What does it mean to “preach the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27)? That question surely occupies the hearts of all gospel preachers. Perhaps the best way to answer this question is to consider the context of Paul’s statement to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20. When we do this, we see three things clearly involved in preaching the whole counsel of God: the life of the preacher, the content of preaching, and the method of preaching. Additionally, we see that preaching God’s Word faithfully brings consequences—that is, it is effective.
The Preacher’s Life
Acts 20:17–38 contains Paul’s farewell address to the Ephesian elders. As he bids them farewell, Paul reflects on his life among the Ephesians, and he makes clear that his call as a preacher was intertwined with his life. The context for preaching the whole counsel of God is a life that is consistent with the message preached.
Paul makes this explicit when he directs the elders, “Pay careful attention to yourselves” (Acts 20:28). Only someone living a godly life can go on to faithfully declare the whole counsel of God. This is the constant message of the New Testament (1 Tim. 3:1–7; Titus 1:5–9).
Paul specifically highlights several important features of his life:
- Consistency. “You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia” (Acts 20:18). He essentially says to them: “You know I have lived a consistent and transparent life. My life is an open book.”
- Humility. “Serving the Lord with all humility” (Acts 20:19).The calling to preach God’s Word is a calling to humble service, which marked Paul’s life.
- Endurance. “Trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews” (Acts 20:19). Paul had to endure. Hard times came upon him, and he was tested. But he endured.
- Compassion. “I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears” (Acts 20:31). Here we have the heart of a pastor. His words are not harsh. He does not stand indifferent to the sufferings and well-being of his people. He weeps over them.
- Self-denial. “I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel” (Acts 20:33). In other words, “I am not in ministry to enrich myself. I am not one of those who peddle God’s words for gain” (see 2 Cor. 2:17).
- Prayer. “And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all” (Acts 20:36). Paul praying for his flock was as natural to him as breathing.
So, Paul tells the Ephesian elders that preaching the whole counsel of God is bound up with the life that the pastor lives.
What is the whole counsel of God?
Entirely in harmony with his life, Paul had a message to proclaim. He has been entrusted with a revelation from God, which for us today is found in all its completeness in the Bible (2 Tim. 3:16–17). Paul was to declare all the counsel of God. He could not ignore the truths that press on the sins of society and of the church. He had to proclaim the truths of God’s sovereignty in salvation that humble man. He needed to drive home the application of God’s Word to all areas of life, and it is the same for any who would preach today.
Paul preached God’s whole counsel in a specific way: “I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable” (Acts 20:20). Paul preached with the profit, the building up, the bringing together into the unity of the truth of the real, flesh-and-blood men and women before him. So, if the whole counsel of God is to be preached truly, it must be preached in a way that meets the preacher’s specific congregation.
In order to preach “profitably,” preachers must maintain balance in their teaching of Scripture. The things of first importance that Paul outlines in 1 Corinthians 15 are the main features of preaching the “whole counsel.” Paul incorporates these things in his description of the content of his preaching in Acts 20:
- “Repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21).
- “To testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).
- “Proclaiming the kingdom” (Acts 20:25).
- “Which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).
These are the cardinal doctrines of the faith.
- The reality of sin and the need for repentance.
- Salvation by faith alone in Christ.
- The great message that the kingdom of God is here.
- The wonder of the substitutionary atoning death of the Lord Jesus.
These truths are all proclaimed in a profoundly Trinitarian way:
- God the Father and Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21)
- The Holy Spirit (Acts 20:22–23)
- The Lord Jesus and God the Father (Acts 20:24)
- The Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus in His divinity as the one in whose death the blood of God was shed (Acts 20:28)
- The whole counsel of God exalts the Lord Jesus “and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21)
This is the sum and substance of Paul’s ministry. Paul preached nothing but Christ and Him crucified. If the whole counsel of God is to be preached, Christ must be proclaimed from all the Scriptures. Whether from the Law, the Prophets, Wisdom Literature, the Gospels, or the Epistles, Christ must be preached.
How is the whole counsel of God proclaimed?
In addition to explaining the content, Paul also outlines his method of declaring the whole counsel of God. There are three ways that Paul did this:
- Public preaching. “Teaching you in public” (Acts 20:20). Paul’s ministry centred on preaching. Today there can be a lack of confidence in preaching, but public preaching as the great means of declaring the counsel of God must remain central.
- Visiting homes. “From house to house” (Acts 20:20). Preaching is not the only call of the pastor. Paul spent time with the people. He knew them. He invested in them. There is great value in a preacher who visits and who teaches God’s Word in people’s homes.
- Evangelism. “Testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God” (Acts 20:21). The faithful minister must be evangelistic in his outlook, preaching the gospel to all people.
To preach God’s counsel in these ways requires boldness. Paul was humble, but he was also bold: “I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable” (Acts 20:20; see also Acts 20:26–27). The temptation can be to shrink back to maintain popularity, but that was not Paul’s way. Rather he unfolded God’s counsel with confidence and boldness: “declaring . . . teaching, . . . testifying, . . . proclaiming, [and] . . . admonish[ing]” (Acts 20:20–31).
Consequences
When the whole counsel of God is preached, there are always consequences. Paul highlights three in this passage:
- Persecution. “In every city . . . imprisonment and afflictions await me” (Acts 20:23). Where God’s Word is proclaimed, there will be opposition. That means the cost of preaching the whole counsel needs to be reckoned with. Paul said, “I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course” (Acts 20:24).
- The preacher will be regarded as faithful. “Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all” (Acts 20:26). It is a solemn thing to be God’s ambassador. Eternal life and death is at stake. Paul’s language here recalls Ezekiel 33:6: “If the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet . . . his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.” The consequence of faithfully preaching the whole counsel of God, however, is to free the preacher from the blood of his hearers.
- Difficulties will remain in the church. There is to be no “prosperity” view of preaching. That is, it is an error to think, “If only I preach the whole counsel of God, things will all be well in the church.” While God’s Word always has its effect for good, in a world of sin, preaching the whole counsel of God does not cure all ills. The church in Ephesus had had three years of Paul’s declaring the whole counsel of God to them. And yet in this church’s future, “from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29–31).
Conclusion
Being an undershepherd who declares the whole counsel of God is no easy task. Who is sufficient for these things? Yet Paul does not leave preachers hopeless: “And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Act 20:32). God and His grace build preachers up. That is where pastors will find the strength to preach the whole counsel of His Word. May God give all His called preachers that grace.