"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." (Acts of Apostles 20:28)
Many find the final two clauses of this verse as they appear in the Common Version difficult to accept, “to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28) Textually the “external evidence is singularly balanced,” between two readings “Church of the Lord” and “Church of God.” (B. Metzger, Textual Commentary, 1975, p. 480, see also 481.) The reading “Church of the Lord,” is found in Codex Vaticanus no. 1209. The more difficult reading of Acts 20:28 is more likely to be original, "the reading θεοῦ was more likely to have been altered to κυρίου than vice versa." Supposing that ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ is the original reading also explains the variant readings in the manuscript record, which likely occurred due to the discomfort of some scribes with the reading "with his own blood."
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