The Whole Counsel Of God

“…I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”

Acts 20 contains the admonitions and instructions of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesian elders. Paul is on his way back to Jerusalem. He set sail for Jerusalem with Luke from Philippi (Acts 20:6). His friends were waiting for him in Troas (vs. 5). It was in Troas that Eutychus fell asleep while listening to Paul preach and then fell out of the window. The next day, the entire party, minus Paul, then took a ship to Assos (vs. 13) where they waited for Paul to arrive. He had decided to walk from Troas to Assos (about 20 miles). From Assos they all sailed to Mitylene, then Chios, then Samos, and then onto Miletus, where Paul called for the Ephesian elders. This was about a three day journey from Assos.

Paul was in a hurry to get back to Jerusalem so he asked the Ephesian elders to meet him in Miletus, as the ship sailed past Ephesus (20:13–17). Paul spoke to the elders about his own ministry (vv. 18–21), his future plans (vv. 22–27), the approaching danger of false teachers and teaching (vv. 28–31), and finally, he urged them to have the right response to material goods (vv. 32–35). Pauls’ main concern for the Ephesian elders was the coming danger of false teachers and their teaching. He reminds them of the time they shared together when he came among them and preached the Word to them (vv. 18–21). In verse 20, he reminds them that he held nothing back from them: “…I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable…” He taught them from house to house, in private and also in public (vs. 20). The content of his preaching to both Jews and Gentiles was “repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (vs. 21). He calls this in verse 25“proclaiming the kingdom of God…”, and he stresses in verse 27 that he did not “shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” He explains to them that he is going to Jerusalem to complete his commission and ministry and “to testify to the gospel of God’s grace” (vs. 24).

Paul’s preaching was not just the gospel message as we might explain the gospel. It was the entire revelation of God. For Paul, God’s entire Word was the gospel. He did not avoid difficult subjects. He did not shrink from declaring all that God’s Word said. Paul had no hobby horses. He simply was a messenger with a glorious gospel that trumpeted God’s grace. It must have been a pleasure and treat to have Paul explain some of those Old Testament passages that we find so difficult. He lived and breathed the Old Testament. Paul would explain Christ from the Old Testament. His writings to various churches contain the explanation of the Old Testament. Our New Testaments reveal for us the Old Testament, therefore, we cannot understand the Old Testament without our New Testaments. We must read the Old in the light of the New. Our Lord did the same with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24. He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. He began with Moses and then went on to all the Prophets.

Paul, then, was only doing what Christ had told his disciples in Luke 24:44–49: “Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.’”

The whole counsel of God deals with obscure and difficult subjects. We do not ignore what the Bible says about marriage and divorce. We do not ignore what the Bible says about creation and the origins of man. We do not ignore what the Bible says about sin. We do not ignore what the Bible says about how a local church exists and functions. We do not ignore the Bible’s teaching on the ordinances of Christ. We do not ignore what the Bible says on elders and deacons. We do not ignore the Bible’s teaching on spiritual gifts. We do not ignore the Bible’s word to parents and children. We don’t leave out details of eschatology. Preachers are not to be afraid of declaring everything that the Bible teaches. Christians must not ignore the Word of God. We must never get our authority from man or culture. This calls for submission to the truth of God’s Word. We do not have to determine the truth—we must declare the truth. We must not cut and paste what parts of the truth we like or dislike. Paul delivered the whole counsel of God.

Paul did this because he knew that the only antidote to false teaching was the whole counsel of God. False teachers hounded the ministry of Paul. They were a very real danger to Paul’s ministry and to God’s people. This is why Paul addresses the elders of the church at Ephesus. He urges them in verse 28, to pay careful attention to themselves and the flock under their care. As elders they were under the authority of the Spirit to take care of God’s redeemed ones—those purchased with God’s “own blood” (vs. 28).

Paul calls these false teachers “fierce wolves” (vs. 29). They will try to decimate the flock. They will seek to do it internally—“fierce wolves will come in among you,” and “from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things” (vs. 30). Wolves are predators, hunting and killing. There is great danger to the church from without, but the greater danger is from within. These false teachers—these wolves draw away disciples after themselves (vs. 30).

False teachers and false teaching does the greatest damage when it is conducted from within the church. Naïve believers are lured away and enticed. The entire truth is never presented. Truth is always twisted. And partial truth is not the truth, but there is just enough to lure the unsuspecting away. It is the elders’ responsibility to warn the saints of this danger, and it is the congregation’s responsibility to listen and learn. People have always had “itching ears” (2 Tim. 4:3). Itching ears refer to the desire to hear something pleasant or desirous. The false teacher tells you what you want to hear, not what God wants you to hear. Paul tells Timothy that people will “turn away from the truth and wander off into myths (2 Tim. 4:4). If you spend your time reading what others say and not what God says, you will begin to drift without even realizing it.

This is the great danger of our time. Everyone has something to say. Everyone is an authority. Instead of quietly submitting to the Word, people are using the Word to suit their own passions and to justify their actions. This is why divorce and remarriage is not a problem anymore for the church (witness Christian marriages in trouble). This is why homosexuality is becoming more and more acceptable. If you change what God says or tamper with his truth, you will change his Word to suit yourself. It is happening everywhere today. Paul’s charge is to the elders at Ephesus. They are responsible and accountable to God for the flock under their care. Congregations, in turn, are to listen, submit and judge according to the Word. Popularity lands preachers and people in hell. Paul was not afraid to declare God’s entire counsel and neither must we be. God and his Word alone are able to build us up and give us our inheritance among the sanctified (vs. 32).