
- 1 Corinthians 6:11 (v32) Some of you were such, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the…
- Ephesians 2:20-22 (v32) being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone; in whom the whole building,…
- 1 Timothy 1:19-20 (v30) holding faith and a good conscience, which some having thrust away made a shipwreck concerning the faith, of whom are Hymenaeus and…
- 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (v30) For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after…
- Proverbs 23:33 (v30) Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will imagine confusing things.
- Ezekiel 3:17-20 (v31) “Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and warn them from me. When I tell…
- Luke 10:3 (v29) Go your ways. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.
- John 10:12 (v29) He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches…
- Acts 14:26 (v32) From there they sailed to Antioch, from where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled.
- Acts 20:28 (v29) Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the…
- 1 Corinthians 3:9-10 (v32) For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s farming, God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise…
- Colossians 1:28 (v31) We proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus;
- Hebrews 2:11 (v32) For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
- Hebrews 10:14 (v32) For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
- 1 John 2:19 (v30) They went out from us, but they didn’t belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have continued with us. But they left, that…
- Proverbs 19:1 (v30) Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than he who is perverse in his lips and is a fool.
- Matthew 10:16 (v29) “Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
- Matthew 13:25 (v31) but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away.
- Luke 21:36 (v31) Therefore be watchful all the time, praying that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will happen, and to stand before…
- John 15:3 (v32) You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
- Acts 11:26 (v30) When he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they were gathered together with the assembly, and taught many people.…
- Acts 14:3 (v32) Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who testified to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to…
- Ephesians 4:12 (v32) for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ,
- Ephesians 4:16 (v32) from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each…
100 distinct cross-references across this passage (140 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv28–32 28. Take heed, therefore. He doth now apply his…
28. Take heed, therefore. He doth now apply his speech unto them, and by many reasons showeth that they must watch diligently, and that he is not so careful but because necessity doth so require. The first reason is, because they be bound to the flock over which they be set. The second, because they were called unto this function not by mortal man, but by the Holy Ghost. The third, because it is no small honor to govern the Church of God. The fourth, because the Lord did declare by an evident testimony what account he doth make of the Church, seeing that he hath redeemed it with his blood. As touching the first, he doth not only command them to take heed to the flock, but first to themselves. For that man will never be careful for the salvation of other men who will neglect his own. And in vain shall that man prick forward other to live godlily, who will himself show no desire of godliness. Yea, that man will not take pains with his flock who forgetteth himself, seeing he is a part of the flock. Therefore, to the end they may be careful for the flock to them committed, Paul commandeth and warneth that every one of them keep himself in the fear of God. For by this means it should come to pass, that every one should be as faithful towards his flock as he ought. For we said that Paul reasoneth from their calling, that they be bound to take pains in the Church of God, whereof they have the government. As if he should say, that they may not do whatsoever they like best, neither are they free after they be made pastors, but they be bound publicly to all the flock.
The Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. By the very word he putteth them in mind, that they be placed, as it were, in a watch-tower, that they may watch for the common safety of all men. But Paul standeth principally upon this, that they were not appointed by men, but the charge of the Church was committed unto them by God. For which cause they must be the more diligent and careful, because they must give a straight account before that high seat of judgment. For the more excellent the dignity of that Lord and Master whom we serve is, the more reverence do we give him naturally, and the reverence itself doth sharpen our study and diligence.
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Moreover, though the Lord would have ministers of the word chosen from the beginning by the voices [suffrages] of men, yet doth he always challenge the government of the Church to himself, not only to the end we may acknowledge him to be the only governor thereof, but also know that the incomparable treasure of salvation doth come from him alone. For he is robbed of his glory if we think that the gospel is brought unto us, either by chance or by the will of men, or their industry. But this doth Paul attribute peculiarly to the Spirit, by whom God doth govern his Church, and who is to every man a secret witness of his calling in his own conscience.
Concerning the word overseer or bishop, we must briefly note this, that Paul calleth all the elders of Ephesus by this name, as well one as other. Whence we gather, that according to the use of the Scripture bishops differ nothing from elders. But that it came to pass through vice and corruption, that those who were chief in every city began to be called bishops. I call it corruption, not because it is evil that some one man should be chief in every college or company; but because this boldness is intolerable, when men, by wresting the names of the Scripture unto their custom, doubt not to change the tongue of the Holy Ghost.
To govern the Church. The Greek word ποιμαινειν doth signify to feed. But by a fit similitude it is translated unto every kind of government. And we have said that this is the third argument drawn from the excellency of the function; as the same Paul telleth Timotheus elsewhere, that he take heed and see how he ought to behave himself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth. As if he should say, that there is no time to be idle in such a weighty calling, and that those are less excusable whom God hath made stewards of his family, the higher that degree of honor is, unless they be correspondent to so great dignity, that is, unless they do their duty diligently. Now, if bishops or overseers be made by the Holy Ghost, to the end they may feed the Church, the hierarchy of Papistry is ridiculous, wherein bishops being proud of their (painted sheath and) vain title, do not so much as once meddle with the function of teaching, no, not for fashion’s sake.
Which he hath purchased. The four reasons, whereby Paul doth carefully prick forward the pastors to do their duty diligently, because the Lord hath given no small pledge of his love toward the Church in shedding his own blood for it. Whereby it appeareth how precious it is to him; and surely there is nothing which ought more vehemently to urge pastors to do their duty joyfully, than if they consider that the price of the blood of Christ is committed to them. For hereupon it followeth, that unless they take pains in the Church, the lost souls are not only imputed to them, but they be also guilty of sacrilege, because they have profaned the holy blood of the Son of God, and have made the redemption gotten by him to be of none effect, so much as in them lieth. And this is a most cruel offense, if, through our sluggishness, the death of Christ do not only become vile or base, but the fruit thereof be also abolished and perish; and it is said that God hath purchased the Church, to the end we may know that he would have it remain wholly to himself, because it is meet and right that he possess those whom he hath redeemed.
Notwithstanding, we must also remember, that all mankind are the bond-slaves of Satan until Christ set us free from his tyranny, gathering us into the inheritance of his Father.
But because the speech which Paul useth seemeth to be somewhat hard, we must see in what sense he saith that God purchased the Church with his blood. For nothing is more absurd than to feign or imagine God to be mortal or to have a body. But in this speech he commendeth the unity of person in Christ; for because there be distinct natures in Christ, the Scripture cloth sometimes recite that apart by itself which is proper to either. But when it setteth God before us made manifest in the flesh, it doth not separate the human nature from the Godhead. Notwithstanding, because again two natures are so united in Christ, that they make one person, that is improperly translated sometimes unto the one, which doth truly and in deed belong to the other, as in this place Paul doth attribute blood to God; because the man Jesus Christ, who shed his blood for us, was also God. This manner of speaking is caned, of the old writers, communicatio idiomatum, because the property of the one nature is applied to the other. And I said that by this means is manifestly expressed one person of Christ, lest we imagine him to be double, which Nestorius did in times past attempt; and yet for all this we must not imagine a confusion of the two natures which Eutychus went about to bring in, or which the Spanish dog, Servetus, hath at this time invented, who maketh the Godhead of Christ nothing else but a form or image of the human nature, which he dreameth to have always shined in God.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 30, 32 A notable sentence for Christ’s Godhead: which showeth plainly…
A notable sentence for Christ’s Godhead: which showeth plainly in his person, how that by reason of the joining together of the two natures in his own person, that which is proper to one is spoken of the other being taken in the derivative, and not in the primitive: which in old time the godly fathers termed a communicating or fellowship of proprieties, that is to say, a making common of that to two, which belongeth but to one.
To keep it, to feed it, and govern it.
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This word, That showeth the excellency of this blood.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv28–32 28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all…
28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Ver. 28. Hath made you overseers] επισκοπους. But many are Aposcopi rather than Episcopi, saith Espensaeus; byseers rather than overseers.
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Which he hath purchased with his blood] The Church is to Christ a bloody spouse, an Aceldama, or field of blood; for she could not be redeemed with silver and gold, but with the blood of God; so it is called by a communication of properties, to set forth the incomparable value and virtue thereof.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv28–32 Take heed therefore unto yourselves; be mindful of your…
Take heed therefore unto yourselves; be mindful of your own salvation: for he that neglects his own, will not be careful of the salvation of another.
The Holy Ghost hath made you overseers;
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1. By his choosing and nominating of them, which was then by a special instinct, or immediate warrant from the Spirit, Act 1:24; 13:2. Or:
2. Because they were constituted by the apostles, who were filled with the Spirit, enabling them to the choice of such persons, Act 14:23. But also:
3. Whosoever is set apart to this office, according to the will of God, is made an overseer by the Holy Ghost; God owning his institutions, and concurring with them.
Overseers; the same who {Act 20:17} are called elders; they were certainly such as had the government and care of the church committed unto them.
To feed; as a shepherd does, (for the apostle continues here the metaphor), Jer 23:4; Joh 21:16,17.
The church of God; our Saviour is so called; for the Word was God, Joh 1:1.
Which he hath purchased; Christ by his bloody death hath redeemed his church, and obtained power to gather it, to rule over it, to protect and preserve it, Isa 53:10; Phi 2:8-10.
With his own blood; the blood of Christ, called truly the blood of God, there being in Christ two natures in one person, and a communion of the properties of each nature. If Christ had not been man, he could have had no blood to shed: had he not been God, the blood which he shed could not have been a sufficient price of redemption. Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, who found out such a ransom; and the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of the love of Christ, who paid this ransom for us! Rom 11:33; Eph 3:18,19.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv28, 32 The blessed apostle having, in the former part of…
The blessed apostle having, in the former part of his farewell sermon to the elders of Ephesus, vindicated his own sincerity among them, both as to his doctrine and practice, and cleared himself by close addresses and smart appeals to their consciences; he now urges them in a rousing and heart-melting exhortation to the utmost care and dilgence in the exercise of their pastoral charge; and to take heed to themselves and the flock, to the whole flock which Christ had purchased with his blood, and the Holy Ghost had committed to his care, ver. 28. Take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers.
Here observe, A two-fold duty, and a three-fold motive to enforce that duty: the first duty is to take to themselves: the second is to take heed to all the flock.
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The first part of a minister’s duty is to take heed to himself: Committe animam diligentibus suam, says St. Bernard: He that neglects his own soul, will never take a faithful care of the souls of others.
We must first look to ourselves, that our judgments be sound, our hearts holy, and our lives exemplary: we must take heed to ourselves, that we be fit for the employment which we undertake. This is not a burthen for a child’s shoulder; he that is himself a babe in knowledge, is altogether unfit to teach men the mysteries of salvation.
Take we heed that our example doth not contradict our doctrine, that our practice doth not give our profession the lie; that we do as well as teach; not preach angelical sermons, and lead diabolical lives; but securing that grace to ourselves which we offer unto others, and shunning that sin ourselves which we condemn in others; and this, because we have a depraved nature and vicious inclinations in us, as well as others, because we have a heaven to win, and a soul to save, as well as others; yea, when others have only their own souls to account for, we have not only our own, but others’ too; in a word because our sins do more dishonour God, discredit religion, more gratify the devil, more harden sinners, and have more of wilfulness in them, more perfidiousness in them, and more hypocrisy in them, than other men’s; and we shall certainly be adjudged by God to a double damnation for them.
