Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 20:30
Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
30. Also of your own selves, &c.] Better (with Rev. Ver.) “ And from among your own selves.” This gives an idea of the greater nearness of the apostasy which the Apostle predicts. Not some who may come of those to whom he speaks, but even out of the present existing Christian body. We know from St Paul’s own experience that he had learnt how out of the professedly Christian body some would go back like Demas (2Ti 4:10) through love of this world’s good things, and some would err concerning the truth, like Hymenus and Philetus, and that their word would eat like a canker, and they would overthrow the faith of some. These are the speakers of perverse things, things which should twist even the Apostle’s own words into a wrong sense.
shall men arise draw away disciples after them ] Better, “ the disciples,” i.e. other members of the Christian body. It is not that these men will desire and endeavour to gain disciples, but they will do their best, after their own falling-away, to drag others likewise from the true faith. This is expressed also by the verb which implies the tearing away from that to which they are already attached, and this more literal translation of the verb expresses the labour and exertion which these false teachers will spend to achieve their object.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Also of your own selves – From your own church; from those who profess to. be Christians.
Speaking perverse things – Crooked, perverted, distracting doctrines diestrammena. Compare the notes on Act 13:10. They would proclaim doctrines tending to distract and divide the church. The most dangerous enemies which the church has had have been nurtured in its own bosom, and have consisted of those who have perverted the true doctrines of the gospel. Among the Ephesians, as among the Corinthians 1Co 1:11-13, there might be parties formed; there might be people influenced by ambition, like Diotrephes 3Jo 1:9, or like Phygellus or Hermogenes 2Ti 1:15, or like Hymeneus and Alexander, 1Ti 1:20. Men under the influence of ambition, or from the love of power or popularity, form parties in the church, produce divisions and distractions, and greatly retard its internal prosperity, and mar its peace. The church of Christ would have little to fear from external enemies if it nurtured no foes in its own bosom; and all the power of persecutors is not so much to be dreaded as the plans, the parties, the strifes, the heart burnings, and the contentions which are produced by those who love and seek power, among the professed friends of Christ.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 30. Also of your own selves, c.] From out of your own assembly shall men arise, speaking perverse things, teaching for truth what is erroneous in itself, and perversive of the genuine doctrine of Christ crucified.
To draw away disciples] To make schisms or rents in the Church, in order to get a party to themselves. See, here, the cause of divisions in the Church:
1. The superintendents lose the life of God, neglect the souls of the people, become greedy of gain, and, by secular extortions, oppress the people.
2. The members of the Church, thus neglected, oppressed, and irritated, get their minds alienated from their rapacious pastors.
3. Men of sinister views take advantage of this state of distraction, foment discord, preach up the necessity of division, and thus the people become separated from the great body, and associate with those who profess to care for their souls, and who disclaim all secular views.
In this state of distraction, it is a high proof of God’s love to his heritage, if one be found who, possessing the true apostolic doctrine and spirit, rises up to call men back to the primitive truth, and restore the primitive discipline. How soon the grievous wolves and perverse teachers arose in the Churches of Asia Minor, the first chapters of the Apocalypse inform us. The Nicolaitans had nearly ruined the Church of Ephesus, Re 1:2, Re 1:6. The same sect, with other false teachers, infested the Church of Pergamos, and preached there the doctrine of Balaam, Re 2:14-15. A false prophetess seduced the Church of Thyatira, Re 2:20. All these Churches were in Asia Minor, and probably bishops or ministers from each were present at this convocation.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Of your own selves shall men arise; whilst Paul yet lived, and was only departed from that place. Several seducers may be reckoned up, as Nicolas the deacon, (from whom it is thought the sect of the Nicolaitanes came, Rev 2:6), Hymenaeus, Alexander, Phygellus, and Hermogenes, 1Ti 1:20; 2Ti 1:15.
Speaking perverse things; perverting Scripture; establishing their false doctrines by Scripture, which they wrest to their purpose.
To draw away disciples; as members are forcibly plucked from their body; which speak the cruelty and violence of these heretics, and the tenderness of the church towards her members, being loth to part from them.
