When declaring the whole counsel of God

“Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27 ESV)

Declaring the “whole counsel of God” is what made Paul “innocent” of anyone’s choice to turn away from the truth. When Paul first arrived in Ephesus, he found some disciples who had heard of John the Baptist and did not yet know of the completed ministry of Jesus or the coming of the Holy Spirit. Paul brought them up to speed by presenting Jesus to them, and baptized them “in the name of the Lord Jesus.” 

“And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this,  they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 19:4-5 ESV)

Paul shared the complete gospel 

“Paul shared “the whole counsel of God” (ESV) or “the whole will of God” (NIV) or “the whole purpose of God” (NASB) in that he spoke the complete gospel. He had given the whole truth about God’s salvation which included the “mystery of God”, which is God’s extending His plan of salvation to Gentiles as well as Jews. 

“For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, show the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power.” (Eph. 3:1-7 ESV)

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…” (1 Cor. 15:1-4 ESV)

Therefore…

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Rom. 1:16 ESV)

Quote:

“It is fashionable in some academic circles to exercise scholarly criticism of the Bible. In so doing, scholars place themselves above the Bible and seek to correct it. If indeed the Bible is the Word of God, nothing could be more arrogant. It is God who corrects us; we don’t correct Him. We do not stand over God but under Him.” - R.C. Sproul