Bible Study on Acts 22, verses 22 to 30, The Jews riot over Paul

 

Acts 22:22 ¶  And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live. 23  And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, 24  The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. 25  And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? 26  When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman. 27  Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. 28  And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born. 29  Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him. 30  On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them.

 

The Jews had listened to Paul but were now moved to anger and riot. They wanted him dead. The things they did in tearing off clothing and throwing dirt in the air were signs of being upset and angry like you throwing a coffee cup across the room or turning over a table while arguing with a family member.

 

Paul is about to be scourged. Scourging was a brutal whipping, a punishment Christ endured. But, Paul objects because he is a Roman citizen and has not been condemned in a legal proceeding. Roman citizens, unlike the conquered nations over which they ruled, had specific rights. The right to a legal trial, to face your accusers, and defend yourself as well as the right to appeal a decision made by a magistrate were among the rights guaranteed to a Roman citizen. Offering limited citizenship was a way Rome exerted control, held out the proverbial carrot and stick to the races they conquered in an attempt to Romanize them. The bottom line is Paul, as a Roman citizen, had a right to some type of judicial proceeding and could not be simply punished at the whim of a Roman soldier, even if it would make the crowd happy.

 

Paul was probably a Roman citizen at birth because his father would have been a Roman citizen, either having been enslaved and freed by a Roman or having performed some service that granted him citizenship. In any event, Paul, while identifying ethnically, religiously, and culturally as a Jew was legally a citizen of Rome.

 

We identify as a national identity; like American or Polish-American or Pennsylvania Dutch or even an ethnic identity like African-American but our legal citizenship is before God in Heaven of which we are ambassadors as Paul will make clear.

 

Bible Study on Exodus 25, verses 1 to 9, a voluntary offering

 

Exodus 25:1 ¶  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2  Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering. 3  And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass, 4  And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair, 5  And rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood, 6  Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense, 7  Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate. 8  And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. 9  According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.

Here is an important point about an offering. It was to be given willingly. Voluntary giving is the basis for God’s approval of an offering.

2Corinthians 9:7  Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

Giving because you have been guilted into it or because it is your “Christian duty” does not meet with God’s approval although it does satisfy man’s need for a sense of ritual and obligation.

2Corinthians 8:7 ¶  Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also. 8  I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. 9  For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. 10  And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. 11  Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have. 12  For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. 13  For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: 14  But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality: 15  As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.

Almsgiving, charitable giving, degenerated into a show and a display as it often does today as big companies have pictures taken of their executives giving oversized checks to some charity as an act of “goodwill”. Wealthy individuals do the same.

Matthew 6:1 ¶  Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. 2  Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 3  But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 4  That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

All giving to the Lord must be of a willing heart and not determined by another person who wants to guilt you into something.

What we are about to witness is remarkable in its detail. As Matthew Henry pointed out we are not given any dimensions for the earth or the universe but this tabernacle is described in much detail using quite a few words and verses. Certainly, this must mean something that we are overlooking.

Bible Study on Acts 22, verses 1 to 21, Paul gives a defense

 

Acts 22:1 ¶  Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you. 2  (And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,)

 

 Acts 22:3 ¶  I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. 4  And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. 5  As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished. 6  And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. 7  And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. 9  And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. 10  And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. 11  And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus. 12  And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, 13  Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. 14  And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. 15  For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. 16  And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. 17  And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; 18  And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. 19  And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee: 20  And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. 21  And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.

 

Paul addresses the crowd in Hebrew and we have his words from the Greek translated into English for us.

 

Back in Acts 5 Gamaliel gave sage advice to the council. He warned them to be careful in their handling of Christ’s disciples. He mentioned a revolt led by a Theudas, which was a common Hebrew name, and should not be confused with the Theudas referred to by the Jewish general turncoat and historian Josephus who mentioned a much later rebel by that name. Gamaliel places Theudas’ uprising before Judas of Galilee’s which was during the reign of Herod. If Jesus was like one of them then the Apostle’s efforts would come to nothing as their leader was dead. But, if this was of God they cannot fight it because they would be fighting God. It is interesting that this doctor of the Law would even consider the truth of Christ. But this is not salvation, this hedging your bets. It is not salvation to say, well, I’ll believe on Christ just in case He’s real. That is not faith.

