The apostle Paul and the elders of Ephesus, part 3

Once, while traveling to Jerusalem, the apostle Paul stopped to give instructions to the elders of the church in Ephesus.

Paul said to them: “Ye yourselves know… how I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you…” A little later in the same connection he said: “for I shrank not from declaring unto you the whole counsel of God.” He thus showed that living according to God’s will is profitable for people.

In spite of adversity Paul did not draw back from his calling and task among the Ephesians. According to an English translation he did not shrink from fear, but with great assurance testified “both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Fear shrinks us and makes us draw back. Therefore we too must not give place to fear, but must order our lives according to the testimony of Hebrews: “But we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul.”

Scripture:

Acts 20 Heb 10