Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.
All Commentaries on Acts 20:28 Go To Acts 20
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Do you mark? He enjoins them two things. Neither success in bringing others right of itself is any gain— for, I fear, he says, lest by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away 1 Corinthians 9:27; nor the being diligent for one's self alone. For such an one is selfish, and seeks his own good only, and is like to him who buried his talent. Take heed to yourselves: this he says, not because our own salvation is more precious than that of the flock, but because, when we take heed to ourselves, then the flock also is a gainer. In which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, to feed the Church of God. See, it is from the Spirit you have your ordination. This is one constraint: then he says, To feed the Church of the Lord. Lo! Another obligation: the Church is the Lord's. And a third: which He has purchased with His own blood. It shows how precious the concern is; that the peril is about no small matters, seeing that even His own blood He spared not. He indeed, that he might reconcile those who were enemies, poured out even His blood: but thou, even when they have become your friends, are not able to retain them. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
