Acts Chapter 20 verse 24 Holy Bible

Acts 20 : 24 Bible Verse Songs

• I Surrender by All Sons and Daughters
• Just One Drop by Covenant Worship

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 24. - I hold not my life of any account, as dear for none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear, A.V. and T.R.; may accomplish my course for might finish my course with joy, A.V. and T.R.; received for have received, A.V.; from for of, A.V. I hold not my life, etc. It is inconceivable that St. Paul should have uttered, or St. Luke have reported, such an unintelligible sentence as that of the R.T., when it was perfectly easy to express the meaning clearly. Neither does the mention of his life, in the first instance, tally with that of "bonds and afflictions." The T.R., which has considerable support, seems to be far preferable. The first clause, Οὐδενὸς λόγον ποιοῦμαι, means quite naturally," I take no account of anything;" I value nothing, neither liberty, nor ease, nor comfort. I am ready to suffer the loss of all things, and I do count them as dung (Philippians 3:7-9); and then he adds yet further, "Neither do I count my own life as precious, so as to accomplish my course," etc. This metaphor of running a race is a favorite one with St. Paul (1 Corinthians 9:24; Galatians 5:7; Philippians 3:13, 14; 2 Timothy 4:7). To testify the gospel of the grace of God. An invaluable epitome of the Christian ministry. The essential feature of the gospel is its declaration of God's free grace to a guilty world, forgiving sins, and imputing righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. The distinctive work of the ministry is to declare that grace. So St. Paul describes his own ministry, and the record of his ministry in the Acts and in his Epistles exactly agrees with this description.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(24) But none of these things move me . . .--Literally, But I take account of nothing, nor do I hold my life . . . We note the parallelism with Luther's famous declaration, when warned by his friends not to go to Worms, "I will go thither, though there should be devils on every house-top."So that I might finish my course with joy.--The two last words are wanting in many of the best MSS., and were probably inserted as a rhetorical improvement. The passage is grander without them. What St. Paul desired was to finish his course--whether "with joy" or not mattered little. The dominance of the same ruling thought finds utterance once again in his last Epistle (2Timothy 4:7).The ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus.--We have again to note the parallelism with St. Paul's language elsewhere (2Corinthians 4:1; 2Corinthians 5:18; 1Timothy 1:12); the words that follow are in apposition with the "ministry," and explain what it consisted in. To bear witness, especially as a living example of its power (1Timothy 1:12-16), of the good tidings that God was not a harsh Judge, but a gracious Father, willing all men to be saved (1Timothy 2:4), that was the truth to the proclamation of which his life was to be devoted. In this there was the central truth of the kingdom of God, of which the next verse speaks. . . .