Acts 20:17-39--Paul Speaks to the Ephesian Elders

Acts 20:17-38
English Standard Version
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Paul Speaks to the Ephesian Elders​
17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. 18 And when they came to him, he said to them:

“You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; 20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 22 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 25 And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. 32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. 34 You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. 35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

36 And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. 37 And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, 38 being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.

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This is Paul's farewell address. He knows at this point that he's going to Jerusalem and he is going to tell the elders of the Ephesian church that go to send him off that he is not coming back that way again.  It seemed Paul had intended to get out of town without seeing those in Ephesus, for it would be a long and hard "Goodbye" for all, but he decided to at least call for the elders when in Miletus so that they could send him off.  This city and this church had been a home away from home for Paul and his team for many years now, so it was only fitting to say goodbye to those who had not only been close to him personally, but partners in his ministry and would continue to the work after he had left.

Paul starts his farewell address by thanking them for the very things I just mentioned--that he lived among them ever since he first set foot into the province of Asia, and how he faced great persecution from the Jews in the area, and yet Paul did not shrink away from declaring the truth of the gospel to them both in public areas and by going house to house to meet with them individually.  Paul's message was bold and simple:  Jesus, the Son of God, is the only Way of salvation for both Jews and Gentiles.   All humanity needs to be saved and must come to Him by faith, confess and repent of their sins, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation (and then they would be immediately baptized in obedience to the Lord's command, though baptism is not part of the process of justification, it is an outward sign to everyone else that you affiliate and align yourself with this gospel message).

Paul knows that the Spirit has told him that he is to go to Jerusalem, and while he doesn't know exactly what is going to happen when he gets there, Paul already has had some indication from the Spirit that he will be arrested when he gets there.  Let's take a moment to remember the prophesy made to Ananias concerning Paul in Acts 9:15b-16, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”  Paul may have been told these words by now for Luke certainly knew of them to write them down and Paul had suffered many things, and there were times that he had spoken in front of some governors, and he certainly carried the name of Jesus before the Gentiles and the children of Israel, but we get some feeling that part about "before kings" may not have been fulfilled yet.  What did Jesus mean when He said that about Paul and his ministry?  Paul just knows that whatever lies ahead of him will mean more imprisonment and afflictions, and there is a hint that shows that he believes that he is close to death as he starts talking of finishing the course that was laid out before him.  This sounds similar to the wording that he used in 2 Timothy 4: 6-8,

6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Paul will be certain at that point that the end is near, but he only has some impressions about it at this point, but Paul speaks with certainty that whatever happens, none of them will ever see his face again (he may write them letters, but he will not come to visit them in-person and stay with them).  This makes all of them very sad and they try to discourage Paul from leaving, but Paul insists that he must be obedient to the Spirit and that he must go, and that the timing of his departure is critical, for he needs to be in Jerusalem for Pentecost.  Since Paul is going and never coming back in person, he needs to make sure that these elders know that they are now responsible for oversight of the church in Ephesus and for teaching, preaching, discipline and all other duties of an Elder (Paul lays these out in some of his New Testament epistles).  Paul says that he knows that he has done the work there that the Lord called him to and has taken care of the Church that Jesus purchased with His own blood, so Paul has no bloodguilt on himself, but he warns these elders that now that responsibility is on them and they must be careful to watch over the Church as Jesus Himself would.

Paul also knows that as soon as he leaves, there will be false teachers that will creep in among them to try to distort the gospel message that has been preached (both the Judaizers that want to add works to the gospel and the pagan Gentiles philosophers that want to tell people that they should indulge their flesh and that they should be "Christians" in name only but that they should live like children of the flesh and the devil even while calling themselves children of God).  Paul describes these false teachers as wolves that will come and try to devour the sheep of the flock of God or at least lure them away , and these Elders will be shepherds that must care for and defend the sheep, possibly willing to lay down their own lives.

Paul uses himself as an example for them of how he labored night and day to teach and admonish everyone.  He did not try to get rich off of the message that he was preaching (this is one of the ways that they would recognize the false teachers, as they would be greedy and it would be obvious that they had a heart full of covetousness).  Paul took care of himself and his team so that the churches he was ministering to, to the best of his ability, had no need to support him or his team members, and he took what little he did have and gave freely to others so that he could demonstrate to all of that that "It is more blessed to give than to receive."  This is how Paul expects all of these elders to live now.  It is a high calling.

After he finished his farewell address they had a good long cry together for they were very sad about the fact that they would never see his face again, and they accompanied him all the way to the ship that he would board to head towards Jerusalem.  We'll pick up here next time as Paul and his companions will travel towards Jerusalem and he'll get more information about what awaits him once he gets there.