Bible Study Lesson for Acts 20:13-38: Paul's Farewell to the Ephesian Elders

We now move into the third and last section of the chapter, when Paul bids farewell to the elders from Ephesus. We are going to start with a bit of a geography lesson and map reading.

Read Acts 20:13. The "we" here means Luke and some others. Remember Paul is traveling with a number of delegates, along with the money offering, as we read in verse 4. { Ask group to try to find Assos on their maps. } Assos is on the opposite side of the peninsula from Troas, about 20 miles by foot or 40 miles by ship along the coastline. Why Paul decided to walk, is uncertain. (This also gives us an example of how walking such distances was such a normal, expected part of their culture. Most of us couldn't even conceive of regularly walking 2 miles a day, not to say 20!) Maybe Paul chose to walk for security reasons - confuse any enemies that might be waiting for him at the seaport - or maybe he just needed to be alone for a time after that extensive time of preaching in Troas. He also might have been simply sick of ships! It probably wouldn't have taken much more time for Paul to walk, then it would have taken the ship to sail along the coastline.

Read Acts 20:14. Mitylene is the harbor on the southeastern shore of the island Lesbos. { Ask group to try to find this on their maps }

Read Acts 20:15-16. More of a geography lesson! { Ask group to try to find these places on their maps } From my commentary: "The second night they spent off the shore of this larger island, Kios, which lay along the west coast of Asia Minor. Crossing the mouth of the bay that leads to Ephesus, they came on the third day to Samos, one of the most important islands in the Aegean. Miletus is thirty miles south of Ephesus and the destination of the ship Paul was on. He would have had to change ships to put into Ephesus, which would have lost time. If he had come to Ephesus, he would have had to visit a number of families, which would have taken more time. If trouble should arise, as the riot of a year ago, even more time would be lost. It could not be risked."

Read Acts 20:17. My commentary pointed out that the importance of the leadership of elders has been evident throughout Paul's ministry, and gave several examples for us to research. I'll just give a quick summary. Paul had delivered the famine gift from the church at Antioch to the elders of the Jerusalem church. He had appointed elders on his first missionary journey and had addressed the holders of this office later in Philippi. He requested the Ephesian elders to meet with him on this solemn occasion. In his first letter to Timothy and in his letter to Titus, Paul writes down some guidelines about qualifications for the position of elder. Read 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9.

Read Acts 20:18. I think Paul is simply saying, "look, I'm an open book. You know me and who I am and what I have stood for." We know from other passages that Paul stayed and lived in Ephesus for 2 years and three months (or "three" years in Jewish reckoning.) They would have seen him on his good days and his bad days and known him very well.

Read Acts 20:19. The sense we get is that Paul's ministry in Ephesus was one of great emotional fervency and a sense of urgency. If we jump down to verse 31 of this same chapter, Paul mentions again being in tears over the Ephesians. This is such an alien concept in our somewhat restrained, emotionally depressed culture, that a church leader of such dynamic personality and fame could be moved to tears in his ministry.

Read Acts 20:20-21. These verses a pretty self-explanatory: Paul summarizes his ministry in Ephesus.

Read Acts 20:22-23. Paul wants the elders to understand that it is the Holy Spirit that is directing him to go to Jerusalem and that he has to obey. The Spirit has warned him of the trials coming. Other believers, also through the power of the Holy Spirit, will have confirmation that he will be persecuted and imprisoned if he goes to Jerusalem. Because of these warnings, some of these fellow believers will try to dissuade Paul from going. Read Acts 21:4, 10-14. I admit that I found the fact that fellow believers, with the best of intentions, try to convince Paul to act against the Spirit's leading somewhat frightening. If Paul had refused to go to Jerusalem, in response to his friends' pleading, he would have been placing the desire to please people over obedience to God, as well as probably acting out of fear.

Read Acts 20:24. But Paul understands what is most important, that he serve God to the best of his ability, and that his life is expendable. Hardships and trials are nothing compared to "finishing his race well."