 

In verse 4 Paul admits that he persecuted and killed Christians or rather had them killed. Notice  further confessions.

 

1Corinthians 15:9  For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

 

Philippians 3:6  Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

 

1Timothy 1:13  Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

 

Acts 26:9  I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10  Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. 11  And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.

 

Paul then recounts his road to Damascus experience with Christ that is recorded in Acts 9 and which he retells again in Acts 26. But, note that the Holy Spirit allows him to retell from memory with certain details changed as he stresses this or that. There are a few things this tells us. First the account is from memory so minor variations are to be expected, secondly it’s the overall gist of the event that the Holy Spirit wants us to remember not necessarily exact word-for-word details, third Luke and the translators and copyists throughout the millennia made no effort to make the accounts line up exactly, and four, the Holy Spirit uses all three recountings to give us a full picture of the intentions of God for Paul. These things show the influence of the Holy Spirit upon them and how the Bible is a living book and not a textbook or an instruction manual. It is a fluid conversation between you and your Creator as He takes you through His ministry of reconciling mankind to Himself.

 

Paul admits to being the young man who held the clothing of those who stoned the martyr, Stephen.

 

Acts 7:58  And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.

 

Paul also admits that God has a special mission for him to the Gentiles.

 

Romans 15:16  That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

 

 We have to ask, why then was he so determined to confront the Jews if his mission was to the Gentiles. Well that is clear;

 

Romans 9:1 ¶  I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, 2  That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. 3  For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: 4  Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; 5  Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

 

His love for his people, his ethnicity and heritage, would not let him give up on them and made his journey to Rome that much harder.

Bible Study on Exodus 24, verses 12 to 18, I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments

 

Exodus 24:12 ¶  And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. 13  And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God. 14  And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them. 15  And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. 16  And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17  And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. 18  And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.

Here is what may be the beginning of the alphabet that we use, the precursor to it. God created the writing that contrasted with the pictograms of hieroglyphics and cuneiform writing that dominated the ancient world. From China, Sumeria, and Egypt to the civilizations of the ancient Americas pictures were used to convey ideas and history and as representations of things worshipped. The basic units of writing, the letters, become symbols for ideas rather than pictures representing things to be worshipped as idols. ‘A’, instead of a symbol for a bull or an ox, is Aleph in Hebrew and Alpha in Greek, and ‘A’ for modern purposes. A good study for this is Marc A. Ouaknin’s Mysteries of the Alphabet. This could be part of God drawing a people out of a world of idolatrous pictures to be adored and turning their writing into ideas to be expressed by symbols.

God is going to give the Ten Commandments, the foundational principles of the Hebrew’s relationship with Him and with each other, to Moses. These are negative principles designed to constrain man’s inherited sin nature and channel their journey between the rocks of idolatry against God and evil behavior toward each other.  Within their fullness, which will be revealed, lie the positive statements that will become the essence of Christian faith and practice.

Deuteronomy 6:5  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Leviticus 19:18  Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

They are the essence of Jesus’ positive statements.

Matthew 22:35  Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38  This is the first and great commandment. 39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

The essence of loving God, from the commandments, is to not worship other gods and the essence of loving one’s neighbor, according to the commandments, is to do him no harm.

Christ revealed the fullness of the Law, for instance, in His story of The Good Samaritan. It is not enough not to harm someone as an expression of love but to do good to them, as well.

Luke 10:29  But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? 30  And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31  And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32  And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. 33  But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 34  And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35  And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. 36  Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? 37  And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

James laid it out this way.

