Join us as we explore Acts 21:17-26 (continued).
"...Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself along with them and went into the temple, giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them..."
We study verse by verse through the Bible and share music filled with God's Word. Let's start today by listening through Acts chapter 21 verses 17-26. When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly. The day following, Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. When he had greeted them, he reported one by one the things which God had worked among the Gentiles through his ministry. They, when they heard it, glorified God. They sent to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. They have been informed about you, that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs. What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come. Therefore, do what we tell you. We have four men who have taken a vow. Take them, and purify yourself with them, and pay their expenses for them, that they may shave their hands. Then all will know that there is no truth in the things that they have been informed about you, but that you yourself also walk keeping the law. But concerning Gentiles who believe, we have written our decision that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from food offered to idols, from blood, from strangled things, and from sexual immorality. Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purified himself and went with them into the temple, declaring the fulfillment of the days of purification, until the offering was offered for every one of them. They wanted Paul to sponsor four men who had taken a vow, to go with them, purify himself with them according to the customs of the law, and pay their expenses, so they could then shave their heads, and so he did. Bible scholars debate whether Paul made a good decision here. Some even think this was a huge compromise of the gospel. While I wouldn't go so far as to say Paul's decision to appease these Jews was a full compromise of the gospel, I don't think it was a great decision. From my reading of this passage, it appears many of these Jerusalem believers thought Jewish Christians still had to obey the customs of the law, even if Gentiles were free from it. That's what I gather at least when they give the reasoning for Paul sponsoring those vows. "Then all will know that there's no truth in the things that they have been informed about you, but that you yourself also walk, keeping the law." The problem is, in my opinion, as we've shown in Paul's epistles already, he didn't believe it was necessary to keep the customs of the law anymore. There's a difference, I think, between having Christian liberty to perform the customs, and Jewish Christians legalistically imposing these customs on all Jewish Christians, as if it were necessary obedience. In my opinion, by cow-towing to their demand, Paul would be putting a stamp of approval on that way of thinking. The thinking of James and the Jerusalem elders was that this would prove before the skeptics and naysayers that there was nothing to these rumors about Paul. They would see once and for all that Paul was a follower and promoter of the law, of its customs, of Moses, right? Maybe they thought this would bring unity among the Christian brothers in Jerusalem, those zealous for the law. But also demonstrate before the unconverted Jews they had common ground. Problem solved, right? Uh, wrong? First of all, Paul wasn't a follower and promoter of the customs of the law. He clearly had taught abroad that those things were fulfilled in Christ. He himself didn't always practice them among the Gentiles, so even if he pretended to go along with it in Jerusalem, it seems a bit disingenuous to me. Also, appeasing the demands of people who are wrong doesn't always land you in a good place. None of this gets around to the fact that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, nor does it get around the fact that people often love darkness rather than light because their works are evil. They don't want their works to be exposed. They don't want to turn from their sin or their unbelief, so they often take it out on the messenger, regardless of how carefully the message is presented, or how much the messenger tries to appease them in actions. Yes, we should try and be above approach. We should pursue unity and peace as much as it's in our power to do so, as long as we don't compromise the truth in the process. We should share the truth with gentleness and respect, of course. We can be like Paul and try to become all things to all people, to try and save some, as he mentions in 1 Corinthians 9. As we'll see in this account though, sometimes even when we're bending over backwards to try and accommodate and not offend, many people who hate the light will continue to hate the light and hate those who are ambassadors of it. They're going to find fault with Paul according to Jesus' words. If the world hates you, know that it's hated me before it hated you. That's John 15 verse 18. Perhaps the Jews' rejection of Paul will be a stern reminder that cow-towing to the world, compromise with the world or for the world, isn't the way. What the Jerusalem church leaders had Paul do, what they hoped would bring peace and stem the tide, kind of became a trap for Paul, as we'll see. They were advising based on good intent, and Paul submitted to their demand. But in retrospect, we'll see it didn't accomplish what they had hoped. In fact, it kind of made matters worse. Paul must have had it in his mind that this plan to appease the naysayers probably wasn't going to work. I mean the prophet Agabus in Old Testament's style, foretold that they would bind Paul and Jerusalem. I can't imagine he had an expectation this would go well. As mentioned earlier, some argue whether Paul submitting to the Jerusalem church elders' request was a form of gospel compromise. In the case of Peter and Galatians, when he withdrew from eating with the Gentiles when the Judaizers showed up, you could argue that was compromise and hypocrisy for sure. Paul scolded Peter, "But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to see this before them all. If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" End quote. That's Galatians 2, verse 14. Alright, but what about Paul here in Acts chapter 21? Paul mentioned in Galatians that he would rather die for Christ than please men. In the situation with the Judaizers and Galatians, the integrity of the gospel was at stake. But was it the same in Acts chapter 21? Did Paul compromise by agreeing to sponsor this Nazarite purification vow when he had taught the Galatians to stand firm in their convictions, not to submit again to a yoke of slavery, seemingly in reference to the old ceremonial law? You see, a burnt offering, a sin offering, and a peace offering was needed as part of ending this Nazarite vow. I mean, think about it, an animal would have to be slaughtered as a sin offering for that person. Hebrews 10, 1 through 4 says, "For the law, having a shadow of the good to come, not the very image of those things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near, or else wouldn't they have seized to be offered, because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices, there is a yearly reminder of sins, for it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins." And Hebrews 10 verse 11 says, "Every priest indeed stands day by day, serving, and offering often the same sacrifices which can never take away sins." But in light of Jesus once and for all offering for sin, which does take away sins, Hebrews 10 verse 18 states, "Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." Some might ask, if these Jerusalem believers understood that, they probably wouldn't have felt the need to continue in many of these customs of the old law. It seems like maybe many of these Jerusalem believers didn't fully understand that the ceremonial law had been fulfilled in Christ's death. Sure, they got that the Gentiles didn't need to practice those things, but it sure looks like they thought Jewish Christians needed to continue in them. Paul's justification for his actions would likely have been what he wrote in 1 Corinthians 9 verses 19 to 20. He said, "For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more, to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews, to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law." But some think Paul's action was accommodating these Jerusalem believers' weakness and faith to their detriment, in that they were being so fond of the shadows when the substance, Jesus, had already come. It kind of seems to me like the Jerusalem church still needed to come out of the shadows of legalism into the fullness of Christian liberty on these matters. Was Paul's action double-dealing intended to appease or trick the believing Jerusalem Jews into making them think that he was conformed to the ceremonial law abroad? But did his conduct among the Gentiles show that he always conformed to the ceremonial law? And did appeasing their demand bring an unnecessary stamp of approval and emphasis on Jewish rituals for cleansing? When only the blood of Jesus has the power to cleanse us? This was a difficult situation. And some may agree or disagree on whether Paul did the right thing here. Regardless, I think this certainly demonstrates that no one is perfect. Not even church leadership. Paul, in humility, submitted to the demands of well-intending brothers in Christ in high standing in the Jerusalem church. And well, we'll see how things will turn out as they try to appease these people.
