Did Paul Turn The Jews Away From The Law?

This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment, we are in the Book of Acts chapter 21, and we’re going to pick up with verse 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: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.”Now Dave, to back up a little bit, Paul had come to Jerusalem, and he went before James, who was the leader there and the elders that were present, and he declared that as Paul declared particularly, what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry, and this was controversial, to say the least.

Dave:

Well, we covered that earlier in Acts chapter 10, when God led his sheep, remember—down from heaven?

Tom:

Before Peter.

Dave:

Before Peter and said:Acts:10:13And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
See All..., “And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat “Rise, Peter; kill, and eat”—Acts:10:14But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
See All..., “But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean and “I have never eaten anything unclean”—Acts:10:15And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
See All...: “And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.”And Peter went to—under the leading of the Spirit, an angel had appeared to this man Cornelius.

Tom:

A Gentile?

Dave:

Yes, and told him to send his servants—gave him the name of the guy, the man named Peter is growing in the street called “Strait” in Joppa in the house of Simon the tanner.Oh my goodness, that’s detailed information, and they went and the Lord says to Peter, There’s a couple of guys at the door, they want to see you, and go with them, nothing doubting.So when Peter got back to Jerusalem they jumped all over him, You went in among the Gentiles.Well, he said, but they got saved, the Spirit of God came upon them, we gave them the gospel and they were transformed.Whoa!Then salvation is for the Gentiles too!It’s all through the Bible, all through the Old Testament, Jesus had said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,” but somehow they didn’t get it.So, as you are saying, this is controversial.He’s been going among the Gentiles!How could a Jew possibly do that?Of course, the thousands of people who have come for this feast they are not privy to Paul’s explanation, they are fanatics.So, I guess, Tom, the elders are trying to give him some wise counsel—Don’t upset these people.You say, well, we are not to circumcise.No, Paul didn’t say that.He said, You don’t have to be circumcised, and furthermore, that circumcision has no spiritual significance, not if your faith is in Christ, and that you don’t walk according to the customs of the Jews.Well, Paul did say it’s not essential, on the other hand he is not saying that you—look, you shouldn’t keep the Sabbath if you want to, go ahead.Than Paul said, One day is like any other day, you want to keep the Sabbath, go ahead and keep the Sabbath, you don’t want to keep the Sabbath, don’t keep the Sabbath, after the custom of the Jews, you know because—

Tom:

This is not for Gentiles, this is for Jews.

Dave:

Right, because you are free to do that whichever you want, you’ve been set free by Christ.So, these were lies that were being spread about him, but on the other hand they say, Well, Paul ,you’ve got to face this, they’re going to tear you apart, they are going to kill you, they’ve got all these lies about you.You’re not bad mouthing Moses, you’re not saying that we shouldn’t obey, and so forth, but here’s a way—and then Tom, you want to continue reading—here’s how we can deal with this.

Tom:

Now Dave, help me out here.Where does this fit time wise with regard to Paul writing to the Galatians? Because that was the issue, that the Galatians were coming—these are Gentiles—and they were coming under the law, because there were those who came from Jerusalem and said, Yeah, it’s good for you to believe in Jesus, Jesus is the Messiah, definitely, but now you have to keep the law of Moses.

Dave:

Well, Tom, I think, it clearly came before Paul wrote the epistles to the Galatians, it would have to be.Let’s look at it very quickly, because he refers to this incident.Okay, Galatians Chapter 2:1:Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.”“And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel—“So, Chapter 1, refers to the first time he went to Jerusalem after his conversion, and that would be, I think, this time three years after his conversion, and he was unknown to the church, and so forth,—Chapter 1:24, “And they glorified God in me.”Now, whether there was another one that happened since then, I don’t know. I don’t think so, but it’s possible that there was.But anyway, Now fourteen years later, he says, I went to Jerusalem.So that’s not this incident, Barnabas is with him.So in Galatians Chapter 2,he is referring to this very incident.Barnabas is with him. They are co-laborers preaching the gospel together.Verse 2. “And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation—“And he said, Verse 3:“But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.”That didn’t happen here.Verse 4:“And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty—” and so forth.Now he says, Paul seems to be justifying himself here, in other words, he’s not doing anything wrong according to his way of thinking.He says, verse 5:“To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.”So, he is going to—he is already circumcised, of course—he is going to make a vow.Well, we will go back to Acts and read it again.So when does this take place?Obviously it takes place before he wrote the epistle to the Galatians.

Tom:
We’re picking up, Dave, with verse 22, this is Acts chapter 21 if you just joined us, and verse 22:“What is it therefore?The multitude must needs come together:for they will hear that thou art come.”In other words, wait a minute, this Saul, who now has the name Paul, and he could be a trouble maker.“Do therefore this that we say to thee:We have four men which have a vow on them, Take them, 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.”Is it pushing it a little, Dave, that he’s keeping the law?

Dave:

Well, of course, Paul is going to write to the Galatians, and he is going to say circumcision is of no value spiritually, and he’s going to say, If you think that salvation comes through keeping the law, that’s wrong.Now, he’s not doing this for salvation.I think that a Jew would be free to keep the customs.Well, I’ll give you good scripture for at least one custom, that would be the Passover.And God says in Exodus chapter 12, verse 14, You will keep this throughout all your generations.It doesn’t seem to say, except for those who become Christians.I believe it’s proper for a Christian Jew today to keep the Passover.It’s not proper for a Gentile, Christian or non Christian to keep the Passover, because the Passover was a proof, it was a memorial that those people who keep it are descendent from the people that God miraculously freed from Egypt.So, it’s one of the great proofs we have that this actually happened.So, if the Passover was to be kept and so forth, I don’t think Paul, Paul doesn’t repent of it, he doesn’t confess it, I think Paul was within what he could do as a Jew.Now whether he’s doing it for the wrong motivation—well, he’s trying not to cause trouble in Jerusalem.I don’t know, Tom, what is your opinion?

Tom:

Well, Dave, I agree that Paul wanted to be all things to all people.

Dave:

That’s what he said.

Tom:

This would be just the height of hypocrisy if he was doing something that, as we learned in Galatians, I mean, he confronts Peter with something not nearly as outrageous as this might seem to be.In other words—

Dave:

Well, it’s something very important because it said, When I saw that he walked not honestly according to the gospel.In other words, so Paul is saying, You are denying the gospel.And I think the way that Peter did that was he withdrew from Gentiles.Well then that seems to indicate salvation is not for Gentiles after all, whereas this is of another nature, in my opinion.

Tom:

Well Dave, this is important, so we’re out of time now but we’ll come back and deal with it, the Lord willing, in next week’s program.