Acts 20:35 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Bible Comments

I have shewed you all things. — The words point to his motive in acting as he did. He sought to teach by example, to indicate in all things how others ought to act.

To support the weak. — The Greek verb is rightly rendered, but it deserves notice that it is the root of the noun translated “help” in 1 Corinthians 12:28. The word “weak “is to be taken as implying bodily infirmities. (See Note on previous verse.)

To remember the words of the Lord Jesus. — The words that follow are not found in any of the four Canonical Gospels, nor indeed in any of the Apocryphal. They furnish, accordingly, an example of the wide diffusion of an oral teaching, embodying both the acts and the words of Christ, of which the four Gospels, especially the first three, are but partial representatives. On the other instances of sayings ascribed to our Lord, and probably in many cases rightly ascribed, see the Introduction to the First Three Gospels in Vol. I. of this Commentary. The injunction to “remember” the words implies that they had often been prominent in the Apostle’s teaching.

Acts 20:35

35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.