Acts 20.24
Notes
Transcript
But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
At the end of the day, no matter what we do, staying focused on our call on our lives from Jesus Christ is the most important thing we can do.
Giving of oneself; self-sacrifice; ministry of evangelists.
It's critical that we are willing to give everything up to be ministers of the Gospel. This doesn't mean that God expects everyone to do this, because it's not necessarily what He is calling everyone to do, but we should be willing to do it if called. We have to remember that our lives mean nothing if we aren't staying true to our calling on our life from God.
This passage has really had some eye-opening moments for me. Particularly how Paul emphasizes that his life is meaningless and is not worth talking about if he didn't finish his race - his ministry - strong the way God expected of him.
Staying true and focused on our call on our lives from God is directly addressed, as is the expectation that this will require self-sacrifice, and we have to be willing to accept that and follow through. This is a call on the church as a whole, as well as individuals.
They have for sure. They have opened up my understanding to the reality that Paul didn't have all the answers. He only knew what the Holy Spirit revealed to him, which wasn't everything, and he was fine with that. Not knowing everything or what the outcome would be never deterred Paul from fulfilling his call.
The NBC points out that divine guidance was not a crystal clear matter even for Paul - even though Paul had his direct commission from Christ, not everything was revealed to him. He knew that the Spirit was directing him to Jersualem, and that's all he needed to know.
The HNTC touches on this as well stating, "Would these difficulties eventually take his life? Apparently the Spirit has given [Paul] no firm witness on that, but Paul left no question that he was quite prepared to pay that price." Paul knew that he would face hardships everywhere he went, but, according to the HNTC, "Along the way, he had a singular goal, a central mission in all that he did - to testify to the gospel of God's grace."
Value - I have struggled with the translation of 'logos' here to mean 'value' in English. Researching the lemma in passage, has finally clicked on the light bulb. What Paul is conveying here is that anything about his life is not worth talking about and has no value and the only thing that does is staying true to his calling from the Lord. The context here is also saying that his life doesn't matter.
Precious - The word translated as precious here - 'timios' - is used to mean precious 5 more times in the NT. Most notably, Peter used it to refer to the precious blood of Christ (1 Pet. 1.19) and God's precious and great promises (2 Pet. 1.4). It can also be used to mean 'honor' (Heb. 13.4).
Acts 21.13; 2 Tim. 4.7; 1 Tim. 1.12; Gal. 1.1; 1 Thess. 2.4; Acts 26.16; Tit. 1.3; Acts 20.21; Acts 15.7; Acts 20.32; 1 Tim. 1.14; Acts 11.23.
The passage takes place during Paul's 3rd missionary journey, and most of these references are from letters written during this time. They share thematic concepts, primarily. The references in 1 Timothy, Galatians, and Titus discuss Paul's commissioning from Christ for his service to the Gospel.
Value - Greek word translated here is 'logos', and does not make any sense whatsoever. 'Logos' means 'word' or 'message', etc. How does that translate to 'value'?
Course - Greek word translated could also mean 'mission'. It wasn't just a challenge for Paul - as in a race - it was his mission in life to spread the good news of the Gospel.
Precious - The translation of the Greek word 'timios' means 'precious' 'valued' 'held in honor'. Paul is saying that his life means nothing unless he is following his call from God.
