Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 20:32

And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

32. And now, brethren, I commend his grace ] The oldest authorities omit “brethren.” I am to leave you, but I commend you to One who will help you as He has helped me, and who will not leave you. “The word of His grace” means the gracious promises of the Gospel, such as those which Christ gave to His disciples when He foretold the mission of the Comforter (Joh 17:7-12), and which the Christian preachers might repeat as His words to the converts who believed on His name.

which, &c.] This must refer to God, and not to the intervening explanatory clause concerning the “word of God’s grace.” It is God who can build up His people, and give them their heavenly inheritance.

and to give you an inheritance ] The oldest texts give “ the inheritance.” The figure is taken from the apportionment of the promised land among the Israelites. The part of each of God’s servants in the heavenly Canaan is to be regarded as definitely as were the possessions of the chosen people in the earthly Canaan.

among sanctified ] The tense is literally “that have been sanctified.” But just as the Apostle uses “saints” frequently in his Epistles to mean those who have been called to be such, so here his words do not indicate that those of whom he speaks have attained the perfection of holiness. When they reach their inheritance, then they will have been perfected in Christ.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

And now, brethren – About to leave them, probably to see them no more, he committed them to the faithful care and keeping of God Amidst all the dangers of the church, when human strength fails or is withdrawn, we may commit that church to the safe keeping and tender care of God.

I commend you – I commit you; I place you paratithemai in his hands and under his protection. See the notes on Act 14:23.

And to the word of his grace – That is, to his gracious word; to his merciful promise. Paul refers, doubtless, to the gospel, including its promises of support, its consoling truths, and its directions to seek all needful help and comfort in God.

Which is able – Which has power. To dunameno. Which word, or gospel, has power to build you up, Heb 4:12, For the Word of God is quick (living, life-giving, zon), and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, etc. Compare Isa 49:2; Jer 23:29, Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? It is implied here that the gospel is not a dead letter; that it has power to accomplish a great work; that it is adapted to the end in view, the conversion and sanctification of the soul. There is no danger in representing the gospel as mighty, and as suited by infinite wisdom to secure the renovation and salvation of man. Compare Rom 1:16; 1Co 1:18; 2Co 10:4.

To build you up – The word used here is properly applied to a house which is raised and completed by slow degrees, and by toil. It here means to establish, make firm, or permanent, and hence, to instruct, to establish in doctrine and in hope. The idea is, that the Word of God was able to confirm and establish them, amidst the dangers to which they would be exposed.

And to give you an inheritance – To make you heirs, or to make you joint partakers with the saints of the blessings in reserve for the children of God. Those blessings are often represented as an inheritance, or heirship, which God will confer on his adopted children, Mat 19:29; Mat 25:34; Mar 10:17; Heb 6:12; Rev 21:7; Eph 1:11; Eph 5:5; Col 1:12; Col 3:24; Rom 8:17; Gal 3:29.

Among all them which are sanctified – With all who are holy; with an the saints. See the notes on Joh 10:36. Those who shall be saved are made holy. They who receive a part in the inheritance beyond the grave will have it only among the sanctified and the pure. They must, therefore, be pure themselves, or they can have no part in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Act 20:32

And now, brethren, I commend you to God.

St. Pauls last advice to the Ephesian elders; or, a ministers last counsel to his people

I. The apostles commendation.

1. The term commend is not unfrequently employed when we speak of any person in the way of praise or approbation; but this clearly is not the meaning of the word in this place. The apostle employs it to signify committing or entrusting, as when we commit any thing or person to anothers care; and perhaps in the sense of recommending or advising, as when we recommend or advise a person to pursue a certain line of conduct. To what and to whom he commends them–

(1) To God. The apostle commits his friends to the Almighty Governor of the world, the special Protector of the Church militant on earth, who, he knew, was ever ready to take charge of them, and to sustain and support them in all dangers and adversities. He was obliged to leave them; but the unslumbering eye of Providence was still over them.

(2) To the word of Gods grace. The expression, in this part of the text, considered in connection with what follows, is a little singular, and has given occasion to some slight difference of opinion. By the word some have understood the Lord Jesus Christ, who is emphatically styled the Word. Supposing this to be a legitimate interpretation, the apostle here commends the Ephesian elders more particularly to the Saviour, whose servants they were, and in whose holy cause they were engaged. Others, however, understand from this expression the gospel of Christ; that word of Gods grace which brings the knowledge of redemption, and contains tidings of Christ as the Saviour. Put your trust, not only in the power and providence of God, but also in the promises and assurances of His word.

II. The object here proposed by the apostle with reference to his friends. This we gather from the words, Which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. Here, again, it is proper to observe that learned commentators are not agreed as to whether the apostle refers, in this part of the text, to the word God in the former part, or to the word of His grace, which stands in immediate connection with it. Happily, the difference is not very material in a practical point of view. Assuming the antecedent to be God, the truth of the sentiment, that He is able to build up His people, and give them an inheritance among the sanctified, is obvious. The same observation will apply, if the Word, as understood of Christ, be taken for the antecedent. Nor, if we understand it to be the word of Gods grace, or the gospel, is there any obscurity in the passage, or any truth involved at all inconsistent with the former supposition. For, when it is said of the word of the Gospel, that it is able to do for us what the apostle here describes, it is spoken of only as the instrument in the hands of God, whose word it is, and who is Himself the secret and almighty Worker under it. It should ever be borne in mind, that a Divine efficacy is not ascribed to the gospel separate and apart from Divine influence.

1. It is able to build you up. It is plain, then, that one part of his object, in commending his Ephesian fellow labourers to the word of the gospel of grace, was their edification. If they looked to this word, and drew their instructions and supports from its holy revelations, it would build them up. The Church of Christ is figuratively styled Gods building; and each true member is himself a temple of God, the temple of the Holy Ghost. But we require to be built up, and established in the faith.

2. It is able to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. From this it is plain that the apostle aimed also at the future glorification of his friends in a brighter world. But how does it appear that the word of the gospel of Christ is able to confer upon the saints this glorious possession? The knowledge of this possession is imparted to the Church of God solely by the word or gospel of grace, which, we are told, has brought life and immortality to light. Moreover, by that word of grace, as the ordinary channel, the Spirit of Divine illumination is communicated. But, with reference to this glorious possession, one or two points may be briefly noticed.

(1) The kingdom of glory, in the heavenly world, is to be regarded by the faithful as their promised inheritance, to which they are the rightful heirs: it is an inheritance like that of the Israelites in Canaan.

(2) This inheritance is entailed upon none but those who belong to the number of the saints. I would make two or three short inferential remarks.

We may learn from its–

1. How immeasurably superior is the gospel of Jesus Christ to all other systems of religion. Suppose the apostle, when taking leave of the Ephesian elders, had met them for the last time merely as a teacher of pagan superstitions, or as a moral philosopher unacquainted with the discoveries of Divine revelation, what probably would have been the nature of his address to his friends in the prospect of separation? Could he have commended them with the same confidence to the Divine Protector of the universe? Could he have cheered them with the view of a future glorious inheritance?

2. How important is an intimate acquaintance with the gospel to every member of the Church of Christ.

3. How substantial and enduring is the friendship subsisting among those whose union and intercourse are based on genuine religion. (J. S. Jaques.)

Pauls farewell discourse at Ephesus

I. Here is an endearing appellation which he gives them, Brethren. His gifts were, no doubt, far greater than theirs; and so was his office, being an extraordinary minister, an apostle of the Gentiles; and his usefulness abundantly exceeded theirs. Yet he does not treat them with a haughty and assuming air, but puts himself upon a level with them, and calls them brethren. Thus imitating his Lord and master; who, being of the same nature with us, is not ashamed to call us brethren, though He Himself is Lord of all.

II. Here is an instance of his regard unto them and affection for them; which appears in commending them to God, and to the word of His grace. We are not to suppose that, in this condemnation, the apostle intends the elders only, but the Church also. These were addressed, as being officers and representatives of the Church, and as men capable of delivering to it, what the apostle should say to them. There are three things to be considered in this commendation.

1. The persons to whom the brethren are commended: that is, God, and the word of His grace.

(1) They are commended to God; by whom is meant God the Father. The apostle, in commending them to Him, commends them to His grace, wisdom, and power. To His grace; to supply their need; to fit them for every duty He shall call them to, and for every trial He shall exercise them with. They are also commended to His wisdom, to counsel and direct them in all their ways. Likewise, the saints are commended to the power of God, to keep and preserve them. For it is by that alone they are kept; being weak and liable to daily backslidings. They, therefore, should commit themselves to Him, who is able to keep them from falling, and to present them faultless before the throne of His glory with exceeding joy.

(2) The apostle commandeth them to the word of Divine grace. By which I understand, not the gospel, or the written Word, but the Lord Jesus Christ, who is frequently in Scripture called , or the Word.

(a) Because the saints never commend themselves, or others, either in life or death, to any but a Divine Person. The word signifies the committing a person or thing to the care, charge, and protection of another. Now, none but a Divine Person is capable of taking the care and charge of the saints, neither will the saints trust any other.

(b) Because to put the written Word upon a level of the Divine Being does not appear agreeable. A commendation of the saints, equally to the written Word, as to God Himself seems to be a lessening of His glory, and ascribing too much to the written Word; but suits well with Christ, the essential Word, who, being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God.

(c) Because, never in the whole book of Scripture, as far as I have observed, are the saints commended to the gospel; but rather that to them (see 2Co 5:19; 1Ti 1:11-18; 1Ti 6:20; 2Ti 1:14; 2Ti 2:2).

(d) Because what is here ascribed unto it suits better with Christ than with the gospel, viz., which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance, etc. Taking this to be the sense of the words, it will be proper to inquire these two things. Why Christ is called the Word: and why the Word of Gods grace.

1. Why He is called the Word.

(1) Because He spake for His people in the council of peace; and covenanted with His Father on their account.

(2) He is called the Word because He spake all things out of nothing, in the first creation.

(3) Because He is to us the interpreter of the Fathers mind; like as our words, or speech, is the interpreter of our minds.

(4) He is the Word, who now speaks for us in the court of heaven.

2. Why is He called the Word of Gods grace?

(1) Because in Him is highly displayed and revealed His Fathers grace to poor sinners.

(2) Because in Him it hath pleased the Father that all fulness of grace should dwell.

2. The act itself of commending them, which signifies to commit to the care, keeping and protection of another; depending upon his ability and fidelity. Thus the apostle must be supposed to commit the saints to the care and protection of God the Father and of God the Son, being well assured of the ability and fidelity of them both. And his commending them to both not only shows the equal esteem and regard he had for them, but also the greatness of his concern for the brethren here.

III. The motives which induced the apostle to commend the saints into the hands of those Divine persons.

1. Because He is able to build them up. Ministers are instruments in building up of saints. They ministerially lay the foundation, Christ. He is the chief Architect; and, except He, the Lord, build the house, they labour in vain that build it. The work is His. He only having begun the work, is able to finish it: and He will do it. We may be confident of it; for He is both the Author and Finisher of faith.

2. Another reason why the apostle commends the saints, not only to God, but also to the Word of His grace is because He is able to give them an inheritance among them that are sanctified.

(1) The inheritance which Christ gives. This is the heavenly glory.

(2) The persons among whom it lies. These are all them that are sanctified: which at once points out the persons to whom it belongs, and discovers the excellency of it. The persons to whom it belongs are all those that are sanctified–that is, who are set apart by Divine grace, and distinguished from others, by a sovereign act of love, for the enjoyment of this blessing. Or else by sanctified ones are meant such as are sanctified by the Spirit of God; have a principle of grace wrought in them: and are enabled by faith to deal with Christ for sanctification as well as righteousness. For much of a believers holiness lies in faiths acting and living upon, dealing with, and receiving from Christ, grace for grace; and, therefore, in another text this inheritance is said to be among them which are sanctified by faith, that is in Me.