James 2:14 ¶  What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 15  If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16  And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 17  Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

With regard to the simile in verse 17 note;

Deuteronomy 4:24  For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

Hebrews 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

Biblically speaking, seven is a number that can represent completion, the perfecting of a thing, finishing it. The seven days of Creation come to mind, as an example. Forty days is a number that can represent testing and trial. See Elijah’s forty days on Mount Horeb also in 1Kings 19 and Jesus forty days in the wilderness in the Gospels.

Bible Study on Acts 21, verses 27 to 40, a tumult in the temple over Paul

 

Acts 21:27 ¶  And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him, 28  Crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man, that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place. 29  (For they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus  an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.) 30  And all the city was moved, and the people ran together: and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple: and forthwith the doors were shut. 31  And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32  Who immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto them: and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul. 33  Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and demanded who he was, and what he had done. 34  And some cried one thing, some another, among the multitude: and when he could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle. 35  And when he came upon the stairs, so it was, that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the people. 36  For the multitude of the people followed after, crying, Away with him. 37  And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee? Who said, Canst thou speak Greek? 38  Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers? 39  But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people. 40  And when he had given him licence, Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto the people. And when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying,

 

Paul has had a lot of trouble with the Jews of Asia. He finally had had enough of them and said previously;

 

Acts 13:46  Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.

 

The accusation spoken of in the last passage is brought out here. The Asiatic Jews believe that Paul has brought Gentiles into the temple. This confirms to me that the four men involved were Jewish Christians. Paul is about to be killed by an angry, Jewish mob.

 

The chief captain of the Roman band, a leader who not only has soldiers but centurions, officers over a hundred men, under him. So, he must have been important. They rescue Paul. When Paul as the obvious cause of this riot is bound with chains he is asked if he is a rebel they must have been warned about, an Egyptian who led a band of murderers from the Roman point of view, clearly rebels, in the desert.

 

Paul declares that he is from Tarsus in Cilicia, the ancient name for the southeastern region of Asia Minor (today’s Turkey). Tarsus was the capital of the Roman province of Cilicia and an important intellectual center producing the philosopher who taught Rome’s first emperor, the emperor Augustus. His name was interestingly, Athenodorus Cananites. Athenodorus himself was a student of a famous Stoic philosopher.

 

No mean city means that the city of Paul’s birth was not mean or common, was not insignificant. It was an important place. Notice how mean is used elsewhere for common or something having nothing special about it.

 

Proverbs 22:29  Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.

 

Acts was written in Greek. Paul is speaking in Hebrew. So, what is to come will be translated from Hebrew, to Greek, to English. Biblical scholar and textual critic, H.C. Hoskier, noted in his two volume 1910 work, Concerning the Genesis of the Versions of the New Testament, that early New Testament texts show signs of being translated back and forth between languages which presents even another problem for the Fundamentalist who worships the unseen, unknowable original autographs rather than accepting what God has given us.

Bible Study on Exodus 24, verses 9 to 11, And they saw the God of Israel

 

Exodus 24:9 ¶  Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: 10  And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. 11  And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.

There are certain facts that need to be expressed here to keep confusion from creeping in. First, no one actually sees God the Father, the part of God that is the soul and self-identity of the Godhead.

John 1:18  No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

1John 4:12  No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Why?

John 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

And there was a fear that seeing God face to face would kill you.

Genesis 32:30  And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

Judges 6:22  And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord GOD! for because I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face. 23  And the LORD said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.

Judges 13:22  And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the physical, visible appearance of God, what theologians call the Godhead. He is not a separate God or a created God but He is the body of God, the image of God. He revealed God to mankind. First, to understand what an image is you will need to see some verses from early on in the Bible;

Genesis 1:26a  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…

Deuteronomy 4:16  Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

So, now that you know what an image is, as an example, we being made in the image of God, you can understand the following verses better.

John 1:18  No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

John 10:30  I and my Father are one. 31  Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. 32  Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? 33  The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

John 14:9  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

2Corinthians 4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Colossians 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

Hebrews 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

What the Hebrews are seeing here is Christ before His incarnation into human flesh. At this point He appears to them. This is an incredible privilege that these Hebrews were given. That the God of all creation of all the universe would appear to them, they would see Him, and they would eat and drink in His presence.

