THE SPREAD IN ASIA MINOR AND EUROPE
THROUGH THE MINISTRY OF PAUL AND HIS COMPANIONS (22)
Read and pray: "For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ." (Gal. 2:19)
According to Acts 21:17, when Paul and his companions arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers received them gladly. Verse 18 says, "On the next day Paul went in with us to see James, and all the elders were present." The term "with us" in this verse indicates that Luke was present.
In Acts 21:18, Paul went to meet with James, the central figure regarding the problem in Jerusalem, as he was the leader of the apostles and elders there. When Paul and his coworkers went to meet James, all the elders were present. This indicates that James was the leader of the elders.
After greeting the elders, Paul "related in detail the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry" (v. 19). He wisely did not teach them; instead, he shared the things God had done through his ministry. When they heard it, they glorified God (v. 20). But although they glorified God for what He had done among the Gentiles through Paul's ministry, they said to him, "You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law." The word translated as "myriads" in Greek is "myrias." These myriads of Jewish believers were all zealous for the law.
The fact that these myriads of Jewish believers were zealous for the law (21:20) shows how deeply the Jewish believers in Jerusalem still observed the law of Moses. They remained in the dispensation of the Old Testament and were still under a strong Jewish influence, mixing God's New Testament economy with the outdated economy of the Old Testament.
James addressed his epistle "to the twelve tribes scattered abroad" (James 1:1), which indicates that it was written to Jewish Christians. However, calling these believers in Christ "the twelve tribes," as the chosen people of God in His Old Testament economy, may indicate a lack of clarity regarding the distinction between Christians and Jews, between God's New Testament economy and the Old Testament dispensation. This may also indicate that James did not realize that in the New Testament, God had freed and separated Jewish believers in Christ from the Jewish nation, which was now considered by God to be a "perverse generation" (Acts 2:40).
In His New Testament economy, God no longer considers Jewish believers as Jews for Judaism, but as Christians for the church. Thus, Jewish believers, as the church of God, must be as distinct and separated from the Jews as from the Gentiles (1 Cor. 10:32). However, James, as a pillar of the church (Gal. 2:9), still referred to them as "the twelve tribes" in his epistle to the Christians. This was contrary to God's New Testament economy.
In his epistle, James also uses the term "synagogue" (James 2:2). The use of this term may indicate that Jewish believers considered their assembly and meeting place as a synagogue among the Jews. This shows that they still considered themselves part of the Jewish nation, as the chosen people of God according to the Old Testament. They lacked clarity regarding the distinction between the chosen people of God in the Old Testament and the believers in Christ in the New Testament.
James 2:8-11 shows that the Jewish believers of his time still observed the Old Testament law. These verses reflect what James and the elders of Jerusalem told Paul in Acts 21:20 regarding the zeal that the thousands of Jewish believers had for the law. James, the elders of Jerusalem, and many Jewish believers remained in a mixture between Christian faith and Mosaic law. They even advised Paul to practice this semi-Judaic mixture (21:20-26). They were unaware that the dispensation of the law had completely passed, and the dispensation of grace should be fully honored. Failing to recognize the distinction between these two dispensations was contrary to God's economic plan to build the church as the expression of Christ.
In Acts 21, we see that James and the elders of Jerusalem had formed a mixture of God's New Testament economy with the old dispensation. In fact, he and the elders even promoted this mixture. They did not neglect the faith in Christ, but they were still zealous for the Old Testament. As a result, there was a religious mixture in Jerusalem. It is important for us to understand this well.
Paul Accused of Apostasy
Referring to the myriads of Jewish believers who were zealous for the law, James further said to Paul: "But they have been informed about you, that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs" (v. 21). Forsaking the law of Moses, not circumcising, and not walking according to the customs of dead letters is actually in line with God's New Testament economy. But these things were viewed by the unbelieving Jews, and even by some Jewish believers, as apostasy from God's Old Testament dispensation.
Setting aside God's economy of the Old Testament is certainly not apostasy; rather, it is part of the realization of the truth. However, James and the other elders used the situation among the thousands of Jewish believers in Jerusalem to persuade Paul.
These Jewish believers were correctly informed about the facts regarding Paul, but they were wrong to accuse him of apostasy. In his epistle to the Galatians, Paul clearly states that the law has been set aside and that he has died to the law: "For I, through the law, died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:19). This means that he had nothing more to do with the law.
To die to the law means that the obligation to the law, the relationship with it, has ended. Thus, before coming to Jerusalem for the last time in Acts 21, he had already written clearly to the Galatians that he was dead to the law and had no more relationship with it.
The Jews were right about the facts, but they distorted the facts by accusing Paul of teaching apostasy. Apostasy is heresy. The fact that Paul abandoned the law was neither apostasy nor heresy, but the practice of the truth of God's New Testament economy. However, his opposers took the facts and distorted them. Our opposers do the same today.
As Acts 21:21 indicates, Paul taught that they should forsake Moses, telling the Jews not to circumcise their children nor follow the customs. I believe he indeed taught that circumcision was no longer necessary. However, as we have shown, he circumcised Timothy (16:1-3). So, the criticism from his opposers was not fair.
The Jews also complained that Paul taught people not to walk according to the customs. In this respect, they were correct. However, the news that reached Jerusalem regarding Paul's ministry was only partially true. The situation is the same for us today.
Enjoy More: Hymn 401
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