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now facing another. Verses 18-21 are his own survey of the ministry that was closing,
and verses 22-24 an anticipation of the ministry that awaited him. Already, before a
visible shackle was on his wrist, he was `bound in the spirit' and knew that `bonds' as
well as affliction awaited him. His attitude to these things, tempered by his one
absorbing desire, however, is made known:
"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 Apostle then told these Ephesian elders that they would see his face `no more',
and with a word of exhortation and a display of mutual affection the chapter closes. The
fears expressed in Acts 20: were soon realized, and Paul found himself a prisoner. It is
during his defence before King Agrippa that the next statement concerning his prison
ministry is made. He recounts his experience on the way to Damascus, where he was met
by the Lord, converted and commissioned. Up till this time we only know what the Lord
said to Ananias about Saul of Tarsus, and what Ananias said to him, but now that all need
of secrecy is past, Paul makes known what the Lord had said to him on the way to
Damascus, and before Ananias visited him after the three days blindness.
"I am Jesus Whom thou persecutest" (Acts 26: 15 and 9: 5).
"But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to
make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of
those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and
from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee" (Acts 26: 16, 17).
"I HAVE appeared . . . . . I WILL appear." Here are two appearings.
"BOTH of these things . . . . . of those things." Here are two ministries.
"Which thou HAST seen . . . . . WILL appear." Here are two subjects.
In Acts 9: there were no `Gentiles' from whom Paul needed to be delivered, the
words `Delivering thee . . . . . unto whom now I send thee' being quoted by Paul from the
commission given to him at the second appearing, early promised and at length fulfilled.
In Acts 9: he only knew that he had a twofold ministry; subsequently he realized that
the second ministry was associated with prison and particularly directed towards the
Gentiles. So, in Eph. 3: 1 he calls himself `The prisoner of Christ Jesus for you
Gentiles' which is proof that the second ministry had then been entered. Paul is called a
`prisoner' for the first time in Acts 16: 25 when he, together with Silas, had been
thrown into prison at Philippi. Writing to the Corinthians he told them that already he
had been in `prison more frequently' (II Cor. 11: 23), but these imprisonments could not
have lasted long at a time, as they do not even figure in the record of his journeys in the
Acts. In Acts 23: Paul is a prisoner on a serious charge, and was held prisoner at
Caesarea for two years (Acts 24: 27). His bonds are mentioned fourteen times and
twice his examiner pronounced that he had done nothing worthy of death or bonds. Paul
calls himself a prisoner in three places:
"I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles" (Eph. 3: 1).
"I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you" (Eph. iv.1).
"Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner"
(II Tim. 1: 8).