A study of precious stones in the Bible would be very beneficial but would hold up our narrative. But, just imagine the majesty and glory of the scene. A sapphire is blue. Notice the comparison with what Ezekiel will see.

Ezekiel 1:26  And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it…10:1  Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.

Bible Study on Acts 21, verses 15 to 26, Paul receives instructions from the elders

 

Acts 21:15 ¶  And after those days we took up our carriages, and went up to Jerusalem. 16  There went with us also certain of the disciples of Caesarea, and brought with them one Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, with whom we should lodge. 17  And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. 18  And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present. 19  And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. 20  And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law: 21  And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs. 22  What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come. 23  Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them; 24  Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law. 25  As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication. 26  Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them.

 

We see here again that the Jewish converts are still being told that they must obey the Law of Moses. In verse 20 it is said that the thousands of Jews that believe are also zealous of the Law. Later we will see Paul’s argument against such teaching.

 

Galatians 3:1 ¶  O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 2  This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3  Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

 

Paul is accused of telling the Jewish Christians not to obey Moses or have their children circumcised. He doesn’t exactly say that. He says we are not justified by the Law and for an adult Christian to be circumcised for religious reasons is bending to the Law and not to Christ.

 

Galatians 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

 

Galatians 5:1 ¶  Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 2  Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be

circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 3  For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4  Christ is become of no effect unto you,

whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. 5  For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6  For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision

availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. 7  Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? 8  This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. 9  A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

 

But Paul did surrender to this notion for the Jews’ sake with regard to Timothy in Acts 16, which goes against what he himself will believe is right.

 

The elders at Jerusalem appear to accept a division between Jew and Gentile Christian, with the Jew obeying the law and the Gentile not having much required of them. But, the Holy Spirit through Paul will show us all that there is Jew and Gentile and then there is the Church composed of both Jew and Gentile believers in one faith not two separate religions.

 

Ephesians 2:11 ¶  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands [Jews who practice circumcision]; 12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

 

    14 ¶  For he is our peace, who hath made both [Jew and Gentile] one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us [Jew and Gentile}; 15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17  And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18  For through him we both [Jew and Gentile] have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

 

Perhaps it took chaining Paul to a Roman soldier in a rented house in Rome to straighten out his doctrine. Here, James and the elders instruct him to take four men, presumably Jewish Christians, to the temple to take a vow and show obedience to the Law of Moses perhaps as a Pharisaic extension of regulations in Numbers 6 and other Old Testament places. At the same time they reinforce what few things are expected of the Gentile Christians.

 

I noted previously that animals which were strangled would not have the blood properly removed from them, which is the interpretation used by most commentators. But consider the context. Things offered to idols, eating things offered to idols, is the first proscription. So, now we are in the realm of heathen worship. Then comes mention of fornication, which we do note as practiced in rites of certain goddesses. Keeping in the context of pagan worship we have things strangled and from writers like the Greek historian, Herodotus, we know that certain tribes practiced ritual strangulation in some of their ceremonies. We then come to the forbidding of eating blood which is banned before the Law;

 

Genesis 9:4  But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

 

Under the Law given to Moses;

 

Deuteronomy 12:23  Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.

 

And, of course, here. Drinking blood was commonplace among many religions of the ancient world including Egypt just as it is a practice in witchcraft.

 

Psalm 16:4  Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.

 

So, taking these admonitions to the Gentiles in context it is at least arguable that they were from more a desire to keep Gentile Christians from the pollution of pagan worship than from a desire to make them a little Jewish. These forbidden practices defined ancient religion in its expression. Paul will go into more detail in Corinthians.

 

This confusion in the early church must be straightened out. As we saw earlier, first God had to motivate them to get out of Jerusalem and fulfill His commissions for them.

 

Matthew 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

 

Acts 1:8  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

 

He will plant Paul in bondage in Rome to have him give us the beautiful doctrine of his letters which must be very, very important to God.