After them; thus false teachers gain indeed disciples to themselves, but not unto the Lord.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Also of your own selves shall men arise,…. Not only false teachers from abroad should come and enter among them, but some would spring up out of their own communities, such as had been admitted members of them, and of whom they had hoped well; such were Hymenseus, Philetus, Alexander, Hertoogenes, and Phygellus;
speaking perverse things; concerning God, and Christ, and the Gospel; distorted things, wresting the Scriptures to their own destruction, and that of others; things that are disagreeable to the word of God, and pernicious to the souls of men:
to draw away disciples after them; to rend away members from the churches, make schisms and divisions, form parties, set themselves at the head of them, and establish new sects, called after their own names; see 1Jo 2:19.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
From among your own selves ( ). In sheep’s clothing just as Jesus had foretold. The outcome fully justified Paul’s apprehensions as we see in Colossians, Ephesians, I and II Timothy, Revelation. False philosophy, immorality, asceticism will lead some astray (Col 2:8; Col 2:18; Eph 4:14; Eph 5:6). John will picture “antichrists” who went out from us because they were not of us (1Jo 2:18f.). There is a false optimism that is complacently blind as well as a despondent pessimism that gives up the fight.
Perverse things (). Perfect passive participle of , old verb to turn aside, twist, distort as in Acts 13:8; Acts 13:10.
To draw away ( ). Articular genitive present active participle of purpose from , old verb used to draw the sword (Mt 26:51), to separate (Luke 22:41; Acts 21:1). The pity of it is that such leaders of dissension can always gain a certain following. Paul’s long residence in Ephesus enabled him to judge clearly of conditions there.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Also of your own selves shall men arise,” (kai eks humon auton asastesontai andres) “And out of yourselves (your own flock, church membership) responsible men, men of responsible age will rise up,” in insurrection, to sabotage the peace, fellowship, and work of the flock, the church. This is the second source of danger to the church, as set forth 3Jn 1:9; Rev 2:6; Rev 2:15; 1Ti 1:19-20; 2Ti 1:15.
2) “Speaking perverse things,” (lalountes destrammena) “Repeatedly speaking, perverted, distorted, inaccurate, untruthful things,” things designed to cause dissension, dissatisfaction, division in the congregation, or flock of God, as described, 2Pe 2:12-18, such as Alexander, Hymanaeus, and Philetus, 2Ti 2:17; 1Ti 1:20.
3) “To draw away disciples after them.” (tou apospan tous Mathetas apiso heauton) “To draw away(spawn off) from the flock of God, disciples after themselves,” after the manner or order of their perverted teachings, that are alien or foreign to the teachings of Jesus Christ – In perversion of the
a) Moral standards –
b) Ethical standards –
c) And doctrinal standards -and practices of the new covenant church, the house of God, that Jesus built, purchased, and commissioned, 2Pe 2:19-22; 2Co 11:13-15. Thus from without the local church, and within the local church fellowship, the people of God are to be on guard against pious religious perverters of both doctrinal and moral and ethical concepts of Jesus Christ and His church followers, Mat 7:15-19; Mat 7:22-23; 1Jn 2:19.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
−
30. Of your ownselves shall arise. This amplifieth the grievousness of the evil, because there be some wolves within, and so hiding themselves under the title of pastors, [which] do wait for some opportunity wherein they may do hurt. Also, he declareth what danger these wolves do threaten, to wit, the scattering abroad of the flock, when the Church is drawn away from the unity of faith, and is divided into sects. Neither are all those wolves who do not their duty as they ought, but there be oftentimes hirelings, a kind of men not so hurtful as the other. But the corruption of doctrine is a most deadly plague to the sheep. Now, in the third place, the fountain and beginning of this evil is noted, because they will draw disciples after them. Therefore, ambition is the mother of all heresies. For the sincerity of the word of God doth then