🌊WEB · Acts 20:29
What does Acts 20:29 mean?
"For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock."
— Acts 20:29 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Therefore I testify to you today that I am clean from the blood of all men,
for I didn’t shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood.
For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn’t cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears.
Now, brothers, I entrust you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build up, and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
Explanation
Acts 20:29 comes from a speech the apostle Paul gave to the elders of the church in Ephesus. Paul was on his way to Jerusalem, aware that hardship awaited him there, and he stopped at Miletus to call for the leaders of the Ephesian church to meet with him one final time. Knowing this would likely be his last opportunity to address them face to face, he delivered a heartfelt farewell filled with both encouragement and warning. In this particular verse, he tells them plainly that after he leaves, "vicious wolves" will come in among them and will not spare the flock.
In plain language, Paul is warning the elders that dangerous false teachers or destructive influences will infiltrate the church once he is no longer there to guard and guide it directly. The image of wolves entering a flock of sheep is vivid and alarming — wolves do not come to nurture or protect sheep, but to devour them. Paul is telling these leaders that harmful people will target the church, seeking to exploit, mislead, or spiritually damage the believers under their care.
The context matters greatly here. Paul had spent roughly three years in Ephesus establishing and strengthening this church (Acts 20:31), investing deeply in its people. As he prepares to depart for good, his concern is not for his own safety but for the spiritual health of the community he is leaving behind. Just before this verse, in Acts 20:28, Paul charges the elders to "pay attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God."
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