Colossians 4:17

And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it.

Ver. 17. And say to Archippus] Arehippus was a pastor of the Laodicean Church; so that before St John's time in Patmos they began to cool.

Take heed to the ministry] Gr. see to it, that is, to thyself, and to all the flock,Acts 20:28; cf. Ezekiel 34:31, to strengthen the weak, to heal the infected: to splint the sprained, to reduce the wandering, to seek the lost, to cherish the strong: work enough. Age ergo quod tui muneris est, as Valentinian said to Ambrose. Clericus in oppido, piscis in arido, A preacher in the town, fish in the desert, saith another. "What is that to thee?" John 21:22. The Church is thy proper element, the pulpit thy right ubi where, the sanctuary should be the centre of all thy circumference. It is a good hearing that the Levite makes haste home, Judges 19:10. An honest man's heart is the place where his calling is. And this charge, by how much the more sacred it is, so much the more attendance it expects. Even a day breaks square with those with a good conscience.

That thou fulfil it] By preaching the word in season, out of season, &c., and so doing the work of an evangelist, fulfilling his ministry, 2 Timothy 4:2,5. This to do the people were to excite their pastor; yet with all due respect and reverence to his office, 1 Timothy 5:1, μη επιπληξης. An elder must not be lashed or jerked with the scourge of the tongue as a puny, but entreated as a father.