Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Acts 20:25 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 25. 25And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Predicts that the elders will not see him again.
Read It With
- Acts 20:25–20:31
Read Acts 20:25 with 20:25–20:31. In isolation, this contribution—predicts that the elders will not see him again—can be mistaken for the scene's whole claim, detached from its speaker or narrator, or separated from its outcome. The complete unit establishes: Paul expects no further visit, declares his comprehensive teaching, charges Spirit-appointed overseers to attend to themselves and the church, warns of external and internal distorters, and recalls his tears.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Predicts that the elders will not see him again. This precise contribution belongs inside “The elders are charged to guard themselves and the flock” because Paul expects no further visit, declares his comprehensive teaching, charges Spirit-appointed overseers to attend to themselves and the church, warns of external and internal distorters, and recalls his tears.
Follow the Context
- Paul expects no further visit, declares his comprehensive teaching, charges Spirit-appointed overseers to attend to themselves and the church, warns of external and internal distorters, and recalls his tears.
- The unit distinguishes narrated event, participant speech, the narrator's framing, material uncertainty, and the ethical boundary: The charge does not authorize authoritarian shepherding, labeling critics wolves, leader immunity, or surveillance that harms vulnerable people.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
This verse does not detach its specific contribution—predicts that the elders will not see him again—from Acts 20:25–20:31 or negate the unit's explicit boundary: The charge does not authorize authoritarian shepherding, labeling critics wolves, leader immunity, or surveillance that harms vulnerable people.
What Remains True
Acts 20:25's particular contribution—predicts that the elders will not see him again—shows that faithful witness remains accountable to the verse's speaker, narrated setting, affected people, and the complete movement of Acts 20:25–20:31.
How It Can Shape Life
- Practice Acts 20:25's particular contribution—predicts that the elders will not see him again—through this passage-controlled response: Leaders should guard themselves before guarding others, resist predatory teaching, and care for the whole flock without ownership or fear-based control.
Teach It Back
Explain Acts 20:25's precise role in Acts 20:25–20:31. Distinguish narrator and speaker, include the first Jewish, Gentile, household, disabled, enslaved, imprisoned, or Roman horizon as relevant, disclose the material uncertainty, and name one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Acts 20:25–20:31 — The elders are charged to guard themselves and the flockSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Elder, overseer, and shepherd language overlaps here but does not settle every later denominational office structure; the warning begins with self-attention and includes insiders.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and unit coverage.
Exact location: Acts 20:25–20:31, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control, without pretending one edition is a complete apparatus.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text, Acts 20:25-20:31
Open the Acts Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for words explicitly discussed in this unit.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data, TAGNT rows for Acts 20:25-20:31
Open source ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Acts
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, geography, chronology, and historical notes actually printed for the unit.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Acts PDF, printed pp. 2104-2205, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 20:25–20:31
Open source ↗open university bible study course
Acts of the Apostles Course and Study Guides
Yale Divinity School faculty
Yale Bible Study, 2019
Supports: Introductory critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, with contested judgments retained as interpretations.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study Acts course, course unit 'Co-operative Ministry,' Acts 18-20 study guide
Open source ↗open confessional commentary
The Acts of the Apostles
Alan J. Thompson
The Gospel Coalition, 2023
Supports: One complete confessional commentary reading, independently checked against the text and critical controls.
Exact location: Thompson, online Acts commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Acts 20:25–20:31
Open source ↗