Well, therefore might the apostle say to the Ephesian elders, take heed unto yourselves; next he adds, and to all the flock. That is, with a constant care and laborious diligence acquaint them with their duty, inform them of their danger, show them where their happiness lies, and the way and means for attaining of it; and, in order to this, all the flock must be known, that it may be heeded, and we must labour to be acquainted with the state of all our people as fully as we can; we must, as the apostles before us did, visit our people from house to house, that we may know their persons, know their inclinations, and know the manner of conversation; what sins they are most in danger of, what temptations they are most liable to, and what duties they neglect, either for the matter or manner of them; and give them the best encouragement, directions, and assistance, we are able.
This is the sum of the apostle’s exhortation to the elders of Ephesus; Take heed unto yourselves, and unto all the flock. The motives to enforce the duty follow; and they are,
1. Drawn from their office; they are overseers of the flock, that is, officers appointed by solemn ordination to teach, to guide, to govern the church’s committed to their care, and under their charge.
2. From the authority and excellency of him that called them to their office, the Holy Ghost. We read of some that were nominated by the special and immediate instinct of the Holy Ghost, as Act 1:24 and Act 13:2.
Others were ordained by the apostles, who were guided by the Holy Ghost then: and whoever is set apart to that office now, according to the rule of God’s word, may truly be said to be made an overseer by the Holy Ghost; Almighty God concurring to own and bless his own institution.
3. From the dear purchase which Christ paid for, and the tender regard he bears to, this his flock. Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his blood.
Where observe, The divinity of Christ asserted; he is expressly called God, in opposition to the Arians, and their unhappy spawn, the Socinians, who will allow him to be only man; but then his blood could never have purchased the church, which it is here said to do, being God and Man in one person: Man, that he might have blood to shed; and God, that his blood might be of infinite value,and inestimable preciousness when shed.
Observe also the force of the apostle’s argument: " If the church be thus dear to Christ, the chief Shepherd, she ought to be very dear to all under-shepherds; if Christ judged her salvation worth his blood, well may his ministers judge it worth their sweat."
4.From the danger which the church is in by seducers and false teachers, ver. 20. Grievous wolves will enter, not sparing the flock; and even from among yourselves shall arise heretics, who will vent their unsound doctrines to debauch men, first in their principles, and then in their practices: therefore take heed to all the flock.
Now, from the whole, note, 1. The church is Christ’s flock, consisting of sheep and lambs: Christ himself is the great and good Shepherd: his ministers, under-shepherds and overseers: bloody persecutors, heretical seducers, and false teachers, are wolves which worry and divide the flock.
Note, 2. That every flock should have its own pastor, and every pastor his own flock.
Note, 3. That the flock should be no greater ordinarily, than the overseers are capable of taking heed of.
Note, 4. That every overseer of Christ’s flock ought to take great heed, both to himself and to the whole flock, in all the parts of his pastoral work, particularly public preaching and private inspection.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv28–32 Therefore watch,.... Meaning both over themselves, and the flock;…
Therefore watch,.... Meaning both over themselves, and the flock; to prevent, if possible, false teachers entering in, and to nip the buds of heresy and schism, as soon as they appear, and to preserve themselves, and the church, from being carried away with the error of the wicked.
And remember that by the space of three years; reckoning from his first coming to Ephesus, unto this time, that he now called at Miletus; see Act 18:19 and
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I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears; that is, he was constantly and continually cautioning them against false teachers, and their doctrines, in the most tender and affectionate manner; shedding tears at the thoughts of what mischief would be done, and how many souls would be ruined by them; which gives a lively idea of the apostle, and his ministry, of his affection, zeal, and diligence, very worthy of the imitation of all the preachers of the Gospel. Several copies, and all the Oriental versions, read, "everyone of you".
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv28–32 Take heed therefore - I now devolve my care…
Take heed therefore - I now devolve my care upon you; first to yourselves; then to the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers - For no man, or number of men upon earth, can constitute an overseer, bishop, or any other Christian minister. To do this is the peculiar work of the Holy Ghost: to feed the Church of God - That is, the believing, loving, holy children of God; which he hath purchased - How precious is it then in his sight! with his own blood - For it is the blood of the only begotten Son of God, 1 John i, 7.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv28–32 Verse 28. Made you overseers] εθετο επισκοπους, Appointed you…
Verse 28. Made you overseers] εθετο επισκοπους, Appointed you bishops; for so we translate the original word in most places where it occurs: but overseers, or inspectors, is much more proper, from επι, over, and σκεπτομαι, I look. The persons who examine into the spiritual state of the flock of God, and take care to lead them in and out, and to find them pasture, are termed episcopoi, or superintendents. The office of a bishop is from God; a true pastor only can fulfil this office: it is an office of most awful responsibility; few there are who can fill it; and, of those who occupy this high and awful place, perhaps we may say there are fewer still who discharge the duties of it. There are, however, through the good providence of God, Christian bishops, who, while they are honoured by the calling, do credit to the sacred function. And the annals of our Church can boast of at least as many of this class of men, who have served their God and their generation, as of any other order, in the proportion which this order bears to others in the Church of Christ. That bishop and presbyter, or elder, were at this time of the same order, and that the word was indifferently used of both, see noticed on Ac 20:17.
Feed the Church of God] This verse has been the subject of much controversy, particularly in reference to the term Θεου, of GOD, in this place; and concerning it there is great dissension among the MSS. and versions. Three readings exist in them, in reference to which critics and commentators have been much divided; viz. εκκλησιαν του Θεου, the Church of GOD; τουκυριου, of the LORD; Κυριου και Θεου, of the LORD and GOD. From the collections of Wetstein and Griesbach, it appears that but few MSS., and none of them very ancient, have the word Θεου, of GOD; with these only the Vulgate, and the later Syriac in the text, agree. κυριου, of the LORD, is the reading of ACDE, several others, the Sahidic, Coptic, later Syriac in the margin, Armenian, AEthiopia, and some of the fathers. Κυριου και Θεου, of the LORD and of GOD, is the reading of the great majority; though the most ancient are for Κυριου, of the LORD: on this ground Griesbach has admitted this reading into the text, and put Κυριου και Θεου in the margin, as being next in authority.
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Mr. Wakefield, who was a professed and conscientious Unitarian, decides for του Θεου, of GOD, as the true reading; but, instead of translating του ιδιου αιματος, with his own blood, he translates, by his own Son, and brings some passages from the Greek and Roman writers to show that αιμα and sanguis are used to signify son, or near relative; and, were this the only place where purchasing with his own blood occurred, we might receive this saying; but, as the redemption of man is, throughout the New Testament, attributed to the sacrificial death of Christ, it is not likely that this very unusual meaning should apply here. At all events, we have here a proof that the Church was purchased by the blood of Christ; and, as to his Godhead, it is sufficiently established in many other places. When we grant that the greater evidence appears to be in favour of του Κυριου, feed the Church of the Lord, which he has purchased with his own blood, we must maintain that, had not this Lord been GOD, his blood could have been no purchase for the souls of a lost world.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 31, 32 Act 20:28. Take heed therefore — I now devolve…
Act 20:28. Take heed therefore — I now devolve my care upon you; first, to yourselves — That you thoroughly understand all the doctrines, experience all the graces, enjoy all the blessing, and practise all the duties of genuine Christianity; and that you fully understand and faithfully execute every part of your important office. And to all the flock — That they may possess the same Christian knowledge and experience, may enjoy the same blessings, and perform the same duties; may be wise unto salvation, holy and useful; not living unto themselves, but unto him that died for them and rose again. Over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers — Greek, επισκοπους, bishops, or inspectors. It seems evident from every part of the New Testament, that there was no distinction, when the Acts and the Epistles were written, between elders, or presbyters, and bishops in the Christian Church. All the elders were bishops, inspectors, or overseers. Thus, (1Pe 5:1-2,) The elders which are among you I exhort, feed the flock of God, taking the oversight thereof, Greek, επισκοπουντες, acting the part of bishops, or inspectors. It is probable, however, that when, in any city or district, the elders became numerous, it was found expedient to appoint some to take the oversight of the rest, and see that they did their duty. The apostle’s expression here, The Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, implies that no man, or number of men, can constitute an overseer, bishop, or any Christian minister. To do this is the peculiar work of the Holy Ghost; to feed the church of God — That is, the believing, loving, obedient, holy children of God, only such being true members of the church of Christ; which he hath purchased with his own blood — How precious is it then in his sight! Here the blood of Christ, the only begotten of the Father, is termed the blood of God; for it is the blood of the WORD, who was in the beginning with God, and was God, Joh 1:1.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv28–32 Take heed, therefore - Attend to; be on your…
Take heed, therefore - Attend to; be on your guard against the dangers which beset you, and seek to discharge your duty with fidelity.
Unto yourselves - To your own piety, opinions, and mode of life. This is the first duty of a minister; for without this all his preaching will be vain. Compare Col 4:17; 1Ti 4:14. Ministers are beset with unique dangers and temptations, and against them they should be on their guard. In addition to the temptations which they have in common with other people, they are exposed to those special to their office - arising from flattery, and ambition, and despondency, and worldly-mindedness. And just in proportion to the importance of their office is the importance of the injunction of Paul, to take heed to themselves.
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And to all the flock - The church; the charge entrusted to them. The church of Christ is often compared to a flock. See the John 10:1-20 notes; also Joh 21:15-17 notes. The word “flock” here refers particularly to the church, and not to the congregation in general, for it is represented to be what was purchased with the blood of the atonement. The command here is:
(1) To take heed to the church; that is, to instruct, teach, and guide it; to guard it from enemies Act 20:29, and to make it their special object to promote its welfare.
(2) To take heed to all the flock the rich and the poor, the bond and the free, the old and the young. It is the duty of ministers to seek to promote the welfare of each individual of their charge not to pass by the poor because they are poor, and not to be afraid of the rich because they are rich. A shepherd regards the I interest of the tenderest of the fold as much as the strongest; and a faithful minister will seek to advance the interest of all. To do this he should know all his people; should be acquainted, as far as possible, with their unique needs, character, and dangers, and should devote himself to their welfare as his first and main employment.
Over the which the Holy Ghost - Though they had been appointed, doubtless, by the church, or by the apostles, yet it is here represented as having been done by the Holy Spirit. It was by him:
Because he had called and qualified them for their work; and, Because they had been set apart in accordance with his direction and will.
Overseers - ἐπισκόπους episkopous. “Bishops.” The word properly denotes those who are appointed “to oversee or inspect anything.” This passage proves that the name “bishop” was applicable to elders; that in the time of the apostles, the name “bishop” and “presbyter,” or “elder,” was given to the same class of officers, and, of course, that there was no distinction between them. One term was originally used to denote “office,” the other term denotes “age,” and both words were applied to the same persons in the congregation. The same thing occurs in Tit 1:5-7, where those who in Tit 1:5 are called “elders,” are in Tit 1:7 called “bishops.” See also 1Ti 3:1-10; Phi 1:1.
