Acts 18:1-17
Paul’s Ministry in Corinth
Acts 18:5-11
Opposition Enhances Ministry Results
Acts 18:12-17
Paul’s Roman Citizenship On Trial
Acts 18:18-28
God Works His Will in His Servants
Acts 18:24-28
Tactfulness–Words That Work Mightily
Acts 19:1-10
The Holy Spirit is a Person
Acts 19:11-20
Miracles Performed by Paul for Authentication
Acts 19:17-22
Beware of Cult Practices
Acts 19:21-41
Results of Religious Greed
Acts 20:1-12
Paul’s Journey to Troas
Acts 20:7-12
When, Where, How & How Long to Worship
Acts 20:13-24
Paul–An Example of Faithfulness
Acts 20:22-24
Paul’s Determination To Go To Jerusalem
Acts 20:25-38
Paul’s Warning to the Ephesian Elders
Acts 20:32-38
Paul Shares About Giving
Acts 21:1-9
Paul Warned By the Christians
Acts 21:10-16
Paul’s Determination despite Warning
Acts 21:17-26
Paul arrives in Jerusalem
Acts 21:27-40
Boldness at the Barracks
Acts 21:37-40
Boldness At the Barracks
Acts 22:1-5
Paul’s Defense of His Heritage and Ministry
Acts 22:6-16
Paul’s Salvation Testimony
Acts 22:17-30
Paul - A Roman Citizen
Acts 22:22-30
Paul–A Roman Citizen
Acts 23:1-11
Comfort in Times of Trial
Acts 23:6-11
Comfort In Times of Trial
Acts 23:12-22
A Plot to Kill Paul
Acts 23:23-35
God’s Timing is Very Evident to Paul
Acts 24:1-16
Paul’s Reaction to Charges
Paul arrives in Jerusalem
Acts 21:17–26
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)
The blessing of God is promised to the peacemaker, but the religious negotiator had better watch his step. Darkness and … More
Paul finally arrived in Jerusalem and went before the church leaders to give a missionary report of what God had done in his journeys (vv. 17-19). They listened very politely but when he was finished, they told him they had a local situation that perhaps he could help them settle (vv. 20-21). They had been hearing of Paul’s strong stand on salvation by grace alone, which was totally apart from the law. Now they were brought face to face with Gentile believers who were the fruit of Paul’s labors. When we come down to the bottom line, we discover that they were not interested in world evangelism at all. They turned at once from the thrilling story of Paul’s missionary adventures and success to a criticism of his neglect of their petty religious rules.
Many of the professing Christians in the Jerusalem church were trying to force Christians to keep the Jewish law. They wanted all Gentiles to be circumcised. James, the recognized leader of the Jerusalem church, and the elders, had a proposition all worked out which they put to Paul (vv. 22-24). They wanted him to exhibit to the people that he was a pro-Judaist Christian and one of their own kind (Gal. 6:13), even if only for the sake of show. They had four men who were taking a vow and suggested that Paul join them and go through the Jewish ritual of purification, complete with a shaved head (vv. 25-26). They even suggested that he pay for the offerings for those men.
Paul reasoned that if it would reconcile his Jewish brethren, he was willing to do what the Jerusalem elders requested. Paul’s purpose in taking a Nazarite vow was in keeping with his passion to reach Jews of his day for Christ. He would bend over backwards and do anything short of compromising his own convictions in the Gospel. For the sake of Christian unity and peace he was willing to pay the price demanded of him by the elders. However, there is no evidence that his compromise did the slightest amount of good.
Application
It should never be my goal to please the people in the Church, but to please the Lord. I always need to stand true to what the Bible teaches and not what man may try to get me to do.
Acts 21:17-26 (English Standard Version)
Warning: MagpieRSS: Failed to parse RSS file. (Space required at line 39, column 24) in /var/www/html/familytimes/includes/magpie6-1/rss_fetch.inc on line 230
Warning: array_slice() expects parameter 1 to be array, null given in /var/www/html/familytimes/includes/rss/esvLookup.php on line 15
View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway) »