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false prophets', `beware of the leaven of the Pharisees'. The hand of Luke in the writing of Acts, or,
conversely, the influence of Paul on the writing of Luke is indicated by the expression prosechete heautois, `take
*
heed unto yourselves', for it occurs only in Luke's writings (Luke 17:3; 21:34; Acts 5:35; and 20:28).
The overseers of the church were `bishops', episkopoi, and we have seen that such were practically synonymous
with `pastors' or `shepherds' (see pages 260-266). The church is therefore appropriately referred to here as a
`flock'. The Greek words for `feed' and `flock' are from the same root. The word for `flock' is poimne and occurs
five times in the New Testament. In five other places, however, the diminutive poimnion is used:
`Fear not, little flock' (Luke 12:32).
`All the flock ... not sparing the flock'(Acts 20:28,29).
`Feed the flock ... ensamples to the flock' (1 Pet. 5:2,3).
The word `shepherd' is poimen (Luke 2:8), and the word translated `feed' is poimaino. While the idea of
`feeding' is prominent in this word, and Davison deduced it from the Homeric word pou, `flock' and mao, `to care',
the following passages will show that the thought of the exercise of `the rod and the staff' is not absent from the
word.
`Out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule My people Israel' (Matt. 2:6).
`He shall rule them with a rod of iron' (Rev. 2:27).
`Who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron' (Rev. 12:5).
`He shall rule them with a rod of iron' (Rev. 19:15).
These passages are quotations from Old Testament Scriptures, those in the Revelation quoting Psalm 2, while
that in Matthew quotes Micah 5. Where the A.V. of the New Testament reads `rule' the A.V. of Psalm 2:9 has
*
`break', raa, which is a word indicating severe chastisement upon evil, and in the Hiphil is translated `to bring
evil', `to afflict' and `to punish' (Jer. 25:29; 31:28; Zech. 8:14). On the other hand the Hithpolel is translated `must
shew himself friendly' (Prov. 18:24), so that the affliction, though it seem evil, is for good. The word translated
`ruler' in Micah 5:2 is the Hebrew mashal, which not only means to rule, to govern, or to have dominion, but `to
speak or to use, parables or proverbs' (Ezek. 17:2; 24:3) and so suggests the ruling of a people by wisdom and
warning. It may be that Peter knew this double meaning, and the association of rule or dominion with the idea of a
shepherd, and to save the overseers from a false assumption of power, he said:
`Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for
filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock'
(1 Pet. 5:2,3).
With these facts in mind, we can the better appreciate the meaning of the apostle in his exhortation to the elders
of Ephesus. The R.V. has the marginal note against the words `church of God': `Many ancient authorities read, the
Lord'.
From one angle, it makes very little difference to us whether the apostle called the church, `the church of God' or
`the church of the Lord', but it is of importance to us to see to it that we do not allow the displacement of one single
word of inspired Scripture and especially in a passage that has to do with the Person of the Saviour. If the word
kuriou, `Lord', had occurred in the original it is difficult to understand why anyone should alter it to read Theou,
`God', for the word `Lord' here creates no difficulty in the subsequent statement, `which He hath purchased by His
*
We must defer full consideration of this subject until the closing section of the book, when we hope fully to
demonstrate that such an influence is not a matter of conjecture but of fact.
*
These terms and others used in concordances, etc., are indications concerning the `voice', `mood' and `tense'of
Hebrew words. While the reader need not burden himself with these terms, he should on the other hand avoid
acceptance of dogmatic assertions based merely upon a list of words. For instance, the comparison of Hiphel
(causative) with say the Niphal (or middle voice) would lead to erroneous deductions.