Acts 20:28 - Exposition

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.; προσέχετε ἑαυτοῖς , peculiar to Luke ( Acts 5:1-42 :53; Luke 12:1 ; Luke 17:3 ; Luke 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. In the which the Holy Ghost , etc. ἐν ᾧ , no doubt, does not strictly contain the idea of "over which;" but the idea of authoritative oversight is contained in the word ἐπίσκοπος , and therefore the rendering of the A.V., and of Alford's A.V. revised, is substantially correct. Perhaps the exact force of the ἐν ᾧ is "among which," like ἐν ἡμῖν ( Acts 2:29 , and elsewhere). The call and appointment to the ministry is the special function of the Holy Ghost ( John 20:22 , John 20:23 ; Acts 12:2 ; Ordination Service). To feed ; ποιμαίνειν , the proper word for "tending" in relation to τὸ ποίμνιον , the flock, as ποιμήν , the pastor, or shepherd, is for him who so feeds the flock of Christ (see John 10:11 , John 10:16 ; John 21:17 ; Hebrews 13:20 ; 1 Peter 5:2 , 1 Peter 5:3 ). St. Peter applies the titles of "Shepherd and Bishop of souls" to the Lord Jesus ( 1 Peter 2:25 ). St. Paul does not use the metaphor elsewhere, except indirectly, and in a different aspect ( 1 Corinthians 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 τοῦ θεοῦ , but most uncials have τοῦ κυρίου . Kuinoel asserts that the reading τοῦ κυρίου 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 τοῦ κυρίου is decisive, and that the internal evidence from the fact that ἐκκλησία τοῦ κυρίου 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 ( א ), the two oldest manuscripts, have θεοῦ ( θυ ). 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 θεοῦ , dwelling upon the fact that the phrase ἐκκλησία τοῦ θεοῦ occurs ten times in St. Paul's writings, that of ἐκκλησία τοῦ κυρίου not once. The chief authorities on each side of the question are: