The Bible Says
Acts 20:17-24 Meaning

In Acts 20:17-24 Paul continues his journey to Jerusalem. This is the last part of his third missionary trip. Sailing along the western coast of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), Paul aimed to reach Jerusalem in time to celebrate Pentecost. He deliberately avoided stopping in the city of Ephesus because he had spent two to three years ministering in Ephesus and knew that he would be delayed by the many friendships he had there.

But Paul still wanted to give a final farewell to the leaders of the Ephesian church, expecting this would be the last time they would see him:

From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church (v. 17).

The elders of the church in Ephesus willingly obliged Paul’s request, and traveled to Miletus to see him. The distance from Ephesus to Miletus along the coast was thirty to forty miles. The quicker, more logical route was by boat, though the text does not specify how the elders traveled.

Paul has a sense of foreboding on this journey back to Jerusalem, and is convinced that this is the last time he will see the Ephesians.

The elders meet him in Miletus, and Paul reflects on his history with them, as well as his concerns for the future:

 And when they had come to him, he said to them,

“You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, (v. 18)

Paul calls to their minds the very first day he began ministry in Asia, which was right from the start, from the very first instance he set foot in Asia. The elders knew this: You yourselves know. They can attest to all that he is about to relate. They saw it, they were a part of it. On this point, these elders were probably among the first who believed in Ephesus. Paul was with them the whole time he preached in Asia. Here Asia refers to the province of Asia in the western region of Asia Minor (also called Anatolia, and in modern times, Turkey). Ephesus was the capital city of the province of Asia.

Paul, being with these elders the whole time he preached in Asia, was faithful in his calling to spread the gospel of Jesus, despite the trials that came from fierce opposition:

serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews (v. 19).

In serving the Lord, Paul means he was preaching the gospel, as Jesus had command him to (Acts 26:15-18). Paul preached with all humility, not in a way that demanded people believe. He certainly wanted whoever heard him to believe, but he only urged and exhorted, he never preached in a way that was proud or lording over unbelievers.

Paul recognized that God gave each person a choice, and he honored God’s design. He spoke what was true. But he also recognized that he was just as fallible as anyone. He called himself the “foremost of all” who are sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). He also admitted he was no better than the Jews who slandered his gospel (Romans 3:8-9). He said when he was weak (in the things of this world) that made him strong in the things of God (2 Corinthians 12:10).

The apostles preached of God’s love and invitation to be saved from sin and death through faith. They suffered much for serving the Lord. Paul describes his time in Ephesus as being marked by tears and trials. 

One of the trials he references was when some of the Jews opposed the gospel and would not believe. Paul shed tears over these trials probably because it was a constant heartache to him that the Jewish people in general rejected Jesus as the Messiah (Romans 9:1-5).

Paul’s mission strategy in every town he visited was to first go to the synagogue and preach the good news of Jesus to the Jews (Acts 17:2). While some believed, many would reject the message and become openly hostile towards Paul. It was with tears that Paul experienced the Jews of Ephesus speak evil of the gospel and the Messiah:

“But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way [of Jesus] before the people, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples...”
(Acts 19:9)

The trials which resulted from this rejection came upon Paul through the plots of the Jews. Luke, the author of Acts, did not describe any trials or plots while Paul lived in Ephesus in Acts 19. Other than the initial rejection of Paul from the synagogue, Luke describes a lengthy, successful ministry in Ephesus marked by incredible miracles which God worked through Paul. Many of the pagan magicians and idolators turned to Jesus. But apparently during Paul’s two to three years in Ephesus, there were plots meant to prevent Paul from preaching the gospel. But Paul did not buckle under the pressure of these painful trials and plots:

He recalls to the Ephesian elders how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house (v. 20).

The plots and trials did nothing to inhibit Paul from preaching. He did not shrink back or hide from the Jews. Rather, he went about the city of Ephesus declaring to the people anything that was profitable, specifically, the gospel of Jesus Christ which saves all who believe to eternal life and right relationship with God (John 3:16, Romans 1:16, 3:22, 2 Corinthians 5:17).

A declaration of a means to gain eternal life is indeed profitable. Paul taught in private and in the open. He describes how he preached from house to house in private homes. This might be door-to-door evangelism and teaching, and it might also refer to house churches. It appears that believers in the early church mainly met in homes (Romans 16:5, 1 Corinthians 16:19, Colossians 4:15, Philemon 1:2).