To feed - ποιμαίνειν poimainein. This word is properly applied to the care which a shepherd exercises over his flock. See the notes on Joh 21:15-16. It is applicable not only to the act of feeding a flock, but also to that of protecting, guiding, and guarding it. It here denotes not merely the “duty” of instructing the church, but also of “governing” it; of “securing” it from enemies Act 20:29, and of “directing” its affairs so as to promote its edification and peace.
The church of God - This is one of three passages in the New Testament in regard to which there has been a long controversy among critics, which is not yet determined. The controversy is, whether is this the correct and genuine reading. The other two passages are, 1Ti 3:16, and 1Jo 5:7. The mss. and versions here exhibit three readings: “the church of God” τοῦ Θεός tou Theos the church of the Lord τοῦ Κυρίου tou Kuriou; and the church of the Lord and God Κυρίος καὶ Θεός Kurios kai Theos. The Latin Vulgate reads it “God.” The Syriac, “the Lord.” The Arabic, “the Lord God.” The Ethiopic, “the Christian family of God.” The reading which now occurs in our text is found in no ancient mss. except the Vatican Codex, and occurs nowhere among the writings of the fathers except in Athanasius, in regard to whom also there is a various reading.
It is retained, however, by Beza, Mill, and Whitby as the genuine reading. The most ancient mss., and the best, read “the church of the Lord,” and this probably was the genuine text. It has been adopted by Griesbach and Wetstein; and many important reasons may be given why it should be retained. See those reasons stated at length in Kuinoel “in loco”; see also Griesbach and Wetstein. It may be remarked, that a change from Lord to God might easily be made in the transcribing, for in ancient mss. the words are not written at length, but are abbreviated. Thus, the name Christ Χριστός Christos is written ChoS; the name God θεός theos is written ThoS; the name Lord κύριος kurios is written KOS; and a mistake, therefore, of a single letter would lead to the variations observable in the manuscripts. Compare in this place the note of Mill in his Greek Testament. The authority for the name “God” is so doubtful that it should not be used as a proof text on the divinity of Christ, and is not necessary, as there are so many undisputed passages on that subject.
Which he hath purchased - The word used here περιεποιήσατο periepoiēsato occurs but in one other place in the New Testament - 1Ti 3:13, “For they that have used the office of deacon well, purchase to themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith.” The word properly means “to acquire or gain anything; to make it ours.” This may be done by a price, or by labor, etc. The noun (περιποίησις peripoiēsis) derived from this verb is used several times in the New Testament, and denotes “acquisition:” 1Th 5:9, God hath appointed us “to obtain” (unto the obtaining or acquisition of) salvation”; 2Th 2:14, “Whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ”; 1Pe 2:9; Tit 2:14; Eph 1:14. In this place it means that Christ had “acquired, gained, or procured,” the church for himself by paying his own life as the price. The church is often represented as having thus been bought with a price, 1Co 6:20; 1Co 7:23; 2Pe 2:1.
With his own blood - With the sacrifice of his own life; for blood is often put for life, and to shed the blood is equivalent to faking the life. See the notes on Rom 3:25. The doctrines taught here are:
(1) That the death of Christ was an atoning sacrifice; that he offered himself to purchase a people to his own service.
(2) That the church is, therefore, of special value a value to be estimated by the price paid for it. Compare 1Pe 1:18-19.
(3) That this fact should make the purity and salvation of the church an object of special solicitude with ministers of the gospel. They should be deeply affected in view of that blood which has been shed for the church; and they should guard and defend it as having been bought with the highest price in the universe. The chief consideration that will make ministers faithful and self-denying is, that the church has been bought with a price. If the Lord Jesus so loved it; if he gave himself for it, they should be willing to deny themselves; to watch, and toil, and pray, that the great object of his death the purity and the salvation of that church - may be obtained.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv28, 32 Take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock.…
Take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock. The ministers of the gospel must in the first place take care of the salvation of their own souls: and in the next place of the salvation of their flock, of the souls committed to their care, and to the Church; especially such ministers of God as are bishops,[2] placed, by divine institution, to govern the Church, or the churches under them. The word bishop, by its derivation, signifies overseers, or superintendants; but the signification is to be taken and expressed by the custom and ecclesiastical use of words. (Witham)
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Episcopos, Greek: episkopous, from Greek: episkopein, or Greek: episkeptesthai, diligenter inspicere, &c.
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George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 31, 32 Take heed . . . unto yourselves--Compare Ti1 3:2-7;…
Take heed . . . unto yourselves--Compare Ti1 3:2-7; Ti1 4:16; Ti1 6:11.
and to all the flock--Compare Heb 13:17. Observe here how the personal is put before the pastoral care.
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over . . . which the Holy Ghost hath made you--Compare Joh 20:22-23; Eph 4:8, Eph 4:11-12; Rev 3:1. (Act 14:23 shows that the apostle did not mean to exclude human ordination).
overseers--or, as the same word is everywhere else rendered in our version, "bishops." The English Version has hardly dealt fair in this case with the sacred text, in rendering the word "overseers," whereas it ought here, as in all other places, to have been "bishops," in order that the fact of elders and bishops having been originally and apostolically synonymous, might be apparent to the ordinary English reader, which now it is not [ALFORD]. The distinction between these offices cannot be certainly traced till the second century, nor was it established till late in that century.
to feed the church of God--or, "the Church of the Lord." Which of these two readings of the text is the true one, is a question which has divided the best critics. The evidence of manuscripts preponderates in favor of "THE LORD"; some of the most ancient Versions, though not all, so read; and ATHANASIUS, the great champion of the supreme Divinity of Christ early in the fourth century, says the expression "Church of God" is unknown to the Scriptures. Which reading, then, does the internal evidence favor? As "Church of God" occurs nine times elsewhere in Paul's writings, and "Church of the Lord" nowhere, the probability, it is said, is that he used his wonted phraseology here also. But if he did, it is extremely difficult to see how so many early transcribers should have altered it into the quite unusual phrase, "Church of the Lord"; whereas, if the apostle did use this latter expression, and the historian wrote it so accordingly, it it easy to see how transcribers might, from being so accustomed to the usual phrase, write it "Church of God." On the whole, therefore, we accept the second reading as most probably the true one. But see what follows.
which he hath purchased--"made His own," "acquired."
with his own blood--"His own" is emphatic: "That glorified Lord who from the right hand of power in the heavens is gathering and ruling the Church, and by His Spirit, through human agency, hath set you over it, cannot be indifferent to its welfare in your hands, seeing He hath given for it His own most precious blood, thus making it His own by the dearest of all ties." The transcendent sacredness of the Church of Christ is thus made to rest on the dignity of its Lord and the consequent preciousness of that blood which He shed for it. And as the sacrificial atoning character of Christ's death is here plainly expressed, so His supreme dignity is implied as clearly by the second reading as it is expressed by the first. What a motive to pastoral fidelity is here furnished!
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv28–32 28. Holy Ghost—Held to be, through the instrumentalities of…
28. Holy Ghost—Held to be, through the instrumentalities of the Church, the truer appointer of the ministry.
Overseers—The original Greek episcopos, from which our word bishop is in fact derived, (by clipping both ends,) is compounded of a preposition signifying over and a noun signifying seer, and is exactly synonymous with the word superintendent.
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In post-apostolic times the word episcopos ascended (probably by the custom of one elder’s being president-presbyter of a number of presbyters) into a higher official meaning. The presidency or episcopate of one over a number of elders took place so early as to imply some apostolic concurrence. Strict ministerial equality of function in all cases cannot be clearly deduced from Scripture.
Church of God—Whether the word God or Lord here is the true reading has long been s subject of earnest controversy; specially earnest as it involves the question of the divinity of Christ. At the present time the probability is strongly in favour of God. 1. Internal evidence: (1.) From the fact that Church of the Lord is a phrase unknown to Scripture, while Church of God is the ordinary form, (2.) If God were the original reading it would be a strong trinitarian text, and therefore there would be temptation for anti-trinitarians to alter it: but not vice versa, for Church of the Lord would be no contradiction to Trinitarianism. 2. Patristic evidence, from the fact that the earliest Christian writers, Ignatius, Tertullian, and Clement of Alexandria, use the phrase “blood of God.” 3. Manuscript authority, which, since the readings of the Vatican and Sinaitic are found to be God, is strongly balanced in its favour. It must be fairly held to be the true reading.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv28–32 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves] The best MSS.…
28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves] The best MSS. omit “therefore.” The Apostle now resigns into their hands a charge which before had been his own, and the form of his language would remind them that the discharge of their duty after his example would be the means of saving both themselves and those over whom they were placed.
and to all the flock] He commits to them, as Christ had at first to St Peter, the charge to feed both lambs and sheep, in the name, and with the word, of the “good Shepherd” himself.
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over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers] These men who are called “elders,” i.e. “presbyters” before (Act_20:17) he now calls “overseers,” i.e. “bishops,” (see note there). The Rev. Ver. gives “In the which, &c.… bishops.” We have no information how these “elders” had been chosen or appointed, but we can see from this verse that there had been some solemn setting apart of the men for their office. The Church, as in Act_13:2, had recognised some indication that they were to be placed over the church. By reminding them from whence their appointment came, St Paul would enforce on them the solemnity of their position. Though they be “in the flock” they are not as others, more has been given unto them, and so more will be required.
to feed the church of God] Perhaps no text in the New Testament has been more discussed than these words. “Many ancient authorities (says Rev. Ver. in a note,) read the Lord” instead of “God.” The Revisers have kept “God” in the text, and that reading is accepted as of most authority by Westcott and Hort. The variation, which has much support from MSS., has been discussed and the evidence for it most fully stated by Dr Ezra Abbott, of Harvard University. The text as it stands asserts most strongly the Divinity of our Blessed Lord, but the form of the sentence implies, from what follows, the use of such a phrase as “the blood of God” which is not like the New Testament mode of expression, though it is found in the Epp. of Ignatius, who perhaps derived it from this passage. Because in other places where “the Church of God” is used “God” cannot be taken, as it must here, to mean Christ, some have given a strong force to the word own, which follows, and have explained “His own blood,” i.e. “the blood of His own Son.” And as the Greek text, which has been accepted, as of most authority, by Westcott and Hort, reads αἵματος τοῦ ἰδίου, it has been suggested that after this peculiar collocation of words, υἵου has fallen away in very early times. This would make all easy, rendering “with the blood of his own Son.” But there is no evidence that the word “Son” was ever there, and though the death of Christ is in Scripture spoken of as something “given up” by the Father “for us all” (Rom_8:32), yet the price paid and the purchase made are as definitely (1Co_7:22-23) referred to Christ. The direct assertion of Christ’s Godhead has been the occasion of the questioning of this text, and may in early times have led to the various readings. That doctrine does not stand or fall by this verse, but as the authority of MSS. is in favour of the reading “God” we gladly accept it, and feel that to the first readers the harshness of the expression “blood of God” was not much regarded, as the words are not so written, but only suggested by the close of the verse.
which he hath purchased … blood] Better, as the price was paid once for all, “which he purchased.” The verb implies the “making of what is bought peculiarly one’s own.” It is not the usual word for “buying.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv28–32 (28) Over the which the Holy Ghost hath made…
(28) Over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers.—Better, in which the Holy Ghost set you as watchers. The word used is the same as that commonly translated bishops, but, as used here in connection with the idea of the flock, it requires a word less technically ecclesiastical. It will be noticed that the word is commonly used in the New Testament as associated with this imagery. So in 1Pe_2:25, we have “the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls,” and the corresponding verb in 1Pe_5:2, “feed the flock of God . . . taking the oversight thereof.” The appointment, as referred to the Holy Ghost, implies, probably, (1) the inward call, the impulse which drew the man to the office; (2) the attestation of that call by the voices of the prophets, as in Act_13:2, 1Ti_4:1; (3) the bestowal of gifts fitting them for the work.
To feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.—It is clear that the words as they stand in the text are of immense importance, as bearing their witness to the belief of the Apostolic Church at once in the absolute divinity of Christ and in the nature of His redemptive work. The MSS., however, vary in their readings. Some of the best uncials and versions give “God;” others, of almost equal authority, give “Lord;” others, again, combine the two “Lord and God.” The fact that elsewhere St. Paul invariably speaks of “the Church of God” (e.g., 1Co_1:2; 2Co_1:1; Gal_1:13; 1Th_2:14, et al.), and never “the Church of the Lord,” may be allowed, from one point of view, some weight as internal evidence in favour of the Received reading; while from another it may be urged that it might have tempted a transcriber to substitute a familiar for an unfamiliar phrase. Accepting that reading, the words not only confirm the great truths of the Church’s creed, but give an implicit sanction to the language of theology or devotion, when it applies to the divine nature of our Lord predicates that belong strictly to the human nature which was associated with it. So Ignatius (Romans 6) spoke of “the passion of my God,” and Tertullian (Ad Uxor, ii. 3) and Clement of Alexandria (Quis dives, c. 34) use the very phrase “the blood of God” which this passage suggests, and the Eastern Church at the council of Ephesus gave to the Blessed Virgin the title of Theotŏkos Deipara, the mother of the very God. So in the liturgy which bears the name of St. James the brother of the Lord, he is described as Adelphotheos, the brother of God, and that name is still current among the Greek Christians of Jerusalem. The general drift of the language of the New Testament writers was, however, in the other direction, and predicated human acts and attributes of the man Christ Jesus, Divine acts and attributes of the eternal Son; and it is obvious that this tends at once to greater accuracy of thought, and is really more reverential than the other.
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In the word “purchased” (or, more literally, acquired for himself), we recognise the idea, though not the word, of redemption. The same verb is used in 1Ti_3:13. The thought seems to have been one which specially characterised the teaching of St. Paul at Ephesus (Eph_1:14 : “the redemption of the purchased possession”). Comp. also, “ye were bought with a price,” in 1Co_6:20, which, it will be remembered, was written from that city. The same idea is expressed in the “peculiar people” of 1Pe_2:9; literally, a people for a purchased possession, and so, as it were, the peculium, or personal property of Him who had paid the purchase money.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv28–32 Take heed for take heed therefore, A.V. and T.R.;…
Take heed for take heed therefore, A.V. and T.R.; in for over, A.V.; bishops for overseers, A.V.; purchased for hath purchased, A.V. Take heed, etc.; prosecete eJautoiv, peculiar to Luke (Act_5:5; Luk_12:1 Luk_17:3 Luk_21:34) Now follows the weighty charge of this great bishop to the clergy assembled at his visitation. With the true feeling of a chief pastor, he thinks of the whole flock, but deals with them chiefly through the under-shepherds. If he can awaken in these individually a deep concern for the souls committed to their charge, he will have done the best that can be done for the fleck at large. The first step to such concern for the flock is that each be thoroughly alive to the worth and the wants of his own soul. "Take heed unto yourselves." He that is careless about his own salvation will never lie careful about the souls of others. (comp. 1Ti_4:16) In the which the Holy Ghost, etc. jEn w, no doubt, does not strictly contain the idea of "over which;" but the idea of authoritative oversight is contained in the word ejpiskopov, and therefore the rendering of the A.V., and of Alford"s A.V. revised, is substantially correct. Perhaps the exact force of the ejn w is "among which," like ejn hJmin. (Act_2:29, and elsewhere) The call and appointment to the ministry is the special function of the Holy Ghost (Joh_20:22, Joh_20:23; Act_12:2; Ordination Service) To feed; poimainein, the proper word for "tending" in relation to tomnion, the flock, as poimhn, the pastor, or shepherd, is for him who so feeds the flock of Christ. (see Joh_10:11, 16 21:17; Heb_13:20 1Pe_5:2, 1Pe_5:3) St. Peter applies the titles of "Shepherd and Bishop of souls" to the Lord Jesus. (1Pe_2:25) St. Paul does not use the metaphor elsewhere, except indirectly, and in a different aspect. (1Co_9:7) The Church of God; margin, Church of the Lord. There is, perhaps, no single passage in Scripture which has caused more controversy and evoked more difference of opinion than this. The T.R. has tou Qeou, but most uncials have tou Kuriou. Kuinoel asserts that the reading tou Kuriou rests on the authority, besides that of the oldest manuscripts, of the old versions, and of many el" the most ancient Fathers, and says that it is undoubtedly the true reading. Meyer, too, thinks that the external evidence for tou Kuriou is decisive, and that the internal evidence from the fact that ejkklhsia tou Kuriou Occurs nowhere else in St. Paul"s writings, is decisive also. But on the other hand, both the Codex Vaticanus (B) and the Codex Sinaitieus (a), the two oldest manuscripts, have Qeou (Qu). The Vulgate, too, and the Syriac have it; and such early Fathers as Ignatius (in his Epistle to the Ephesians) and Tertullian use the phrase, "the blood of God," which seems to have been derived from this passage. And Alford reasons powerfully in favor of Qeou, dwelling upon the fact that the phrase ejkklhsia tou Qeou occurs ten times in St. Paul"s writings, that of ejkklhsia tou Kuriou not once. The chief authorities on each side of the question are:
(1) in favor of tou Kuriou, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Bornemann, Lunge, Olshausen, Davidson, Meyer, Hackett, as also Grotius, Griesbaeh (doubtfully), Wetstein, Le Clerc, and others;
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(2) in favor of tou Qeou, Bengel, Mill, Whitby, Wolf, Scholz, Knapp, Alford, Wordsworth, etc., and the R.T. It should be added that the evidence for tou Qeou has been much strengthened by the publication by Tischendorf, in 1563, of rite Codex Sinaiticus, and in 1867 of the Codex Vaticanus, from his own collation. The result is that tou Qeou seems to be the true reading (see the first of the two collects for the Ember weeks in the Book of Common Prayer. With regard to the difficulty that this reading seems to imply the unscriptural phrase, the blood of God," and to savor of the Monophysite heresy, it is obvious to reply that there is a wide difference between the phrase as it stands and such a one as the direct blood of God," which Athanasius and others objected to. The mental insertion of "the Lord" or "Christ," as the subject of the verb purchased," is very easy, the transition from God the Father to God incarnate being one that might be made almost imperceptibly. Others (including the R.T.) take the reading of several good manuscripts, Diaou, and understand tou ijdiou to be an ellipse for tou ijdiou uiJou, the phrase used in Rom_8:32; and so render it which he purchased by the blood of his own Son." OiJ ijdi) his own, is used without a substantive in Joh_1:11. This clause is added to enhance the preciousness of the flock, and the responsibility of those who have the oversight of it.
Vers. 28-31. Paul at Miletus: the prospect which pains.
Paul, pursuing his path of self-sacrificing devotion, going on to he knew not what dangers ahead, looking a violent death in the face, was calm, tranquil, even joyful. But the apostle, looking forward to a distracted and injured Church, torn by false doctrine, laid waste by sinful men, was grieved at heart, and he uses the language of solemn adjuration and entreaty.
I HUMAN APPREHENSION. We often go forward with painful apprehension that some ill is about to befall us; therefore with hesitating step, with trembling heart.
1. It has been that men had an intimation from God that evil was in store for them. This was not uncommon in Old Testament times, when the purpose of God was frequently revealed. It was the case with Paul now; it was revealed to him that dark days were ahead in the experience of the Church at Ephesus.
2. It may be the action of individual insight. By the use of a keen and penetrating judgment, a man can often perceive that events are leading up to a disaster.
3. It may be a simple and sound conclusion from the common heritage of man. It is certain that dark shadows must be across the path we tread, and that we shall be entering them before long.
II THE SPECIAL ANXIETY OF THE CHRISTIAN PASTOR. Paul apprehended:
1. Attack from without: "Grievous wolves entering in not sparing the flock" (ver. 29).
2. Mischief from within: "Of your own selves shall men arise, etc. (ver. 30). This is what the Church of Christ has now to fear: the attacks of infidelity, the invitation to immorality, from without; and the subtler and more perilous dangers of spiritual decline, of the decay of faith, of injurious doctrines, of the breath of worldliness, within.
III THE ATTITUDE OF THE RESPONSIBLE. (Vers. 28-31.) Paul solemnly charged these elders, as those to whose care was committed the Church of God that sacred body which the Lord had redeemed by his own blood to do these three things.
1. To keep diligently their own hearts: "Take heed to yourselves". (see Pro_4:23)
2. To watch carefully the spirit and course of their people: "And to all the flock.
3. To sustain the life of the members by providing spiritual nourishment: "Feed the Church of God." If we would do what the Divine Head of the Church demands of us, and if we would follow in the footsteps of the most devoted of his servants (see ver. 31), we must
(1) cultivate a deep sense of our responsibility;
(2) exercise unremitting vigilance over ourselves and our charge;
(3) supply that kind and measure of sacred truth which is fitted to strengthen and to purify those whom we undertake to teach. C.
The true Church.
Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood." Significance of this passage in view of Church history and present controversies.
I THE SPIRITUALITY OF THE CHURCH. "Purchased with his own blood." Therefore neither an external organism nor a mere idea, but composed of living souls, whose salvation is secured by the merit of his blood. Not a mixed multitude, united by a formal rite, but, professedly at least, these who are partakers of Christ, The admixture of the evil with the good is the work of the "enemy" who sows the tares, not of the original formation of the Church.
II INFLUENCE OF THE SPIRITUAL VIEW or CHURCH LIFE.
1. On those who "feed the Church," helping them to take heed to themselves and their flocks.
2. On the individual members of the Church, in the assurance of Divine grace, in the maintenance of vigilance.
3. On the world, both in "warning" away these who would defile the Church, and in inviting those who would enter in at the open gate into eternal life. The apostle"s words regarded as prophetic. The greatest dangers of the Church have always arisen from lowering the conception of what the Church is. In our proneness to error, let us turn "to the Law and to the testimony. R.
Blood purchased.
This figure of speech is directly connected with a reference to the Church as a flock; to the officers as overseers, or shepherds; and to their duty as feeding the flock. It is important to inquire how far the shepherd and sheep figure will explain the scriptural allusions to redemption, or salvation by blood. The figure as used by our Lord in John 10. should be compared with the expression in our text, "which he hath purchased with his own blood." The question which we have to consider is How does a shepherd purchase his sheep with his blood? The answer takes two possible forms.
