Take heed therefore unto yourselves
Since the blood of men may be required of those, who are
negligent or partial in their office, and shun to declare the
whole counsel of God: this exhortation is given them not merely
as men, to take care of their bodily health, the outward concerns
of life, and provide for themselves and families; nor merely as
Christians, but as ministers of the Gospel; that they would take
heed to their gifts, to use and improve them, and not neglect
them; to their time, that they spend it aright, and not squander
it away; and to their spirit, temper, and passions, that they are
not governed by them; and to their lives and conversations, that
they be exemplary to those who are under their care; and to their
doctrine, that it be according to the Scriptures; that it be the
doctrine of Christ, and the same with the apostles; that it be
according to godliness, and that it tends to edification; that it
be sound and incorrupt, pure and unmixed, and all of a piece and
consistent with itself; and that they be not infected and carried
away with errors and heresies:
and to all the flock;
the church and all the members of it, which are compared to a
flock of sheep, which are to be looked after and watched over by
the ministers of the word, who are as shepherds to them, lest
they should be infected, or any damage done them. The people of
God are compared to sheep on many accounts; before conversion,
for their going astray, when they are as lost sheep; after
conversion, for their meek and inoffensive carriage and
behaviour, and for their patience in bearing sufferings, to which
they are exposed: and a church of Christ is compared to a flock
of them, being in Gospel order, folded together and feeding in
the same pasture, attending the word and ordinances, under the
care of shepherds appointed by Christ the chief shepherd; whose
business it is to take heed unto them, and care of them, to learn
to know their state and condition, to watch over them, and to
feed them with knowledge and with understanding, for which they
are qualified by Christ; and they are to take heed unto everyone
in the flock, the poor of the flock as well as others, the lambs
as well as the sheep, and the sick and the diseased, the torn,
and straying, and driven away, as well as the fat and the strong:
and this flock, though a little flock, is a holy and beautiful
one, a flock of men, and of the souls of men dear to God, to
Christ and the blessed Spirit; and a special regard should be had
unto them, and that for reasons following:
over which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers;
or "bishops"; this is said to the elders of the church, (
Acts 20:17 )
which shows that the office of an elder and a bishop is one and
the same office; and this contains in it more than one argument
why they should take heed to the flock; as because they are the
overseers of it, who have the care and oversight of the flock,
that is under their inspection, and is their proper province, and
office; and this they were put into by the Holy Ghost, who gave
them gifts to qualify them for it, and called, and inclined them
to undertake it, as well as moved the people to make choice of
them for this purpose; and since, therefore, this was an affair
in which the Holy Ghost was so much concerned, it became them
very diligently to attend it:
to feed the church of God;
with knowledge and understanding; and discharge the whole office
of faithful shepherds to the flock, by feeding the flock and not
themselves, strengthening the diseased, healing the sick, binding
up the broken, bringing again that which was driven away, and
seeking up that which was lost: and here is another argument
suggested, to stir up to a diligent performance of this work; and
that is, that this flock is the church of God, a set of men whom
God has chosen for himself, and called by his grace out of the
world, and separated for his own use and glory, and among whom he
dwells; and therefore to be fed with the faithful word, with the
finest of the wheat, and not with the chaff of human schemes, and
with the wind of false doctrine, nor with anything that is vain,
trifling, and deceitful; but with the solid doctrines of the
Gospel, with the words of faith and good doctrine, with the
wholesome words of Christ Jesus, which have in them milk for
babes and meat for strong men, and with and by the ordinances of
the Gospel, which are the green pastures they are to be guided
into, and abide in; and in all they are to be directed to Christ,
the sum of the word and ordinances, who is the bread of life, and
food of faith; and that the church should be thus fed, is the
will of Christ, who has appointed and ordered his ministers to
feed his lambs and sheep, and has furnished them with what is
necessary for this work; this is the design of the ministry of
the Gospel, and the administration of ordinances; and the
churches of Christ are placed where food may be had, where the
word is faithfully preached, and the ordinances truly
administered: some copies read, "the church of the Lord"; and
others, and so the Complutensian edition, "the church of the Lord
and God":
which he hath purchased with his own blood;
which being the blood not only of a pure and innocent man, but of
one that is truly and properly God as well as man, was a
sufficient ransom price to redeem the church and people of God
from sin, the law, its curse and condemnation: so that this is no
inconsiderable proof of the true and proper deity of Christ; and
contains a fresh argument, or reason, why the flock of God and
"church of Christ", as the Syriac version reads; or "the church
of the Lord and God", as in five of Beza's exemplars: or "of the
Lord God", as the Arabic version, should be taken heed unto and
fed; because it must needs be dear to God and Christ, and
precious to them, since so great a price has been paid for it.
The purchaser is God, Christ who is God over all, blessed for
ever, not a creature; that could never have made such a purchase,
it could not have purchased a single sheep or lamb in this flock,
no man can redeem his brother, or give to God a ransom for him,
much less the whole flock; but Christ being God, was able to make
such a purchase, and he has actually made it, and given a
sufficient price for it; not to Satan, with whom these sheep were
a prey, and from whom they are taken in virtue of the ransom
given; but to God, from whom they strayed, against whom they
sinned, and whose law they broke; and this price was not silver
and gold, nor men, nor people: but Christ himself, his life and
blood; and which were his "own", the human nature, the blood of
which was shed, and its life given being in union with his divine
person, and was in such sense his own, the property of the Son of
God, as the life and blood of no mere man are theirs: and this
purchase now being made in this way, and by such means, is a very
proper one; it is not made without price, but with an invaluable
one; and it is a legal purchase, a valuable consideration being
given for it, perfectly equivalent to it; and therefore is a
complete one, there is nothing wanting to make it more firm, it
is a finished purchase; and it is a very peculiar one, it is a
peculiar people that are purchased, called the purchased
possession, ( Ephesians
1:14 ) and a peculiar price which is paid for it; there is no
other of the same kind, nor any thing like it, and it is made by
a peculiar person, one that is God and man in one person.