Acts 20:17

And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.

And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. Since he was now some 40 miles south of Ephesus, we might think that more time would be lost by sending thus far for the elders to come to him, than by going at once to Ephesus itself, when so near it. But if unfavourable winds and stormy weather had overtaken them, his object could not have been attained, and perhaps he was unwilling to run the risk of detention at Ephesus by the state of the church and other causes. It will be observed that those here called "elders" or 'presbyters' [ presbuteroi (G4245)] are in Acts 20:28 called "overseers" or 'bishops;' but see the note there.

Remark:

(1) In the light of the particulars enumerated by us at the outset of this section, how intense appears the apostle's activity in the diffusion of the Gospel, and how tremulous his anxiety lest the converts gained, and the churches formed by him should from any cause be hindered in their Christian progress, or poisoned by the enemies of the truth! No wonder that he stamped his noble impress so deeply upon the early churches, as his writings have done permanently upon all Christendom.

(2) It is a theory of the Tubingen school of criticism, and of some other too liberal critics, that what are called the "We" passages in the Acts-that is, all the portions of that book in which the writer uses the first person plural, "we" and "us" - were written by Timothy. Among other proofs of the untenableness of this position, this has been noticed as one, that after Timothy had been mentioned by the historian as one of seven companions who accompanied the apostle from Macedonia (Acts 20:4), he says, "These (seven, including Timotheus) going before tarried for us at Troas" (Acts 20:5); clearly showing that Timotheus could not have been one of the party tarried for, and could not have been the penman of this statement. (3) The first explicit intimation that the apostles taught the Christians to observe the first day of the week, as a day for the celebration of public worship and the participation of the Lord's Supper, is in this section, where it is expressly said that having stayed "seven days" at Troas, the apostle and his party met the Christians "on the first day of the week;" clearly implying, that they awaited the return of that as the sacred day for this purpose. 'And with this (says Lechler) the circumstance strikingly agrees, that the observance of the Sunday is first mentioned in a congregation of Gentile Christians, since, from the nature of the case, the custom would be introduced earlier and more easily among Gentile than amount Jewish Christian congregations.' We are very far, however, from agreeing with Lechler as to the light in which this institution is to be regarded by the Church.

(4) The length of the apostle's discourse on this occasion, and the protracting of the meeting until break of day, while they are no excuse for lengthened services and protracted night-meetings as a rule, do justify both-if justification were needed-in special circumstances; and those who condemn indiscriminately all religious services,which deviate greatly from the usual length, the usual seasons, and the usual modes-though occasioned by purely temporary circumstances, conducted in other respects unexceptionably, distinguished by nothing so much as the exaltation of Christ, and resulting in manifest and remarkable blessing-show that they set more store by the means than the end, and have little of the spirit of the great apostle, who himself acted on the maxim which he prescribed to Timothy, "in season, out of season" (2 Timothy 4:2). See the notes at Matthew 4:12, Remark 3, p. 23.

'The evidence furnished by this speech (says Alford excellently), as to the literal report in the Acts of the words spoken by Paul, is most important. It is a treasure-house of words, idioms, and sentiments peculiarly belonging to the apostle himself.' But this hinders not Baur and his Tubingen followers from insisting that it bears every mark of having been composed by the writer, The address consists of three parts: a retrospect of the past Acts 20:18; a glance into the future, w. Acts 20:22; and counsels to the Ephesian presbyters, Acts 20:28.

1. Retrospect of the Past (20:18-21)