I THE SHEPHERD PUTS HIS LIFE IN PERIL IN DEFENDING HIS SHEEP. This is the characteristic feature of the good shepherd as opposed to the hireling. The good shepherd purchases their safety every day by his willingness to shed his blood in their defense. So a mother may be said to purchase the health of a sick child by her willingness to give her life for his, imperiling her own life by her anxious watching and care.
II THE SHEPHERD MAY ACTUALLY GIVE HIS LIFE IN FIGHTING AND KILLING THE WOLVES. If he kills the wolves he saves the sheep, though he may himself die of his wounds; and then he plainly purchases the safety of the flock with his blood. These figures may be applied to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He imperiled his life for our defense. He met our great foe in conflict. He overcame sin and death, and plucked death"s sting away. He died indeed in the struggle, but he set us free; and so he has purchased us by his own blood. He has won, by his great act of self-sacrifice, our love and life forever. Compare the figure as employed by St. Peter. R.T. (1Pe_1:18, 1Pe_1:19)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv28, 32 Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the…
Act_20:28-31
Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock.
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Take heed
I. To yourselves. To your--
1. Doctrine.
2. Walk.
II. To the flock. To its--
1. Divine dignity.
2. Human infirmity.
III. To the wolves. Those who--
1. Threaten without.
2. Look within its fold. (W. W. Wythe.)
Take heed
The logic and the theology of the sentence are equally good. The first care of the spiritual shepherd is for himself, the next for the flock. In some parts they paint garden walls black, that they may absorb more of the suns heat and so impart more warmth to the fruit trees that lean on them. Those who in any sphere care for souls stand in the position of the garden wall. The more that the teacher absorbs for himself of Christs love, the more benefit will others obtain from him. It is not the wall which glitters most in the sunshine that does most for the trees that are trained against it: it is the wall which is least seen that takes in most heat for itself: and the wall that has most heat in itself gives out most for the benefit of the trees. So it is not the preacher who flashes out into the greatest flame himself that imparts most benefit to inquirers who sit at his feet. Those who drink in most of the Masters spirit are most useful in the world. Those who first take heed to themselves will be most effective in caring for the spiritual weal of those who look up to them. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
Eastern shepherds and their flocks
The work of a shepherd in the East is in many respects different from a shepherds work among ourselves. The Oriental flock does not graze within fenced pasturages, but moves hither and thither through the wild pasture lands, following the lead of the shepherd, and often going to a great distance from inhabited places. It therefore takes all the shepherds vigilance to keep his flock together--to prevent one part of it from straying gradually, in search of pasturage, to the north, another to the south, another to the east, and another to the west. In these remote districts, too, attacks from wild beasts are not uncommon; a wolf or a bear will pounce suddenly upon an unsuspecting sheep, and the shepherd must risk his own life, as David did, to rescue the imperilled sheep. The shepherd, or overseer, is responsible to his employer for the safety of the sheep, and he must render a strict account of that which has been lost, or which has perished. Here is an extract from Oriental law on this point, as quoted by Paxton: Cattle shall be delivered over to the cowherd in the morning; the cowherd shall tend them during the whole day with grass and water; and in the evening shall re-deliver them to the master, in the same manner as they were entrusted to him. If, by the fault of the cowherd, any of the cattle be lost or stolen, that cowherd shall make it good. When a cowherd has led cattle to any distant place to feed, if any die of distemper, in spite of the fact that the cowherd applied the proper remedy, the cowherd shall carry the head, the tail, the forefoot, or some such convincing proof taken from the animals body, to the owner of the cattle. Having done this, he shall be no further answerable. If he neglects to act thus, he shall make good the loss. Paul, therefore, compares the Ephesian Church to a flock of sheep, seeking pasturage under the guidance of their shepherds, yet prone of themselves to wander, and constantly exposed to peril from wild beasts. The shepherds, he teaches, are answerable not only for the divisions which occur in the flock through their neglect, but also for the attacks of wild beasts, permitted by the same neglect. (S. S. Times.)
Over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers.
The minister in the flock
The word over should be rendered in. The minister is in the flock; he is in no sense extraneous to it. He is part of it. Some have read the word over violently and offensively, and have asserted rights of dominion over faith, practice, and ritual such as were contrary to the whole idea of the gospel. One is your Master even Christ, etc. The minister is in the flock--
I. As to his personal hope.
1. He is a sinner, and if conscientious feels himself even more so than others. Negligence in him is more serious, example for evil more influential.
2. He wants a Saviour, if possible more than his people. If he is to be the overlooker, he must first be the penitent and the forgiven. It is this which gives pathos, solemnity, and authority, to every part of his ministration--because he is in the flock and partakes with it of the refreshing streams and free pastures.
II. As to all the relations and responsibilities of his life. Before he is anything else he must be a good man. The ministry is not a separate caste, living its whole life by itself, having a tariff of habits, and rules quite different from the ordinary rules and duties of Christian men. The ministry is exemplary before it is episcopal. Its whole idea is that of going before and showing the way in all that is pure and beautiful and of good report.
III. As to sympathy. If the minister were over the flock he might be sorry for its distresses and sins. Sympathy there can only be where there is insideness to the flock. Even our Lord must incorporate Himself with us if He would make us know and feel that He can sympathise.
IV. As to comfort. Oh the comfort of being just one of the worshippers, of losing the official in the personal, the minister in the Christian--in communion, in prayer, in preaching. (Dean Vaughan.)
To feed the Church of God.--
The Church of God
Is here regarded as a society--
I. Of priceless value.
1. It is a flock, a name given to the Church of the Old Testament (Isa_40:11; Isa_63:11; Jer_13:17; Jer_23:2; Jer_31:10; Eze_34:3; Mic_7:14, etc., etc.), and which Christ also applied to His disciples (Luk_12:32). It was a favourite figure with the apostle Peter (1Pe_5:2-3).
2. This flock is incalculably precious because it has been purchased with the blood of God, or rather of the Lord, referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. Other societies exist irrespective of Christs mediation--scientific, political, commercial--but the Church is acquired by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Had He not died, it never would have been.
II. Well guarded.
1. It is put in charge of earthly shepherds. There is here--
(1) Self-vigilance; Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves. The spiritual shepherd must take care of himself first. He must enlighten his own judgment, discipline his own heart, and train his own soul into Christian virtues first. He must save himself before he can save others (1Ti_4:14).
(2) Church vigilance. And to all the flock. They are to take heed of the Church, to instruct, guide, guard it, and in every way promote its spiritual welfare.
2. The earthly shepherds are appointed by the Holy Ghost.
III. Assailed by enemies (Act_20:29).
1. Those who would come from without--worldly men, malignant persecutors.
2. Those who would spring up from within--professed members. The Churchs greatest enemies have sprung from her own bosom.
IV. Demanding the utmost attention. Pauls labour was--
1. Incessant. Night and day.
2. Earnest. With tears. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Church membership
I. The claims of the Church. These are founded--
1. In the language of Scripture upon the subject of the Church. The Bible ever speaks of the inward as above the outward, elevates the power of godliness above the mere form of it, and tells us of at least one who, without baptism or the Church, went into paradise. Still, the Bible has some very strong language on the subject. Take the statement of the text. Can you imagine that that for which such a price was paid, has no claim upon your allegiance? But take other testimonies (Isa_49:15-16; Eph_1:22-23; Eph_5:22-27).
2. In the relation of Christ to the Church. It is true that there is much in the Church for which Christ gave no warrant. Church vestments and ceremonies, and the minute ramifications of Church creeds, all come under this head. As upon an old vessel, so upon the Church in her navigation of the sea of Time, many barnacles have fastened, and these, so far from being a necessary part of the Church, do but oppose her power and impede her progress. But we must take Christs idea of the Church. He called His followers out from among men into a special relationship to Himself and to each other. One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. And by these words He constituted a Church. And this brotherhood, which He so organised in the world, He arranged to perpetuate, by inaugurating two rites, which, for all time, should separate His people from the world, and bind them together in a compact and visible body. Now the Church being Christs own arrangement, to reject it is to reject Him.
3. In the conduct of the apostles, who, under the direction of Christ, and in possession of the Spirit, at once set up the Church and began to use it as the school, the home, the sanctuary of the disciples whom they called. That little band in the upper room was the Church. And no sooner did others, through their words, believe on Christ than they were formally added to this organisation (Act_2:47). And when Peter went to preach to Cornelius he baptized him. The believer in Jesus he enrolled as a member of the Church. So, when Paul kneeled to Jesus, he was also baptized. And so throughout all that early period. And shall anyone in view of this fact say, I will be a Christian outside of the Church? The apostles knew of no such thing as a Christian willingly outside the Church.
4. In the fact that there is nothing so distinctly characteristic of the Christian life as the spirit of obedience. What wilt Thou have me to do? is the voice which comes out of the very essence of every Christian life. If ye love Me, keep My commandments. And here is the duty of Church membership, about which the Bible speaks most plainly.
5. In the principle that Christ gains men through men. This is in its widest sense the ordinance of preaching. And the widest, the most continuous, and the most forcible preaching, is by example. But how can we thus testify for Christ if we refuse to place ourselves in a Christian attitude before the eyes of the world?
II. The objections with which it is common to meet these claims.
1. There are in the Church many who give no evidence of Christian character. This is sadly true. But--
(1) Christ never declared that His Church was to be a perfect body, but said that the tares would grow with the wheat until harvest.
(2) Because another makes a mock of duty it is no reason why you should neglect it.
2. I can live a good life outside the Church. Perhaps so. But if your hope for eternity is in Christ, then to despise the Church is to despise the blood with which it was purchased; and surely no one can do this, and, at the same time, rest upon Christ for salvation.
3. I cannot agree with all the doctrines of the Church. But no Church makes the reception of all the articles of its creed a condition of membership.. Trust in Christ for salvation and a Christian life, make up the one condition of Church membership. And what is there here which you cannot receive?
4. I am not fit to be a Church member. This--
(1) May be a fact. There are those who are determined to live just as they please, without regard to Christ or conscience, and who do not care what lies beyond. Such, of course, are fit only for membership with devils. In such communion they are even now.
(2) May be a plea of simulated humility in order to get rid of duty. The man says, I am not fit, because he is not willing.
(3) May be the expression of a true consciousness of imperfection. And here it is a mistake. Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners.
Conclusion:
1. The amazing character of mens indifference here. Christ says, Behold My Church, for which I gave My blood! And men pass the Church by without notice.
2. These are words of invitation. Again the Church, through the blood by which she has been purchased, speaks unto you, asking for your attention, for your allegiance. What shall be your answer? (S. S. Mitchell, D. D.)
Which He hath purchased with His own blood.--
The infinite purchase
I. The Church of God.
1. The body of His people in all ages, whom He has called out and separated from the world.
2. Always has been, and always will be, represented by a visible organisation in the world.
3. In Gods apprehension not bounded by, nor identified with, the visible organisation by which it is represented.
II. The relation of the Church to God.
1. Belongs to Him as His purchased possession. His peculiar, not His odd or eccentric people, but the people who belong to Him.
2. Under His government and instruction through officers Divinely appointed. Over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers.
3. To the Church God has committed the truth and treasure of the gospel, together with the sacraments, and all the means of grace, as instruments for the conquest of the world.
