We learned yesterday that Paul and his companions have been lodging with believers at Caesarea for a while. A prophet named Agabus came down from Judea and prophesied that Paul would be arrested at Jerusalem. At this news the believers at Caesarea and even the members of the mission team try to dissuade Paul from going, but he is determined to go.
"After this, we started on our way up to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of Mnason, where we were to stay. He was a man from Cyprus and one of the early disciples." (Acts 21:15-16) We know very little about this disciple except that he is a generous host to the mission team. He must have had a big home, a big food pantry, and a big heart.
"When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us warmly. The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry." (Acts 21:17-19) This James is the Lord's brother James. An early Christian writer, Hegesippus, identifies James as the head (bishop) of the church at Jerusalem. Clement of Alexandria states that James was elected as the leader of the church at Jerusalem by the apostles. Because James holds the highest office in the church at Jerusalem, he is the only one Luke mentions by name, telling us James and all the elders are present at the meeting.
"When they heard this, they praised God." (Acts 21:20a) The men praise the name of the Lord for all the great works He has wrought among the Gentiles. However, there is a problem regarding the Gentiles and Paul's close relationship with them. Many of the Christian Jews in the early church are still observing the law and they are disturbed that Paul is telling both Jews and Gentiles that they are not saved by observing the rite of circumcision or by trying to keep the law.
"Then they said to Paul: 'You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs." (Acts 21:20b-21) Paul has simply been preaching that salvation is by faith and not by works. He has not slandered the law of Moses or commanded his Jewish brothers and sisters in Christ not to circumcise their sons. But now that Christ has died and risen again, they are to trust in Him for their salvation and not in their imperfect efforts to keep the law. No one other that Jesus Christ ever perfectly kept the law. He did for them what they could not do for themselves, so they are to put their faith in Him to make them righteous in the eyes of a holy God. The proof that God accepted Christ's sacrifice is that He raised Him from the dead. Will God not therefore also, for the sake of His Son, accept all of us who have placed our trust in Him and in what He accomplished for us on the cross?
The elders are concerned about how to deal with the problem of what some people are saying about Paul. They propose a solution that they feel will smooth things over. "What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law." (Acts 21:22-24)
Earlier in our study of the book of Acts we discussed the Nazirite vow when Paul fulfilled one himself after leaving Corinth. The elders ask Paul to take on the cost of the required sacrifices and offerings that must be made when the four men complete their vow (a year old male lamb for a burnt offering, a year old ewe lamb for a sin offering, a ram for a peace offering, a basket of unleavened cakes made of fine flour mixed with oil, unleavened wafers spread with oil, a grain offering, and a drink offering). Sponsoring just one man would have been quite expensive; Paul is being asked to sponsor four men. In order to keep the peace, he agrees. His agreement in no way compromises what he stands for. Paul too is a Jew and has been known to make and fulfill a vow to the Lord. He has no problem with such a custom so long as no one trusts in vows, or in the law, for salvation. He still maintains his stance that Gentiles do not need to learn the law and keep it, and that Gentiles do not need to make vows or observe rituals, and that Gentile Christians are not to be treated as "less than" Jewish Christians because they don't follow the law of Moses.
James and the elders assure Paul that they don't expect the Gentiles to observe the law and that they have only asked them to refrain from eating the foods their Jewish brothers and sisters find most offensive and to refrain from living in sexual immorality, "As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them." (Acts 21:26)
Paul's respect for the Nazirite vow likely pacifies the Jewish Christians, but in tomorrow's study we find enemies of the gospel arriving from Asia Minor before the days of the vow are completed. They do not want to make peace with Paul, or with the gospel message, or with Christ. They will stir up the Jewish religious leaders (those who have not accepted Christ) against Paul. The prophecy of Agabus will come true. He will be bound hand and foot and taken into custody by Roman soldiers, fulfilling what the prophet said, "The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will hand him over to the Gentiles."
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