Commentary on Acts 20:26
Acts 20:26
[Wherefore] In view of the past, of
my ministry and labors among you, I appeal to your own selves to testify that I
have been faithful.
[I take you to record] Greek: I call
you to witness. If any of you are lost; if you prove unfaithful to God, I appeal
to yourselves that the fault is not mine. It is well when a minister can make
this appeal, and call his hearers to bear testimony to his own faithfulness.
Ministers who preach the gospel with fidelity may thus appeal to their hearers;
and in the day of judgment may call on themselves to witness that the fault of
the ruin of the soul is not to be charged to them.
[That I am pure] I am not to be
charged with the guilt of your condemnation, as owing to my unfaithfulness. This
does not mean that he set up a claim to absolute perfection; but that, in the
matter under consideration, he had a conscience void of offence.
[The blood of all men] The word
"blood" is often used in the sense of "death, of bloodshed"; and hence, of the
"guilt or crime of putting one to death," Matthew 23:35; 27:25; Acts 5:28; 18:6. It
here means that if they should die the second death; if they should be lost
forever, he would not be to blame. He had discharged his duty in faithfully
warning and teaching them; and now, if they were lost, the fault would be their
own, not his.
[All men] All classes of people-Jews
and Gentiles. He had warned and instructed all alike. Ministers may have many
fears that their hearers will be lost. Their aim, however, should be:
(1) To save them, if possible; and,
(2) If they are lost, that it should be by no neglect or fault of theirs.
(from Barnes' Notes)