III. The price God paid for the Church even His own blood.
1. The blood of Christ is the blood of God.
2. In the person of Christ the Divine and human natures, though distinct, are so united, that His one Person may be designated and described by the attributes of either nature.
3. The sacrifice of Christ derives an infinite value from His Divine nature. It was the Lord of glory who was crucified (1Co_2:8). Application: We are bound to belong to the visible Church as the representative of the invisible; to love it, and to labour for its advancement. It is not the gospel, but the Church, by means of the gospel, which is to conquer and reform the world. (H. J. Van Dyke, D. D.)
Pauls farewell
I. The great responsibility (Act_20:28). To feed the Church of God.
1. Nourish, strengthen, and build up the souls of men with the doctrines of grace. But before souls can be fed they must be converted. This can only be done by the Holy Ghost applying the atonement of Jesus Christ. The Church is composed of men and women who have been purchased with the blood of the Lord.
2. To do this work we must Take heed--
(1) To ourselves; our own souls must first of all each day be cared for.
(2) To the flock.
II. The reasons of the responsibility (Act_20:29-30). There is great danger ahead. Grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
1. External foes--infidelity, intemperance, etc., are wolves.
2. Internal foes--black sheep in the flock--selfish, designing men, speaking perverse things. Oh how Sabbath schools and churches are destroyed by grievous wolves and black sheep!
III. The means by which this responsibility is to be discharged (Act_20:31-38).
1. By watchfulness Therefore watch. Watch and pray was one of the Masters greatest exhortations.
2. Perseverance--a night and day toil and anxiety (Act_20:31).
3. An unswerving trust in God and in the Word of His grace (Act_20:32).
4. Self-sacrifice--we must not covet money, fame, ease, or anything that man can bestow. We must be--like our Master and like Paul--givers, not receivers (Act_20:33-35). The concluding verses (36-38) are most suggestive of the spirit we all need--prayer, love, gratitude, deep sorrow in parting with friends, and especially with those who have blessed us in the Lord! (A. H. Moment, D. D.)
Pauls farewell
I. Faithful counselling. Lessons: Take heed--
1. Unto yourselves, for you can do little for others until your own heart is set right.
2. To all the flock, for you cannot be a faithful shepherd of the Lords sheep unless you value their safety as your own.
3. To feed the Church of God. Christ was glad to purchase the sheep at the cost of His own life; ought you not willingly to make the slight sacrifice of caring for those whom He purchased at such a price.
4. Against the wolves. The bark of materialism and spiritualism and destructive criticism is a good deal worse than their bite, still you need to be watchful lest it drive some of the more timid souls out of the fold.
5. For from among yourselves men will arise with all sorts of perverse religious notions, and you will have to combat them. Do it discreetly.
6. And take courage, remembering how much easier is your testifying than was Pauls, and that your helping words and deeds, as well as his, all receive Gods approval.
II. Trustful commending. Lessons:
1. Paul commended the Ephesians unto God, and God commended Paul for the zeal with which he laboured for the welfare of the Ephesians.
2. Paul did not covet gold or silver, but he did long for something vastly more precious. What could have exceeded his eagerness to save souls.
3. Paul laboured for the necessities, not for the luxuries of life.
4. Paul laboured not only for himself, but also for those who were with him. Every one for himself is a motto of the devil. Bear ye one anothers burdens is the law of Christ.
5. Paul gave to the Ephesians an active living example of what a Christian worker should be. So doing, he gave to his words a tremendous vital force.
6. Paul worked with his hands, and was rather proud than ashamed of the fact. Hands hardened by honest toil are a much nobler possession than a soft head, or a heart hardened by an empty pride of birth.
III. Prayerful parting. Lessons: Parting--
1. Loses half its bitterness when those who are about to be separated feel that they will remain united in love for the same Saviour.
2. With a beloved pastor is a sad trial, but it is one to be borne as cheerfully as possible, if Providence is evidently calling him elsewhere.
3. Becomes easier to those who approach the hour of separation on their knees.
4. Is greatly saddened if we feel that the bodily separation is to be forever, but there may be something bitterer than that.
5. Becomes well nigh despairing to those who must harbour the fear that it is final, bodily and spiritually. But such separations were very scarce among those with whom such as Paul have been labouring. (S. S. Times.)
Pauls farewell
The Persian had conquered here, and the story of his triumphs, as the tragedian pictured it, had caused an Athenian audience to burst into tears. There are wet eyes on this Miletian shore, over a capture far more significant than Darius ever made. Hearts have been won here and knit, so as no ties of relationship can unite. They are soon to be separated. Spite of the excitement of the scene, this servant of Jesus Christ is self-possessed; his vision is clear; his advice well considered. There is review and outlook. Lessons of humility, fidelity, courage, and charity are taught by a master here, in a few graphic sentences, which the Christian Church still needs to ponder. They are condensed Epistles. There is--
I. Admonition. These were prominent members of the Church, and very dear to him. Their trials had been his, as were their victories. Knowing that they were in the world, he can but be solicitous now that he can no longer personally aid them.
1. They must first take heed unto themselves. The Church is made up of individuals. Strength or weakness in them is power or feebleness in it. Christ had redeemed them, but they must each work out their own salvation. The Holy Ghost had renewed them, but they must each say with the apostle, I am pure from the blood of all men. Only the saved can save them that hear him. The prayerless cannot inspire others to pray; nor can the ignorant, sceptical, or trifling lead any to knowledge, faith and soberness. After the close of the service in which George Herbert was inducted into the charge of Bemerton Church, a friend, wondering at his delay in leaving the building, looked in at a window and found him prostrate on the ground before the altar. Then and there he made the vow, I will be sure to live well, because the virtuous life of a clergyman is the most powerful eloquence, to persuade all that see it, to reverence and love, and at least to desire to live like him. The more precious the treasure, the more does its keeper arm himself. The Church in its collective capacity must have guardianship. Our Lords figure for it is taken from the timid sheep. The shepherd is essential to the flock. Did these brethren realise the vast responsibility? Being right themselves, they might hope rightly to perform it. They were to feed the Church. This was to be with food adapted to it. No more than the shepherd is obliged to make the grass grow upon which the flock lives, were they to create spiritual supplies. The minister has never to produce the truth for his people. He has only to find it, in its richness and freshness, and bring them to it, or it to them. To try to satisfy the cravings of the soul with mere moralities, humanities, philosophies, speculations, socialities, amusements, is to enfeeble and make it ready to perish. The Church is sound and strong, only as it incarnates the Christ.
II. Prophecy.
1. He saw not far away grievous wolves. Persecution and error were only biding their time to waste and destroy the flock. The bloody vision was realised when Aurelius and: Diocletian published the edict that the Christian name be blotted out; and before a century had passed, seducers appeared. If to be forewarned is to be forearmed, then might these Christians be secure.
2. Is it not still true that cruelty and sophistry are the enemys chosen methods of subverting the Church? Whenever it interferes with the schemes of wicked men they will attack it. Inquisitorial tortures are their resort when strong enough. Ostracism, slander, and ridicule are their milder weapons.
III. Confidence. Though such severe trials might be in store, he knew where they would be safe and prosperous. As was his habit he commends them unto One, by whom he himself in full view of bonds and affliction was able to say, None of these things move me. The gracious Word which He had given was the only means of their sanctification. Through this only did they get wisdom to read their title and secure the heavenly inheritance. Has the method changed? Over against all guesses and denials, changing as the lights and shadows of a spring day, stands now as then this rock of the truth, at once a refuge and an inspiration.
IV. Self-devotion. It is a brief rehearsal--how earnestly and honestly he had toiled, asking nothing of them in return. It had been reward enough for him to preach the gospel. And it had all been in full realisation of that matchless saying of the Lord, It is more blessed to give than to receive. Till so profound a law has been discovered and honoured by the Christian, the advance of the heavenly kingdom must be slow.
V. Prayer. Through this intercourse with God they had first really found each other. At His feet their partings must be made. How very like to that scene, sixteen hundred years after, on the shore of Holland, where another company of pilgrims were assembled, when, as the chronicler says, Ye tide (which stays for no man) calling them away ye were thus loathe to departe, their Reverd pastor falling down on his knees (and they all with him) with watrie cheeks commended them, with most fervent prairers to the Lord and his blessing. So do we clasp hands with our children, with our youth departing for their life work, with our missionaries, with our dying ones.
VI. Parting. Intelligent souls are alone capable of profound emotion. The more brutal men become, the more indifferent are they to the breaking of companionship; the more saintly the more sensitive. (D. S. Clark.)
What Paul leaves behind
1. When the apostle goes, will not the whole fabric which he seemed to represent and sustain go along with him? Is Christianity the heroism of one personality? If Pauls estimation of himself had been that of an idolater or of a superstitious person, he would have reminded the Ephesian elders that in the removal of his personality they had themselves no longer any official standing, or any claim upon public attention.
2. When Paul goes, what will be left? The Church! and the Church is greater than any member of it; the Word! and the Word is infinitely greater than all the ministers that preach it. The blood that bought the Church! and that blood is alone in its meaning, energy, and grace. Then everything will be left when Paul goes. That is the mystery of Divine love. We can take nothing away from Christs Church. The firstborn dies, but the Church is as strong as ever; the most eloquent tongue is silent, but the music of the Cross loses no note of its enchantment. It is even good for us that the apostle should be taken away: it was expedient for us that Christ Himself did not remain upon the earth in visible presence. Christianity does not depend upon its great or its little men. Like its Lord, it is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
3. Pauls charge is Paul himself, Take heed therefore unto yourselves. Paul was a severe disciplinarian. He was always undergoing the discipline of an athlete; he kept his body under lest he himself should become a castaway. Self-heed is the secret of public power. Take heed unto yourselves, and you will be gentle to other people. Take heed also to all the flock. That is the balancing consideration. The minister is not a monk, he is a public, a social man with a great shepherdly heart, that can understand and love a thousand varieties of men. Pauls conception of the ministry was regulated and inspired by his conception of the Church. Was the Church a club, a little gathering of men called together for superficial purposes or for transient enjoyment? It was a flock; it was purchased with the blood of God. Then the Church makes the ministry. The ministry has no existence apart from the Church. The minister--be he Paul or Apollos or Cephas--is but an upper seat holder.
4. Paul uses language full of suggestion and pathos. The Church of God which He hath purchased with His own blood. What grander word is there than blood? Until we contaminated it, it stood next to love. The blood is the life; the life is the blood. God purchased the Church with His own life. When you understand sin you Will understand blood. When you see the hell which sin deserves you will see the Cross which God built.
