Take heed therefore unto yourselves; be mindful of your own salvation: for he that neglects his own, will not be careful of the salvation of another. The Holy Ghost hath made you overseers;
1. By his choosing and nominating of them, which was then by a special instinct, or immediate warrant from the Spirit, Acts 1:24, Acts 13:2. Or:
2. Because they were constituted by the apostles, who were filled with the Spirit, enabling them to the choice of such persons, Acts 14:23. But also:
3. Whosoever is set apart to this office, according to the will of God, is made an overseer by the Holy Ghost; God owning his institutions, and concurring with them. Overseers; the same who \Acts 20:17\ are called elders; they were certainly such as had the government and care of the church committed unto them. To feed; as a shepherd does, (for the apostle continues here the metaphor), Jeremiah 23:4 1 Thessalonians 21:16,17. The church of God; our Saviour is so called; for the Word was God, 1 Thessalonians 1:1. Which he hath purchased; Christ by his bloody death hath redeemed his church, and obtained power to gather it, to rule over it, to protect and preserve it, Isaiah 53:10 Philippians 2:8-10. With his own blood; the blood of Christ, called truly the blood of God, there being in Christ two natures in one person, and a communion of the properties of each nature. If Christ had not been man, he could have had no blood to shed: had he not been God, the blood which he shed could not have been a sufficient price of redemption. Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, who found out such a ransom; and the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of the love of Christ, who paid this ransom for us! Romans 11:33 Ephesians 3:18,19.