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"Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony
unto the Word of His grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands."
We have already drawn attention to the similarity of language in Acts 20: 32 with
passages in Ephesians and Colossians.
Without clearer revelation it is impossible for us to decide whether the Apostle, with
the new ministry in front of him with its impending change, spoke prophetically,
commending these believers to "that word of His grace which . . . . . build . . . . .
inheritance", but which had not yet been made known.
As Peter, it will be remembered, exhorted those who were in charge of the flock not to
serve for filthy lucre but rather to be ensamples, so Paul repudiates any idea that he had
been prompted by covetousness, and asserts that he was an example, saying:
"Yea, ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and
to them that were with me. I have showed you all things, how that so labouring, ye ought
to support the weak, and to remember the word of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more
blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20: 34, 35).
How truly the Apostle could say: "I have showed you." With an available choice of
five different compounds of the word and with dieknumi itself making a sixth, the word
he used for "show" was hupodeiknumi. Let us endeavour to understand the reason for his
choice. He could have used deiknumi, "to show", which would have been a perfect
parallel with the example of the Lord, Who, when He had spoken the word of peace
"showed them" His hands and His side (John 20: 20). Paul, too, could supplement his
saying in the same way, though not in the same blessed degree. Anadeiknumi, "to show
up by raising aloft, hence to indicate", would hardly fit his purpose, for the word is used
to indicate the choice of someone to fill an office (Acts 1: 24). Apodeiknumi means "to
point away from other things", with the object of focusing upon one, and so "to prove"
(Acts 25: 7), but that was not quite the suitable word. Epideiknumi means "to show up,
as a specimen", "to exhibit". This the Apostle might have used, for Luke 24: 40 uses
it of Christ showing His hands and His feet.
But Paul passes all these by, and selects the word hupodeiknumi, "to show under", to
give a glimpse, to suggest, as it were, without making too much "show" in the process.
Truth demanded that the Apostle should remind the Ephesians of the consistency that had
always existed between his doctrine and his practice, but in giving that needful reminder
a beautiful humility constrained him to seek out a word that would not be too "showy".
Such is the wonder of the inspired Scriptures, their every word and part of speech
yielding a full measure of teaching. The Apostle refers in the latter part of verse 39 to a
saying of the Lord that is not recorded in any of the four Gospels. This is not surprising,
for Luke, under the influence of Paul, in the preface to the Gospel that bears his name,
makes it very evident that there were many attempts to retain the words which the Lord
spoke, and John goes so far as to say that he supposed that the world itself could not
contain the books that would have to be written were everything the Saviour had taught
recorded. In connection with the exhortation to "support the weak" we must remember
that it is only after centuries of Christian teaching, the world has become conscious that