5. Why should a man care anything about the world he is going to leave? That depends upon the quality of the man. There are those who want peace in their time, and want to leave all thorny questions to he determined by those who come after them. But Paul was anxious for the fortunes of the Church at Ephesus, though he would himself see that Church no more. Christianity is not a new way of sneaking out of responsibility; Christianity is not a cunning method of leaving posterity to take care of itself. Christian love claims all time, all ages, all lands. Paul--great economist, great statesman, supreme prince of the legions of Christ--could not leave Ephesus saying, I am glad I shall suffer no more there; but he cared for Ephesus as much as if he were going to spend the remainder of his days in the endeavour to convert its citizens. Paul knew that after his departing grievous wolves should enter into the Church, not sparing the flock. The wolves could not come in so long as Paul was there. God takes away from us our mighty men that He may train us as much by their absence as He did by their presence. Who would not long to have a whole year with John Bunyan, or the greater Milton, or the fiery Baxter, or the profound Howe and Owen? Yet God is training us by their withdrawal, and Gods greatest men are always the men who are still to come. The ages do not live backward. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Personal contact with souls
As I recall my own ministerial experience I can testify that nearly all the converting work done has been by personal contact with souls. For example, I once recognised in the congregation a newcomer, and at my first visit to his house was strongly drawn to him as a very noble-hearted, manly character. A long talk with him seemed to produce little impression; but before I left, he took me upstairs to see his three or four rosy children in their cribs. As we stood looking at the sleeping cherubs, I said to him, My friend, what sort of father are you going to be to these children? Are you going to lead them towards heaven, or--the other way! That arrow lodged. He gave himself to Christ, and at our next communion season he was at the Masters table, and soon became a most useful officer in the church. (T. L. Cuyler.)
The ministers weeping time
Thomas Toller, of Kettering, exerted an extraordinary influence over the feelings of his audience, while he himself remained apparently unmoved. Being once asked, How is it possible for you to remain calm yourself while the people are weeping before you? he replied, with evident emotion, My weeping time was yesterday.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv28, 32 28–31. Take heed. Here begin the special admonitions to…
28–31. Take heed. Here begin the special admonitions to the elders. To yourselves. Their own lives must be the first subject of watchfulness. No man can be so exalted that he does not need to watch and pray. The flock. The church, the fold of the Good Shepherd, of whom they were under-shepherds, or pastors. To feed the church. “On the sincere milk of the word, that it may grow thereby.” Grievous wolves. The figure of the flock is still kept up. The “grievous wolves” were false teachers, and the special reference is to the Judaizing teachers, who taught that the Gentile Christians must keep the Jewish law. Paul's ministry was a long battle with the schismatics. See 1 Tim. 1:3, 4, 20; 2 Tim. 1:15; 2:17; also 1. By turning to these references the names of some six of these “grievous wolves” will be found. Also in Rev. 2:6 we learn that there were false teachers at Ephesus.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv28–32 28. “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to the…
28. “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to the whole flock over whom the Holy Ghost has appointed you bishops, to feed the church of God, which he purchased through his own blood.” The word “bishop” here occurs in the Greek, episcopos from epi “over,” and skopeoo, “see.” Hence it means persons charged with the spiritual oversight of the Lord’s people. Nothing but God’s truth revealed in the Bible is soul pabulum. Consequently, millions this day are starving to death for the bread of life. The precious Word is bread, meat, milk, honey and all the luscious fruits of Canaan. The little sermonettes preached by the popular pastors have scarcely a scintillation of substantial gospel truth. Sick people nauseate food, and the dead have no use for it. The masses of popular churches consist of the dead, i. e., unsaved, and the sick, i. e., weak believers, who have never cut their spiritual teeth so as to eat solid food. Hence the preacher provides aromatics for the dead and sweet milk for the babies, having nobody on hand competent to eat the fatted calf, the bread and the delicious fruits of Canaan. In all this the preacher sustains an awful responsibility for not bringing to the dead the resurrection power and to the sick the healing efficacy of the infallible panacea, i. e., the Savior’s blood. I awfully fear Judas has a vast ministerial following gathering about him in the regions of woe.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v32
Acts
THE FIGHT WITH WILD BEASTS AT EPHESUS
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PARTING COUNSELS
PARTING WORDS 1
Act 20:32.
I may be pardoned if my remarks now should assume somewhat of a more personal character than is my wont. I desire to speak mainly to my own friends, the members of my own congregation; and other friends who have come to give me a parting ‘Godspeed’ will forgive me if my observations have a more special bearing on those with whom I am more immediately connected.
The Apostle whose words I have taken for my text was leaving, as he supposed, for the last time, the representatives of the Church in Ephesus, to whom he had been painting in very sombre colours the dangers of the future and his own forebodings and warnings. Exhortations, prophecies of evil, expressions of anxious solicitude, motions of Christian affection, all culminate in this parting utterance. High above them all rises the thought of the present God, and of the mighty word which in itself, in the absence of all human teachers, had power to ‘build them up, and to give them an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified.’
If we think of that Church in Ephesus, this brave confidence of the Apostle’s becomes yet more remarkable. They were set in the midst of a focus of heathen superstition, from which they themselves had only recently been rescued. Their knowledge was little, they had no Apostolic teacher to be present with them; they were left alone there to battle with the evils of that corrupt society in which they dwelt. And yet Paul leaves them-’sheep in the midst of wolves,’ with a very imperfect Christianity, with no Bible, with no teachers-in the sure confidence that no harm will come to them, because God is with them, and the ‘word of His grace’ is enough.
And that is the feeling, dear brethren, with which I now look you in the face for the last time for a little while. I desire that you and I should together share the conviction that each of us is safe because God and the ‘word of His grace’ will go and remain with us.
I. So then, first of all, let me point you to the one source of security and enlightenment for the Church and for the individual.
We are not to separate between God and the ‘word of His grace,’ but rather to suppose that the way by which the Apostle conceived of God as working for the blessing and the guardianship of that little community in Ephesus was mainly, though not exclusively, through that which he here designates ‘the word of His grace.’ We are not to forget the ever-abiding presence of the indwelling Spirit who guards and keeps the life of the individual and of the community. But what is in the Apostle’s mind here is the objective revelation, the actual spoken word {not yet written} which had its origin in God’s condescending love, and had for its contents, mainly, the setting forth of that love. Or to put it into other words, the revelation of the grace of God in Jesus Christ, with all the great truths that cluster round and are evolved from it, is the all-sufficient source of enlightenment and security for individuals and for Churches. And whosoever will rightly use and faithfully keep that great word, no evil shall befall him, nor shall he ever make shipwreck of the faith. It is ‘able to build you up,’ says Paul. In God’s Gospel, in the truth concerning Jesus Christ the divine Redeemer, in the principles that flow from that Cross and Passion, and that risen life and that ascension to God, there is all that men need, all that they want for life, all that they want for godliness. The basis of their creed, the sufficient guide for their conduct, the formative powers that will shape into beauty and nobleness their characters, all lie in the germ in this message, ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.’ Whoever keeps that in mind and memory, ruminates upon it till it becomes the nourishment of his soul, meditates on it till the precepts and the promises and the principles that are enwrapped in it unfold themselves before Him, needs none other guide for life, none other solace in sorrow, none other anchor of hope, none other stay in trial and in death. ‘I commend you to God and the word of His grace,’ which is a storehouse full of all that we need for life and for godliness. Whoever has it is like a landowner who has a quarry on his estate, from which at will he can dig stones to build his house. If you truly possess and faithfully adhere to this Gospel, you have enough.
Remember that these believers to whom Paul thus spoke had no New Testament, and most of them, I dare say, could not read the Old. There were no written Gospels in existence. The greater part of the New Testament was not written; what was written was in the shape of two or three letters that belonged to Churches in another part of the world altogether. It was to the spoken word that he commended them. How much more securely may we trust one another to that permanent record of the divine revelation which we have here in the pages of Scripture!
As for the individual, so for the Church, that written word is the guarantee for its purity and immortality. Christianity is the only religion that has ever passed through periods of decadence and purified itself again. They used to say that Thames water was the best to put on shipboard because, after it became putrid, it cleared itself and became sweet again. I do not know anything about whether that is true or not, but I know that it is true about Christianity. Over and over again it has rotted, and over and over again it has cleared itself, and it has always been by the one process. Men have gone back to the word and laid hold again of it in its simple omnipotence, and so a decadent Christianity has sprung up again into purity and power. The word of God, the principles of the revelation contained in Christ and recorded for ever in this New Testament, are the guarantee of the Church’s immortality and of the Church’s purity. This man and that man may fall away, provinces may be lost from the empire for a while, standards of rebellion and heresy may be lifted, but ‘the foundation of God standeth sure,’ and whoever will hark back again and dig down through the rubbish of human buildings to the living Rock will build secure and dwell at peace. If all our churches were pulverised to-morrow, and every formal creed of Christendom were torn in pieces, and all the institutions of the Church were annihilated-if there was a New Testament left they would all be built up again. ‘I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace.’
II. Secondly, notice the possible benefit of the silencing of the human voice.
Paul puts together his absence and the power of the word. ‘Now I know that you will see my face no more’-’I commend you to God.’ That is to say, it is often a good thing that the voice of man may be hushed in order that the sweeter and deeper music of the word of God, sounding from no human lips, may reach our hearts. Of course I am not going to depreciate preachers and books and religious literature and the thought and the acts of good and wise men who have been interpreters of God’s meaning and will to their brethren, but the human ministration of the divine word, like every other help to knowing God, may become a hindrance instead of a help; and in all such helps there is a tendency, unless there be continual jealous watchfulness on the part of those who minister them, and on the part of those who use them, to assert themselves instead of leading to God, and to become not mirrors in which we may behold God, but obscuring media which come between us and Him. This danger belongs to the great ordinance and office of the Christian ministry, large as its blessings are, just as it belongs to all other offices which are appointed for the purpose of bringing men to God. We may make them ladders or we may make them barriers; we may climb by them or we may remain in them. We may look at the colours on the painted glass until we do not see or think of the light which strikes through the colours.
So it is often a good thing that a human voice which speaks the divine word, should be silenced; just as it is often a good thing that other helps and props should be taken away. No man ever leans all his weight upon God’s arm until every other crutch on which he used to lean has been knocked from him.
And therefore, dear brethren, applying these plain things to ourselves, may I not say that it may and should be the result of my temporary absence from you that some of you should be driven to a more first-hand acquaintance with God and with His word? I, like all Christian ministers, have of course my favourite ways of looking at truth, limitations of temperament, and idiosyncrasies of various sorts, which colour the representations that I make of God’s great word. All the river cannot run through any pipe; and what does run is sure to taste somewhat of the soil through which it runs. And for some of you, after thirty years of hearing my way of putting things- and I have long since told you all that I have got to say-it will be a good thing to have some one else to speak to you, who will come with other aspects of that great Truth, and look at it from other angles and reflect other hues of its perfect whiteness. So partly because of these limitations of mine, partly because you have grown so accustomed to my voice that the things that I say do not produce half as much effect on many of you as if I were saying them to somebody else, or somebody else were saying them to you, and partly because the affection, born of so many years of united worship, for which in many respects I am your debtor, may lead you to look at the vessel rather than the treasure, do you not think it may be a means of blessing and help to this congregation that I should step aside for a little while and some one else should stand here, and you should be driven to make acquaintance with ‘God and the word of His grace’ a little more for yourselves? What does it matter though you do not have nay sermons? You have your Bibles and you have God’s Spirit. And if my silence shall lead any of you to prize and to use these more than you have done, then my silence will have done a great deal more than my speech. Ministers are like doctors, the test of their success is that they are not needed any more. And when we can say, ‘They can stand without us, and they do not need us,’ that is the crown of our ministry.