Conclusion:

1. Hence it appears to whom souls should make application in their time of need; that is, to God, and to the word of His grace.

2. This evidently shows that those ministers have the greatest concern for souls who commend them to God, and to the word of His grace; who direct them to Christ and His fulness, and not to their own works or frames, but to the grace that is in Him.

3. It is also manifest that such commendations and directions as these are likely to meet with most success.

4. Let us adore boundless grace, that we have the God of all grace and the word of grace to apply to, and that we have any reason to believe that these Divine persons have taken the care and charge of us: we having been enabled, by an act of faith, to commit ourselves to them; believing that they are able to build us up, and to give us an inheritance among all them that are sanctified. (John Gill, D. D.)

Partying words

The apostle was leaving, as he supposed, for the last time, the representatives of the Church in Ephesus, to whom he had been painting in very sombre colours the dangers of the future and his own forebodings and warnings. They were set in the midst of a focus of heathen superstition, from which themselves had only recently been rescued. Their knowledge was little, they had no apostolic teacher to be present with them; they were left alone there to battle with the evils of that corrupt society in which they dwelt. And yet Paul leaves them–sheep in the midst of wolves, with a very imperfect Christianity, with no Bible, with no teachers–in the sure confidence that no harm will come to them, because God is with them, and the word of His grace is enough.

I. The one source of security and enlightenment for the Church and for the individual. What is in the apostles mind here is the objective revelation, the actual spoken word (not yet written) which had its origin in Gods condescending love, and had for its contents, mainly, the setting forth of that love. Or, to put it in other words, the revelation of the grace of God in Jesus Christ, with all the great truths that cluster round and are evolved from it, is the all-sufficient source of enlightenment and security for individuals and for churches. And whosoever will rightly use and faithfully keep that great Word, no evil shall befall him, nor shall he ever make shipwreck of the faith. It is able to build you up, says Paul. In Gods gospel, in the truth concerning Jesus Christ the Divine Redeemer, in the principles that flow from that Cross and passion, and that risen life and that ascended Saviour, there is all that men need, all that they want for life, all that they want for godliness. I commend you to God and the word of His grace, which is a storehouse full of all that we need for life and for godliness. Whoever has that is like a man that has got a quarry on his estate, out of which at will he can dig stones to build his house. If you truly possess and faithfully adhere to this gospel, you have enough. Remember, these people to whom Paul thus spoke had no New Testament, and half of them, I dare say, could not read the Old. There were no written Gospels in existence. It was to the spoken word that he commended them. How much more securely may we trust one another to that permanent record of the Divine revelation which we have here on the pages of Scripture! As for the individual, so for the Church, that written Word is the guarantee for its purity and immortality. Christianity is the only religion that has ever passed through periods of decadence and purified itself again. They used to say that Thames water was the best to put on shipboard, because, after it went putrid, it cleared itself and became sweet again. I do not know anything about whether that is true or not, but I know that it is true about Christianity. Over and over again it has rotted, and over and over again it has cleared itself; and it has always been by the one process. Men have gone back to the Word and laid hold again of it in its simple omnipotence. And so a decadent Christianity has sprung up again into purity and power.

II. The possible benefit or the silencing of the human voice. Paul puts together his absence and the power of the Word. Now I know that you will see my face no more–I commend you to God. That is to say, it is often a good thing that the voice of man may be hushed in order that the sweeter and deeper music of the Word of God, sounding from no human lips, may reach our hearts. The human ministration of the Divine Word, like every other help to know God, may become a hindrance instead of a help; and in all such helps there is a tendency, unless there be continual jealous watchfulness on the part of those who use them, to assert themselves instead of leading to God, and to become not mirrors in which we may behold God, but obscuring media which come between us and Him. This danger belongs to the great ordinance and office of the Christian ministry, large as its blessings are, just as it belongs to all other offices, which are appointed for the purpose of bringing men to God. We may make them ladders or we may make them barriers, we may climb by them or we may remain in them. We may look at the colours on the painted glass until we do not see or think of the light which strikes through the colours. So it is often a good thing that the human voice, that speaks the Divine Word, should be silenced; just as it is often a good thing that other helps and props should be taken away. No man ever leans all his weight upon Gods arm until every other crutch on which he used to lean has been knocked from him.

III. The best expression of Christian solicitude and affection. I commend you, says Paul, to God, and to the word of His grace. If we may venture upon a very literal translation of the word it is, I lay you down beside God. That is beautiful, is it not? Here had Paul been carrying the Ephesian Church on his back for a long time now. He had many cares about them, many forebodings as to their future, knowing very well that after his departure, grievous wolves were going to enter in. He says, I cannot carry the load any longer; here I lay it down at the Throne, beneath those pure eyes, and that gentle and strong hand. For to commend them to God is in fact a prayer casting the care which Paul could no longer exercise upon Him. And that is the highest expression of, as it is the only soothing for, manly Christian solicitude and affection.

IV. The parting counsels involved in the commendation.

1. Cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart, as the limpet does to the rock. Cling to Jesus Christ, the revelation of Gods grace. And how do we cling to Him? What is the cement of souls? Love and trust; and whoever exercises these in reference to Jesus Christ is built into Him, and belongs to Him, and has a vital unity knitting him with that Lord.

2. Cleave to the word of His grace. Try to understand its principles better; study your Bibles with more earnestness; believe more fully than you have ever done that in that great gospel there lies every truth that we need, and guidance in all circumstances. Bring the principles of Christianity into your daily life; walk by the light of them; and live in the radiance of a present God. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

The pastors farewell

It is to be observed from these words–

I. That sanctity is no enemy to civility. The apostle being about to leave them, doth not abruptly turn his back upon them. And now, brethren. Some think that good works and good manners are inconsistent; but though Christianity pare off the luxuriant branches of courtesy, yet it doth not root it up. Civil language and a courteous carriage are, though no part of, yet an ornament to, Christianity. The holy apostle spendeth the greatest part of a chapter in courteous salutations, which he would not have done had it been either unlawful or unnecessary.

II. That grace will turn civil courtesy into serious Christianity. The apostle does not take a bare civil farewell of them, according to the custom of most men, but solemnly takes his leave of them by commending them to the blessed God. Wicked men debase actions that are sacred, and godly men advance actions that are civil. As the iron mine gives a tincture and relish of its own nature to all the waters which run through it, making them thereby more salubrious to our bodies; so grace gives a savour and taste of its own nature and property to all actions, and thereby makes them more healthful to our souls. It sanctifieth our very salutes (Rom 16:16).

III. That all Christians are brethren. Saints are all linked together in the bond of brotherhood. They are brethren if we consider–

1. Their relations; they have all the same Father, God (2Co 6:18). They are not only adopted, but regenerated, by the same God (Joh 1:12; Jam 1:21). They are all children of the same mother (Gal 4:26). They suck the same breasts (Isa 66:11; 1Pe 2:2); wear the same garments, and as they grow up, feed at the same table, and shall dwell together in the same house forever.

2. Their affection. The curtains of the tabernacle were joined together with loops, and so are true Christians with love; they love as brethren, seeking the good and welfare of each other. A saints talents are not an enclosure for his private profit, but a common for the advantage of others (Psa 122:8). Every saint is a great merchant, who hath his factors in all parts of the world, trading for him at the throne of grace. (G. Swinnock, M. A.)

A faithful ministers commendation of the people of God

I. The ground of their hope.

1. He commends them to God.

(1) To His providential agency.

(2) To His attributes as engaged for their welfare–to the wisdom of God, for direction; to the power of God, for defence; to the goodness and mercy of God, for comfort; to the all-sufficiency of God, for all exigencies; to the truth of God as the ground of confidence.

2. He commends them to the word of His grace, so called because–

(1) It originates in His grace.

(2) It records His grace.

(3) It is the instrument of His grace.

II. The extent of their privileges. Which is able to build you up. The word of Gods grace is given to instruct the ignorant–reclaim the wanderer–comfort the mourner–arouse the careless–confirm the wavering–and edify the Christian. The words here:–

1. Imply the commencement of a work. When we speak of building up, it naturally supposes a foundation is laid and a work begun. This is the case with every true Christian. In the work of conviction, the rubbish is taken away, all views of obtaining salvation by human merit are renounced. Christ is cordially embraced as all our salvation.

2. Insure its continuance. Christians are built up in–

(1) Knowledge.

(2) Faith (Jud 1:20).

(3) Love.

(4) Holiness.

III. The sublimity of their destinies. Notice here:–

1. The state of happiness expressed. An inheritance.

(1) It is a rich inheritance.

(2) It is a purchased inheritance–bought by the precious blood of Christ.

(3) It is reserved. Ready prepared for every believer.

(4) It is eternal.

2. The individuals who shall possess it. Them which are sanctified.

3. The mode of its conveyance. To give you. It is the free gift of Gods grace. (Ebenezer Temple.)

Commendation to God

I. How a minister can commend his brethren to God.

1. By prayer. As by preaching the minister commends God to his peoples acceptance, so by prayer he commends his people to Gods benediction. The apostle made prayer the Alpha and Omega, the preface and ending, of his epistles.

2. By faith. We commend our business to a friend when we cast on him the care of it, and trust him with it. Ministers commend their friends and affairs to God, by beseeching His favour towards them, and believing that He will be tender of them. Prayer is the key that openeth Gods treasury, but faith is the hand which takes His bounty. Prayer must have a promise, or else it is a vessel without a bottom; and that promise must have faith, or else the vessel lieth still, and cannot stir at all. When a full gale of faith fills the sails, then the vessel of prayer launcheth forth most hopefully, and returneth with its riches freight. He that prayeth for himself, and not for others, is fitly compared to a hedgehog, who laps himself within his own soft down, and turns his bristles to all the world beside. And he that prayeth for others without reliance on God through Christ for audience, works at the labour in vain, and, like Penelope, undoeth by night all that he wrought in the day. The truth is, we lie to God in prayer, if we do not rely on Him after prayer.

II. Why the pastor must commend his brethren to God. Because of–

1. Gods propriety in them. None so fit to take care of the child as its father. They are Gods by election; by redemption; by regeneration; by promise. Now, because they are His, therefore they go to Him for protection (Psa 119:94), and therefore He affords them His special and gracious presence (Jer 2:3).

2. The worlds enmity against them. They who have many and mighty enemies, surely want some faithful, able friend (Joh 17:14).

3. Their own impotency. Children which cannot go alone, need their mothers helping hand. The strongest Christian is but a child, and except God hold him by his right hand, will every day get many falls and knocks. All our power for sacred performances is wholly from God (2Co 3:4). He must give us fresh supplies of His Spirit in every duty, or they cannot be rightly performed. The greatest fulness of a Christian is not the fulness of a fountain, but of a vessel, which, because always letting out, must be always taking in. The Christians disbursements are great and constant; therefore such must his incomes from God be, or he will quickly prove a bankrupt.

To proceed to the application of this point.

1. It informeth us of the piety of a true pastor. He commends his people to God; this is his character. When others curse their people, and commit them to the devil, he blesseth his parishioners, and commendeth them to God. The mouth of some indeed, like Rabshakehs, are full of railings, and their tongues are even black with blasphemies against God and His people; though their curses are but like false fire, which may flash a little, but will do no execution; but the faithful ministers of the gospel have learned other language–as they are blessed men, so they are blessing men.

