Acts 20:31 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.

NIV: So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

NASB: Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.

CSB: Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I never stopped warning each one of you with tears.

NLT: Watch out! Remember the three years I was with you — my constant watch and care over you night and day, and my many tears for you.

KJV: Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

NKJV: Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.

The warning from Paul is serious. He has told elders of Ephesus that false teachers will infiltrate their church and try to drag people away from following Jesus (Acts 20:28–30). The elders are now responsible for doing everything they can to keep this from happening. To protect their congregation, they will need to follow Paul's example: to be always ready and to passionately tell the people what they need to hear.

Later, Paul will remind the elders how he lived modestly and met his own expenses so that those he ministered to would not be distracted by an obligation to support him and his team (Acts 20:33–35). Pastors and elders need to be willing to make significant sacrifices for those they serve.

It's unclear how Paul was in Ephesus for three years. He spoke in the synagogue for three months and then built the church in the hall of Tyrannus for two years (Acts 19:8–10). Luke doesn't say if there was a break between the synagogue and the hall or if one of the numbers is rounded. Either way, it's the longest Paul spends in any of the churches he plants—the runner-up being Corinth where he stays initially for a year and a half and then again for three months (Acts 18:11; 20:3).

Unlike Paul's other churches, he does not return to Ephesus or see the elders again after this meeting (Acts 20:25). He leaves them with a warning of future spiritual warfare in a city filled with witchcraft, but he commends them to God and His grace to build them up (Acts 20:32).

Acts 20:28–35 records Paul's last words to the elders of Ephesus. He has reminded them of his own faithful service to them and the church. He has told them he is going to Jerusalem where he will be imprisoned; they will never see him again (Acts 20:18–27). Now, he exhorts them to follow his example in leading the church, protecting their people from false teachers, and sacrificing worldly gain to bring others to Christ. Paul will live out this last point as he spends the next five years in custody but still preaching and writing to the churches (Acts 28:30–31).

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.