Answer: Paul told the elders of the church at Ephesus
to be on their guard against "savage wolves" who would
come in among them and "not spare the flock."
Paul also said that even from their own number (from among the
elders themselves) men would arise and distort the Truth in order
to draw away disciples after them, (verses 29-31).
MORE INFORMATION AND/OR OTHER SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
The Greek word for "savage" is
barys. The basic meaning of this term is
"heavy." Then it came to mean
"burdensome" or "severe." But it was
also used by Homer, Xenophon, Philo, and Josephus in the sense of
"fierce, cruel, savage." One translator (Schrenk)
says that in Acts 20:29 it "refers to
dangerous, rending wolves." He adds: "Here
barys denotes the violent man."
Also, please see b above for notes taken from The Acts of
the Apostles From Jerusalem to Rome by Wayne Jackson.
See the Scriptures below concerning those "savage
wolves" who will "not spare the flock" and who
"distort the Truth," of shepherds who fail to shepherd
and of the flock which fails to heed the Chief Shepherd and the
shepherds:
Ezekiel 34:1-16: "The Word of the
Lord came to me: 'Son of man, prophesy against the
shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: "This is what
the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only
take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the
flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and
slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the
flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick
or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or
searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and
brutally. So they were scattered because there was no
shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the
wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on
every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no
one searched or looked for them.
"'"Therefore, you shepherds, hear the Word
of the Lord: As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign
Lord, because My flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered
and has become food for all the wild animals, and because My
shepherds did not search for My flock but cared for themselves
rather than for My flock, therefore, O shepherds, hear the Word of
the Lord: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the
shepherds and will hold them accountable for My flock. I will
remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no
longer feed themselves. I will rescue My flock from their mouths,
and it will no longer be food for them.
"'"For this is what the Sovereign Lord
says: I Myself will search for My sheep and look after them.
As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them,
so will I look after My sheep. I will rescue them from all the
places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and
darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather
them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land.
I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and
in all the settlements in the land. I will tend them in a
good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their
grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and
there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of
Israel. I Myself will tend My sheep and have them lie down,
declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and
bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen
the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will
shepherd the flock with justice."'"
Matthew 7:15-20: [Jesus said,]
"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their
fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from
thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree
bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree
cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown
into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize
them."
2 Corinthians 11:3-4: "But I am
afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your
minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion
to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus
other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different
spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the
one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough."
Galatians 1:6-9: "I am astonished
that you are so quickly deserting the One Who called you by the
grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel--which
is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you
into confusion and are trying to pervert the Gospel of
Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach
a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be
eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say
again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you
accepted, let him be eternally condemned!"
1 Timothy 4:1-2: "The Spirit
clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and
follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such
teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have
been seared as with a hot iron."
1 Timothy 6:3-5: "If anyone teaches
false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our
Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and
understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies
and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious
talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt
mind, who have been robbed of the Truth and who think that
godliness is a means to financial gain."
2 Peter 2:1-3: "But there were also
false prophets among the people, just as there will be false
teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive
heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord Who bought
them--bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many
will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of Truth
into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit
you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long
been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been
sleeping."
2 Peter 3:3: "First of all, you
must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing
and following their own evil desires."
2 Peter 3:14-18: "So then, dear
friends, since you are looking forward to this [the home of
righteousness], make every effort to be found spotless, blameless
and at peace with Him [God]. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience
means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with
the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all
his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain
some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and
unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their
own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you already
know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by
the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen."
Jude 1:3-4, 12-13, 17-21: "Dear
friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the
salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend
for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have
secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the
grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus
Christ our only Sovereign and Lord...These men are blemishes
at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest
qualm--shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds
without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit
and uprooted--twice dead. They are wild waves of the
sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest
darkness has been reserved forever...But, dear friends,
remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.
They said to you, 'In the last times there will be scoffers
who will follow their own ungodly desires.' These are
the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do
not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, build yourselves
up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep
yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord
Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life." (Read all
of Jude.)