2. It discovereth the great privilege of a gracious people. When they are deserted by man, they are commended to God.

III. What the pastor commends his brethren to.

1. To Gods special favour and affection. I commend you to God. The goodwill of God is such a lump of sugar as will sweeten the bitterest cup. His general love is like the ordinary beams of the sun, which convey light and heat for the refreshment of all the world. So the Lord is good to all; His mercy is over all His works; but His special love is like the beams of the sun united in a glass, which, passing by others, fires the object only. If a heathen could say, I care not for those petty gods and demi-gods, so I can have but Jupiters goodwill; surely a saint may say, I care not for mens frowns, or devils fury, so I may obtain but the blessed Gods favour. This special favour is a pearl of such price, that it was bought with the blood of Christ, and none can beg a greater for themselves or others. Now to this God, in whose favour is life (Psa 30:1-12), nay, whose loving kindness is better than life (Psa 63:1-11), I commend you, and my prayer shall be, God be merciful to you, etc. (Psa 67:1).

2. To His special care and protection. Angels are the Churchs guardians: He shall give His angels charge over thee; but God Himself is Captain of the saints lifeguard. He is Lord of hosts. He keepeth them diligently (Isa 27:4), and tenderly (Zec 2:8).

3. His universal benediction; to His blessings in all your undertakings and concernments; as to His grace to affect you in the midst of the worlds hatred, and to His power to protect you in the midst of all hardships, so to His presence to prosper you in all the works of your hands. The fruitfulness of the earth depends wholly upon the influence of heaven. If the sun withhold its heat, and the clouds their moisture, all things decay and wither. The success of all your actions depends on Gods benediction. If He deny His concurrence, nothing prospers (Psa 127:1). It is said of David, that he prospered whithersoever Saul sent him (1Ch 11:9); but what was the spring of the watch which caused all the wheels to move so regularly. For God was with him. It is His gracious presence alone which gives success to every enterprise. His blessing can turn not only water into wine, temporal mercies into spiritual benefits, but even poison into wholesome food, every stone thrown at you by your enemies into a precious stone. The scorching sun of persecution doth but ripen him for a glorious harvest.

4. For your further comfort, know that–

(1) God is the most able friend. To have a friend at court is a great courtesy, because such a one can command much; but what is it then to have God for your Friend, who can command all things? God is able to do more for you than you can ask or think. He is able to defend you from whatsoever is hurtful. A heathen asked a Jew how he and his countrymen could hope for any safety, because, saith he, every one of you is a silly sheep compassed about with fifty wolves. Ay, but, saith the Jew, we are kept by such a Shepherd as can kill all those wolves when He pleaseth.

(a) Are your dangers bodily? He can bear off those blows. No evil can arrest you without leave from this King. If afflictions be near, He will not be far off (Isa 43:2). If the Church be a burning bush, it will not be consumed, because God is in it.

(b) Are your fears spiritual? God is able to be your defence. The world is a slippery place, but He is able to keep you from falling (Jud 1:24). As He is able to defend you from what is hurtful, so to relieve you with what is needful. Gods estate is infinite, and therefore will bear a liberal provision for all His children.

2. He is the most loving Friend. Jonathan ventured far for Davids safety, and the reason was he loved him as his own soul. They who have Gods heart, are sure of His helping hand. God loves His people–

(1) As they are His eternal choice.

(2) As they are His own picture, like Him in grace and holiness. Men have loved others the more for resembling them in sin; God loves His children the more for resembling Him in sanctity.

(3) As they are His Sons purchase. They which were so dearly bought, are not easily loathed.

(4) Above all the world besides. All others are dross; they are His gold. He loves them as His own Son (Joh 17:26-27). Hence it is that they are so happy who are committed to Gods keeping, because He is so loving a Guardian. All the while that His people suffer, He doth sympathise, and He will support them. As a tender Father He proportions the burden to the strength of His childrens back. He doth like a lutanist, who will not let the strings of his instrument be too slack, lest they mar the music, nor suffer them to be hard screwed up, lest they break. His love will set all His other attributes at work for His peoples good. His wisdom will contrive, His power will act, and His faithfulness will perform whatsoever He promiseth for the comfort of His Church, and all because He loveth them.

3. He is the most faithful Friend. He is constant in His love. Some are able, and loving also for a time; but their love, like a candle, though it burn a little in a close room and calm weather, is easily blown out by a stormy wind; but God is an everlasting Friend. His love, like the sun, can never be abated, much less extinguished, by the greatest tempest, but is always going forth in its full strength (Pro 17:17). When men are mutable, and appear all in changeable colours, use their friends as we do sundials, look no longer on them, nor regard them, than the sun shineth on them, God is a faithful Creator (1Pe 4:19); will be sure to mind the house that He hath built, and that most of all when it is out of repair and ready to fall. He is faithful to His promise (Jos 23:14). God is usually better, but never in the least worse, than His word. His promise is equivalent to possession. (G. Swinnock, M. A.)

Commendation to Gods grace

It would be well for us in similar circumstances to follow Pauls example. When we are in sorrow ourselves, let us lift our hearts to God; and when we know that others are in distress, then is the time to bespeak Gods favour for them. Especially is this true of those manifold partings from friends over which hangs the shadowy uncertainty that we may see their faces on earth no more. When, e.g., a lad leaves home, what can be more appropriate than this commendation? When again we tread the deck of the vessel, and are about to embrace for the last time the loved ones who are going to a foreign land, what can be more consoling to both than to whisper I commend you to God, etc.? When some dear friend is in deep waters, and we feel our impotence, what a relief to us, and what a benison to him, it is to be able to say, I commend you, etc. When Thomas MCrie, the biographer of John Knox, was setting out as lad from his country home for Edinburgh University, his mother went with him for a portion of the way, and when at length they came to the place where they had to part, she took him into a field by the wayside, knelt down with him behind a stock of corn sheaves and fervently besought for him the blessing of the Lord. His son tells us that he never forgot that prayer; and that its influence for inspiration and strength was with him through life. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)

Commendation to the Word of Gods grace

I. To purify your affections. It is the usual pipe through which grace may be conveyed into the vessels of your hearts. The laws of men may reform your actions, but it is the gospel of God which can renew your affections. Some poets speak of musicians that by the force of their music can make stones leap into walls, and tame beasts, be they never so savage. The word of Gods grace will do much more–it will change the heart of stone into a heart of flesh; it will tame lions, and turn them into lambs (Isa 11:4-6).

II. To be the rule of your conduct.

1. It containeth not only promises for your consolation, but also precepts for your conversations; therefore it is called a royal law (Jam 2:8). A law, because it is to be the canon of our lives. A royal law, because given us by God, sovereign and dominion over all, and therefore power to command what He pleaseth. The gospel is a law of liberty, but not a law of licentiousness (Jam 1:25). It freeth us from the curse, but not from the commands, of the law. Look therefore to this royal law; expound it in your lives.

2. Let it be your rule for faith. The gospel is the only creed; he that believeth this is a true believer. As the Word–Christ–is the personal foundation, so the word of Christ is the doctrinal foundation for every Christian to build on (Eph 2:19-20).

3. Make it your rule for worship. To serve God according to your own inventions, or mens prescriptions, is rebellion. As the moth eats out the garment, and the rust the iron, so doth an apocryphal worship in time eat out an evangelical worship (Mat 15:7). All worship of God, without warrant, is like private coining money, high treason against the King of heaven (1Ki 12:33). Till man can be his own maker, he may not be his own lawgiver (Isa 8:20).

4. In all things live by the gospel, and look to the gospel; let that be a light to your feet, and a lantern to your paths; keep the Word, and it will keep you, in an hour of temptation, from Binning, and in an hour of dissolution from sinking. The lawyer, in his doubts, consults with his Lyttleton or Coke; the physician prescribes by Galen or Hippocrates; the philosopher takes advice of his Aristotle; but the godly man must always take counsel of the gospel (Pro 4:26-27).

III. To be your buckler against opposition. The gospel is a magazine, out of which Christians may be furnished with spiritual weapons in their holy war against the kingdom of darkness.

1. It is a shield against evil principles (Mat 22:29).

2. It is a shield against evil practices (Psa 119:9).

3. Doth Satan assault you? (Eph 6:17) Use the gospel for your defence.

4. Is the world to you a place of thorns and briars? (2Co 10:4.) Get your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and ye may walk comfortably through it.

IV. To be your cordial in all afflictions. Seneca, going about to comfort his friend Polybius, persuades him to bear his affliction patiently, because he was Caesars favourite. The word of grace affords you infinitely richer cordials, exceeding rich and precious promises, wherein ye are admitted to be the friends of God, the members of Christ, the temples of the Spirit, and the heirs of heaven. (G. Swinnock, M. A.)

The gospel the word of Gods grace

The word grace is taken in Scripture–

1. For favour or goodwill (Col 1:2).

2. For the effects and fruits thereof (Jud 1:4). The gospel in both respects is fitly termed the word of His grace–

I. Because it containeth the infinite grace and favour of the most high God to sinners. The law speaks in effect mans bottomless misery, but the gospel speaks Gods boundless mercy; the law is a court of justice, but the gospel a throne of grace. Grace sits as commander-in-chief in the gospel, and, as Ahasuerus to Esther, holdeth out the golden sceptre of mercy, for poor condemned persons to touch with the hand of faith, and live. The substance of Gods love to man was never laid open to the view of mortals till the gospel was preached. Before it ran as a river underground; but in the gospel it bursts forth and showeth itself, to refresh us with its pleasant streams. The law is, as it were, a warrant under Heavens hand and seal for mans execution; but the gospel, like the dove, comes flying swiftly to prevent it, with the olive branch of peace and pardon in its mouth. Choosing grace (Eph 1:5), calling grace (2Ti 1:9), justifying grace (Rom 3:24), and glorifying grace (1Pe 3:7), are all discovered in the gospel; and therefore it may well be called the word of His grace.

II. Because the gospel is the effect and fruit of Gods grace or goodwill to men. Philosophers observe that dew never falleth in stormy, tempestuous weather: the dropping of the dew of the gospel on parched, scorched hearts, is a sign and fruit of serene, calm heavens: That our parts of the world, like Gideons fleece, should be wet with this dew when other parts are dry, this is merely from grace (Amo 4:7). This rain of the gospel, which cooleth heat, melloweth the hearts, and cleanseth the unholy, goeth by coasts (Psa 147:19-20).

III. Because the gospel is the usual means of begetting grace. As manna fell about the Israelites tents with the dew, so grace is distilled and dropped down with the gospel.

1. Many of the Jews heard the threatenings of the law, and were not moved, but the Baptist wins their children with the songs of Zion, the promises of the gospel. The ice which is hardened by the cold, is melted with the sun. When the murderers of our Saviour heard the gospel, they were pricked to the heart (Act 2:37). The hard flint is broken upon the soft pillow.

2. The gospel is effectual, not only for conversion, but also for edification. Which is able to build you up. The gospel doth not only bring forth souls to Christ, but likewise builds up souls in Christ (1Pe 2:2).

3. It can carry men to glory. And to give you an inheritance. It doth, like Moses, lead the saint out of Egypt, deliver him from bondage to his lusts, conduct him through the wilderness of the world, and also, like Joshua, bring him into Canaan, the land of promise. It is called the grace of God which bringeth salvation (Tit 2:11). It bringeth salvation to man, and it bringeth man to salvation. (G. Swinnock, M. A.)

The well-being of man

I. The conditions on which mans well-being depends.

1. Moral edification. The apostle desired his hearers now to be built up. The word is architectural. A house is built by plan, and by slow degrees. Paul often speaks of the moral culture of the soul under this figure (1Co 3:10; 1Co 12:14; Eph 2:20; Col 2:7). The soul in depravity is a temple in ruins. It requires to be built up upon the true foundation, and according to the true plan.

2. Holy fellowship. Give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. The language implies–

(1) That there are sanctified ones. Who are they? All who have truly believed in Christ and experienced a moral renewal of the Holy Ghost are partially sanctified. There are millions who are perfectly sanctified in heaven. John saw them–a multitude which no man could number.

