But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
All Commentaries on Acts 20:24 Go To Acts 20
John Chrysostom
AD 407
for do not suppose that I say these things as lamenting them: for I hold not my own life dear. It is to raise up their minds that he says all this, and to persuade them not only not to flee, but also to bear nobly. Therefore it is that he calls it a course and a ministry, on the one hand, showing it to be glorious from its being a race, on the other, showing what was due from it, as being a ministry. I am a minister: nothing more. Having comforted them, that they might not grieve that he was so evil entreated, and having told them that he endured those things with joy, and having shown the fruits of them, then (and not before) he brings in that which would give them pain, that he may not overwhelm their minds. And now behold, etc. Wherefore I take you to record, that I am pure from the blood of all men, because I have not shrunk from declaring unto you the whole counsel of God
