Paul visits Jerusalem (the fifth time); Acts 21:17 – 26 Part 4

Church History: Date: A.D.57 - 59

Reports regarding the conduct of Paul were likely to be the subject of conversation among all at Jerusalem. His remarkable conversion; his distinguished zeal; his success among the Gentiles, would make his conduct a subject of special interest. Evil-minded men among the Jews, who came up to Jerusalem from different places where he had been, would be the likely ones to mis-represent him as the decided enemy of the laws of Moses, and these reports would be likely to reach the ears of the Jewish converts. The reports, as they gained ground, would be greatly magnified, until suspicions might be raised among the Christians at Jerusalem that he was, as he was reputed to be, the decided foe of the Jewish rites and customs. From all the evidence which we have of his conduct, this report was incorrect and slanderous. The truth appears to have been, that he did not impose the observance of those laws on the Gentile converts; that the effect of his ministry on them was to lead them to understand that their observance was not necessary. This was contrary to the doctrines of the Judaizing teachers, (Acts 15:1-41), and he argued with the Jews themselves, where it could be done, against the obligation of those laws and customs, since the Messiah had come. The Jews depended on that observance for justification and salvation. This Paul strenuously opposed, and this he defended at length in the epistles which he wrote. See the epistles to the Romans, the Galatians, and the Hebrews. Yet these facts might be easily misunderstood and perverted, so as to give rise to the slanderous report, that he was everywhere the enemy of Moses and the law. The Jews were extensively scattered, and settled in all the large towns and cities of the Roman Empire. To them the law and authority of Moses was no longer binding. They were no longer required to observe the institutions of the Mosaic ritual. The word customs denotes the rites of the Mosaic economy, the offering of sacrifices, incense, the oblations, anointings, festivals, etc., which the law of Moses prescribed, which is commonly known as the ceremonial laws.