(2) That an inheritance with those sanctified ones is the grand desideratum. The sanctified ones dwell in social harmony, in unclouded intelligence, in spiritual purity, in Divine fellowship. What higher good is there than to have an inheritance with them, not as a matter of sufferance, but as a matter of right; not temporarily, but forever; to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and with the great and good of all ages?

II. The agency by which these conditions are attained.

1. It works by the gospel: The word of His grace. The gospel originates in, reveals and produces grace. It is able to build up because of the power of God.

2. It is secured by prayer. (D. Thomas, D. D,)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Act 20:32-36

I have coveted no mans silver.

Honest labour

Two men, says Carlyle, I honour, and no third. First, the toil-worn craftsman, that with earth-made implement laboriously conquers the Earth and makes her mans. Venerable to me is the hard hand, crooked, coarse, wherein notwithstanding lies a cunning virtue indefeasibly royal, as of the sceptre of this planet. The second man I honour, and still more highly, is he who is toiling for the spiritually indispensable–not to say daily bread–but the bread of life. These two in all their degrees I honour; all else is chaff and dust, which let the wind blow whither it listeth. Sublimer in this world know I nothing than a peasant saint. Could such now anywhere be met with, such a one will take thee back to Nazareth itself. Thou wilt see the splendour of heaven spring from the humblest depths of earth like a light shining in great darkness. In Paul you have these two labourers which the sage of Chelsea so greatly honours. The text leads us to consider labour in four aspects–

I. As a guard against dishonesty. I have coveted no mans silver, or gold, or apparel. Covetousness is the soul of theft. The apostle did not covet because he worked for his livelihood. Such labour acts as a security against dishonesty in two ways.

1. It raises a man above the need of anothers property. The great Creator has given to every man, as a rule, that natural skill and strength which, when industriously used, will secure all the temporal good he needs.

2. It trains a man to respect anothers property. The man who toils for what he has alone knows the value of property. Laziness breeds covetousness. The industrious habits of a people are the safeguards of a nations property.

II. As a condition of independency. There is a sublime spirit of independency in these words: Ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that were with me. This feeling must have been heightened by the fact that he knew that he had a Divine claim to their temporal things (1Co 9:13-14), and also by the fact that on account of his influence over them, he might have extracted from them large portions of their property. Two thoughts are suggested here–

1. That it is a desirable thing for a minister to be secularly independent of his people. Why else does the apostle rejoice at it? The people who feel that their minister is dependent upon them are likely to take advantage of his poverty, and to misinterpret his acts of purest generosity; and the minister who feels his dependency may come under a strong temptation to humour their prejudices, and under a painful sense of his own humiliation.

2. That a secular independence, therefore, every minister should endeavour to obtain. Any man with two healthy hands can do it and ought to do it. Agriculture, mechanics, trade, literature, medicine, law–the minister who wishes to be secularly independent of his people may get his livelihood from some of these.

III. As a source of beneficence. His hands not only ministered to his necessities, but to them that were with him, so that they enabled him to support the weak. Industrious labour is socially beneficent. The industrious man–

1. Necessarily enriches society. He produces what would not have been without him, and thus adds to the common stock of wealth on which society lives. The lazy man, on the contrary, consumes without producing, and thus impoverishes society.

2. Generally becomes both able and willing to help society. Industry has the power, not only of supplying the means to alleviate the distress, but often generates the disposition to do so. Where Christianity is, as in the case of Paul, the disposition is.

IV. As a practice to be followed. I have showed you all things. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

An unmercenary servant of God

When Pope Paul IV heard of the death of Calvin he exclaimed with a sigh: Ah! the strength of that proud heretic lay in this–that riches and honours were nothing to him. Holy Virgin I with two such servants, our Church would soon be mistress of both shores of the ocean. (J. F. B. Tinling.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 32. I commend you to God] Instead of , to GOD, several MSS. have , to the LORD; neither reading makes any difference in the sense.

And to the word of his grace] The doctrine of salvation by Christ Jesus.

Which is able to build you up] The foundation is Jesus Christ; God is the great master-builder; the doctrine of his grace, or mercy, points out the order and manner, as well as the extent, c., of this building. Let us observe the order of these things:

1. The soul of man, which was formerly the habitation of God, is now in a state of ruin.

2. The ruins of this soul must be repaired, that it may again become a habitation of God through the Spirit.

3. Jesus Christ is the only foundation on which this house can be rebuilded.

4. The doctrine of God’s grace is the model, or plan, according to which the building can be raised.

5. When re-edified, each is to be a lively temple of the Lord, made inwardly pure and outwardly righteous, and thus prepared for a state of bliss.

6. Being made children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus, and sanctified by his Spirit, they have a right to the heavenly inheritance for only the children of the family can possess the celestial estate.

Thus we find they must be saved by grace, and be made thereby children of God; be sanctified by his Spirit; and, then, being prepared for, they are removed, in due time, into the heavenly inheritance.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

I commend you to God; it being so hard a matter to escape so many snares and dangers, the apostle prays to God for them, who is able to keep them by his power, through faith, unto salvation, 1Pe 1:5; and it is in vain to look after any meaner defence.

The word of his grace; the gospel, which leads us to the rock upon which we must build, if we would not be moved when the storm comes.

Build you up; increasing the number of believers, and augmenting their graces. God is said to build, and so is his word, both concurring: the gospel builds, as a means appointed by God; and God builds, who blesses that means. Hence he is called the God of all grace, 1Pe 5:10.

An inheritance; heaven is called an inheritance, because we have it only by adoption, and it is given only unto children, Rom 8:17; as also, because it is a firm and lasting possession, not for a term of years, or a certain time, but for ever and ever.

Which are sanctified; for without holiness none shall see God, Heb 12:14.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

32-35. I commend you to Godthealmighty Conservator of His people.

and to the word of hisgracethat message of His pure grace (Ac20:24) by the faith of which He keeps us (1Pe1:5).

whichthat is, God.

is able to build you up, andto give you an inheritance, c.Observe how salvationnot onlyin its initial stages of pardon and regeneration, but in allits subsequent stages of “up-building,” even to itsconsummation in the final inheritanceis here ascribed tothe “ability” of God to bestow it, as in Rom 16:25Eph 3:20; particularly Jude24; and compare 2Ti 1:12,where the same thing is ascribed to Christ.

among all them which aresanctifiedSanctification is here viewed as the final characterand condition of the heirs of glory, regarded as one saved company.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And now brethren,…. So the apostle calls the elders of the church at Ephesus; though they had not the same gifts, and were not in the same high office as he was, yet he puts himself upon a level with them, as if he and they were fellow elders, as Peter calls himself, 1Pe 5:1 which is an instance of the apostle’s humility and affection:

I commend you to God; to God the Father; to his grace, to supply all their need; to his wisdom, to direct them in all their affairs; and to his power, to keep them from the sins and corruptions of the times, and from the errors and heresies now broaching, or to be broached.

And to the word of his grace: either the Gospel, before called the Gospel of the grace of God, Ac 20:24 This is sometimes called “the word”, the word of faith, of truth, of righteousness, of reconciliation and salvation; and is “his” word, the word of God, and not of man; it comes from him, is concerning him, and is succeeded by him; and it is the word of “his grace”, since it publishes his free grace and mercy in Christ Jesus, and declares salvation to, be wholly of the grace of God; to which this church is commended by the apostle as a rule of faith and practice, to attend unto, and abide by, and as a preservative from those errors and heresies which he had observed would spring up among them, and which would be for their instruction, comfort, and establishment: or else the Lord Jesus is intended, who is the eternal and essential word of God; who, as the word, inwardly conceived, is the image of the mind, equal to it, and yet distinct from it, so Christ is the image of the invisible God, equal to him, and yet a distinct person from him; and as the word expressed is the interpreter of the mind, so Christ the word, who was in the beginning with God, and lay in his bosom, has spoke all things from him, declared his mind, and explained his will: besides, he is the word who in the everlasting council and covenant spoke on the behalf of all his people, asked for every blessing for them, and engaged to be the surety of them; and is the word, who, in the beginning of time, spoke all things out of nothing; and now is the advocate, and speaks for the saints in heaven, as well as he has been the word spoken of by all the holy prophets from the beginning of the world: and he may be thought the rather to be designed, since the saints never commend themselves, or others, either in life, or in death, to any but to a divine person; nor is any but a divine person capable of taking the care and charge of the saints, and of making it good; nor will they trust any other; nor are the saints ever said to be committed or commended to the Gospel, but on the other hand, that is said to be committed to them: the written word is committed to the care and keeping of the saints, but not the saints to the care and keeping of that; nor does it appear so agreeable to put the written word upon a level with the divine Being; a commendation of the saints, equally to the written word, as to God himself, seems to be a lessening of the glory of the divine Being, and an ascribing too much to the word, but suits well with Christ the essential word: and who may be called the word of his grace, because the grace of God is greatly displayed in him; and because all fulness of grace dwells in him; and he is the author, donor, and object of all grace, and so a proper person to be commended to; and what follows is very applicable to him:

which is able to build you up: in faith and holiness, and on himself, the sure foundation; for though the Gospel is an instrument in the hands of the Spirit of God, in building up saints on their most holy faith, yet Christ is the master builder; it is he that builds the temple, the church, and every particular believer, and must bear the glory. The saints, though they are built on Christ the foundation, against which the gates of hell cannot prevail, and so are safe; yet they stand in need of building up, or of edification; and a church may be said to be built up, or edified, when additions are made unto it of such as shall be saved; and particular members are built up, when additions are made to their grace, or they grow in the exercise of it; when their spiritual strength increases, when their understandings are more enlightened, their judgments better informed, and their memories filled with divine truths and Gospel doctrines; when they are more and more confirmed in the faith of Christ, both as a grace, and as a doctrine; and their wills are brought to a greater resignation to the will of God, as well as their afflictions are set upon things in heaven, and their souls are more seeking after them: and now this is what God is able to do, and does do; for except he builds, in vain do the builders build; he causes all grace to abound; and so does his word, his essential word; he is the author and finisher of faith, and gives both grace and glory, as it follows:

and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified: by the inheritance is meant the heavenly glory, which is a free grace gift and not obtained by the works of the law, or the industry of men. It is a distribution by lot, as the land of Canaan was, even by the lot of God’s eternal purpose and decree: it is what belongs to children, to the children of God, and them only; and therefore bears this name, and comes unto them upon, and in consequence of the death of Christ the testator: it is his righteousness which entitles unto it; and it is the grace of God which makes meet for it; and the Spirit of God is the earnest of it: it is an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in the heavens, and is an eternal one; it lies in light, and among the saints there. God is able to give it; it is a gift of his grace, of his sovereign will, which he gives to whom he pleases; it is an inheritance of his preparing and disposing, which he calls unto, makes meet for, and bestows: and Christ, the word of his grace, is able to give it; it is in his hands, not only the promise of it, but that itself; he is in possession of it, and it is in his power to give it; and he does give it to all that the Father has given him, and who are here described from their sanctification; for this is only enjoyed by such, who are set apart by God the Father, whose sins are expiated by the blood of Christ, and to whom he is made sanctification, and who are sanctified by the blessed Spirit. Now though the Gospel, the written word, may be as a map, which shows where this inheritance lies, and which is the way to it; yet it is Christ, the living word, who gives the right unto it, the meetness for it, the earnest of it, and will put into the possession of it.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

And now ( ). Same phrase as in verses Acts 20:22; Acts 20:25 save that (behold) is wanting and the article occurs before , accusative of general reference. And as to the present things (or situation) as in 4:29.

I commend (). Present middle indicative of , old verb to place beside, middle, to deposit with one, to interest as in 1Tim 1:18; 2Tim 2:2. Paul can now only do this, but he does it hopefully. Cf. 1Pe 4:19.

