Acts 20:28

To yourselves and to all the flock To yourselves first, that you may duly care for the flock. Compare 1 Timothy 4:16. Overseers (ἐπισκόπους) Denoting the official function of the elders, but not in the later ecclesiastical sense of bishops, as implying an order distinct from presbyters or elders. The two terms are synonymous. The elders, by virtue of their office, were overseers. To feed (ποιμαίνειν) See on Matthew 2:6. The word embraces more than feeding; signifying all that is included in the office of a shepherd: tending, or shepherding. Purchased (περιεποιήσατο) Only here and 1 Timothy 3:13. See on peculiar people, 1 Peter 2:9. The verb means, originally, to make (ποιέω) to remain over and above (περί): hence to keep or save for one's self; to compass or acquire.

Acts 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, ( 1 Peter 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, John 1:1 .

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; 1. By his choosing and nominating of them, which was then by a special instinct, or immediate warrant from the Spirit, Acts 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, Acts 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 {Acts 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), Jeremiah 23:4 John 21:16,17 . The church of God; our Saviour is so called; for the Word was God, John 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, Isaiah 53:10 Philippians 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

Acts 20:28 . Προσέχετε , take heed ) This care I devolve from myself on you, Acts 20:31 .— ἑαυτοῖς ) first to yourselves , then to the flock .— τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον , the Holy Ghost ) The Holy Spirit mediately, through the instrumentality of Paul, appointed them. Comp. ch. Acts 14:23 . But a call which has not been given by the Holy Spirit really, does not deserve to be termed even a mediate call.— ἐπισκόπους , overseers or bishops ) At this time the appellation, “bishops,” was not yet the customary and peculiar one (applied to those subsequently bearing that name): but here it has the meaning which the force of its etymological derivation requires, and is applicable to all presbyters , whose title (“Presbyter”) was a more customary one, owing to its existence in the Jewish Church. Afterwards Timothy and Titus, whom the apostles had set over the presbyters in a certain peculiar manner, were entitled bishops: and yet the bishops also did not cease to be entitled presbyters: Titus 1:7 ; Titus 1:5 , where he who is called a bishop in Acts 20:7 , is called an elder in Acts 20:5 ; 1 Peter 5:2 ; 1 Peter 5:1 ; Php 1:1 .— τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ , the Church of God ) Others read τὴν ἐκκλησίαν Κυρίου ; many, with the Slavonic Version, τὴν ἐκκλησίαν Κυρίου καἰ Θεοῦ . Paul often uses the appellation, the Church of God , in the Ep. to the Thess. Cor. Gal. Tim., never the Church of the Lord . Nor does he use the expression at all, Lord and God , interposing the particle and between.

Therefore it remains that we read the Church of GOD: although, if in this passage Paul used the expression, Church of the Lord , according to the parallelism of the Old Testament it would be the Church of Jehovah .[123]— ἣν περιεποιήσατο , which He hath purchased ) This therefore is a most precious flock [as having cost so dearly].— ἰδίου , His own ) For it is the blood of the Son of GOD: 1 John 1:7 , “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” [123] Τοῦ Θεοῦ is supported by B Vulg. (oldest MSS.), Harclean Syriac, Cyril of Alexandria, Epiphanius. Τοῦ Κυρίου is read by ACDE de Memph. Theb. Iren. (Latin) 201, Eusebius, Lucifer 226, Jerome. Τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ Θεοῦ , the common reading of MSS., is supported by none of the oldest authorities: the Slavonic Version of the 9th cent. is no good authority. Τοῦ Θεοῦ , in connection with “blood,” is the more difficult reading, and therefore so far less likely to be an interpolation. But ἡ ἐκκλησία τοῦ Κυρίου is a still less likely reading to be interpolated, as the phrase is found nowhere else in the N. Test., so that a transcriber would readily change it into τοῦ Θεοῦ , as in 1 Corinthians 1:2 : and 1 Peter 5:2 , ποίμνιον τοῦ Θεοῦ , might also suggest the change. Even if the preponderance of testimony lead to the reading Κυρίου , still the infinite value of Christ’s own blood , as alone equal to meet the justice of an infinite God, is clearly brought out. B, the oldest MS. is weighty authority for τοῦ Θεοῦ .

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to {g} feed the church of God, which {h} he hath purchased with {i} his own blood. (g) To keep it, to feed and govern it. (h) A notable sentence for Christ's Godhead: which shows 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 as deriving from one another, and not in the original: which in old time the godly fathers termed a communicating or fellowship of properties or attributes, that is to say, a making common of that to two, which belongs but to one. (i) The words his own show forth the excellency of that blood.

28. Take heed … unto yourselves—Compare 1Ti 3:2-7; 4:16; 6:11. and to all the flock—Compare Heb 13:17. Observe here how the personal is put before the pastoral care. over … which the Holy Ghost hath made you—Compare Joh 20:22, 23; Eph 4:8, 11, 12; Re 3:1. (Ac 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!

Verse 28. - 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 5:53; 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 (comp. 1 Timothy 4:16 ). In the which the Holy Ghost , etc. Ἐν ῷ , 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 ῷ 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, 23 ; Acts 12:2 ; Ordination Service).