flourish when the pastors join hand in hand to bring disciples unto Christ, because this alone is the sound state of the Church, that he be heard alone; − (437) wherefore, both the doctrine of salvation must needs be perverted, and also the safety of the flock must needs go to nought, where men be desirous of mastership. And as this place teacheth that almost all corruptions of doctrine flow from the pride of men, so we learn again out of the same that it cannot otherwise be, but that ambitious men will turn away from right purity, and corrupt the word of God. For seeing that the pure and sincere handling of the Scripture tendeth to this end, that Christ alone may have the preeminence, and that men can challenge nothing to themselves, but they shall take so much from the glory of Christ, it followeth that those are corrupters of sound doctrine who are addicted to themselves, and study to advance their own glory, which doth only darken Christ. Which thing the Lord doth confirm in the seventh of John ( Joh 7:18). Furthermore, by the word arise which he useth, he signifieth that those wolves do nourish secret destruction until they may have some opportunity offered to break out. −
And this place doth very well prevent an horrible stumbling-block and offense which Satan hath always cast in to trouble weak consciences. If external and professed enemies do resist the gospel, this doth not so much hurt to the Church, − (438) as if inward enemies issue out of the bosom of the Church, which at a sudden blow to the field, − (439) or which unfaithfully provoke the people to fall away; and yet God hath from the beginning exercised his Church with this temptation, and now doth exercise it. Wherefore, let our faith be fortified with this defense that it fail not, if at any time it so fall out that pastors begin to rage like wolves. He saith they shall be “grievous wolves”, that he may the more terrify them; secondly, they shall be authors of wicked opinions, and that to the end they may draw disciples after them, because it cannot almost otherwise be but that ambition will corrupt the purity of the gospel. −
By this it appeareth also how frivolous and vain the brag of the Papists is touching their continual succession. For seeing we can easily show that these horned beasts are nothing less than that which they will be thought to be, being always convicted, they fly unto this fortress, that they succeed the apostles by a continual course. − (440) As if these did not also succeed them, of whom Paul willeth to take heed. − (441) Therefore, seeing that God, either to prove the constancy of his [people], or in his just judgment doth oftentimes suffer wolves to rage under the person of pastors, the authority doth not consist in the name and place alone, neither is succession anything worth unless faith and integrity be joined therewithal. But and if the Papists object that they cannot be called wolves, one word of Paul shall be as a touchstone to prove whether this be so or no, that they may (saith he) draw disciples after them. And to what end tendeth all Popish religion, save only that men’s lust and pleasure may reign instead of God’s word? But Christ hath no disciples where he is not counted the only master. −
(437) −
“
Unus Magister,” as the only Master.
(438) −
“
Minus hoc consternat pias mentes,” this does less alarm pious minds.
(439) −
“
Classicum caught,” blow the trumpet.
(440) −
“
Continua serie,” in an unbroken series.
(441) −
“
Cavendum… admonet,” admonishes us to beware.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(30) Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things.The Pastoral Epistles, 2 Peter and Jude, supply but too abundant evidence of the clearness of the Apostles prevision. Hymenus and Alexander and Philetus, saying that the resurrection was past already (1Ti. 1:20; 2Ti. 2:17); evil men and seducers becoming worse and worse (2Ti. 3:13); resisting the faith, as Jannes and Jambres had resisted Moses (2Ti. 3:8); false prophets, bringing in damnable heresies and denying the Lord that bought them (2Pe. 2:1); these were part of the rank aftergrowth of the apostolic age, of which St. Paul saw even now the germs. It adds to the pathos of this parting to think that men such as Hymenus and Philetus may have been actually present, listening to the Apostles warnings, and warned by him in vain.
To draw away disciples after them.Better, to draw away the disciplesthose who had previously been disciples of Christ and His Apostles. This was at once the motive and the result of the work of the false teachers. The note of heresy was that it was essentially self-asserting and schismatical.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
30. Of your own selves Internal heresiarchs, not merely from among the present elders, but from the Church they represent. Dr. Gloag says, “Mention is made of no fewer than six heresiarchs belonging to Ephesus: Hymeneus and Alexander, (1Ti 1:20,) Phygellus and Hermogenes, (2Ti 1:15,) Philetus, (2Ti 2:17,) and Diotrephes, (3Jn 1:9.)” Here were the Nicolaitans, (Rev 2:6, and note on Act 6:5,) and here Cerinthus rose against the apostle John. (See our vol. ii, p. 224.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Chapter 80
Prayer
Almighty God, thou takest away the sin of the world by Jesus Christ thy Son, our Saviour. We cannot tell where thou dost take it Thou dost for ever bury it; thou dost plunge it into eternal forgetfulness; thou dost cast it behind thee, and no man evermore can find it. This is the miracle of the Cross; this is the very mystery, and the very glory of grace Divine. Thou dost magnify thy grace against our sin; the light of the one drives away the darkness of the other, so that it cannot be called back again. Thus are we called every day to rejoice in mercy yea, to find in ourselves daily witness to the saving grace of God. We ourselves are heaven’s epistles. Our life is not written with pen and ink of man’s devising; our life is traced by the Divine finger, shaped by the Divine hands, and inspired by the Divine eternity. We are God’s workmanship; we are God’s husbandry. We are not the accidents of the time or the occasion; we express the fore-ordination and infinite sovereignty of God. We will look upon ourselves highly; we will rejoice in our princedom. We are not of the earth, earthy, when we are accepted in the Beloved; we are then heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, as having equal share in the infinite light and peace of heaven. So we will not look downward and see the grave; we will look upward and see the immortality. We will think of the radiant heaven, pure angels, sanctified spirits, the one throne, the infinite light, the ineffable purity; and so filling our minds with things Divine, we shall triumph over present pain and aching necessity, and tumultuous trouble, and grim death itself. We are rich in Christ; we have all things and abound yea, all truth, and light, and grace, and comfort, and peace unsearchable riches, growing the more we use them, multiplying in our very hands wondrous riches; riches of God; wealth of Christ. This is our possession through him who loved us and gave himself for us. We bless thee for these upliftings of soul, if even for but one day in the week. Surely we cannot fall back to the old level after such inspiration and benediction. Fall we shall, but not so far down as yesterday; even in the fall we rise; in returning from heaven to earth we find ourselves nearer heaven than before. Thus little by little, a step at a time, we rise toward purity, completeness, and consequent repose. We need the bread of life every day; Lord, evermore give us this bread. This is the true bread which cometh down from heaven. We know its taste; we are refreshed by its nutrition; we grow stronger by eating such heavenly food. Take us more entirely under thy care every day; obliterate our selfishness; give us to feel that though the smith may work hard and make long sharp weapons, they shall all rust in the very place where they were made if they were intended to hurt any child of thine. Save us from making weapons in our own defence; save us from the insanity of taking care of ourselves. Put thine arms around us. Let thy smile be our light and our cheer, and let some word of thine sound the heavenly music in our heart’s hearing, and then the angels will be nearer than the enemies, and our life shall have no sign of injury upon it, because of the infinite defence of God’s almightiness. Amen.
Act 20:30-38
30. And from among your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
31. Wherefore watch ye [another pastoral term], remembering that by the space of three years I ceased not to admonish every one night [Act 20:9 , ff.; the figure of the wakeful shepherd still maintained] and day with tears [2Co 2:4 ; 2Co 11:29 . Note the special pastoral care of “each one”].
32. And now I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you the inheritance among all them that are sanctified [G. “give you an allotment amid all the sanctified”].
33. I coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel [for reason see Act 20:35 ].
34. Ye yourselves know that these hands ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.
35. In all things I gave you an example, how that so labouring ye ought to help the weak [in faith], and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
36. And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all.
37. And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him,
38. Sorrowing most of all for the word which he had spoken, that they should behold his face no more. And they brought him on his way unto the ship.
