Acts 20:28-32
Context20:28 Watch out for 1 yourselves and for all the flock of which 2 the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, 3 to shepherd the church of God 4 that he obtained 5 with the blood of his own Son. 6 20:29 I know that after I am gone 7 fierce wolves 8 will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 20:30 Even from among your own group 9 men 10 will arise, teaching perversions of the truth 11 to draw the disciples away after them. 20:31 Therefore be alert, 12 remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning 13 each one of you with tears. 20:32 And now I entrust 14 you to God and to the message 15 of his grace. This message 16 is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
[20:28] 1 tn Or “Be on your guard for” (cf. v. 29). Paul completed his responsibility to the Ephesians with this warning.
[20:28] 3 tn Or “guardians.” BDAG 379-80 s.v. ἐπίσκοπος 2 states, “The term was taken over in Christian communities in ref. to one who served as overseer or supervisor, with special interest in guarding the apostolic tradition…Ac 20:28.” This functional term describes the role of the elders (see v. 17). They were to guard and shepherd the congregation.
[20:28] 4 tc The reading “of God” (τοῦ θεοῦ, tou qeou) is found in א B 614 1175 1505 al vg sy; other witnesses have “of the Lord” (τοῦ κυρίου, tou kuriou) here (so Ì74 A C* D E Ψ 33 1739 al co), while the majority of the later minuscule
[20:28] 6 tn Or “with his own blood”; Grk “with the blood of his own.” The genitive construction could be taken in two ways: (1) as an attributive genitive (second attributive position) meaning “his own blood”; or (2) as a possessive genitive, “with the blood of his own.” In this case the referent is the Son, and the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. See further C. F. DeVine, “The Blood of God,” CBQ 9 (1947): 381-408.
[20:29] 7 tn Grk “after my departure.”
[20:29] 8 tn That is, people like fierce wolves. See BDAG 167-68 s.v. βαρύς 4 on the term translated “fierce.” The battle that will follow would be a savage one.
[20:30] 9 tn Grk “from among yourselves.”
[20:30] 10 tn The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which only rarely is used in a generic sense to refer to both males and females. Since Paul is speaking to the Ephesian elders at this point and there is nothing in the context to suggest women were included in that group (“from among your own group”), it is most likely Paul was not predicting that these false teachers would include women.
[20:30] 11 tn Grk “speaking crooked things”; BDAG 237 s.v. διαστρέφω 2 has “λαλεῖν διεστραμμένα teach perversions (of the truth) Ac 20:30.”
[20:31] 12 tn Or “be watchful.”
[20:31] 13 tn Or “admonishing.”
[20:32] 14 tn Or “commend.” BDAG 772 s.v. παρατίθημι 3.b has “τινά τινι entrust someone to the care or protection of someone…Of divine protection παρέθεντο αὐτοὺς τῷ κυρίῳ Ac 14:23; cp. 20:32.”
[20:32] 16 tn Grk “the message of his grace, which.” The phrase τῷ δυναμένῳ οἰκοδομῆσαι… (tw dunamenw oikodomhsai…) refers to τῷ λόγω (tw logw), not τῆς χάριτος (ths caritos); in English it could refer to either “the message” or “grace,” but in Greek, because of agreement in gender, the referent can only be “the message.” To make this clear, a new sentence was begun in the translation and the referent “the message” was repeated at the beginning of this new sentence.