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Gentile exemption from the bondage of the law (Acts 15), and it was at some such conference as this that he
was asked to `remember the poor' (Gal. 2:10). The fulfilment of this exhortation, in the shape of an offering
collected in the churches, he was about to lay at the apostles' feet in Jerusalem. While this was the ostensible object
of his visit, however, the apostle began to realize that the Lord had another purpose in view. What this purpose was
he did not, at the time, fully know, except that it was connected with his ministry and would probably cost him his
liberty. His attitude, however, is one of heroic acceptance:
`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'
(Acts 20:24).
The Received Text here reads: `That I may finish my course with joy', but the Revised Text omits the last two
words (meta charis), and there does not appear to be sufficient evidence for their retention. The apostle might well
have wished that the end of his career would be `with joy', but he was far more concerned that he should `finish',
whether with joy or otherwise. Another point to note about this verse is that it provides us with a case in which the
Greek logos, so often translated `word', claims its fuller meaning, `account'. Also, in the phrase: `so that I might
finish my course', the word os is not, strictly speaking, `so that' but rather `as'. The rendering given by Alford
seems to recognise these various features:
`I hold my life of no account, nor is it so precious to me, as the finishing of my course'.
This figure of a `course' or `race' is one that is characteristic of the apostle, and he was able, at the close, to say:
`I have finished my course'. The word translated `course' (dromos) is borrowed from the Greek sports, and, in a
verbal form, is found in 1 Corinthians 9:24 and Hebrews 12:1: `They which run in a race run all ... so run, that ye
may obtain', and `Let us run with patience the race that is set before us'.
In his desire to `finish' his course the apostle manifests once more his conformity to his Lord, Who said near the
beginning of His ministry: `My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work' (John 4:34), and
at the close: `I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do' (John 17:4). It is encouraging to remind
ourselves that not all the injustice represented by Rome, could prevent either the Lord or His servant from finishing
their course.
In 2 Timothy 4:7, the finishing of the course is associated with keeping the faith. In Acts 20:24, it is associated
with `The ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God'.
The servants of the church at Ephesus are called `presbyters' and `bishops', but the apostle refers to his service
as douleuo, `the service of a bond slave'. The word he uses for his `ministry' is diakonia, which gives us the word
`deacon'. The apostle uses this same word when he says: `I magnify mine office' (Rom. 11:13), and when he
describes the offering he was taking to Jerusalem as `my service' (Rom. 15:31). Moreover, the magistrate is spoken
of in Romans as a `minister of God' (Rom. 13:4), and Christ Himself as a `minister of the circumcision' (Rom.
15:8). The same word (diakonos) is used of Phoebe, who is called `a servant'.
The same word is also used by Paul, when he claims that he had been made `a minister' in connection with the
ministry of the Mystery (Eph. 3:7 and Col. 1:23). This ministry Paul says he `received', and, in after years, he wrote
to Timothy:
`I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, Who hath enabled me, for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the
ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious' (1 Tim. 1:12,13).
The ministry which the apostle received is defined in a variety of ways. In Acts 9, the apostle was told that he
was a chosen vessel to bear the name of the Lord Jesus before Gentiles and Kings, and before the children of Israel.
In Acts 26:16-18, we have a very full statement concerning his ministry, which we shall have to consider when we
reach this chapter. Here, in chapter 20, however, it is defined very simply as a `testimony of the gospel of the grace
of God'. A man may be a wonderful speaker, and by the power of his oratory may be able to move his audience to
tears or laughter. A man who `testifies', on the other hand, may sound in the ears of those accustomed to oratory
`contemptible', and yet his words may carry conviction, and move his audience, not merely to tears but to
repentance and faith. A `witness', however, can scarcely hope for a hearing if his manner of life does not agree with