The Character In the Charge
Having this charge put into our hands to form a judgment of the speaker, what inferences regarding him and his work would be drawn? Do not let the mind travel beyond the four corners of this one particular charge. The evidence is before you; looking carefully at it, in all its aspects and relations, what opinion would you form respecting the man who delivered this particular speech to the elders of the Church at Ephesus? Evidently, in the first instance, here is a man over whom the spiritual has infinitely greater influence than the material. This man concerns himself burningly, and with passionateness and fanaticism, respecting things that are not of the earth and of time. He seems to see presences which are not patent to the eyes of the body. He is evidently ruled by considerations which are not limited by time and space. He speaks a strange language; he is more a ghost than a man. What is his meaning? Right or wrong, his meaning is intense; right or wrong, the subject which engages him burns in him like an inextinguishable fire. He is a fanatic, or an enthusiast; he is carried away by some spiritual extravagance. He speaks as a man might speak who is bound to an altar, and to whom the sacrificial fire was about to be applied. Surely he is operating under the influence of the wildest hallucination. But it is no hallucination to his mind; it has shape, features, expression, tone, colour, life; it is a Figure that puts out a more than human hand, and takes his hand lovingly in its almighty grasp. The speaker of this charge be he whom he may is full of it. He evidently believes that instincts are more divine than formal logic. He clearly believes that there is something in man that cannot be covered, fed, satisfied by anything that grows on earth or shines in the sky; call it feeling, imagination, passion, spirituality, divinity, it is something with an aching necessity that scorns the proffered aliment of time, and asks if there be no better food in all the spaces of the universe. The man is clearly superstitious, of a highly excitable temperament, quite a fanatic, wholly beside himself, not at all practical; a man if we may so figure him rather with great strong pinions with which to fly, than with strong and sturdy feet with which to walk the solid earth. Still he means it all. These are not artificial tones; there is what we know by the name of soul in them. We may pity the hallucination, but we must admire the earnestness. We may look on bewildered even to stupefaction as we gaze upon a noble soul following shadows, and chasing bubbles, and crying to eery ghosts to help him in life’s long travail. Still he is a noble soul. If he were less intense, we should despise him, or at least distrust him; but he is so whole-hearted that our pity is elevated by our admiration. Be he whom he may, and what in other respects he may, he is, on the face of this speech, an honest man.
Looking further into his unique and energetic eloquence, it is evident that this man counts his life as of less value than his work. “Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy.” That is a new standard of valuation; that is a new mint and stamping of old words and venerable tradition. This man has so worked that his “course” his “ministry” has become to him a greater quantity than his very life. We may outlive ourselves; our work is our greater self; our ministry is our immortality. If the Church could learn this lesson, the Church would know the mystery of crucifixion with Christ. The Church would get rid of the idea that godliness is bound up with opinion and dogma only, and would pass into the glorious ecstasy which counts all things loss that Christ may be won. We speak of our lives being dearer than anything cur lives can contain. We reason superficially and sophistically; when we come to a right view of things we shall see that to do our duty bravely is a greater thing than to live many days upon the earth; to suffer heroically is the true solution of life’s holy mystery. This man will turn failure into success. When he has given up his life, all other gifts become easy; when he has given himself, all he has is contained in the complete and sacrificial donation. Christ gave himself, and we must present ourselves “living sacrifices.” This man grows more fanatical. He has risen to the point at which life itself is despised as compared with what he superstitiously calls his “ministry,” or fatalistically calls his “course.” A ghostly power called destiny has got hold of him, and wrought in him a sublime contempt for all bribes, flatteries, and earthward allurements. He has gone from the tribe of practical men; he is the victim of a spiritual extravaganza. Poor soul! We would have detained him in our company if we could, but such passion would have burned down the walls of our prison; such sacrifice would have turned our cold prayers into blasphemies; such heroism would have made our little efforts contemptible in our own eyes. So he has gone to live an ideal life in ideal spaces. Peace be with his soul!
But a third view of the speech leads us to inquire whether, in thus regarding Paul as a superstitious and fanatical man, we are not in error. Reading single lines of the speech, we feel that Paul is insane, in the sense of being unduly transported with what he believes to be spiritual realities; but reading the speech from end to end, he is really a man of wondrous mental grasp. It is a noble speech; it is a statesman’s eloquence. This man is no fanatic; he has power to walk upon the solid earth, and he looks well as he does so; there is no crouch in his royal gait. He is most tender, shepherdly, careful, practical. He does not want to have his work frayed away or overturned by the cruel strength of the enemy; he would have his work stand for ages; he speaks like a man who has been building from eternity. No honest reader can despise the intellectual force of the man who made the speech which is now our text. Read it through from the beginning to the end, and hear its solemn music; mark its massive strength; note its comprehensive grasp, and be quieted by its sublime repose. When we hear some men speak, we feel how rash a thing it would be to contradict them. They are not men likely to be misled by sophisms; they are not made of the material which easily yields to new experiments; they have a solid look; they are men one would like to consult upon practical questions; their very presence and manner of dealing with things would lead one to wish that in all the crises of life we could have them near to suggest, inspire, and strengthen. Reading this speech of Paul, such are my personal feelings regarding him. He is not a little man; he is no trifler. You may differ with him, but the very necessity of differing with him will involve you in a tremendous controversy. It is not a mere difference, a verbal diversity of judgment; it is root-and-branch work; you are either with him wholly or away from him entirely, and that very fact establishes by collateral and incidental evidence the greatness of the man, the multitudinousness of the elements which make up his great personality.