Paul was also teaching about the gospel publicly. After Paul was no longer welcomed to the synagogue, he preached daily and publicly in the school of Tyrannus, which may have been a lecture hall (Acts 19:9).

Paul’s teaching was the gospel message. In Ephesus, whether privately or publicly, he was solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (v. 21).

The phrase solemnly testifying appears several times throughout the New Testament (Acts 2:40, 8:25, 16:5). It means Paul was earnestly and seriously giving his personal witness of Jesus Christ to those who would listen to him. Paul had seen a vision of Jesus while traveling to Damascus (Acts 9:3-8), which changed him from a persecutor of believers to a believer himself.

He had seen visions of Jesus several times since (Acts 22:17-21, 18:9-10, 2 Corinthians 12:2-4), and had obediently preached the gospel across the Roman empire. Paul followed the leading of the Holy Spirit as well, and through him God had worked miracles of healing countless times. Paul was solemnly testifying of the reality of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Messiah.

He urged both Jews and Greeks to practice repentance toward God and to put their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was the Messiah to the Jews first. But because God loved the whole world, the redemption made possible through Jesus’s death and resurrection was also available to the Greeks, and to all other Gentiles (non-Jewish people groups) (Matthew 12:18, 21, John 3:16, Romans 3:29, 1 John 2:2). Paul called both Jews and Greeks to repent toward God.

The word repent or repentance (Greek, “metanoia”) simply means the changing of one’s mind. If someone repents, they change their mind. What is being repented of or what thought is being changed depends on the context in which the word is used. The gospel begins with the good news that by believing in Jesus each person can be delivered from the poisonous venom of sin (John 3:14-15) and be saved from eternal separation from God through faith, by His grace (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The gospel (good news) does not stop there. It also includes the fact that each believer can be delivered each day from the adverse consequence of sin and fallenness. This deliverance comes through a walk of faith, a repentance towards God that acknowledges that His ways lead to life and the ways of the world lead to death (Matthew 7:13-14). For a believer in Jesus to follow His commands daily is to put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the path to which believers should turn, away from being conformed to the world and toward being transformed by the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2). Such a daily walk of faith allows believers to walk in the good works that God prepared beforehand (Ephesians 1:10).

For the Jews in Ephesus, Paul was preaching a similar repentance toward God. During His ministry, Jesus described mankind’s spiritual status as being separated from God because our default position is that we do not believe in the Messiah (John 3:18). We start out not believing in Jesus. We start out as sinners, enslaved to our sin (John 8:34).

Before turning to the gospel, the Ephesians, like all people, were in sin. They were walking apart from God’s good design and following their own ways. But as soon as Paul came solemnly testifying about Jesus who sets us free from sin (John 8:36), all who heard Paul had the opportunity to repent, to change their minds, and to redirect their hearts toward God’s message. This led them to life, as life is being connected to God’s (good) design.

The Jews could practice repentance toward God by putting their faith in our Lord Jesus as the promised Jewish Messiah (or in the Greek language, Christ). The Gentiles could practice repentance by changing their minds and turning from trusting their idols and magic to instead putting their faith in our Lord.

They realized their idols were inanimate chunks of wood or stone or silver. They no longer thought of their idols as real, as having any power, as worth bothering about. It was a mistake to trust in idols and they no longer thought this way. Paul’s preaching had changed their minds; they had repented. As Demetrius the silversmith put it, Paul had “persuaded and turned away” many Ephesians from worshipping idols (Acts 19:24-26).

Luke described this repentance in great detail in Acts 19. The Ephesian magicians were showing their changed minds, their repentance when they burned their spell-books. They now trusted in the one true God and His Messiah (Christ). They put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in the way they lived.

Paul is describing how the Great Commission was implemented in Ephesus. Jesus commanded that His followers make disciples by bringing them to initial belief, baptizing them, then leading them to obey His commands, commands that lead to life (Matthew 28:19-20).

An illustration of initial faith leading to life was made by Jesus Himself:

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.”
(John 3:14-15)

Jesus was referring to a time when the Jews in the wilderness were dying from venomous snake bites. God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent and tell everyone that whoever looked upon the bronze snake would not die from the venom inside them.

God healed anyone from physical death who had enough faith in His promise to simply look at the bronze serpent, hoping to be delivered from the venom (Numbers 21:4-9). This simple amount of faith is all that is necessary to receive forgiveness of sins for anyone anywhere: enough faith to look toward the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just as the bronze snake was raised up on a pole for the Israelites to see, Jesus also was raised up, but on a cross. Anyone can be saved from spiritual death by looking to Jesus on the cross, hoping to be delivered from the deadly venom of sin. This initial salvation by grace, through faith, was a cornerstone of Paul’s gospel (Romans 5:20-21, Ephesians 2:8-9).

