Acts 20:25 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.

NIV: "Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.

NASB: And now behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face.

CSB: "And now I know that none of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will ever see me again.

NLT: And now I know that none of you to whom I have preached the Kingdom will ever see me again.

KJV: And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.

NKJV: “And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more.

When Paul planted a church, he usually returned to it several times. He visited the churches in Galatia three or four times, the churches in Macedonia at least three, and Corinth at least twice: once for eighteen months and once for three months. Ephesus is a little different. He first visited the city for one synagogue visit, then returned to plant the church and build it for three years. Now, he is meeting with the elders in a different city for a few hours before he returns to Jerusalem. He will not see them again.

This is the very end of Paul's third missionary journey. Tradition says he takes a fourth journey, but scholars disagree as to what that means. Those who say Paul dies during his one and only imprisonment in Rome call his fateful sea voyage to Rome his "fourth" journey. More likely, however, Paul is released from prison (2 Timothy 4:16–17) and completes another trip before his second imprisonment and corresponding death.

After Paul is acquitted in Rome, he seems to sail to Crete (Titus 1:5) and then to Nicopolis (Titus 3:12) on the western coast of Greece, west and slightly north of Athens. From there, legend says he goes to Spain and possibly even Britain before returning to Rome for his final, and fatal, imprisonment. If he wrote 2 Timothy during his second imprisonment, it sounds like he goes to Troas, Corinth, and Miletus not long before (2 Timothy 4:13, 20). We don't know for certain if he ever reaches Spain (Romans 15:24).

Paul's work is not in vain, however. The church in Ephesus stands until 1923. After the Turkish war, the ethnic Greeks left Turkey, taking their church with them. Although these Ephesian elders never see Paul again, generations after served Paul's God.

In Acts 20:17–27, Paul begins his farewell to the elders of Ephesus. He and his team leave Troas and sail to Miletus, south of Ephesus, where Paul requests the Ephesian elders meet him. He reminds them how he served with dedication and self-sacrifice, and he also relays disturbing news. When he gets to Jerusalem, he will be imprisoned, and they will never see him again. Next, he will challenge them to protect their church from false teachers and to emulate his humble leadership (Acts 20:28–35).

Acts 20 finishes Paul's third missionary journey. He leaves Ephesus after three years and travels to Macedonia and Corinth. Threats from the Corinthian Jews send him and his team back to Macedonia and Troas. In Troas, Paul gives a very long sermon and raises Eutychus from the dead after he falls—both asleep and out a window. In Miletus, Paul meets with the Ephesian elders. He reminds them to beware of false teachers and tells them he is going to be imprisoned and will not see them again. After a tearful farewell, he boards a ship for Judea.

Acts 20 records the last stages of Paul's third missionary journey. He started by visiting the churches he and Barnabas had planted in central modern-day Turkey (Acts 18:23). From there, he traveled southwest to the province of Asia, where he established a church in Ephesus (Acts 19). In Acts 20, he visits the churches in Macedonia and Greece before returning to Judea. When he lands, he meets briefly with Philip the Evangelist in Caesarea Maritima before going to Jerusalem and getting arrested. He will stay in house arrest for the next two years before embarking on a dangerous sea voyage to Rome (Acts 21—28).

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.