3rd Missionary Trip - Lorin

his flock, if he is to be a good shepherd.
It is the second object, τῷ ποιμνίῳ, the flock, that receives expansion in the sentence. First, these leaders
are to care for παντὶ τῷ ποιμνίῳ, all the flock. 248 No one member of the congregation should be overlooked in
the pastoral ministry of these leaders. Second, ἐν ᾧ ὑμᾶς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἔθετο ἐπισκόπους, which the Holy
Spirit has made you overseerer. The responsibility for seeing after (= the literal meaning of ἐπισκόπους) the flock
is a divine assignment. 249 It’s not something they opted to do; rather, it is a task given to them by God and thus
accountability to God comes about. Third, the responsibilities of these leaders is spelled out as ποιμαίνειν τὴν
ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ, to pastor the church of God. The infinitive ποιμαίνειν continues the shepherding image with
the action demand of shepherding. 250 Now τῷ ποιμνίῳ, the flock, is labeled τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, the church. Fourth, this
ἐκκλησίαν belongs to God (τοῦ θεοῦ), who has obtained it with the blood of His own Son, ἣν περιεποιήσατο διὰ
τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ ἰδίου. 251 The verb περιποιέω underscores that God has not only created the church, but more
importantly He owns the church totally. The reference to the shed blood is a very Pauline allusion to the crucifixion
of Christ on the cross. 252
In vv. 29-30 the basis for the need of vigilance by these leaders is given: 9 ἐγὼ οἶδα ὅτι εἰσελεύσονται
μετὰ τὴν ἄφιξίν μου λύκοι βαρεῖς εἰς ὑμᾶς μὴ φειδόμενοι τοῦ ποιμνίου, 30 καὶ ἐξ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν ἀναστήσονται
ἄνδρες λαλοῦντες διεστραμμένα τοῦ ἀποσπᾶν τοὺς μαθητὰς ὀπίσω αὐτῶν, 29 I know that after I have gone, savage
wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Some even from your own group will come distorting the truth in
order to entice the disciples to follow them. The apostle was acutely aware by the middle 50s of the tendencies for
distorting the Gospel message by traveling teachers from outside the local churches and also from members inside
the church who developed twisted versions of the Gospel. Combatting false teaching was not limited to scrutinizing
the visiting Christian teachers who came through. It also must extend to guarding against false teaching
arising from within the local community of believers. Paul speaks of them as λύκοι βαρεῖς, savage wolves, thus
2004), 974.]
248The predicate construction of the adjective here παντὶ τῷ ποιμνίῳ designates ‘all the flock,’ whereas the attributive construction
τῷ παντὶ ποιμνίῳ would have specified every flock, thus implying each of the house church groups had this been the construction.
Rather, it is a collective responsibility of the entire group of leaders that extends to all the house church groups down to each member of
each group. As such the responsibility for taking care of themselves is collective, meaning accountability of the leaders to one another
to maintain their spiritual health.
249 “It is clear that the same persons, who act as shepherds, are described both as πρεσβύτεροι (v. 17) and as ἐπίσκοποι (v. 28).
That the two terms are applied equally to the same persons does not mean that they are identical in meaning. Thus ‘ ‘Bischöfe’ bezeichnet
hier die Aufgabe der Ältesten’ (Conzelmann 119). Similarly Weiser (578) says that ἐπίοκοπος is not an Amtstitel but a Funktionsbezeichnung.
Cf. H. von Campenhausen (Amt 87f.). Not quite the same is the view of Schneider (2:296) (and others) that we have here a
combination of the ‘elder’ pattern of church order with the Pauline (Phil. 1:1) pattern of bishops and deacons. This view is not helped
by the absence of deacons. Cf. also Roloff (305): Jewish based elders were combined with Hellenistic ἐπίσκοποι. It is broadly speaking
true that the one designation describes ministers from a sociological, the other from a theological angle.
[C. K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh:
T&T Clark, 2004), 975.]
250The English word ‘pastor’ is derived from the French pasteur which comes from the Latin pastor meaning herdsman and
ultimately derived from the Latin pascere meaning to feed. [“Pastor,” Merriam-Webster online dictionary]
251 74 “The MSS א, B, 614, 1175, 1505, and several ancient versions (Vg, Syr, Boh) read ekklēsian tou theou, but MSS P , A, C*,
D, E, Ψ, 33, 36, 453, 945, 1739, and 1891 read ekklēsian tou Kyriou, ‘the church of the Lord,’ which would not change the meaning,
if by Kyrios were meant Yahweh, the God of the OT, as in 5:19; 7:31, 33; 8:26; 10:14 (see NOTE on 1:24). Since Kyrios is often used
of the risen Christ, this reading would suit better the problematic phrase tou haimatous tou idiou in the following clause. For that very
reason, however, the second reading becomes the lectio facilior and is not to be preferred. Ekklēsia tou Kyriou is found in the LXX (Deut
23:2–4; 1 Chr 28:8; Mic 2:5) but never elsewhere in the NT, whereas ekklēsia tou theou, ‘church of God,’ does occur (1 Thess 2:14; Gal
1:13; 1 Cor 15:9). Initially this phrase was used by Paul to designate the mother church in Jerusalem and Judea, but later he extended it
to the Corinthian church (1 Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 1:1); and in time it became a designation for the universal church (1 Cor 10:32), as it is used
here in Acts. Because it is a Pauline phrase, it may seem to be suspect here, having been used to harmonize the reading with other attested
NT instances. It is, however, the lectio difficilior in the present context, given the following phrase, and therefore is to be preferred.
See TCGNT, 425–27.” [Joseph A. Fitzmyer, vol. 31, The Acts of the Apostles: A New Translation With Introduction and Commentary,
Anchor Yale Bible (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008), 679-80.]
252 “The mention of “blood” must refer to the vicarious shedding of the blood of Jesus, the Son. Through his blood the Christian
community has become God’s own possession, the people acquired for his renewed covenant. Cf. Eph 1:14; Heb 9:12; 1 Pet 2:9–10,
which speak of God acquiring a people, echoing an OT motif (Isa 43:21; Ps 74:2). Luke may be thinking of the action of God the Father
and the Son as so closely related that his mode of speaking slips from one to the other; if so, it resembles the speech patterns of the Johannine
Gospel.” [Joseph A. Fitzmyer, vol. 31, The Acts of the Apostles: A New Translation With Introduction and Commentary, Anchor
Yale Bible (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008), 680.]
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