Acts 20:35Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Admonishing each one of you." "In all things," he says, "I have shown you that, by laboring in this way, we must support the weak." By these words he again brought them into fear. What he says means this: you cannot appeal to ignorance. I have shown you in deed how one must labor and act. He did not say that taking is an evil thing, but that it is better not to take. "And remember," he says, "the words of the Lord Jesus, for He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" Where did the Lord say this? Perhaps the Apostles handed it down unwritten, or it could be inferred by reasoning. For He taught courage in dangers, condescension toward subordinates, boldness in teaching, humility, and non-possessiveness. Yet this is higher even than non-possessiveness. If it is said, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor" (Mt 19:21), is it equal to take nothing and still feed others? Thus the first degree is to renounce what is one's own. The second is to provide for oneself. The third is to give to others also. The fourth is not to take while preaching, even when one has the authority to take. This last degree is far higher than non-possessiveness. He rightly said, "By laboring in this way, we must support the weak." To give from what is acquired by one's own labors is an act of compassion toward the infirm. But to give from what is acquired by the labors of others is not only not good; it is blameworthy.

Such a man is adorned with a twofold grace. By renouncing all his own possessions, he acquires the perfect poverty of Christ. By his labor and disposition, he displays the generosity of the rich. He honors God from his righteous labors and offers Him a sacrifice from the fruits of his righteousness. Another man, weakened by lazy idleness and inactivity, is unworthy even to eat bread, as the Apostle's judgment proves (2 Thess. 3:10). The lover of idleness, contrary to the Apostle's prohibition, uses bread not without guilt in sin and stubbornness. It is more blessed to give than to receive, because giving enlarges the heart through love, which perfects and adorns the soul. The one who gives for God's sake thereby honors Him and lends to Him. This debt will be repaid, if not in this life, then in the life to come. He will receive a reward for it, as for a merit. But the one who receives, in addition to the burden of need, takes upon himself the heavier debt of gratitude and prayer for the giver. He is obliged to repay the debt somehow. It is another matter voluntarily to accept poverty and non-possessiveness for Christ's sake, so as to follow Christ without hindrance, to please God more easily, and to save the soul.

He says: you must remember the words of the Lord Jesus, who said that the one who gives does a more blessed work than the one who receives. "It is more blessed to give than to receive." This saying is not found word for word in the Holy Gospel. Yet its meaning is found in many places there, as in "Blessed are the merciful" (Mt 5:7), and "You will be blessed, because they cannot repay you" (Lk 14:14). Perhaps Paul heard it word for word from the other Apostles, who heard it from the Savior's own mouth. Or perhaps he heard it from the Lord Himself through revelation. The truth of these words is known from both heavenly and earthly things. Even on earth, the one who gives is happier and more glorious than the one who receives. For who can give, if not one who is rich and strong? Likewise in heaven, the merciful one is more blessed than the one who receives alms. For to the merciful it is said: "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Mt 25:34).

Day and night, without ceasing, and with tears, I taught each one of you. On my part, everything was done to preserve the flock of God for you whole and unharmed.

Therefore you bear before God a great responsibility for the salvation of every believer. Let this also be an example for you of how you must live and act in the house of God, which is the Church of the Lord and God.

Remember in me the pattern of activity that was not constrained or lazy, but willing. For I taught each one of you day and night without ceasing (1 Pet. 5:2).

Remember that I acted among you as a truly spiritual pastor. I did not force you to fulfill my rules by external authority or by the power of rebukes, threats, and punishments.

Rather, with tears I taught, persuaded, entreated, comforted, and encouraged each one of you (1 Pet. 5:3). While I was with you, on my part I did everything to make you worthy pastors of the Church.

I taught you everything necessary for this. And now, parting from you, brethren, I commend you to God, to His almighty help, and to the word of His grace, which I delivered to you.

If you attend to it, this word can further and more fully disclose, purify, and sanctify your Christian understanding. It can give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Therefore constant deepening in the word of the grace of God, accompanied by prayer to God for His almighty help, should likewise be one of the chief qualities of your activity as pastors of the Church.

Finally, the apostle reminds the Ephesian pastors of the selflessness with which he acted among them. This too must distinguish their pastoral activity, for they must shepherd God's flock not for filthy gain, but eagerly (1 Pet. 5:2).

“I have not taken, nor even desired, silver or gold or clothing from anyone. You yourselves know that these hands of mine served not only my needs, but also the needs of my fellow workers in the Gospel.”

“In all things I showed you that, by laboring in this way, one must support the weak in faith” (cf. Rom. 14:1; 15:1; 1 Thess. 5:14). Such people, especially when false teachers distort pastoral work, may regard a pastor's labor as self-serving if he receives support from those he pastors.

One must also remember the words of the Lord Jesus, Who said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” This saying of Jesus Christ has not been preserved in our Gospels.

Here, as in some other cases, the Apostle Paul supplements the accounts of the evangelists, just as the evangelists supplement one another. This is not an ordinary saying of worldly wisdom, whose meaning would be that it is better to be able to distribute alms than to need alms.

Like other sayings of worldly wisdom, in the mouth of Jesus Christ it serves here as a covering and image for the expression of a purely spiritual and moral lesson.

