Why Did Paul Circumcise Timothy?

UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES

We resume our excursion through the Book of Acts.Here again are Dave and Tom:This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment. We are in the Book of Acts 16, and we’re going to start right out with verse 1.“Then came he to Derbe and Lystra:and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek:which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystraand Iconium.Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters:for they knew all that his father was a Greek.”

Dave:

Well, this has been much discussed, was Paul wrong?He has Timothy circumcised, and so he doesn’t offend the Jews.Well, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, "To the Jew I became as a Jew; to the Greek I became as a Greek."He’s not compromising the gospel.Timothy is already saved, so he’s not saying, "Timothy, you are not saved unless you get circumcised," but it’s so as not to give an offense to some of these Jews.

Tom:

After all, Timothy was Jewish, at least half Jewish.

Dave:

Right.Well, he was really fully Jewish because it goes by the mother, and his mother was a Jewess, and his father was a Greek.So, I don’t have any problem with Paul.He makes it very, very clear that if you are circumcised, as is Galatians Chapter 5, if you are circumcised, in other words, to be saved for your salvation or for your standing before God, then Christ profits you nothing, he says, if you’re looking to something other than Jesus Christ.So, Paul is certainly not doing that. He’s only doing it so that there won’t be some offense.They’ll say, "Hey, you’ve got this uncircumcised guy"— these would be unsaved Jews—I don’t believe Paul would do that for the Christian Jews.

Tom:

No, again, it was his witness to them that was having accessibility to these Jews, that’s what would help.Verse 4:“And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.”Now Dave,there’s an interesting contrast, because Paul—for some of our listeners who maybe have joined us for the first time—who was at Antioch where Gentiles were being saved, then came Judaizers, those Jewish legalists, to Antioch and told the Gentiles that they must be circumcised in order to truly be saved.

Dave:

These Judaizers were Christians, but they were mistaken about that.

Tom:

Right.

Dave:

They got saved through faith in Christ, but they were Jews and they thought, Oh, I guess salvation is only for Jews, then you’ve got to be circumcised, and so forth.So, Paul is not doing it for that reason.

Tom:

No, but my point here is that there was a letter then sent from those in Jerusalem to the Gentiles saying, "Look, you don’t need to be circumcised, you don’t need to come under the law of Moses."

Dave:

Right.

Tom:

And there were a few things that they recommended that they do, but Paul is giving out this decree.So obviously, the issue—he’s not contradicting himself with Timothy.That’s my point.

Dave:

Right, right.So Tom, as you’re pointing out, verse 4, he is bringing these decrees over this letter actually.He continues to read this letter, not only to the Gentile believers in Antioch, but everywhere he went.This is Gentile country now.I find verse 5 really wonderful: “So were the churches established in the faith and increased in number daily.”Wow!People were getting saved every day!And we often wonder, "Why don’t we see that happening today?"Well, part of the problem is, Tom, we don’t want to get off on that—seeker-friendly churches, who only want to tell the sinner, not that he’s a sinner—Robert Schuller says that would be an insult, that would drive them away, you want to build up the self-esteem.The gospel isn’t even preached in many churches.In most churches, Tom, many pastors don’t even believe it today, and there’s great confusion everywhere, but God is savingmany souls.

Tom:

And Dave, the point that you’re making---you know, I love this verse as well.It’s so set forth here: “and so were the churches established in the faith.”In other words, they were not set up as a magnet to draw the lost. They brought people in who were saved, discipled them, established them in the faith, then they went out to bring the gospel to others.Now, we have that reversed today, especially in the whole church-growth, seeker-friendly mentality.

Dave:

Right, and you would relate this then to Jude 3: "I found it necessary to write unto you to earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints, for certain men have crept in unawares..."Okay.So, what is this faith that they are established in?It’s the once-for-all delivered faith that we are to earnestly contend for.They were established in it, and there would be those...Well, Paul says to the elders at Ephesus where he calls them from Miletus, he’s on his way to Rome, and he says: "After my departing, grievous wolves will enter in, not sparing the flock; also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. So remember," he says, "how for a space of three years I ceased not to warn every one of you night and day with tears."

So, Paul is saying, "Look out, there are going to be those who will corrupt the Word of God, even from among yourselves men will arise..."And Tom, Paul makes it very clear why they do this.It says: "...to draw away disciples after them."It’s just like I quoted Benny Hinn earlier in the program: "You don’t come to this church just to hear what you hear everywhere else! No, there’s not three of them, there’s nine of them."What’s he doing?He’s introducing corrupt teachings, perverse teaching in order to draw away disciples after him.And everywhere you will find a cult, the corruption of the Word of God by some prophet, some leader, whatever it is...

Tom:

Some commissioned apostle.

Dave:

Right, or those who commission them.Why are they doing this?Because they want to be different from everybody else, they want to show you that they have a monopoly on the truth, that they are on the inside track with God— "Follow me, we’ve really got it."And of course, that's how, I guess, denominations began, wasn’tit, and then the quarrel, as Paul wrote to these Corinthians in 1 Corinthians  1:"Everyone of you says:I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am ofCephas.No, they weren’t crucified for you, let’s get back to following the Lord."And then Paul says, as I think you quoted last week, "Follow me, even as I follow Christ."

Tom:

Dave, you bring up an interesting point here. As a former Catholic and somebody who loves Roman Catholics and certainly tries to witness to them—but one objection they have to me leaving the Catholic Church is they say: "Look, you were in the one true church. Now you’ve gone off to this evangelical Christianity.Look, you’ve got thousands and thousands of denominations, you’ve got all kinds of things, whereas we are one church, we are following the truth—we’re not diversified like you are."So, what you just said earlier, with all of these different individuals drawing people after themselves, that’s what they lodge against you, or me, as an evangelical Christian.

Dave:But Tom, you could say it better than I can.The Catholic Church is divided into how many divisions?

Tom:

Unbelievable, plus growing up, I was a...and many of us, we called ourselves "cafeteria Catholics."We didn’t buy what the Church said for this or for that or whatever. We pick and chose what we wanted to believe, and so on and so forth.

Dave:

So, I think they need to get the beam out of their own eye before knocking the mote out of ours.On the other hand, Tom, I will accept that criticism, because it is not good what has happened, and the divisions.There should be no divisions, and so this is what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 4.He says, "You are to keep the unity of the faith in the bond of peace.There is one faith, one baptism, one Lord, and so forth.It’s not that we are to make unity; we are to keep the unity, and Jesus prayed for unity in the true Lord’s prayer in John 17: "That they all may be one if thou art in me and I in thee."So, our unity is in Christ, but as soon as we stray, that is what has happened, from the Word of God and from following the Lord, then we begin to have these divisions, and it’s not pleasing to the Lord.