III. Thirdly, notice the best expression of Christian solicitude and affection.
‘I commend you,’ says Paul, ‘to God, and to the word of His grace.’ If we may venture upon a very literal translation of the word, it is, ‘I lay you down beside God.’ That is beautiful, is it not? Here had Paul been carrying the Ephesian Church on his back for a long time now. He had many cares about them, many forebodings as to their future, knowing very well that after his departure grievous wolves were going to enter in. He says, ‘I cannot carry the load any longer; here I lay it down at the Throne, beneath those pure Eyes, and that gentle and strong Hand.’ For to commend them to God is in fact a prayer casting the care which Paul could no longer exercise, upon Him.
And that is the highest expression of, as it is the only soothing for, manly Christian solicitude and affection. Of course you and I, looking forward to these six months of absence, have all of us our anxieties about what may be the issue. I may feel afraid lest there should be flagging here, lest good work should be done a little more languidly, lest there should be a beggarly account of empty pews many a time, lest the bonds of Christian union here should be loosened, and when I come back I may find it hard work to reknit them. All these thoughts must be in the mind of a true man who has put most of his life, and as much of himself as during that period he could command, into his work. What then? ‘I commend you to God.’ You may have your thoughts and anxieties as well as I have mine. Dear brethren, let us make an end of solicitude and turn it into petition and bring one another to God, and leave one another there.
This ‘commending,’ as it is the highest expression of Christian solicitude, so it is the highest and most natural expression of Christian affection. I am not going to do what is so easy to do- bring tears at such a moment. I do not purpose to speak of the depth, the sacredness of the bond that unites a great many of us together. I think we can take that for granted without saying any more about it. But, dear brethren, I do want to pledge you and myself to this, that our solicitude and our affection should find voice in prayer, and that when we are parted we may be united, because the eyes of both are turned to the one Throne. There is a reality in prayer. Do you pray for me, as I will for you, when we are far apart. And as the vapour that rises from the southern seas where I go may fall in moisture, refreshing these northern lands, so what rises on one side of the world from believing hearts in loving prayers may fall upon the other in the rain of a divine blessing. ‘I commend you to God, and the word of His grace.’
IV. Lastly, notice the parting counsels involved in the commendation.
If it be true that God and His Word are the source of all security and enlightenment, and are so, apart altogether from human agencies, then to commend these brethren to God was exhortation as well as prayer, and implied pointing them to the one source of security that they might cling to that source. I am going to give no advices about little matters of church order and congregational prosperity. These will all come right, if the two main exhortations that are involved in this text are laid to heart; and if they are not laid to heart, then I do not care one rush about the smaller things, of full pews and prosperous subscription lists and Christian work. These are secondary, and they will be consequent if you take these two advices that are couched in my text:-
{a} ‘Cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart,’ as the limpet does to the rock. Cling to Jesus Christ, the revelation of God’s grace. And how do we cling to Him? What is the cement of souls? Love and trust; and whoever exercises these in reference to Jesus Christ is built into Him, and belongs to Him, and has a vital unity knitting him with that Lord. Cleave to Christ, brother, by faith and love, by communion and prayer, and by practical conformity of life. For remember that the union which is effected by faith can be broken by sin, and that there will be no reality in our union to Jesus unless it is manifested and perpetuated by righteousness of conduct and character. Two smoothly-ground pieces of glass pressed together will adhere. If there be a speck of sand, microscopic in dimensions, between the two, they will fall apart; and if you let tiny grains of sin come between you and your Master, it is delusion to speak of being knit to Him by faith and love. Keep near Jesus Christ and you will be safe.
{b} Cleave to ‘the word of His grace.’ Try to understand its teachings better; study your Bibles with more earnestness; believe more fully than you have ever done that in that great Gospel there lie every truth that we need and guidance in all circumstances. Bring the principles of Christianity into your daily life; walk by the light of them; and live in the radiance of a present God. And then all these other matters which I have spoken of, which are important, highly important but secondary, will come right.
Many of you, dear brethren, have listened to my voice for long years, and have not done the one thing for which I preach-viz. set your faith, as sinful men, on the great atoning Sacrifice and Incarnate Lord. I beseech you let my last word go deeper than its predecessors, and yield yourselves to God in Christ, bringing all your weakness and all your sin to Him, and trusting yourselves wholly and utterly to His sacrifice and life.
‘I commend you to God and to the word of His grace,’ and beseech you ‘that, whether I come to see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel.’
1 Preached prior to a long absence in Australia.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv28–32 28-35. Having thus eloquently expressed himself in reference to…
28-35. Having thus eloquently expressed himself in reference to his past fidelity and his present devotion, he gives them a prophetic warning in reference to trials which yet awaited them, and places his own example minutely before them for imitation. (28) " Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers, to be shepherds to the Church of the Lord, which he has purchased through his own blood. (29) For I know this, that after my departure, fierce wolves will enter in among you, sparing the flock. (30) Also from among yourselves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. (31) Therefore, watch; remembering that by night and by day, for three years, I ceased not to warn each one with tears. (32) And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his favor, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all the sanctified. (33) I have coveted no man's gold, or silver, or apparel. (34) You yourselves know that these hands have ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me. (35) In all things I have shown you, that so laboring, you should support the weak, and should remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. " It was a fearful responsibility which rested on the shoulders of these men, to watch as shepherds for the flock, and realize that only by fidelity like that of Paul, could they be free from the blood of them all. In leaving them to this work, he directs their thoughts to the only power sufficient to strengthen them to perform it, by commending them to God and to his Word, assuring them that the Word was able to build them up, and give them inheritance among the sanctified. This is another among many proofs which we have seen of the confidence of the apostles in the sufficiency and power of the word of God.
The closing admonition has reference to relief of the needy, and to the discharge of their duty, even if it were necessary for them to struggle hard to make their own bread and meat, remembering that it is more blessed to give than to receive. In this, also, he could appeal to his own example, saying, "You yourselves know that these hands," holding them out to them, "have ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me." Thus he warns and admonishes these elders, in a speech of inimitable pathos, which is recorded by Luke that it might bear the same lesson to elders of Churches everywhere, teaching that no less than apostolic zeal and self-sacrifice are expected of them.
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v29 The two sources of the apostasy: false teachers from…
wolves
The two sources of the apostasy: false teachers from without, 2Co 11:13-15; 2Pe 2:1-3 ambitious leaders from within,; 3Jn 1:9; 3Jn 1:10; Rev 2:6; Rev 2:15. Also,; 1Ti 1:20; 1Jn 2:19.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv28, 32 The special charge to the elders:
The special charge to the elders:
v. 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy’ Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood.
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v. 29. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
v. 30. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
v. 31. Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
With the example of the apostle before them, and with his challenge ringing in their ears, the elders of Ephesus should take heed, should attend closely, should watch over themselves. He purposely places this care first, as that which must precede the care of the flock. For only by constant watchfulness over themselves would they also be able to take proper care of the flock, of the congregation, which was in need of proper feeding and the most faithful attendance. For they are still members of the flock, though the Holy Ghost has placed them in the midst of the flock as overseers, with the one aim and purpose, namely, to feed and nourish the congregation, the Church of the Lord at this place, with spiritual food in proper amounts. Note that the elders are here addressed as bishops, or overseers, showing that in the times of the apostles there was no difference between the two offices, the names being used indiscriminately. No hierarchy has been established by God’s command. It is most significant that Paul describes the congregation of the Lord as being purchased, acquired by purchase, through His own blood. "This is surely a clear text, from which follows without all contradiction that Christ, our Lord, through whose blood the Church was purchased, is God, to whom the Church belongs. For he says’ clearly: It is God, who through His blood has won the Church and whose own the Church is. Since now, as we have heard, the persons are distinct, and it still is written here that God Himself through His blood has purchased the Church, therefore the conclusion comes with great force that God has His own blood which He has shed for His Church, that is, that Christ, our Savior, is true God, born of the Father from eternity, thereafter also by the Virgin Mary in time become a man and born. " The responsibility being so great, therefore, with such precious souls to give an account for, Paul’s warning against two dangers which his prophetic vision could foresee, came with double emphasis. He knew that after his departure from them, in a future which was not greatly distant, there would enter into the flock from without grievous, ravening, ferocious wolves, false teachers that would have no mercy on the flock, but would use every means to disrupt the congregation, to murder the souls by trying to persuade them to accept false doctrine. And in addition there would be factionists from within, out of their own membership, men that would arise without call and authority and establish themselves as teachers, with a doctrine full of perverse and antichristian matter, with the intention of drawing away those that were already Christians, the latter thereby becoming guilty of apostasy from the truth and from the true Church of Christ. These two dangers looming up before them, the elders of Ephesus should watch, be on their guard, exert constant vigilance, always remembering that Paul, for a space of three years, in round numbers, had not ceased night and day to admonish every single one of them with tears. His faithfulness should therefore serve as a continual incentive to them in the entire work of their responsible office. Note: To this day it is the Holy Ghost that gives to the congregations the teachers of the Gospel. For though He does not call immediately, yet He uses the congregations as His instruments and directs the affairs of His Church; therefore the congregations should also accept the pastors chosen by them in this spirit, and pledge them to teach and to watch, just as Paul here did the elders of Ephesus.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv28, 31 "Because what I have just said is true," referring…
Therefore
"Because what I have just said is true," referring to all that Paul has said so far in his speech about his leaving them.
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the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be careful to shepherd the church of God
Believers are likened to a "flock" of sheep here. Church leaders are entrusted by God with the care of the community of believers just as a shepherd would care for his flock of sheep and protect them from wolves. AT: "the group of believers the Holy spirit has entrusted to you. Be sure to take care of the church of God" (See: Metaphor)
the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood
The shedding of the "blood" of Christ here is likened to a payment to God for our sins. AT: "the people Christ saved from their sins by shedding his blood on the cross" (See: Metaphor)
his own blood
Here "blood" stands for Christ's death. (See: Metonymy)
vicious wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock
This is a picture of people who teach false doctrine and who harm the community of believers as though they were wolves that eat the sheep of the flock. AT: "many enemies will come among you and try to harm the community of believers" (See: Metaphor)
in order to draw away the disciples after them
A false teacher convincing believers to start believing his false teaching is spoken of as if he were leading sheep away from the flock to follow him. AT: "in order to convince people who are disciples of Christ to become his disciples instead" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
flocks
Holy Spirit
oversee
shepherd
church
God
blood
wolf
corrupt
disciple
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv28–29 20:28 Paul refers to the church as God’s people…
20:28 Paul refers to the church as God’s people and God’s flock (cp. 1 Pet 2:25; 5:2, 4). Elsewhere the church is called the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27; Eph 1:23; 4:12; Col 1:24); the bride of Christ (2 Cor 11:2; Rev 19:7; see Eph 5:25-32); the temple of the living God (1 Cor 3:16; 2 Cor 6:16); a chosen people, royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession (1 Pet 2:9); and God’s field, God’s building (1 Cor 3:9). • Paul expected the leaders to feed and shepherd the church over which the Holy Spirit had appointed them as leaders (see 1 Tim 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-7; 1 Pet 5:1-4; cp. Acts 6:2-4).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.