भाष्य सध्या फक्त इंग्रजीत उपलब्ध आहे. मराठी भाषांतर प्रगतीपथावर आहे.
Acts 20 — Take Heed Therefore Unto Yourselves, and to All the Flock
Paul leaves Ephesus, travels through Macedonia and Greece, comes back through Macedonia. At Troas Eutychus falls asleep, falls from a third loft, and is taken up dead; Paul restores his life. At Miletus he calls for the Ephesian elders. The famous farewell — take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock; grievous wolves will enter in; I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace. He kneels with them; they pray; they weep; they accompany him to the ship. They should see his face no more.
“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.”
— Acts 20:28
- v.1-6 Through Macedonia and Greece
- v.7-12 Eutychus raised at Troas
- v.13-16 Toward Jerusalem
- v.17-38 Miletus — farewell to the Ephesian elders
All the counsel of God. Not selected parts; the whole. Paul's ministry was comprehensive, not curated. Hard doctrines, sober warnings, glorious promises — he preached them all.
A test for any pulpit. If the hard parts of Scripture are quietly avoided, the counsel of God is not all being declared. The elders who follow Paul are charged with the same comprehensive faithfulness.
Take heed... to yourselves. First. Pastoral care of others must begin with the pastor's own soul. The shepherd who neglects his own life cannot tend others well.
The church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. The price of the flock is named. The pastor handles what Christ bled to acquire. Carelessness with the flock is contempt for the price.
It is more blessed to give than to receive. A saying of the Lord Jesus preserved here that is not found in any Gospel. Paul recalled it for these elders; it has rung in the church's ears ever since.
A reorientation of blessedness. The world counts the receiver blessed; Christ pronounces the giver more so. The pastor's posture toward the weak — labor for them, support them — flows from this conviction.
Verse 28 places a sober weight on every spiritual leader. The flock cost Christ His blood; do not treat them lightly. And the order matters — take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock. Pastors who neglect their own walk to attend to others end up hollow, and eventually the flock suffers anyway. Tend the inner life first, and the outer ministry will have something to give.
The Miletus address is the most pastoral of Paul's speeches — and Christ stands at its center. The ministry... which I have received of the Lord Jesus (v.24); the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood (v.28); the words of the Lord Jesus (v.35). Paul's entire pastoral theology is Christological. He is leaving the Ephesian elders to a Master they will see no less than he did, and to a Word of grace able to build them up.
None of these things move me. Bonds and afflictions await him in every city (v.23), yet he is unmoved. Calling, not comfort, governs the apostle's steps.
Finish my course with joy. The aim is not avoidance of suffering but completion of mission. Joy attends the finished course, not the convenient one.