Blessed are those who give alms, lend to the needy, perform the works of spiritual pastorship, and in general do good to their neighbors, “hoping for nothing” for themselves here on earth.

They neither seek nor receive any earthly reward for themselves. They are more blessed in eternity than those who do good to their neighbors and receive payment for it from men.

They could regard the preacher as covetous, and be scandalized not only by the teacher's person, but also by his teaching itself. Such conduct could become for them an obstacle or hindrance to receiving the truth of Christ. On the contrary, the complete disinterestedness of a teacher who supports himself by his own labors and takes nothing from those he teaches could dispose them more favorably toward the teacher and the teaching. It could strengthen the infirm in the faith. Paul showed a lofty example in this, and points to it here. Yet the Lord and the Apostle himself did not regard it as unjust for a laborer to receive wages and sustenance from his labors (Mt 10:10 and parallels). Nor did they regard it as unjust for the preacher of the Gospel to live from the Gospel (1 Cor. 9:7-11; 1 Cor. 9:13-14 and parallels). "Remember the words of the Lord," and so forth. The Lord's words cited here are not found literally in the Gospels. They were probably known to the Apostle through oral tradition as genuine words of the Lord, wholly in keeping with the spirit of all His teaching (cf. Chrysostom and Theophylact). The general meaning of this saying applies to every giving and receiving. In the Lord's mouth, it probably referred chiefly to the external goods of the world, to giving alms to the poor and needy. But from this general saying the Apostle makes a more particular application, in accordance with the thought he is unfolding. It is more blessed to give spiritual goods than to receive payment in temporal goods for the bestowal of those spiritual goods. That is, it is better and more blessed to act in preaching the Gospel with complete disinterestedness, receiving nothing from those who are taught. Receiving payment for the labor of preaching is just, and does not deprive the preacher of blessedness. But the preacher who accepts nothing from those he teaches receives an even higher degree of blessedness. "One degree of blessedness is to renounce everything. Another is to provide for oneself what is necessary. A third is to provide not only for oneself but also for others. A fourth is not to take even when one preaches and has the right to take. It is not said, however, that taking is an evil thing, but that it is better not to take" (Theophylact; cf. Chrysostom). Blessedness is understood here in the same sense as in the Lord's discourse on the Beatitudes (cf. Mt 5:2 and following).

Both the connection of the speech and the Apostle's whole view of those who labor in evangelical preaching urge us to understand here not so much the poor and needy, but the weak or spiritually infirm (Rom. 14:1; 15:1; 1 Cor. 9:22; 1 Thess. 5:14). Such men, infirm in conscience, could regard the actions of a teacher and preacher who receives support from those he teaches as self-interested. They could regard the preacher as covetous, and be scandalized not only by the teacher's person, but also by his teaching itself. Yet the teacher's complete disinterestedness, when he supports himself by the labor of his own hands, will dispose them both toward the teacher and toward the teaching. It will strengthen the infirm in the faith. Paul showed a lofty example in this, and points to it here (cf. 1 Cor. 9:4; 2 Cor. 11:7; 2 Thess. 3:8). Yet the Lord and the Apostle himself did not regard it as unjust for a laborer to receive wages and sustenance from his labors (cf. Mt 10:10). Nor is it unjust for the preacher of the Gospel to live from the Gospel (cf. 1 Cor. 9:7-11, 13-14). "It is more blessed to give than to receive," because in receiving we obtain a present, brief consolation. But in giving, we hope for future, imperishable consolation in eternal life.

Therefore it is natural for him to be blessed when he does it. Beyond this inner blessedness, the Word of God assigns to the charitable man a prosperity arranged by God's special providence. "In the evil day the Lord will deliver him. The Lord will preserve him." We cannot clearly see by what means providence accomplishes this, because we cannot follow it along all His ways. But that it attains this surely and wondrously, we see from examples, especially clear in sacred history. Abraham fights for those in distress, delivers captives without self-interest, and receives strangers with love for mankind. Providence always keeps him rich and strong, always delivers him from dangers, and he is deemed worthy of God's blessed visitation, undoubtedly because of his hospitality, as the Apostle remarks (Heb. 13:2). Job, by his beneficence, was eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, and a father to the weak (Job 29:15-16). After wealth and glory, an evil day was allowed to come upon him: poverty, the loss of children, sickness, insult, and humiliation. Yet the Lord delivered him and "blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning" (Job 42:12). And "the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before" (Job 42:10). Tobit performed many alms for his brethren (Tob. 1:3), gave bread to the hungry and clothing to the naked, and buried those who had died in misery (Tob. 1:17). For this he suffered plundering of his possessions and danger to his life from the enemies of his people. Having escaped danger, he dared to undertake his former struggle. Through an unexpected event that followed from this struggle, he lost his sight and fell into poverty. Where, then, is the deliverance in the evil day promised by the Word of God to the one who does good? It delays for a little while, so that it may appear all the more wondrous. The angel Raphael guides Tobit's son, grants him a happy marriage, wealth, and the means to restore his father's sight. By events more than by words, he teaches Tobit, Edna, Tobias, and us that prayer with fasting, almsgiving, and righteousness is good. He teaches that it is better to give alms than to treasure up gold (Tob. 12:8).