🌊WEB · Acts 20:35
What does Acts 20:35 mean?
"In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”"
— Acts 20:35 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
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.
I coveted no one’s silver, or gold, or clothing.
You yourselves know that these hands served my necessities, and those who were with me.
In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
When he had spoken these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
They all wept a lot, and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him,
sorrowing most of all because of the word which he had spoken, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.
Explanation
Acts 20:35 comes at the close of Paul's farewell address to the elders of the church in Ephesus, delivered at Miletus as he traveled toward Jerusalem, likely never expecting to see these leaders again in this life. In plain terms, Paul is telling them that his own life among them served as a pattern to follow: he worked with his hands, supported himself, and used what he earned to help those who were weak or in need, rather than depending on others or seeking personal gain. He then grounds this practice in a saying of Jesus—"It is more blessed to give than to receive"—which is notable because this exact statement does not appear anywhere in the four Gospels. Paul is drawing on a tradition of Jesus' teaching that circulated among the earliest believers, whether passed down orally or through sources not preserved in the written Gospel accounts.
The context matters a great deal. Throughout his ministry, Paul often worked as a tentmaker to avoid being a financial burden on the churches he served, even though he had every right as an apostle to receive support (see 1 Corinthians 9:1-18). At Miletus, he reminds the Ephesian elders of this example specifically because he is warning them about the dangers ahead—false teachers who would arise from among them "speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them" (Acts 20:30). Part of Paul's concern is that church leaders not become self-serving, using ministry as a means of personal enrichment. His own labor and generosity stood as a living rebuke to that temptation.
Theologically, this verse captures something central
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