The word of his grace ( ). The instrumentality through preaching and the Holy Spirit employed by God. Cf. Col 4:6; Eph 4:29.

Which is able to build up ( ). God works through the word of his grace and so it is able to build up (edify); a favourite Pauline word (1Cor 3:10-14; 1Cor 3:9; 2Cor 5:1; Eph 2:20-22; 2Tim 3:15; etc.), and Jas 1:21. The very words “build” and “inheritance among the sanctified” will occur in Eph 1:11; Eph 2:30; Eph 3:18 and which some may recall on reading. Cf. Col 1:12. Stephen in Ac 7:5 used the word “inheritance” (), nowhere else in Acts, but in Eph 1:14; Eph 1:18; Eph 5:5. In Eph 1:18 the very expression occurs “his inheritance among the saints ” ( ).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

I commend. See on 1Pe 4:19.

Build you up. A metaphor in constant use by Paul, and preserved in the words edify, edification (Latin, aedes, “a house” and facere, “to make “) by which oijkodomew and its kindred words are frequently rendered. In old English the word edify was used in its original sense of build. Thus Wycliffe renders Gen 2:22,” The Lord God edified the rib which he took of Adam, into a woman. ”

So, too, Spenser :

“a little wide There was a holy temple edified.” Faerie Queene, 1, 1, 34.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “And now, brethren, I commend you to God,” (kai ta nun paratithernat humas to kurio) “And now (and for hereafter forever) I commend you to the Lord,” to His care, and mercy, and guidance, without my leadership 6r further council, Act 20:25; Act 20:38.

2) “And to the word of His grace,” (kai to logo tes charitos auto) “And to or toward the word of His grace,” I commend you all, and each of you, 1Ti 4:16; Joh 17:17.

3) “Which is able to build you up,” (to dunameno oikodomesai) “Which is (exists) dynamic to build,” sustain, or uphold you all, as elders, and bishops of churches of the Lord in Ephesus and Asia, Act 20:17-21; 2Pe 3:18; Act 17:11; 2Ti 2:15; 2Ti 3:15-16; Eph 2:20-22.

4) “And to give you an inheritance,” (kai dounai ten kleronomian) “And to give (to you) the inheritance (the estate of heirship),” Act 26:18; Rom 8:17; 1Pe 1:5; Jud 1:24. The “riches of His inheritance is declared,” Jud 1:3. The phrase refers restrictedly to-the church,” not to the sum total of believers, as taught by Protestants and protestant-baptists, Col 1:12.

5) “Among all them which are sanctified.” (en tois hegaismenois pasin) “Among all those (of the flock), those having been sanctified,” set apart in doing the flock-labors of their Lord, Luk 22:28-30; Every church, covenant fellowship, local congregation of the Lord, is sanctified, empowered, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and every member should be an example of such, in his daily conduct and influence of life, 1Co 1:2; 1Co 6:19-20; Rom 12:1-2.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

−

32. I commend you to God. He useth a prayer which, in an oration serving to move the hearers greatly, ought not to be counted absurd. For he did not pass for dividing his sermon into parts as the Rhetoricians use to do, seeing no words were sufficient to express the vehemency of the affections wherewith he was inflamed. He had intreated already of great matters and weighty, which did far exceed man’s ability. −

Therefore, he turneth himself unto prayer, and by little and little draweth toward an end of his speech, though it be rather an expressing of a desire than a direct prayer; as if he should have said, that they be unable to bear so great a burthen; but he doth wish to them new help from heaven, whereto they may trust and overcome all temptations. And it is not to be doubted, though he speak unto the pastors alone, but that he doth also comprehend the whole Church. First, he commendeth them to God; secondly, to the word of his grace. Notwithstanding, it is all one commendation; but Paul meant to express the means whereby the Lord doth defend the salvation of his, which (as Peter saith) is kept by faith, ( 1Pe 1:5) and the means of this keeping dependeth upon the word, lest it come in hazard amidst so many dangers. And it is very expedient for us to know how God will keep us. For because his majesty is hid from us, until we come unto him by his word, we look to and fro, being in doubt. −

Therefore, so soon as he receiveth us to be kept, he maketh his word the instrument to keep our salvation, in which sense, he addeth the adjunct “grace,” (for the genitive case, after the manner of the Hebrews, doth signify an effect) to the end the faithful might the more safely rest in the word, where God doth show forth his favor. This exposition is plain and apt; for whereas some understand it of Christ, it is too much racked. −

Who is able to build farther. The participle, δυναμενος, − (444) is to be referred unto God, not unto his word. And this consolation is added for this cause, lest they faint through the feeling of their infirmities. For so long as we be environed with the infirmities of the flesh, we be like to an house whose foundation is laid. − (445) All the godly must be grounded indeed in Christ, but their faith is far from being perfect. Yea, though the foundation continue stable and sure, yet some parts of the building be like to fall and quail. − (446) Wherefore, there is great need both of continual building, and also now and then new props and stays be necessary. Nevertheless, Paul saith that “we must not faint,” because the Lord will not leave his work unfinished; as he doth likewise teach in the first chapter to the Philippians, −

“

He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of the Lord,” − ( Phi 1:6). −

Whereto that of the Psalm ( Psa 138:8) answereth, −

“

Thou wilt not forsake the work of our [thy] hands.” −

That which is added immediately concerning the inheritance of life appertaineth unto the very enjoying of life. So soon as Christ hath appeared to us, − (447) we pass indeed from death to life; and faith is an entrance into the kingdom of heaven; neither is the Spirit of adoption given to us in vain; but Paul promiseth in this place to the faithful a continual increase of grace until they see the possession of the inheritance whereunto they have been called, which is now laid up for them in heaven. He calleth it “the power of God”, not as we use to imagine it, without effect, but which is commonly called actual. For the faithful must so lay hold upon it, that they may have it ready, like to a shield, or buckler, to hold up against all assaults of Satan. As the Scripture doth teach that we have aid enough in the power of God, so let us remember that none are strong in the Lord save those who, abandoning all hope and confidence of their own free will, trust and lean to him, who, as Paul saith very well, is able to build farther.

(444) −

“

Quo utitur Paulus,” which Paul uses.

(445) −

“

Inchoato aedificio,” to a commenced building.

(446) −

“

Nutant,” nod, totter.

(447) −

“

Nobis affulsit,” hath shone upon us.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(32) And now, brethren, I commend you . . .The Greek verb and its derivatives are characteristic of St. Pauls phraseology. Teachers are to commit the truth they have received to others (2Ti. 2:2), and the truth so committed is the depositum fidei which they thus hold, as it were, in trust (2Ti. 1:14).

The word of his grace, which is able to build you up . . .It can hardly be said that the word here is used, as it is by St. John, for the person of Christ as the Logos. (See Notes on Joh. 1:14; Joh. 1:16; 1Jn. 1:1.) There is, however, a quasi-personal character ascribed to it, able to . . . give an inheritance, which suggests the thought of something more than the written or spoken word. The true explanation is probably to be found in the thought of the engrafted (or better, the implanted) word of Jas. 1:21, the word of God, quick and powerful of Heb. 4:12; and in so far as this is identical with the Light that lighteth every man of Joh. 1:9, we may find in these passages a preparation for the more fully developed teaching of St. John as to the Logos. We cannot pass over the word build without noting the recurrence of the same thought and word in Eph. 2:20-21; Eph. 4:12; Eph. 4:16; Eph. 4:29; Col. 2:7. The figure was a natural one anywhere (comp. 1Co. 3:10), but it would gain additional vividness from the stately architecture of Ephesus, perhaps also from the presence of one among St. Pauls companions who may have been himself an architect. (See Note on Act. 20:4.)

An inheritance among all them which are sanctified.Here also we find a thought specially characteristic of the teaching of the Epistle to the Ephesians. So we find the earnest of our inheritance (Eph. 1:14), the inheritance in, or among, the saints (Eph. 1:18), the inheritance in the kingdom (Eph. 5:5). The participle is in the perfect tense: those that have been sanctified, or consecrated. That term was, of course, equivalent to and co-extensive with the saints, as applied to the whole body of believers. (See Notes on Act. 9:2; Rom. 1:7; 1Co. 1:2; 2Co. 1:1.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

32. Commend Commit, entrust.

Word of his grace The promise of the Gospel.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“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 those who are sanctified.”

But Paul knows the place of safety and security. It is to be found in God Himself, and in the full teaching concerning His grace (compare Act 20:24), and of how men are saved through that grace (God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense). ‘The word’ is the message preached (compare 1Co 1:18), but especially as found in the Scriptures and in the Testimony of Jesus, that (then) partly written partly oral tradition of the life and teaching of Jesus.

‘The word of His grace.’ That is, the teaching concerning the unmerited love and compassion of God reaching out in Jesus Christ to all who believe as defined in Rom 3:24; Rom 5:15; Rom 5:17; Rom 5:21; Rom 8:28-30; 2Co 8:9 ; 2Co 9:8; Eph 1:6; Eph 2:7-10; 2Ti 1:9.

And that teaching concerning salvation by the grace of God is not only the means through God’s working of their salvation, but is also the means by which His people might be built up and established and made strong (1Co 3:10-16; Eph 2:21-22; Jud 1:20).

‘And to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.’ And its final end is so that all His own might receive their inheritance, both now and in the future. This inheritance, which consists of all that God purposes for His people, is for all who are ‘sanctified’. In this case to be sanctified means that Christ has been made their sanctification (1Co 1:30 compare Joh 17:19; Heb 10:10), that they are sanctified, acceptable to God in holiness, in Him (Act 27:18; 1Co 1:2; 1Co 6:11; Rom 15:16), although it will of course result in practical sanctification (2Ti 2:21).

To be sanctified means to be set apart as holy, as totally His as available for His use (2Ti 2:21). And the moment the newest believer responds to Christ he is in that moment sanctified for ever. He has become one of God’s holy people. He is called a ‘saint’, a sanctified one (1Co 1:2), one ‘set apart’. And this because the very holiness of Christ has covered and enveloped him ‘in Christ’. His life is then hid with Christ in God (Col 3:3). This sanctification is the work of God (Jud 1:1), of Christ (1Co 1:2) and of the Holy Spirit (Rom 15:16 ’ 1Co 6:11). And all this because of His ‘grace’, His unmerited love and favour revealed to us in Christ by the Holy Spirit.

Thus all who are His will receive their inheritance because they are in Him, and are sanctified in Him.

He Stresses That He Has Never Personally Taken Advantage Of Them In Any Way While Ministering To Them (Act 20:33-34).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Paul’s words of farewell:

v. 32. And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

v. 33. I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel.

v. 34. Yea, ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.

v. 35. I have showed you all things, how that so laboring 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.

Paul had held up before the elders of Ephesus his own example, and had warned them most urgently against the dangers that would threaten the congregation. He now points them to the only source of courage and strength sufficient for them, by commending them to God and His Word, the Word of Grace, the grace of God being the primary content, the summary of the Gospel. With the counsel and admonition of God, as presented in this Word, before them at all times, they could not lack in strength in the midst of all adversity. For this Word Is ‘able at all times to build up, to edify, the Christians, and not only to promise them, but actually to give them the inheritance among all the consecrated. The promises of mercy in the Word of God are so sure, so plain, that there can be no doubt of its glories as the possession of the believers. In concluding, Paul once more, in a striking appeal, with graphic vividness, holds his example before the Ephesian elders. Neither the silver nor the gold nor the clothes of any one had he coveted; he had not been in the ministry among them for money. What is more, on account of a special glory which he desired to have, he had worked, as they knew, with his own hands, whose toil worn palms he showed them, in order to provide the necessities of life for himself and for those that ministered with him. Very likely, Paul also in Ephesus had worked at his trade, either with Aquila and Priscilla or with Philemon. But this favorite boast of his was far secondary in importance to the fact that he had very strenuously labored in his ministry, and had thereby shown the Christians of Ephesus what was required in this work; he had in all things given them an example, combining his manual labors with the service of the needy. Thus it is an obligation to come to the aid of the sick and of all those that are in trouble, remembering always the words of the Lord Jesus, which He Himself had spoken, and which had been preserved by the disciples, although not included in the Gospels: “It is more blessed to give than to receive. ” This unselfish devotion to the service of the needy neighbor had been practiced by Jesus; it had been followed by Paul; it should be emulated by all Christians, for only thus will their faith find its proper expression and application.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Act 20:32. Which is able Who is able: for God is evidently the last person mentioned in the Greek, of the grace of him [ ] who is able: though the gospel may be said to be able to edify men, yet it seems harsh to say, that doctrines or writings can give us an inheritance.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Act 20:32 . And now I commend you to God (Act 14:23 ) and to the word of His grace (Act 20:24 ), entrust you to Him to protect and bless you, and to the gospel to be the rule of your whole conduct, to Him who is able to build up (to promote the Christian life), and to give you inheritance (a share in the Messianic blessedness) among all who are sanctified (consecrated to God by faith).