So we begin to modify the first judgment we formed as to Paul’s fanaticism. He gradually comes nearer to us, and we feel that if we have mistaken his stature, our mistake was due to the distance which separated us from him. What appears to be a little speck in the far-away cloud may prove in reality to be a royal eagle, when the flight is over and the noble adventurer has returned from the gates of the sun.
Looking again at the charge, we cannot but see that what began in the sublimest theology concludes in the noblest beneficence. “So labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” We thought he was a fanatic; he now stands before us as the advocate of the poor, and the defender of those who have no helper. This is the complete orb of religious character: theology mounting to the very throne of God, beneficence stooping to the very lowest of the needy creatures amongst whom we live. The theology that is not sphered off by morality, beneficence, sacrifice, is a sublime lie. Now, our first impression about the man’s passionate fanaticism is wholly corrected, and we apologize to him for having for one moment thought that he was lost in spiritual ecstasies. Only men who are capable of such theological excitement are capable of lifelong and life-sacrificing beneficence. The charity that is not lighted at the fires of heaven will be blown out by the winds of earth. For a time it may seem to be beautiful, but, being without root, in the necessity and divinity of things it cannot live. Characterize it by what figure you may, whatever is not fixed in God cannot live as long as God.
So perusing the charge in its wholeness and unity, I bow before the great Apostle as before the noblest of his kind the very prince of the Church; the supreme man amongst mortals; the favoured one who saw more of heaven’s light and more of heaven’s magnitude than any other man. We may well weep with the elders of the Church; we may well kiss our great teacher with our heart’s lips, for there are no farewells so tearing, so destructive, as the farewells of the soul. Other farewells may be made up, other vacancies can be supplied; but who can represent the man who has loved our souls, held fellowship with our spirits, spoken more tenderly than he supposes himself to our very inmost life, and who has stood for us when we ourselves were dumb, as advocate and intercessor before God, in the name of the Saviour of the world? There are no endearments so tender as the endearment created by religious understanding and sympathy. All other unions perish, all other associations are but for the passing moment; immortality, true kindred, absolute identity of spirit, thought, purpose, can be found in Christ alone.
We do not know our apostles until they tell us we shall see their faces no more. How kind of them to give us work to do which lies nearest to our hands! Paul did not conclude with some thunder-burst of theological eloquence which might have been variously interpreted, but he concluded with these words which a child can understand which only God himself can fully illustrate which the Cross alone entirely exemplifies “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Ver. 30. To draw away disciples ] , to tear them limb from limb by a violent avulsion and distraction, compelling them by their persuasions to embrace those distorted doctrines, , that produce convulsions of conscience, Deu 13:5 . Such are said to thrust men out of God’s ways.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
30. ] . does not necessarily signify the presbyters : he speaks to them as being the whole flock.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 20:30 . : adds emphasis, “from your own selves”. The Pastoral Epistles afford abundant evidence of the fulfilment of the words, cf. 1Ti 1:20 , 2Ti 1:15 ; 2Ti 2:17 ; 2Ti 3:8 ; 2Ti 3:13 . To some extent the Apostolic warning was effectual at all events in Ephesus itself, cf. Rev 2:2 ; Ignat., Ephes. , vi., 2. : common word in Acts, see on Act 20:17 , used here perhaps as in Act 5:36 . , cf. LXX, Deu 32:5 . The verb is found twice in Luk 9:41 (Mat 17:17 ), Act 23:2 , three times in Act 13:8 ; Act 13:10 , and once again by St. Paul, Phi 2:15 , in a similar sense, cf. Arist., Pol. , iii., 16, 5, viii., 7, 7; Arrian, Epict. , iii., 6, 8. : “the disciples,” R.V. with art [344] meaning that they would try and draw away those that were already Christians, . always so used in Acts. . to tear away from that to which one is already attached; used by St.Mat 26:51 , and elsewhere only by St.Luk 22:41 , Act 21:1 ; compare with the genitive of purpose after , 2Ch 20:23 . , “after themselves,” cf. Act 5:37 , not after Christ, Mat 4:19 .
