<p>20:26- see on Acts 18:6.</p><p><em>Therefore I testify to you this day</em>- The language of testimony, especially regarding innocence from blood, continues the legal metaphor we noted earlier. He rightly perceived that the essence of judgment is going on right now. He felt that he was on trial for murder- the murder of all men. And he protests his innocence by saying he has truly witnessed to all men. This is a powerful lesson in the extent of sins of omission. If we omit to share the Gospel of life with men, then we have effectively caused their death, even by murder. That of course is the message of Ez. 33:6, which Paul is alluding to here. He felt as the Old Testament prophets; but his potential guilt was not just before Israel, but &quot;all men&quot;, seeing the Gospel is intended for &quot;all men&quot; and the Lord's death is the potential salvation of every man.</p><p><em>That I am pure from the blood of all men</em>- By preaching, they were freed from the blood of men; evidently alluding to how the watchman must die if he didn&rsquo;t warn the people of their impending fate (Ez. 3:18). In line with this, &ldquo;<em>necessity</em> is laid upon me&hellip; woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel&rdquo; (1 Cor. 9:16). It could be argued that Paul felt so truly and absolutely forgiven that he could say that he was &ldquo;pure from the blood of all men&rdquo; (Acts 20:26). Yet as he said that, he must surely have had the blood of Stephen on his mind, trickling out along the Palestinian dust, as the clothes of the men who murdered Stephen lay at Paul&rsquo;s feet as a testimony that <em>he</em> was responsible for it. But he knew his forgiveness. He could confidently state that he was pure from that blood. Righteousness had been imputed, the sin covered- because he was in Christ. We are covered with His righteousness, and therefore have a share in His victory; and yet it also means that we must act as He did and does.</p><p>Paul was guilty of the murder of Christians. But his conscience was cleansed in Christ (Heb. 10:22), and he felt cleansed or pure from that blood. He had already stated that he was pure from the blood of the Jews, and therefore he turned to the Gentiles (Acts 18:6 s.w.). His insistence that he is now pure from the blood &quot;of all men&quot; could mean that he felt pure also from the blood of the Gentiles. And yet he continued by all means trying to preach to the Jews and Gentiles; his angry comment in 18:6 about turning from the Jews to the Gentiles was surely said in hot blood or perhaps temporary realization that his focus on the Jews was uncalled for; seeing he continued his focus on the Jews and his rushing to Jerusalem to be there for Pentecost. However, Paul's faith in his conscience being cleansed in Christ was, it seems, not total. For he speaks here and in 18:6 as if his preaching work was the cleansing of his conscience; and at the end of his life he feels that he has a &quot;pure conscience&quot; because he has &quot;served&quot; God (2 Tim. 1:3). So in psychological terms it could be argued that Paul's guilt over his past murders, the blood that was on his hands, led him to try to cleanse himself from it by a lifetime of works, in preaching the Gospel to others, both Jew and Gentile. Perhaps his dogged insistence on preaching to the Jews was because most if not all of the Christians he had murdered would have been Jews. It would also explain why immediately after his conversion, he begins manic preaching, willing to give his life for it; which explains why several times in his ministry, starting from Damascus, the brethren had to get hold of him and take him away from danger to his life. This happened enough times to give us the impression that he was as it were looking for a bullet. His insistence on making the Jerusalem-Rome journey, when the Spirit witnessed that he would suffer deeply if he did so, was perhaps something similar. See on 28:19 <em>I was compelled to appeal to Caesar</em>.</p><p><em>In the phrase &ldquo;The blood of all&rdquo;, </em>&quot;Men&quot; is added by the translators. The reference may be to the Lord's words which Luke had earlier recorded: &quot;The blood of all the prophets shall be required of this generation&quot; (Lk. 11:50). Again, Paul appears to be seeking to get out of condemnation for the blood of all the prophets by preaching to the Jews of that generation, rather than throwing himself upon the Lord's blood to cleanse his conscience.</p>