] is, with the Vulgate, Luther, Beza, Calvin, Grotius, Wolf, Bengel, de Wette, and others, to be referred to God ; so that a very natural hyperbaton occurs, according to which appears as an inserted annexation to the general and main element of an accessory idea, which was not to be separated from , but which also does not prevent the continuance of the address by a more precise description of bearing on its object. Comp. Bernhardy, p. 459. We should, in reading, lay the emphasis on , and pass on more quickly over . Others refer . to , and understand the either correctly of the doctrine (Erasmus, Heinrichs, Kuinoel, Lange, and others), or erroneously (opposed to Luke’s and Paul’s mode of conception) of the personal (Johannean) Logos (Gomarus, Witsius, Amelot). But such a personification of the saving doctrine (Jas 1:21 ), according to which even the (evidently an act of God! ) is assigned to it, is without scriptural analogy. Comp. Col 1:12 f.; Gal 4:7 ; Luk 12:32 .

As to , transferred from the allotted share in the possession of Palestine ( ) to the share of possession in the Messianic kingdom, see on Mat 5:5 ; Gal 3:18 ; Eph 1:11 . On . ., comp. Act 26:18 ; Eph 1:18 .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1802
A FAREWELL DISCOURSE

Act 20:32. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

THIS is one of the most affecting portions of Scripture that can be found in all the Book of God. In it, the Apostle is taking leave of the Ephesian elders, over whom he had watched for the space of three years, and whose face he knew that he should behold no more. He was able to appeal to them, that, during that whole period, he had ministered unto them with the utmost fidelity, and watched over them with all the tenderness of a loving parent. And now that he was parting from them, he warned them of the evils which he foresaw, not only as probable, but certain: for that, from amongst themselves, some would arise, to introduce dissensions and divisions among them, and to fill with tares the field which he had so carefully cultivated with the purest wheat. He could not continue always with them: he therefore now commended them to God, who alone was able to complete the work which had been begun in their souls.
In these words we see,

I.

The desire of a minister for his people, when present with them

A faithful minister not only carries his people in his arms like a father, but travails in birth with them, as a mother [Note: Gal 4:19.]. He pants for,

1.

Their present edification

[It is here taken for granted that they are standing on the only true foundation, the Lord Jesus Christ. In truth, if any person have not come to the Lord Jesus Christ as the one foundation of a sinners hope, he may be called a Christian, but he is no other than a baptized heathen But, supposing that the work of conversion have really been wrought in the souls of his people, the faithful minister desires to see them built up, and edified in faith and love. He would not that any of his spiritual children should continue in a state of infantine weakness: he wishes to see them grow, and increase with the increase of God: from children he would have them advance to young men and fathers, till they have attained the full measure of the stature of Christ. If they were as eminent as St. Paul himself, he would not consider them as having already attained, or as being already perfect; but he would exhort them to forget what was behind, and to press forward to that which was before; and never to relax their ardour, till they have finished their course, and attained the prize of their high calling.]

2.

Their everlasting salvation

[They are begotten to a glorious inheritance: as children, they are heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ: and never does he consider his care for them as terminated, till he sees them translated from earth to heaven. As long as they are in the body, they are exposed to the assaults of Satan: and he is jealous over them with a godly jealousy, lest that serpent who beguiled our first parents in Paradise, should by any means prevail over them. They are here intermixed with sinners, by whom they may be deceived and defiled. It is in heaven only that they are beyond the reach of temptation: there are none but saints: thither all who bear that sacred character are going: and when he beholds them safely landed on that happy shore, his soul is completely at rest respecting them; and he looks forward to the happy day when he shall be united to them there, as his joy and crown of rejoicing for evermore.]
But, as occasional separations from them in this world are unavoidable, we may contemplate,

II.

His consolation when absent from them

Though useful to his people as an instrument, he knows that he is not necessary to them; and that God carries on his work within them without his puny efforts. He therefore, when absent from them, commends them,

1.

To God, as the source of all good

[From God they have received all the good that is in them; and from the same divine source alone can any blessing flow down unto them. To him, therefore, the minister commits his people. And it is a source of joy to him that they have in God an all-sufficient Friend, who is ever present with them, and tenderly affected towards them, and conversant with all their necessities, and able to supply all their wants. What can they want, if only they live nigh to him t He can make all grace abound towards them, that they may have always all-sufficiency in all things. To his care, therefore, he commits them with confidence, assured that He is able to keep them from falling, and to present them faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.]

2.

To the Word, as the means of all good

[The Holy Scriptures are justly called the word of Gods grace, because they contain a wonderful revelation of grace, suited to, and sufficient for, our every want. In that is contained every thing that we can desire, for our instruction, our consolation, and support. By that the whole work of grace may be carried on and perfected within us. It is by that that we are at first begotten to God: and by that shall we be nourished unto life eternal. The word is able for all this, even to build us up, and to give us an inheritance among all them that are sanctified. By that we are made clean and sanctified; and through its effectual operation on the soul will Christ perfect his whole work within us: as it is said; He loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word; that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it may be holy and without blemish [Note: Eph 5:25-27.]. Now, to this fountain may every saint have access at all times; and out of it, as from a well of salvation, may he draw water with unutterable joy. To that, therefore, the pious minister commends his people; knowing, that, if they will but make a just use of it, it will, as Gods instrument, accomplish every end for which it has been sent, and perfect the whole of Gods work within them.]

What, then, shall now be my parting advice to you?
1.

Live nigh to God

[On this your whole stability will depend. If you be with him, he will be with you: but, if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. The direction which God gave to Abraham, he gives alike to all his people: Walk before me, and be perfect. We must set God ever before us, and walk as in his immediate presence; (yet not so much impressed with fear, as with love: for Enoch walked with God; he walked not only before him as a Master, but with him as a Friend:) going with holy boldness into his presence, spreading before him our every want, and desiring his aid in every difficulty. Acquaint yourselves with God in this way, and your souls shall be kept in perfect peace.]

2.

Make good use of his word

[It is by his word, chiefly, that God will direct and comfort your souls. I will not say that the Holy Spirit never operates in a way of direct and immediate agency upon the soul: but we are not to look for that, or expect it, in common cases. It is by shining upon the word, and applying it with power to our souls, that the Spirit usually works: and that we may expect; yea, and we shall experience it too, if we meditate upon the word, and pray over it, and implore the Spirits influence to seal it on our hearts. St. Peter says, As newborn babes, desire the sincere, the unadulterated milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. You all know how a little child lives upon its mothers breast: and let it be your care to live thus upon the blessed word of God; esteeming it more than your necessary food, and looking for a constant communication of all needful strength through that appointed medium. Only live upon that word, and it shall surely nourish you unto life eternal.]

3.

Keep your eyes steadily fixed on your eternal inheritance

[The man who is in a race keeps his mind fixed, as it were, upon the prize; which he is determined, if possible, to obtain. Do ye in like manner keep in view the prize of your high calling; and have respect, even as Moses had, to the recompence of the reward. In the prospect of heaven, every trial will appear light, every effort be accounted easy. What we may meet with in life, or whether we shall ever behold each others face again in this world, God alone knows. But let us live for God, and for eternity: let us live, as we shall wish we had lived, when we shall stand before the judgment-seat of Christ to receive our eternal doom. Let us go forward in the path of duty, assured, that the rest which awaits us will richly repay our labours, and the crown of righteousness our conflicts.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

32 And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

Ver. 32. Able to build ] As being God’s arm, and mighty instruments of his power, 1Co 1:18 ; Rom 1:16 .

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

32. . . . .] I should be inclined to attribute the occurrence of this expression in ch. Act 14:3 , to the narrative having come from Paul himself, or from one imbued with his words and habits of thought. See Act 20:24 .

.] Clearly spoken of God , not of the word of His grace , which cannot be said ., however it might .

The expression . . . . is strikingly similar to , Eph 1:18 , addressed to this same church. See also ch. Act 26:18 .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Act 20:32 . , see above on Act 4:29 . ., cf. Act 14:23 . . : as in the fourth Gospel, Joh 1:14-17 , so here and in the Epistle to the Ephesians, we find great stress laid on , but we cannot conclude with Stier and others that in the word we have any reference here to the Word of St. John’s Gospel, although the similarity between St. John’s doctrine of the Word and St. Paul’s conception of our Lord’s Person is very close elsewhere; the thought here is however closely akin to that of St.Jas 1:21 (Heb 4:12 ). In his earliest Epistle the Apostle had spoken of the Word, 1Th 2:13 , . The Word here is able to build up and to give, etc., which certainly seems to ascribe to it a quasi-personal character, even more so than in 2Ti 3:15 , where the Apostle uses a somewhat similar phrase of the O.T. Scriptures, (the same verb as here) . . . The same phrase as here occurs in Act 14:3 , which points to its derivation from one imbued with Paul’s words and habits of thought, if not from the Apostle himself (Alford). Weiss and others refer . to ( , see critical note), cf. Rom 16:25 , Eph 3:20 , Gal 3:21 , on the ground that although ( .) may refer to , yet the cannot be said . To the latter phrase Bethge, p. 158, strives to find some Scriptural analogies in the work attributed to , cf. 1Co 1:18 , Joh 12:48 . But it is best and simplest on the whole to regard the entire phrase . . as one, “quasi una notio sunt; agit enim Deus per verbum suum,” Blass; so Page. ., Eph 2:20 , in the passive, see critical note. Whether we read the compound or the simple verb, the metaphor of building is prominent in Eph 2:21 ; Eph 4:12 ; Eph 4:16 ; Eph 4:29 , as also in 1 Cor., cf. 1Co 3:10 (2), 1Co 3:2 ; 1Co 3:14 ; 1Co 3:9 ; 1Co 14:3 ; 1Co 14:5 ; 1Co 14:12 ; 1Co 14:26 , and cf. 2Co 5:1 ; 2Co 10:8 ; 2Co 12:19 ; 2Co 13:10 . See note above on Act 9:31 . ., Act 7:5 , see note; nowhere else in Acts, cf. for the thought Eph 3:18 ; Eph 1:11 ; and words elsewhere spoken by St. Paul, Act 26:18 ; the word itself occurs three times in Eph 1:14 ; Eph 1:18 ; Eph 5:5 . In Eph 3:18 we have closely conjoined with . the . ., cf. St. Paul’s words Act 20:25 above. The word is frequent in Psalms of Solomon , cf. Act 14:6-7 , where the inheritance of the saints is contrasted with the inheritance of sinners in the Messianic consummation, and also Act 15:11-12 , Act 17:26 ; see further on the word, Kennedy, p. 100.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Acts

THE FIGHT WITH WILD BEASTS AT EPHESUS

PARTING COUNSELS

PARTING WORDS 1

Act 20:32 .

