What does Acts 20:38 Mean?

Context Summary

Notice the change of the Revised Version in Acts 20:28. The elder, whether presbyter or bishop, is not put over the flock; he is in it like the rest, needing redemption through the same precious blood. Notice also that remarkable expression, the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood, Acts 20:28. It clearly indicates Paul's view of the deity of our Lord.

The prediction of Acts 20:30 was but too soon fulfilled, 1 Timothy 1:19-20. Tears are thrice mentioned in this short passage: tears of suffering, Acts 20:19; of pastoral anxiety, Acts 20:31; and of personal affection, Acts 20:37.

The master builder was withdrawn before the edifice was completed, but he knew that God would continue, through other hands, to complete what he had begun, Acts 20:32. We are in the company of God's heirs. Let us meditate on the word of His grace, as fellow-heirs with Christ and all His saints; let us enter into possession of our inheritance. In Acts 20:35 we have the only saying of our Lord in the New Testament which is not preserved in the Gospels. The blessedness applies to our Lord as well as to ourselves. Let us not think that he is tired of our requests. Every time we ask for anything that He can give us, we add to His blessedness, as well as to our own. [source]

Chapter Summary: Acts 20

¹  Paul goes to Macedonia, and thence to Troas
⁷  He celebrates the Lord's supper, and preaches
⁹  Eutychus having fallen down dead is raised to life
¹³  Paul continues his travels;
¹⁷  and at Miletum he calls the elders together, tells them what shall befall to himself,
²⁸  commits God's flock to them,
²⁹  warns them of false teachers,
³²  commends them to God,
³⁶  prays with them, and departs