Read Acts 20:25. This is a very interesting verse because at first glance it appears that Paul is making a prophetic statement. "I will never see any of you again." ie. "I will never return to Ephesus." But just as Paul's healing ability was not used to heal his own disease (let's pause and read 2 Corinthians 12:7-9), Paul's prophetic power was not used to foresee his future. From Paul's first letter to Timothy, it appears that Paul did revisit Ephesus at a later date. Read 1 Timothy 1:3-4. This probably occurred after Acts 28, after he was released from his first imprisonment in Rome (which is not recorded in Acts).

Read Acts 20:26-27. What is Paul getting at here? I think Paul is saying "I have preached the gospel every where I have gone, I have warned the people that I have come in contact with of the coming judgment, and therefore am innocent of the blood of anyone who chooses to reject Christ." I think is similar to what God told Ezekiel, centuries prior. Read Ezekiel 3:16-21. A very heavy responsibility, to be one of God's watchmen!

Read Acts 20:28-30. Here we see the familiar analogy of the church like a flock of sheep and the elders (or overseers, as they are called her) described as shepherds. These verses are a pivotal point in Paul's message to the elders: their primary purpose is to protect the weaker members of the flock, the sheep, from wolves. Paul is a realist and knows that even from among the elders there is a good chance that there will be men who are into power trips and in order to have this power will distort the truth to manipulate weaker believers into following them, rather than the truth teachings of Christ. Jesus used a similar analogy when he warned his disciples about false prophets. Read Matthew 7:15-20. Peter, too, in his second letter will warn about the destructiveness of false prophets. Read 2 Peter 2:1-3. Here it is said that they will be acting out of greed.

Read Acts 20:31. As we discussed before, Luke says that Paul was actually in Ephesus for 2 years and 3 months; in Jewish reckoning, however, any part of a year is considered a year, so Paul, here, uses the term "3 years." We can see here that Paul cared deeply for the Ephesians, as he warned them day and night with tears.

Read Acts 20:32. Paul understands that what happens to the Ephesians after he leaves is out of his hands; all he can do is to commit them to God. I think this is an important principle to remember; sometimes when we are sharing the gospel with someone or praying for someone we tend to fuss and fuss and worry when we don't see the desired result, rather than simply stepping back and saying, "OK, God, it is out of my hands, I leave my friend, loved one, etc. to you. I've done what you've called me to do" and move on to our next assignment. It doesn't mean we stop praying, but we should stop worrying.

Read Acts 20:33. Paul wants to make sure they all understand that he is not in the ministry for monetary or materials reasons. He did not expect to get paid for his services.

Read Acts 20:34. Instead Paul did manual labor, to support himself and the people working with him. We know that in Corinth he worked as a tent maker. Read Acts 18:1-3. We also know from his letter to the Thessalonians that he worked while he preached the gospel in Thessalonica. Read 1 Thessalonians 2:9.

Read Acts 20:35. Before we talk about what Paul says here, I need to point out that this is a unique verse in that Paul quotes a saying from Jesus which can not be found also mentioned in the gospel. "It is more blessed to give than to receive." We also know that the phrase "remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said" is a formula used regularly in the early church to introduce a quote from Jesus.

But what is Paul saying here? "I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak." Who were the weak? Unbelievers? Immature believers who had hang ups about money and perhaps would be lead astray if Paul had asked for money from the church to support himself, rather than supporting himself with manual labor? { Ask for the group's input }

Read Acts 20:36. This is a straightforward verse and shows us how prayer was such an important, integral part of their lives.

Read Acts 20:37. Clearly Paul was a well-loved man and would be greatly missed by the elders. This also tells us something about the culture of the early church: it was perfectly acceptable and natural for men to be kissing men good-bye, as well as to weep openly.

Read Acts 20:38. As we just discussed when we looked at verse 25, it turns out that Paul was mistaken here and though the Ephesian elders are greatly grieved right now, most of them will probably see Paul again, when he revisits Ephesus after his first imprisonment in Rome. I'm sure that was a momentous, joy-filled occasion! { Put symbol of Paul waving good-bye from shipboard on the flannel board }

Blessings!

Sources
Editors. Compton's Interactive Bible (software)
Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford (notes). The Student Bible. NIV Version