The apostle Paul and the elders of Ephesus, part 5

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

In an interesting way Paul here also describes how he both knew and did not know the things to come. He said he was traveling to Jerusalem not knowing what would befall him there. But something he showed he knew very clearly, saying: “I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.”

In every age God’s church has been attacked. Sometimes the attacks come from outside the church, sometimes from within; as Paul said: “shall enter in among you” and “from among your own selves shall men arise.” And because of this reality Paul exhorted the elders of the church in Ephesus to watch — that is, to be awake as to what is happening in the church and in its surroundings.

And naturally he also exhorted these leaders to watch over their own spiritual condition, as each of us should do. Equally we can take for ourselves what Paul spoke over the elders of the church in Ephesus: “And now I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you the inheritance among all them that are sanctified.”

Scripture:

Acts 20