| Paul’s word in Acts 20:28 is very important: “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which He obtained through His own blood.” In Acts 20:28 Paul speaks of the elders shepherding the flock. The main responsibility of the elders as overseers is not to rule over the flock but to shepherd the flock, to take all-inclusive tender care of the flock, the church of God. The elders are not placed in the church by the Holy Spirit as rulers but as shepherds. Shepherding the flock of God requires suffering for the Body of Christ as Christ did (Col. 1:24). This kind of shepherding with suffering will be rewarded with the unfading crown of glory (1 Pet. 5:4). According to 1 Peter 5:1-3, the elders are not to lord it over the flock; that is, they are not to exercise lordship over the ruled (Matt. 20:25). Among the believers, besides Christ there should be no other lord; all should be servants, even slaves (Matt. 20:26-27; 23:10-11). The elders in the church can take only the leadership (not the lordship), which all the believers should honor and follow (1 Thes. 5:12; 1 Tim. 5:17). In Acts 20:28 Paul says that the church of God has been obtained “through His own blood.” This indicates the precious love of God for the church and the preciousness, the exceeding worth of the church in the eyes of God. Here the apostle does not touch the divine life and nature of the church as in Ephesians 5:23-32, but the value of the church as a treasure to God, a treasure which He acquired with His own precious blood. Paul expected that the elders as overseers would also treasure the church as God did. Both the Holy Spirit and God’s own blood are divine provisions for the church He treasures. The Holy Spirit denotes God’s Person, and His own blood, God’s work. God’s redemptive work acquired the church; now God’s Person, the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), cares for the church through the overseers. (Life-Study of Acts pp. 463, 465) |