Another cornerstone was that living by faith was profitable in terms of experiencing life. Living by faith is not necessary to receive the free gift of new birth (John 3:3). But it is the way to gain the great benefit of living according to God’s (good) design). Paul asserted that choosing to love others was necessary for our walk of faith to be profitable for ourselves and others (1 Corinthians 11:3).

Paul frequently reminded those whom he taught that all believers will be judged by Jesus to determine rewards for deeds done while living on earth (1 Corinthians 3:13-15, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Romans 14:12). To live in repentance toward God, adopting His ways, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, believing His ways are for our best, are the means to live a life that is profitable. This pertains to gaining peace and fulfillment of purpose in this life as well as experiencing eternal rewards from Jesus in the next.

This was the profitable message which Paul had solemnly testified to the Ephesians for years. Having reminded the Ephesian elders of his integrity and ministry during his time in Ephesus, Paul then informs them about his current travel plan, and what he expects to happen to him:

And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there (v. 22).

And now, behold is a transitional phrase to draw attention to the subject Paul will now comment on; namely, the future. He is on his way to Jerusalem, which the elders probably already knew. They had traveled to meet him in Miletus. He says he is bound by the Spirit, meaning he is being called by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem and that is his current purpose.

Paul, of course, has the power to choose. But Paul taught how destructive it is for believers to grieve the Spirit and have our consciences become seared (Ephesians 4:30, 1 Timothy 4:2). He was bound by the Spirit because he had decided and was committed to follow the Spirit no matter the cost. This is the core essence of faith, to believe that following God will be for our best regardless of the cost.

But Paul now divulges what the Holy Spirit has been telling him as he draws nearer to Jerusalem. Paul admits that while not knowing what will happen to him there in Jerusalem, he is sure that suffering and opposition will meet him there. This feeling is not Paul’s own personal anxiety but is based on God speaking to him: except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me (v. 23).

While he does not know specifically what will happen in Jerusalem, Paul does know that the Holy Spirit continues to speak to him about the dangers ahead. Paul says that the Spirit solemnly testifies to him in every city, meaning that the closer Paul gets to Jerusalem, the Spirit tells Paul that he will meet adversity there.

Paul describes the communication from God as that the Spirit solemnly testifies to him, which is a phrase Luke (the author of Acts) uses multiple times when describing how Peter, Philip, and Paul preach the gospel (Acts 2:40, 8:25, 16:5). In Acts 10, Peter tells the centurion Cornelius that God had commanded the apostles to “solemnly testify” about Jesus Christ (Acts 10:42). When Paul or the Spirit solemnly testifies, it means they are speaking the absolute, dead-serious truth. There is not sense of ambiguity or a chance that circumstances may change, rather, wherever Paul goes on his way to Jerusalem, in every city, the Holy Spirit gives him the same serious message: “bonds and afflictions await you, Paul.”

The word afflictions implies pain and suffering, actions being taken against Paul to bring him physical harm. In common usage, we might describe someone as being afflicted by an illness. Paul had suffered many afflictions already in his years preaching and planting churches. He had been stoned nearly to death, beaten with rods, cursed, and chased out of many cities. (Acts 14:19-20, 2 Corinthians 11:23-28). More afflictions await him in Jerusalem.

More seriously, perhaps, is the warning that bonds also await him. Bonds are physical restraints, like rope or chains. Paul knows that he will be taken captive, or arrested. He will lose his personal freedom and will be physically subject to whomever puts the bonds on him. An arrest implies long-term imprisonment, a trial, and possibly death.

Despite the Holy Spirit solemnly telling Paul about the pain and imprisonment awaiting him at the end of his journey to Jerusalem, the Spirit does not seem to be warning Paul with the intent to advise him not to return to Israel. If the Spirit were warning Paul to change his direction, Paul would have obeyed. Paul had been guided by the Spirit during previous journeys, like when the Spirit forbade him from preaching the gospel in the province of Asia for a time (Acts 16:6).

