---
title: Acts 20:29
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/acts-20-29/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/acts-20-29.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Acts 20:29
testament: NT
section: Acts
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Acts 20:29

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.

## JW Usage

JWs cite Paul's warning about "savage wolves" coming "from among you" (Acts 20:29) as evidence that the apostasy began within the early church, eventually producing "Christendom" — the false Christianity from which the Watchtower claims to have restored true worship. The wolves are identified as church leaders who introduced pagan doctrines after the apostles' restraining influence was removed.

## Protestant Usage

Paul warns of wolves arising "from among you" (Acts 20:29) — but his remedy is significant: he does not appoint an institutional successor body or a continuing council. Instead he commits the Ephesian elders to "God and the word of his undeserved kindness" (Acts 20:32). The safeguard against false teaching is Scripture and God's grace, not organisational authority. Ephesians 2:20 describes the church as "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets" — a foundation laid once, not re-poured every generation. The apostolic office had specific non-transferable marks: eyewitness of the risen Christ (Acts 1:21-22), signs of an apostle (2 Corinthians 12:12), and bearer of new revelation (Ephesians 3:5). The Governing Body neither possesses nor claims any of these. If wolves come from within, the answer is not a new hierarchy but a return to the apostolic word already written.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [JW Claim to the Early Church — A Traceable, Recent Origin](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jw-early-church-claim.md) — Acts 11:26 / Isaiah 43:10 / Matthew 16:18 [Authority]
- [Foundation Laid Once — Apostles Are Not a Perpetual Office](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/apostles-foundation-eph220.md) — Ephesians 2:20 — A foundation is poured once, and the building stands on it forever [Authority]
- [The Apostasia Watchtower Thesis](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/apostasia-watchtower-thesis.md) — 2 Thessalonians 2:3 / 2:15 — The Antidote Was Tradition, Not a Future Restorer [Authority]