Scripture Daily

Context No. 141 of 4322 · Acts

Context · Reflection

Acts 20:25-38: in context

25“Now, behold, I know that you all, among whom I went about preaching God’s Kingdom, will see my face no more. 26Therefore I testify to you today that I am clean from the blood of all men, 27for I didn’t shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 28Take 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. 29For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn’t cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears. 32Now, 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. 33I coveted no one’s silver, gold, or clothing. 34You yourselves know that these hands served my necessities, and those who were with me. 35In 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.’ ” 36When he had spoken these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. 37They all wept freely, and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him, 38sorrowing most of all because of the word which he had spoken, that they should see his face no more. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

Paul is on his way to Jerusalem, expecting arrest, and has stopped at Miletus and sent for the elders of the church at Ephesus, where he had worked for three years. This passage is his farewell to them, the only speech in Acts addressed to Christian leaders rather than outsiders.

He tells them they will not see his face again. He says he is innocent of the blood of all, because he did not shrink from declaring the whole counsel of God. Then the charge: keep watch over yourselves and over the flock, because after my departure fierce wolves will come in, and from among your own selves men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples. The danger he names is internal, not external.

Then he points at his hands. These hands ministered to my necessities and to those with me. I coveted no one's silver or gold. And he closes by quoting Jesus: it is more blessed to give than to receive. That saying appears in none of the four Gospels. It survives only here, in a farewell speech, remembered by a man who never met Jesus in the flesh. Then they all weep and kiss him, grieving most at the words that they would not see his face again. What have I been handed by word of mouth that would be lost if I did not pass it on?

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