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)
 

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