[344] grammatical article.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Also, &c. = Of your own selves also.
of = out of. Greek. ek. App-104.
shall = will.
arise. Greek. anistemi. App-178.
speaking. Greek. laleo. App-121.
perverse. See note on Act 13:8.
draw away. Greek. apospao. Only here, Act 21:1. Mat 26:51. Luk 22:41.
disciples = the disciples.
after, i.e. in their train. Greek. opiso.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
30.] . does not necessarily signify the presbyters: he speaks to them as being the whole flock.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 20:30. ) to draw away, from their simplicity towards Christ, and from the unity of the body. This is the characteristic of a false teacher, to wish that the disciples should depend (hang) on himself alone.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
of your: Mat 26:21-25, 1Ti 1:19, 1Ti 1:20, 2Ti 2:17, 2Ti 2:18, 2Ti 4:3, 2Ti 4:4, 2Pe 2:1-3, 1Jo 2:19, 2Jo 1:7, Jud 1:4 -16; Rev 2:6
speaking: Pro 19:1, Pro 23:33, Isa 59:3, 1Ti 5:13, 1Ti 6:5, 2Pe 2:18, Jud 1:15, Jud 1:16
to draw: Act 5:36, Act 5:37, Act 21:38, Mat 23:15, 1Co 1:12-15, Gal 6:12, Gal 6:13
Reciprocal: Deu 31:29 – corrupt yourselves 2Ch 24:17 – Now after 2Ch 26:5 – he sought God Pro 2:12 – from the man Pro 6:12 – walketh Pro 11:9 – An hypocrite Ecc 2:18 – I should Son 5:7 – watchmen Dan 11:34 – cleave Mat 13:25 – men Mat 13:47 – and gathered Mat 24:11 – General Act 13:10 – wilt 1Co 3:12 – wood 1Co 4:8 – without 1Co 11:19 – there 2Co 11:3 – so 2Co 11:13 – false Gal 1:7 – but Gal 2:4 – because Eph 4:14 – tossed Phi 2:15 – a crooked Phi 3:18 – even Col 2:4 – lest 1Ti 4:2 – lies 2Ti 4:5 – watch Heb 12:15 – and thereby Heb 13:9 – carried Jam 3:6 – a world 1Jo 2:18 – ye have 1Jo 2:26 – concerning
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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Act 20:30. Of your own selves means that false teachers would arise among the elders. It is a fact borne out by history, that the great apostasy known as the “Dark Ages,” was started within the eldership of the church, but this is not the most appropriate place to go into the details of that subject.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 20:30. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. The Church of Ephesus singularly enough became notorious in after days as a famous seat of the great and widespread Gnostic heresy. Even in the New Testament writings, no fewer than six of the pioneers of these fatal teachers of error are mentioned as belonging to Ephesus. In the First Epistle to Timothy we hear of Hymenus and Alexander (chap. Act 1:20). In the Second Epistle to the same chief presbyter of Ephesus, mention is made of Phygellus and Hermogenes (chap. Act 1:15), and of Philetus (chap, Act 2:17). These Epistles were written in A.D. 65-66. In the Third Epistle of John, who lived at Ephesus, written about A.D. 90, Act 20:9, we read of another of these false teachers, Diotrephes.
In the Apocalypse, written A.D. 80-90, in the Epistle addressed to the angel of the Church in this same city of Ephesus, it is said that there were among them those who held the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes (chap. Act 2:6), which I also hate. Church history (Eusebius, H. E. iv. 14) recounts, too, how the Apostle John met with the heresiarch Cerinthus during his residence at Ephesus. Ephesus, observes Creuzer (quoted by Gloag), was above all others the place where oriental views were in various ways combined with the mythology and philosophy of Greece; in truth, this city was a complete storehouse of magical arts and deceptions (see Act 19:19; Act 19:35).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
See notes on verse 28
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
30. And from you yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, in order to draw away disciples after them.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 30
Of your own selves; that is, false teachers from within the church.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
20:30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to {k} draw away disciples after them.
(k) This is great misery, to want the presence of such a shepherd, but it is a greater misery to have wolves enter in.