<p>20:27<em> For I did not hesitate to declare to you the whole counsel of God</em>- The same word as in :20; see note there. Exactly as Moses completely revealed all God's counsel to Israel (Acts 7:33; Dt. 33:3). The reference is clearly again to Luke's first volume, where he records how the Jews &quot;rejected the counsel of God against themselves&quot; by refusing baptism from John (Lk. 7:30). The same Greek words are used. Maybe his addition of the word &quot;whole&quot; reflects the fact that John did not then preach the complete counsel of God because the Lord had not then died or resurrected. Having grown up in Jerusalem, Paul would have heard the preaching of John, and presumably refused baptism from him. He had rejected the counsel of God- and now he was declaring it to others as a basis for his own 'cleansing'. It could be argued that this was simply an appropriate response from Paul given his failure earlier. But psychologically, it could be seen as a way of dealing with his own abiding guilt- through preaching. And <em>when</em> this was fulfilled, as he saw it, by preaching on Pentecost in Jerusalem, replicating Peter's success, and preaching in Rome, capital of the known world... <em>then</em> he could speak of his cleansed conscience as he faced death (2 Tim. 1:3).</p>