When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brethren there were glad to receive us. On the day following Paul went with us to meet with James; and all the elders were also present. Paul greeted them, and then told them in detail the things that God had been doing among the Gentiles in the course of his ministry. Hearing that, they glorified God and said to him, "You can see, brother, how many are the thousands among the Jews who have believed. They all zealously keep the law, and yet they have learned that you teach all the Jews among the Gentiles to give Moses a miss, telling them that they need not circumcise their children or observe the customs. What is to be done? They are going to hear you are here. We think you should do this. These four men here are under a vow; take them, purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so they can shave their heads. Thus all will come to realise there is nothing in these reports about you since you indeed live in observance of the law. But with respect to the believing Gentiles, we have sent that letter which informed them of our judgment to abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from unchastity." Paul then took the men, and on the next day he with them began the purification and so entered the temple, giving notice when the purification period would be over and the offering presented on behalf of each.
In a Nutshell
The party arrived in Jerusalem and were warmly welcomed. The leaders of the church had a plan. Paul was to show his commitment to the temple, the law of Moses and the customs of Israel.
Questions
What do you think of this plan? What was its purpose? What could go wrong? What would have been be the outcome if it was successful? Was success in this scheme a realistic expectation?
What do we have here? This is Luke's account of his experience of the internal manoeuvring and politicking amongst the Jewish community in Jerusalem. As a Gentile in Jerusalem believing in the Jewish Messiah, he came face-to-face with entrenched Jewish opposition to the Gospel. He had seen similar resistance to Paul's message in Gentile lands, but now his experience of it was of a different order. No doubt this event stayed with him and was at back of his mind when he wrote up his account of the "Jerusalem justice" meted out in Jesus' trial (see Luke 22-23). He had not been an eye-witness of that travesty but by being present on this occasion he would deepen his insight about the way those earlier events had unfolded. Luke saw first hand how the renewed spiritual perception of the leaders of the Jerusalem church was seeking to form a difficult situation.
Would it not have been natural for the leaders of the Jerusalem church to blame Paul for intensifying intra-Jewish opposition to the Gospel? Luke's account here addresses this problem. They wanted to remind the zealots that they were in danger of "shooting the messenger". They also wanted Jewish believers to grow in understanding about the depth of their own spiritual resistance to the Messiah's rule of all people. Those who believe in Jesus have to learn that their own belief is but a response to God's love for all the world. Luke tells us again and again that Jewish believers stand in need of the unction of God's Holy Spirit if they are to accept that the Jewish Messiah did not come just for Jews … . He is their Messiah but the Messiah's Own People will be drawn from all nations and tribes. Luke's account tells us that the Jerusalem church "pulled out all stops" in an effort to help those zealous for Moses law, so they could come to understand that the message of the Jewish Messiah was not anti-Jewish.