NOTES for Act 20:1-38
This conversation between the apostle Paul and the Ephesian elders is probably one of the most dramatic passages in Acts. Paul knows that he is going to meet trials and that he will never again see most of his brothers and fellow workers. Therefore his words to them are a kind of spiritual testament, the most important thing he can say to Christ's disciples. He reminds them that he did not preach to them a new teaching, a new law, or a new religion; he simply became the servant and witness of the beginning of their own direct relationship with God. He does not call them to cling to external authorities, but to watch themselves and the flock in which the Spirit dwells, which Christ the Savior acquired for Himself. God will now guide His Church, while the elders are only His servants. Finally, let them remember the words of Jesus, fulfilled to the end by Paul himself: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Paul proved that these words concern not so much money as everything a person has—his soul, time, strength, his whole life.