Acts 20:18Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

It is worthy of wonder how, when he is placed under necessity to say something great about himself, he strives to preserve humility.

In like manner, Samuel, when about to hand authority over to Saul, said before the Jews: “The Lord is witness against you, and His anointed is witness this day, that you have found nothing in my hand. And they said, He is witness” (1 Kgs 12:5).

And David, when he was not trusted, said: “I was shepherding my father’s sheep in the pasture. When a lion or a bear came and took a sheep from the flock, I went after it and struck it and delivered it from its mouth.

If it rose against me, I caught it by the mane, struck it, and killed it” (1 Kgs 17:34-35).

The priests came from Ephesus to the holy Apostle Paul. The Apostle first reminds them of his life among them in Ephesus.

He tells how for three years, day and night, he constantly served the Lord there amid many grievous sorrows.

He had kept back nothing that was necessary for the salvation of the souls of the Ephesian Christians. Instead, publicly, in private homes, and alone, he preached concerning everything profitable in life.

You know, he said, how from the first day that I came into Asia Minor, I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility and many tears.

Here is exemplary apostolic virtue. Paul's zeal to preach the name of Christ in Jerusalem did not allow him to enter Ephesus. Yet pastoral vigilance compelled him to summon the clergy of Ephesus and teach them rules that could save both them and the flock entrusted to them. When the priests of Ephesus came to him, among other instructions he said to them: "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock" (v. 28).

This farewell was moving. When the rulers of the Ephesian Church gathered to him in Miletus, Paul, filled with tender fatherly love, wished to give a final personal instruction and warning concerning the future.

The Apostle Paul begins his farewell discourse to the presbyters of Ephesus by reminding them of his labors and struggles in preaching the Gospel within the bounds of Asia.

You know, he says, these labors and struggles of mine, because from the first day of my arrival in Asia I was with you the whole time.

He calls all his apostolic activity labor for the Lord, because every deed of his and every step of his life was the fulfillment of the Lord’s will.

He sets forth all humility as the distinctive character of his whole activity, that is, humility in every form and in every relation.

How great his labors in preaching the Gospel were is evident from the fact that, while performing them, he shed many tears.

The presbyters gladly used the opportunity to see their great archpastor once more. They came to him in Miletus on the very next day, which was probably Sunday. He spent that day in their company. Before parting from them, he addressed them with a speech in which he portrayed his activity in Ephesus with deeply moving features.

He spoke to them a moving and especially tender farewell address. In this speech the apostle first recalls the past (18-21), then foretells the future (22-25, 29-30), and accordingly gives instructions (26-28, 31-35). The apostle recalls his labors of evangelization in the regions of Asia before these presbyters, whom he also calls as witnesses to the truth of his words: you yourselves know.

The farewell of the holy Apostle Paul with the presbyters of Ephesus in Miletus was as moving as it was remarkable in many respects.

Since most of the presbyters were his disciples, and all deeply honored him, it is understandable that they all came at his summons, not only from Ephesus, but also from the surrounding places.

Saint Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, testifies to this.

The Apostle began his address to the presbyters by pointing to his activity before their eyes in Ephesus and in all Asia. Certainly he did not do this without purpose, but to show in himself an example worthy of imitation.

What were the qualities of his ministry? First, he served, laboring for the Lord and not for himself. He always thought humbly.