Paul's Farewell to the Ephesian Elders

Paul summons the Ephesian elders to Miletus rather than returning to Ephesus, apparently to avoid delay on his journey to Jerusalem. His speech begins with an autobiographical appeal to their knowledge of his conduct: humility, tears, trials, public teaching, and instruction "from house to house." He summarizes his proclamation as repentance toward God and faith in Jesus, while describing himself as compelled by the Spirit toward Jerusalem despite warnings of imprisonment and affliction.

The speech then turns from Paul's ministry to the elders' responsibility. They are to "pay attention" to themselves and to the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made them episkopoi, "overseers," in order to shepherd the church of God. A major textual variant in verse 28 reads either "church of God" or "church of the Lord," with the former strongly represented and reflected in many critical editions. The phrase "which he acquired through the blood of his own" is also grammatically debated, especially regarding whether tou idiou means "his own blood" or "the blood of his own one," understood christologically.

Paul predicts threats from both external "savage wolves" and internal teachers who will distort the truth. He therefore entrusts the elders to God and to "the word of his grace," recalls his refusal to covet material wealth, and cites the otherwise unattested saying of Jesus, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." The emotional farewell reinforces the speech's testamentary character and signals that Paul's direct ministry to these leaders is ending.

Acts 20 narrates the final stages of Paul's ministry in the Aegean region before his journey toward Jerusalem. The chapter begins with travel through Macedonia and Greece, where Paul encourages established communities and adjusts his route because of a plot against him. Luke then resumes the first-person plural travel narrative and recounts the gathering at Troas in which Eutychus falls from an upper window and is restored to life.

The second half is dominated by Paul's farewell address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus. The speech is unique in Acts because it is directed primarily to Christian leaders rather than to Jewish or Gentile outsiders. Paul reviews his ministry, anticipates suffering, warns of future threats to the community, and entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace. The chapter therefore combines travel narrative, miracle, autobiographical defense, and pastoral exhortation while preparing for Paul's arrest and the Jerusalem-Rome sequence that occupies the remainder of Acts.