Five-minute study · Day 196 · Acts 20
Acts 20:28
A word worth stopping on: feed/shepherd ποιμαίνω poimaino
Paul is standing on the beach at Miletus, talking to the elders of the Ephesian church. He will not see them again, and he knows it. His final instruction: 'Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.' The verb translated 'feed' is poimaino. It means to shepherd. Feeding is one part of it. A shepherd also leads the flock to water, stands between the flock and predators, searches for stragglers, and disciplines wanderers. Paul loaded an entire job description into one word.
Word study: feed/shepherd
- Greek
- ποιμαίνω
- Pronounced
- poimaino
- Strong's
- G4165
- Definition
- To shepherd, to tend a flock, to act as a shepherd. Encompasses the full range of pastoral duties: feeding, leading, protecting, guiding, disciplining, and caring for the welfare of the flock.
Poimaino appears 11 times in the New Testament. BDAG defines it as 'to shepherd, to tend, to guide, to govern.' The word carries the entire scope of a shepherd's work. In first-century pastoral culture, a shepherd did not merely stand in a field and watch. He led the flock to fresh pasture (feeding), moved them to clean water (guiding), slept across the entrance of the sheep pen (protecting), used his staff to pull back wandering sheep (correcting), and searched for lost animals (rescuing).
Jesus used poimaino in his restoration of Peter: 'Feed (poimaino) my sheep' (John 21:16). Revelation 2:27 uses it with a different shade: 'He shall rule (poimaino) them with a rod of iron.' The same verb covers gentle feeding and firm governance. The shepherd metaphor in the ancient world did not separate tenderness from authority. Both were part of the role.
Paul's speech at Miletus (Acts 20:17-38) is the only recorded address to church leaders in Acts. He reminds the elders of his own example: three years in Ephesus, teaching publicly and house to house, working with his own hands, warning 'every one night and day with tears' (v. 31). The commission to poimaino follows this example. Paul shepherded with his whole body: his voice, his hands, his tears. He expected the elders to do the same.
The phrase 'the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood' attaches staggering value to the flock. The sheep are blood-purchased. The shepherd is accountable for property that cost the owner everything. Milne notes that this connection between the blood-price and the shepherding commission elevates pastoral responsibility to its highest possible level. Carelessness with blood-purchased people is a betrayal of the purchase price.
Ezekiel 34 provides the Old Testament background. God indicts the shepherds of Israel who fed themselves and neglected the flock: 'The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away' (Ezekiel 34:4). Paul's use of poimaino at Miletus carries all of Ezekiel's weight.
Historical context · Approximately AD 57, western coast of Asia Minor
A Farewell on the Beach at Miletus
Miletus was a port city on the western coast of modern Turkey, about 30 miles south of Ephesus. Paul was traveling to Jerusalem and chose not to stop in Ephesus itself, because he did not want to be delayed (Acts 20:16). He sent for the Ephesian elders to meet him at Miletus. The meeting was a farewell. Paul told them plainly: 'Ye shall see my face no more' (v. 25).
The Ephesian church was one of Paul's most significant foundations. He spent three years there (v. 31), longer than any other city in his recorded ministry. During that time, 'all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks' (Acts 19:10). The church had grown large enough to attract organized opposition from the silversmiths' guild (Acts 19:23-41) and needed mature leadership to survive after Paul's departure.
The farewell speech follows the pattern of ancient testamentary addresses: a leader who knows he is leaving gives final instructions and warnings. Moses' farewell in Deuteronomy, Joshua's farewell in Joshua 23-24, and Samuel's farewell in 1 Samuel 12 all follow this form. Paul's speech includes a backward look (what I did among you), a forward warning (wolves will come), and a commission (shepherd the flock).
The warning about wolves is specific: 'After my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them' (vv. 29-30). The threat was both external (wolves entering) and internal (men arising from within). The shepherding commission covers both: protection from outside predators and correction of inside drift. Paul's letters to Timothy, who later pastored in Ephesus, confirm that both threats materialized.
The scene ends with prayer and weeping on the beach. 'They all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more' (vv. 37-38). The shepherding commission was given in the context of grief. The elders would carry it forward without the man who gave it.
For reflection
Paul told the elders to shepherd a church that was purchased with blood. The flock cost God everything. If you have any responsibility for other people, whether in a church, a family, a team, or a friendship, consider the weight of that responsibility today. Name one person in your care who needs feeding, one who needs guiding, and one who needs protecting. Those are three faces of poimaino.
The shepherd's job is plural: feed, guide, protect, correct, search. Paul did all five with his voice, his hands, and his tears.
Sources: BDAG; Milne, 'Acts'; Ezekiel 34; Bruce, 'The Book of Acts' (NICNT)