Question about Acts 20:32-35?

Question

Here are the verses:

Acts 20:32-35
32 "Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing. 34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. 35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' "


Verse 35 is one of those rare instances where Paul quotes the Lord Jesus Christ........but........that particular quote is found nowhere else in Scripture. We know that Paul only met the Lord in His glorified state on the road to Damascus........but never in the flesh.

This is only an opinion question....as I truly believe in the Scriptures as being direct from God. Where do you suppose Paul heard this?

Thanks,
Primo

Answer 1

I love these little nuggets. I like coming to people and asking who said, "it is more blessed to give than to receive". When they find out its Jesus, they search the gospels and can't find it.

Remember what John said about Jesus at the end of his gospel. That if it were possible to write down all the things Jesus both said and did, all the books in the world could not hold them. Since Paul was a contemporary of folks like Peter, James and John, it is quite understandable that their fellowship was full of recounts of those three years. I'm sure Paul would have wanted to hear about nothing but those days. As they would fellowship, every now and then, an event or quote will come out that never was eventually recorded in the gospel records, but made Paul perk up and think, "Oy gevalt! So simple, and yet so awesome."

Answer 2

It's possible that he heard it from another disciple who heard it from Jesus Himself, and the time when Jesus said it simply isn't recorded in the Bible.

Between the four Gospels, they caught a lot of what Jesus said, but probably not everything. Many people heard Jesus giving speeches, so Paul really could've heard it anywhere.

Hope this answers your question!

Answer 3

From the apostles that was with Jesus while he was on earth.
You need to keep in mind that 3 1/2 years of Jesus' ministry is recorded in only a few chapters.
Not everything he did or said directly is in the gospels.
A lot of what he said, is recorded by the apostles in the other books they wrote.

Answer 4

Since Paul heard from the Lord Jesus and was commissioned to write scripture, as was Luke in Acts, when Paul claimed Biblical authority, it was so, and Luke was used in this case to print the Word of God in the way Jesus wanted.


P.S. Take note that "Leo the Great" and "St Dominic" are "Catholic Crusader" doing the usual limpersonations that he does every day.

Answer 5

I was looking at some commentaries on this passage and it referred to John 21:25-
25Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

True Dat! : )

Answer 6

Good question, and excellent surmise. While Jesus usually takes from scripture what He says, you are correct in saying this phrase is found no where else in scripture. The closest that I have ever found is Psalm 41:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
Either way, there is no way that Paul could have heard this from anyone else other than Jesus.
Nice job.

Answer 7

Now that is an interesting, original thought! I have heard that Paul was taught by Jesus Christ Himself, face to face, out in the deserts of Arabia after his conversion. Perhaps it was there that Jesus told him this?

Answer 8

Right now, there's simply no way for us to know where Paul heard this. It's possible that he heard it via revelation from Christ Himself, or from one of the Apostles or disciples. The only conclusion we can draw from Paul's reference is that the Ephesian elders had heard this saying before, either from Paul or another source, since Paul asks them to remember Christ's words.

Answer 9

People giving accounts of each other's experiences was their version of the internet, and it was quite effective. The new testament was actually told over several generations of people before it occurred to anyone to actually write it down. So if Paul didn't hear this himself, he surely heard it from a source he trusted to base his life philosophy on it.

Answer 10

Just out of interest,did not Paul talk with the other 11 ?