But here, the Spirit seems to be preparing Paul, so that Paul will be ready for the suffering he will endure. Paul tells the Ephesian elders that, even though the Spirit is consistently telling him of the bonds and afflictions in his future, he believes it is all God’s will for his life. He is not reversing course. He is not going to go the opposite direction, like Jonah fleeing to Tarshish rather than going to Ninevah where God directed him (Jonah 1:3). Paul is walking knowingly, willingly, into the fire (Daniel 3:16-18). He is not afraid to die for Jesus (Philippians 1:21):

But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God (v. 24).

In spite of the foreknowledge that he will suffer in Jerusalem, Paul declares to the Ephesian elders that he does not consider his earthly, physical life of any account as dear to himself. To be willing to die for a noble cause shows courage, and Paul certainly exhibited courage throughout his ministry, and called on other believers to also be brave in the face of suffering for Christ (Philippians 1:28, Romans 8:31). However, Paul does not consider his life as dear primarily because, in the end, this is the most reasonable perspective for believers in Jesus Christ to choose.

Paul’s trust was in Jesus’s finished work on the cross, and that if he died he would go to be with God forever. Further, he believed that God would reward him for living life as a faithful witness. There is great cost for believers who overcome the world by suffering its rejection (Philippians 3:7-8, 1 Corinthians 4:9-13). However, God promises that the rewards He will give to those who live as faithful witnesses will be far greater gain in eternity (Matthew 25:21, Mark 10:30, Romans 8:17b, Revelation 3:21).

Paul exhorts believers to adopt the “phroneo” (the mindset, the attitude) of Christ in his letter to the Philippian church. In that letter, he describes how Jesus’s mindset was to choose to obey God in all things, all the way to the point of dying on the cross. This was because Jesus believed God’s promise to reward Him with kingship over all creation for His faithful witness (Philippians 2:5-11). Jesus was looking past the current pain to the final future reward that awaited Him. Jesus not only looked beyond the suffering and rejection of the cross, He chose to not assign it any value (Hebrews 12:2).

Here Paul is copying Christ’s example. He is adopting the same “phroneo” or mindset as that of Jesus. Whatever afflictions and bonds there will be in Paul’s future, he is choosing to overlook them and keep his eyes on God’s promised reward for him. Paul kept his eye on the prize (1 Corinthians 9:24, Philippians 3:14). Paul was given a job by Jesus, and suffering at the hands of the world was an inevitable part of what he was called to endure:

“Go, for [Paul] is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
(Acts 9:15-16)

In the following chapter, in Caesarea, a prophet will predict Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem, at which point Paul’s companions and the Caesarean believers will beg him not to go. But Paul will reply: “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13).

Following the Spirit is Paul’s focus. This is his priority. His life is not dear to him; his God-given purpose is what he considers dear. He writes to the Corinthians of living a life obeying God as like running a race to the finish line to receive a prize (1 Corinthians 9:24). Here he uses similar language, that his goal is that he may finish his course (v. 24) (Philippians 3:14). His course, his charted path, is the ministry which he received from the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus. His ministry is to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. 

Paul again uses the phrase testify solemnly. Earlier he used it to describe how the Holy Spirit was warning him about the suffering awaiting him in Jerusalem. This phrase occurs multiple times in Acts as well, in connection with the preaching of the gospel. The gospel is God’s good news to the world. Any message or word from God is a solemn testimony.

Paul, when preaching the gospel, would testify solemnly because the gospel is the most serious, important message he could speak to anyone. It is pure truth. It speaks of the grace of God available to all who will believe it, to be born again as new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:8-9). It also speaks of the grace of God to give us the power of the Spirit to walk in His ways and experience the rewards of life (Ephesians 2:10, Titus 2:11-12).

The word grace is translated from the Greek “charis,” meaning “favor.” God extends His favor to humankind because He chooses to grant His favor. We can receive the grace of God simply through faith in Jesus as the Son of God who died for our sins and resurrected to eternal life. We can also walk in the grace/favor of God by following the Spirit, even as Paul followed the Spirit (Romans 12:6, 1 Corinthians 15:10, 2 Corinthians 8:7-9, Ephesians 4:7).

It is this ministry that Paul received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God, for which he is ready and willing to suffer in Jerusalem. He wants the Ephesian elders to understand this, and to remember the example Jesus set for all who believe in Him, that our focus is to receive the “eternal weight of glory” God promises to reward to those who consider all earthly rejection as “momentary, light afflictions” by comparison (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

Paul wrote those words and now he is living them; he does not consider the bonds and trials that await him to be material compared to the “eternal weight of glory” God has promised to all who will overcome as He overcame and live as faithful witnesses that do not fear rejection, loss, or death (Revelation 3:21).