I may be pardoned if my remarks now should assume somewhat of a more personal character than is my wont. I desire to speak mainly to my own friends, the members of my own congregation; and other friends who have come to give me a parting ‘Godspeed’ will forgive me if my observations have a more special bearing on those with whom I am more immediately connected.

The Apostle whose words I have taken for my text was leaving, as he supposed, for the last time, the representatives of the Church in Ephesus, to whom he had been painting in very sombre colours the dangers of the future and his own forebodings and warnings. Exhortations, prophecies of evil, expressions of anxious solicitude, motions of Christian affection, all culminate in this parting utterance. High above them all rises the thought of the present God, and of the mighty word which in itself, in the absence of all human teachers, had power to ‘build them up, and to give them an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified.’

If we think of that Church in Ephesus, this brave confidence of the Apostle’s becomes yet more remarkable. They were set in the midst of a focus of heathen superstition, from which they themselves had only recently been rescued. Their knowledge was little, they had no Apostolic teacher to be present with them; they were left alone there to battle with the evils of that corrupt society in which they dwelt. And yet Paul leaves them-’sheep in the midst of wolves,’ with a very imperfect Christianity, with no Bible, with no teachers-in the sure confidence that no harm will come to them, because God is with them, and the ‘word of His grace’ is enough.

And that is the feeling, dear brethren, with which I now look you in the face for the last time for a little while. I desire that you and I should together share the conviction that each of us is safe because God and the ‘word of His grace’ will go and remain with us.

I. So then, first of all, let me point you to the one source of security and enlightenment for the Church and for the individual.

We are not to separate between God and the ‘word of His grace,’ but rather to suppose that the way by which the Apostle conceived of God as working for the blessing and the guardianship of that little community in Ephesus was mainly, though not exclusively, through that which he here designates ‘the word of His grace.’ We are not to forget the ever-abiding presence of the indwelling Spirit who guards and keeps the life of the individual and of the community. But what is in the Apostle’s mind here is the objective revelation, the actual spoken word not yet written which had its origin in God’s condescending love, and had for its contents, mainly, the setting forth of that love. Or to put it into other words, the revelation of the grace of God in Jesus Christ, with all the great truths that cluster round and are evolved from it, is the all-sufficient source of enlightenment and security for individuals and for Churches. And whosoever will rightly use and faithfully keep that great word, no evil shall befall him, nor shall he ever make shipwreck of the faith. It is ‘able to build you up,’ says Paul. In God’s Gospel, in the truth concerning Jesus Christ the divine Redeemer, in the principles that flow from that Cross and Passion, and that risen life and that ascension to God, there is all that men need, all that they want for life, all that they want for godliness. The basis of their creed, the sufficient guide for their conduct, the formative powers that will shape into beauty and nobleness their characters, all lie in the germ in this message, ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.’ Whoever keeps that in mind and memory, ruminates upon it till it becomes the nourishment of his soul, meditates on it till the precepts and the promises and the principles that are enwrapped in it unfold themselves before Him, needs none other guide for life, none other solace in sorrow, none other anchor of hope, none other stay in trial and in death. ‘I commend you to God and the word of His grace,’ which is a storehouse full of all that we need for life and for godliness. Whoever has it is like a landowner who has a quarry on his estate, from which at will he can dig stones to build his house. If you truly possess and faithfully adhere to this Gospel, you have enough.

Remember that these believers to whom Paul thus spoke had no New Testament, and most of them, I dare say, could not read the Old. There were no written Gospels in existence. The greater part of the New Testament was not written; what was written was in the shape of two or three letters that belonged to Churches in another part of the world altogether. It was to the spoken word that he commended them. How much more securely may we trust one another to that permanent record of the divine revelation which we have here in the pages of Scripture!

As for the individual, so for the Church, that written word is the guarantee for its purity and immortality. Christianity is the only religion that has ever passed through periods of decadence and purified itself again. They used to say that Thames water was the best to put on shipboard because, after it became putrid, it cleared itself and became sweet again. I do not know anything about whether that is true or not, but I know that it is true about Christianity. Over and over again it has rotted, and over and over again it has cleared itself, and it has always been by the one process. Men have gone back to the word and laid hold again of it in its simple omnipotence, and so a decadent Christianity has sprung up again into purity and power. The word of God, the principles of the revelation contained in Christ and recorded for ever in this New Testament, are the guarantee of the Church’s immortality and of the Church’s purity. This man and that man may fall away, provinces may be lost from the empire for a while, standards of rebellion and heresy may be lifted, but ‘the foundation of God standeth sure,’ and whoever will hark back again and dig down through the rubbish of human buildings to the living Rock will build secure and dwell at peace. If all our churches were pulverised to-morrow, and every formal creed of Christendom were torn in pieces, and all the institutions of the Church were annihilated-if there was a New Testament left they would all be built up again. ‘I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace.’

II. Secondly, notice the possible benefit of the silencing of the human voice.

Paul puts together his absence and the power of the word. ‘Now I know that you will see my face no more’-’I commend you to God.’ That is to say, it is often a good thing that the voice of man may be hushed in order that the sweeter and deeper music of the word of God, sounding from no human lips, may reach our hearts. Of course I am not going to depreciate preachers and books and religious literature and the thought and the acts of good and wise men who have been interpreters of God’s meaning and will to their brethren, but the human ministration of the divine word, like every other help to knowing God, may become a hindrance instead of a help; and in all such helps there is a tendency, unless there be continual jealous watchfulness on the part of those who minister them, and on the part of those who use them, to assert themselves instead of leading to God, and to become not mirrors in which we may behold God, but obscuring media which come between us and Him. This danger belongs to the great ordinance and office of the Christian ministry, large as its blessings are, just as it belongs to all other offices which are appointed for the purpose of bringing men to God. We may make them ladders or we may make them barriers; we may climb by them or we may remain in them. We may look at the colours on the painted glass until we do not see or think of the light which strikes through the colours.

So it is often a good thing that a human voice which speaks the divine word, should be silenced; just as it is often a good thing that other helps and props should be taken away. No man ever leans all his weight upon God’s arm until every other crutch on which he used to lean has been knocked from him.

And therefore, dear brethren, applying these plain things to ourselves, may I not say that it may and should be the result of my temporary absence from you that some of you should be driven to a more first-hand acquaintance with God and with His word? I, like all Christian ministers, have of course my favourite ways of looking at truth, limitations of temperament, and idiosyncrasies of various sorts, which colour the representations that I make of God’s great word. All the river cannot run through any pipe; and what does run is sure to taste somewhat of the soil through which it runs. And for some of you, after thirty years of hearing my way of putting things- and I have long since told you all that I have got to say-it will be a good thing to have some one else to speak to you, who will come with other aspects of that great Truth, and look at it from other angles and reflect other hues of its perfect whiteness. So partly because of these limitations of mine, partly because you have grown so accustomed to my voice that the things that I say do not produce half as much effect on many of you as if I were saying them to somebody else, or somebody else were saying them to you, and partly because the affection, born of so many years of united worship, for which in many respects I am your debtor, may lead you to look at the vessel rather than the treasure, do you not think it may be a means of blessing and help to this congregation that I should step aside for a little while and some one else should stand here, and you should be driven to make acquaintance with ‘God and the word of His grace’ a little more for yourselves? What does it matter though you do not have nay sermons? You have your Bibles and you have God’s Spirit. And if my silence shall lead any of you to prize and to use these more than you have done, then my silence will have done a great deal more than my speech. Ministers are like doctors, the test of their success is that they are not needed any more. And when we can say, ‘They can stand without us, and they do not need us,’ that is the crown of our ministry.

III. Thirdly, notice the best expression of Christian solicitude and affection.

‘I commend you,’ says Paul, ‘to God, and to the word of His grace.’ If we may venture upon a very literal translation of the word, it is, ‘I lay you down beside God.’ That is beautiful, is it not? Here had Paul been carrying the Ephesian Church on his back for a long time now. He had many cares about them, many forebodings as to their future, knowing very well that after his departure grievous wolves were going to enter in. He says, ‘I cannot carry the load any longer; here I lay it down at the Throne, beneath those pure Eyes, and that gentle and strong Hand.’ For to commend them to God is in fact a prayer casting the care which Paul could no longer exercise, upon Him.

And that is the highest expression of, as it is the only soothing for, manly Christian solicitude and affection. Of course you and I, looking forward to these six months of absence, have all of us our anxieties about what may be the issue. I may feel afraid lest there should be flagging here, lest good work should be done a little more languidly, lest there should be a beggarly account of empty pews many a time, lest the bonds of Christian union here should be loosened, and when I come back I may find it hard work to reknit them. All these thoughts must be in the mind of a true man who has put most of his life, and as much of himself as during that period he could command, into his work. What then? ‘I commend you to God.’ You may have your thoughts and anxieties as well as I have mine. Dear brethren, let us make an end of solicitude and turn it into petition and bring one another to God, and leave one another there.

This ‘commending,’ as it is the highest expression of Christian solicitude, so it is the highest and most natural expression of Christian affection. I am not going to do what is so easy to do- bring tears at such a moment. I do not purpose to speak of the depth, the sacredness of the bond that unites a great many of us together. I think we can take that for granted without saying any more about it. But, dear brethren, I do want to pledge you and myself to this, that our solicitude and our affection should find voice in prayer, and that when we are parted we may be united, because the eyes of both are turned to the one Throne. There is a reality in prayer. Do you pray for me, as I will for you, when we are far apart. And as the vapour that rises from the southern seas where I go may fall in moisture, refreshing these northern lands, so what rises on one side of the world from believing hearts in loving prayers may fall upon the other in the rain of a divine blessing. ‘I commend you to God, and the word of His grace.’

IV. Lastly, notice the parting counsels involved in the commendation.

If it be true that God and His Word are the source of all security and enlightenment, and are so, apart altogether from human agencies, then to commend these brethren to God was exhortation as well as prayer, and implied pointing them to the one source of security that they might cling to that source. I am going to give no advices about little matters of church order and congregational prosperity. These will all come right, if the two main exhortations that are involved in this text are laid to heart; and if they are not laid to heart, then I do not care one rush about the smaller things, of full pews and prosperous subscription lists and Christian work. These are secondary, and they will be consequent if you take these two advices that are couched in my text:-

a ‘Cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart,’ as the limpet does to the rock. Cling to Jesus Christ, the revelation of God’s grace. And how do we cling to Him? What is the cement of souls? Love and trust; and whoever exercises these in reference to Jesus Christ is built into Him, and belongs to Him, and has a vital unity knitting him with that Lord. Cleave to Christ, brother, by faith and love, by communion and prayer, and by practical conformity of life. For remember that the union which is effected by faith can be broken by sin, and that there will be no reality in our union to Jesus unless it is manifested and perpetuated by righteousness of conduct and character. Two smoothly-ground pieces of glass pressed together will adhere. If there be a speck of sand, microscopic in dimensions, between the two, they will fall apart; and if you let tiny grains of sin come between you and your Master, it is delusion to speak of being knit to Him by faith and love. Keep near Jesus Christ and you will be safe.

b Cleave to ‘the word of His grace.’ Try to understand its teachings better; study your Bibles with more earnestness; believe more fully than you have ever done that in that great Gospel there lie every truth that we need and guidance in all circumstances. Bring the principles of Christianity into your daily life; walk by the light of them; and live in the radiance of a present God. And then all these other matters which I have spoken of, which are important, highly important but secondary, will come right.

Many of you, dear brethren, have listened to my voice for long years, and have not done the one thing for which I preach-viz. set your faith, as sinful men, on the great atoning Sacrifice and Incarnate Lord. I beseech you let my last word go deeper than its predecessors, and yield yourselves to God in Christ, bringing all your weakness and all your sin to Him, and trusting yourselves wholly and utterly to His sacrifice and life.

‘I commend you to God and to the word of His grace,’ and beseech you ‘that, whether I come to see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel.’

1 Preached prior to a long absence in Australia.

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

now. See note on Act 4:29.

brethren. The texts omit.

commend. Greek. paratithemi. See note on Act 17:3.

word. Greek. logos. App-121.

build . . . up. Greek. epoikodomeo. Only used by Jude, (20), and Paul, here and six times in his epistles.

you. The texts omit.

inheritance. Greek. kleronomia. Only word translated inheritance, except Act 26:18. Co Act 1:1, Act 1:12.

them which are = the.

sanctified. Greek. hagiazso. See note on Joh 17:17, Joh 17:19.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

32. . . . .] I should be inclined to attribute the occurrence of this expression in ch. Act 14:3, to the narrative having come from Paul himself, or from one imbued with his words and habits of thought. See Act 20:24.

.] Clearly spoken of God, not of the word of His grace, which cannot be said ., however it might .

The expression . . . . is strikingly similar to , Eph 1:18, addressed to this same church. See also ch. Act 26:18.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Act 20:32. , to the word of His grace) A description of the Gospel occurs in Act 20:24.- , who is able) [not as Engl. Vers. which is able]. Refer the words to God, . Often the power of GOD is appealed to; for concerning the Fathers willingness believers are sure: They shall have experience of His power. Men who are saints desire it; GOD is able. Rom 16:25; Eph 3:10; Jude Act 20:24; 2Ti 1:12.-, to build you up) GOD, by Paul, had built them in the faith: God also, (even) without Paul, could build them up additionally [the implying additional edification, or building up].-, give) The end of faith.-, among or in) Implying the communion of the saints: 2Th 2:1.-, those who are sanctified) So believers from among the Gentiles are called, not excluding Jewish believers, ch Act 26:18. On this account the expression used is in or among, not , with, so that the Ephesians may be included. In the same sense they are termed , called saints, Rom 1:7; 1Co 1:2. Moreover, believing Jews, not to the exclusion of the Gentiles, are termed , saints (holy or dedicated to the Lord) peculiarly: Rom 15:25-26; Rom 15:31; 1Co 16:1; 1Co 16:15; Eph 2:19; Eph 3:8; 2Th 1:10; Psa 148:14. See Rom 11:16.-, all) Paul had a very great knowledge and remembrance of these. He therefore embraces (comprises) all.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

I commend: Act 14:23, Act 14:26, Act 15:40, Gen 50:24, Jer 49:11, Jud 1:24, Jud 1:25

and to the: Act 20:24, Heb 13:9

to build: Act 9:31, Joh 15:3, Joh 17:17, 1Co 3:9, 1Co 3:10, Eph 2:20-22, Eph 4:12, Eph 4:16, Col 2:7, Jud 1:20

and to give: Act 26:18, Jer 3:19, Eph 1:18, Col 1:12, Col 3:24, Heb 9:15, 1Pe 1:4, 1Pe 1:5

which are: 1Co 1:2, 1Co 6:11, Heb 2:11, Heb 10:14, Jud 1:1

Reciprocal: Act 14:3 – the word Rom 15:16 – being Rom 16:25 – to him Eph 1:11 – we 1Th 4:3 – your 1Th 5:23 – sanctify 1Pe 1:2 – sanctification

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

2

Act 20:32. Commend you to God denotes that he advised them to look to God and to his word. That word is able to build them up or edify them in their work for Him. Such a life would make them heirs of the reward that is prepared for all who are sanctified or set apart for the service of the Lord.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Act 20:32. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace. In conclusion, Paul commends these brethren of hiswho are entrusted with the carrying on of his great work, who are charged with the solemn duty of keeping burning in Ephesus the torch of Divine truthto the mighty and faithful protection of God. He places, so to speak, these elders of his dear Ephesian Church under the solemn guardianship of the Almighty wings. He commends them not only to God, but to the Word of His grace. Most commentators understand by the Word of His grace not the personal Word, the Logos, but the doctrine of God, and suppose that these words are parenthetically introduced, thus: I commend you to God (and the word of His grace, i.e. the doctrine contained in His word), to God who is able, etc.; but such an interpretation seems in a high degree unsatisfactory and strained. It is surely better to adopt the obvious meaning, thus: I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace, the Word (Logos) the Second Person of the blessed Trinity.

Though the expression Logos or Word as used by St. John is not found in any other passage of the Acts or in the Gospel of St. Luke, it would not on this ground be right to distort this passage from its obvious meaning. The expression was known, no doubt, to St. Luke, though perhaps not in common use among Christians until St. John adopted it in his Gospel.

Which is able to build you up. We cannot pass over the word build without noting the occurrence of the same thought and word in St. Pauls Epistle to the same Church of Ephesus (Act 2:20-21, Act 4:12; Act 4:16; Act 4:29). The figure was a natural one anywhere (comp. 1Co 3:10), but it would gain additional vividness from the stately architecture of Ephesus (Plumptre).

And to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. The inheritance is glorious for two reasons; it consists in communion with God, and also in a blessed communion with all Gods saints, who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. The same striking and beautiful thought almost in these very words occurs in the Ephesian Epistle, that ye may know what (are) the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints (Eph 1:18; see, too, Eph 1:14; Eph 5:5).

It is the thought of the vast crowd of the redeemed, that multitude whom no man can number of all peoples and nations and tongues, that broadly extended communion of saints, which constitutes one great feature in the glory of the inheritance, and which increases unspeakably the blessedness of the world to come.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Here the apostle takes a very solemn farewell of the elders of the church at Ephesus, commending them to the guidance and protection of the grace of God, which was able to build them up in holiness here, and bring to heaven hereafter.

Where observe, 1. His courteous compellation, and therein his great condescension. Although he was an apostle of the highest eminency, yet he disdains not to call these elders, who were both in office, and also in gifts, and graces, much inferior to him, by the name of brethren: And now, brethren, says the apostle to the elders of Ephesus. But probably together with the elders of Ephesus here were some of the church and people of Ephesus, who came to take their last leave of their departing apostle; and then we may remark that there is a near relation, even that of brethren, between ministers and people, as well as between the ministers and themselves, and this founded upon the account of religion and grace.

Observe, 2. The apostle being now to take his last leave and farewell of the ministers and people at Ephesus; he commends them to God. It well becomes the faithful ministers of Christ at all times when they are with their people, but especially when they are about to leave their people, to commit and commend them unto God; that is, to recommend them to God’s care and keeping, and to commit them to his conduct and guidance; and this as a testimony of our faithfulness to God, whose our people are, and for whom we must become accountable to him; and also as a testimony of our love to our people, and of our fervent desires for their salvation.

Observe, 3. As the apostle commends them to God, so likewise to the word of his grace. To God as the efficient cause, and to the word of his grace as the instrumental cause, of their building up: I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up.

Here note, 1. That the gospel is the word of God’s grace; so called, because it is the effect, the fruit, and product of rich mercy and free grace; because it reveals the free grace of God in Christ to poor sinners; because it works inherent grace and holiness in the hearts of sinners; and because it carrieth on and perfecteth the work of grace unto glory.

Note, 2. That believers who are in a state of grace, have need of the word of God for their edification and building up.

Note, 3. That the word of God is able to build up believers; it is able to preserve them and keep them from decaying in grace and holiness, and it is able to further their growth in grace, and to bring it to perfection.

Well and wisely therefore doth the apostle say, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace; he doth not say, I commend you to God, and the impulse of his spirit: or, I commend you to God, and to the light within; or, I commend you to God, and to the traditions of the church; but I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up.

Observe, 4. A superadded commendation, which is here given of the word of God’s grace; it is not only able to build us up, but to give us an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified; that is, the word of God, if we follow the dictates and directions of it, will infallibly bring us to the glorious inheritance which God hath provided for all his saints, or sanctified ones.

Here note, 1. That heaven is an inheritance, not like an inheritance on earth; but it is the most sure, the most satisfying, the most durable, and the most delightful inheritance, an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.

Note, 2. That heaven is the inheritance of saints, of all sanctified or holy persons, and only of such; it is purchased for them, it is promised to them, it is taken up in their names, and possession of it kept for them by their forerunner; in a word, heaven is prepared for them, and they shall be adjudged to them at the great day.

Note, 3. That this inheritance of heaven is a gift, and a free gift: It is your Father’s pleasure to give you the kingdom. Luk 12:32 This inheritance is all of grace, our right and title to it is of grace, our fitting and preparing for it is of grace; all of grace, nothing of merit; all of God, nothing of ourselves; nothing in a way of meritorious causality, but only in the way of ministerial endeavour.

Note, lastly, That God gives this inheritance by his word: To the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you on inheritance. The word reveals to us the notice and knowledge of this inheritance; the word makes an offer of this inheritance to every one of us, yea, it calls us to the acceptation, and invites us to the participation of it.

Finally, God by his word begets his people to a lively hope of this inheritance, 1Pe 1:3-4. And also prepares and fits them by the word for the participation and possession of it; Giving thanks to the Father, who has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Col 1:12

And how doth our Father make us meet for this inheritance in glory, but by the word of his grace? I commend you therefore, brethren, says the apostle, to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Act 20:32. And now, brethren Since the providence of God is calling me away, and appointing me other scenes of labour or suffering; I commend you to God To his watchful providence and grace, for guidance, protection, support, preservation, and the supply of all your wants, ghostly and bodily; and to the word of his grace That word which is the grand channel of his grace to believers as well as unbelievers. He recommends them to attend to this in their public ministrations and private conversation, and that, not only as the foundation of their hope here and hereafter, and the source of their joy, but as the rule of their doctrine and practice; I commend you to God as the master you are to serve, and to the word of his grace, as the means by which you are to know your work, and to govern your conduct; which is able to build you up To confirm and increase your faith, love, and holiness. God can thus build us up without the ministry of his word, or the instrumentality of any teachers. But he does in fact build us up by them, and we must beware of supposing that we have less need of human teachers after we know Christ, and are made partakers of his salvation, than before. As the apostle was speaking here to ministers, he must be considered as signifying that, in preaching the word of Gods grace, and in all their ministerial duties, they were to have a regard to their own edification, as well as to that of those to and for whom they ministered. And to give you an inheritance Of eternal glory; among them that are sanctified And so made meet for it. A large number of these Paul, doubtless, knew and remembered before God. It seems that the words , who is able, refer to God, the last person named, and not the word by which God works, but which, without him, can affect none of the things here mentioned.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

See notes on verse 28

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

32. And now I commend you to God and the word of his grace, being able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all the sanctified. How infinitely potent the precious Word of God! and how little appreciated by His professed followers, while it is despised and hated by the wicked. The Bible assures us that none but the sanctified shall get to heaven (Heb 12:14), and here we are assured that the Word is able to sanctify us. God help us to appreciate it as never before.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Act 20:32-35. Conclusion.

Act 20:32. Read mg.

Act 20:33. Cf. 2Co 12:14 f., 1Co 4:12, 1Th 2:9

Act 20:35. the words of the Lord Jesus, which are in none of our Gospels (see Sir 4:31; Sir 4:1 Clem. 2:1), make a very effective conclusion of the affecting speech.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

20:32 {10} And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an {l} inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

(10) The power of God, and his free promises revealed in his word, are the props and upholders of the ministry of the Gospel.

(l) As children, and therefore an inheritance of free love and good will.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Paul concluded his address with a blessing. Since he was no longer going to be able to build up these men, he committed them to God who would, and to the Scriptures, God’s tool in this process. God’s grace is the source of all spiritual growth and of the ultimate inheritance these elders would one day enjoy because they were believers (cf. 1Pe 5:1-4; Php 1:6; Col 3:24).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)