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Verses 1 thru 6 of Chapter 21 describes in some detail the sea route that they took home. It was what was called the "sheltered " route that kept them close to land as much as possible. Leaving Miletus, they circled around the small island of Cos, then thru the isthmus between the Island of Rhodes and the main land, then on to the city of Patara in Lycia. There they find another ship sailing for Tyre in the country of Phoenicia.
They leave Patara, sail pass the Island of Cyprus and on to the city of Tyre. At Tyre he found a group of believers and stayed with them for 7 days. Notice this about these believers at Tyre:
Verses 7 thru 14 of Chapter 21 describe his trip from Tyre to Caesarea. Leaving Tyre, he arrived at Ptolemais, which was down the coast from Tyre about 40 miles. There he went ashore and visited with the believers where he inquired of their spiritual health and gave them his blessing. He remained there one day.
Leaving Ptolemais, he went down the coast to Caesarea a distance of about 60 miles. There he went ashore and found the home of Philip. The last we heard from Philip was in chapter 8 where the Holy Spirit sent Philip to witness to the Ethiopian Eunuch after which he went to Caesarea, bought a house, got married and did by now, have 4 unmarried daughters who apparently were active in the ministry.
Paul remained there with Philip for several days when a man by the name of Agabus came down from Jerusalem. Jerusalem was about 50 miles from Caesarea. The last time we heard from Agabus was in chapter 11 when he came up to Antioch to warn them of a famine and to ask them to store grain so that they might help those in Jerusalem when the famine came.
Here Agabus warns Paul of his future. He foretells Paul's future by means of an illustration. He took Paul's belt and with it he bound Paul's hands and feet. Then he said to Paul, "The Holy Spirit says that the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man that owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles." Agabus was prophesying Paul's ultimate imprisonment and death at the hands of the Romans.
Well what effect does this have on Paul and those who were with him? Those who were with him begged him not to go to Jerusalem. Paul often needed to be "steered" away from trouble. His enthusiasm for the ministry often exposed him to physical danger. But Paul appears to have had his heart set upon going to Jerusalem and no amount of persuading would keep him from it, as a matter of fact, he was disturbed with them for trying to keep him from doing what he believed he was led by the Spirit to do and he reprimanded them and said, "I am ready to be imprisoned and even to die for the name of the Lord Jesus."
Their weeping and concern certainly must have broke his heart and it was a
temptation not to go but he believed he was led to go and when the others saw that
he would not be persuaded, they ceased and said, "The will of the Lord be done."
Hospitality in Jerusalem
["Click here for Acts 21:15-16"]
Verses 15 and 16 of Chapter 21, record Paul's arrival in Jerusalem. After the
business was taken care of in Caesarea, Paul, Luke, Silas and some of the Disciples
there, went up to Jerusalem. They took him to lodge with a man there by the name
of Mnason from Cyprus who had been one of the early converts. He is believed to
have been one of the "seventy" disciples spoken of in Luke Chapter 10.
The Jerusalem Elder's Plan
["Click here for Acts 21:17-26"]
Verses 17 thru 26 of Chapter 21, record his welcome there in Jerusalem. As soon as Paul and his companions get settled in there, word gets out of his where abouts and soon many of the brothern come to visit him and welcome him home. These people loved Paul, but at this point, were a little concerned about his doctrine. So the next day they took Paul before the Council of the Elders of whom James, the half brother of Jesus, was Chairman.
Now notice there were some things that needed to be worked out, some questions that needed to be answered, some opportunities to talk was needed by both Paul and the council. Two things were accomplished. One, Paul got the chance to tell all about how the Lord had used him to spread the Gospel among the Gentiles and two, the Elders got the opportunity to make a suggestion to Paul.
The thing that was impressive about Paul's report was his insistence on giving God the credit for all that he had done and the acceptance of the Elders of this evidenced by the fact that they did not break out in phrase of Paul but rather, glorified God. Paul had only planted the Seed, it was God who gave the increase. They let the "Master" say to Paul as He surly must have done, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
Then the Elders had a problem which they wanted Paul to help them with. It is not clear how the problem was posed to Paul, nor how much input Paul was allowed to make, nor if it was posed to him as a "request" or a bit of "advice". Notice their presentation. "Brother, you can see how many thousands of Jews that there are who believe." Note, they were reminding him that he was their "brother", they were joint servants in the Gospel, but, they were "conformists" and he was a non-conformist". There in laid the problem. Thousands of Jews believed that Jesus was the Messiah. They rested their salvation on His name. They submitted to His government. BUT..... they also knew that the Law of Moses was from God and they could not think of abandoning it. This conflict between the dispensation of the Law and the dispensation of Grace was a problem for the Jew, it was not a problem for the Gentile.
For the Jew, letting go of the old was difficult. Of this, Matthew Henry says, "This was a great weakness for the Jew that they were still found in the shadows when the substance had come." This cleaving to both dispensations caused them to have a problem with what they had heard of Paul's ministry. They heard that he was teaching the Gentiles that they did not need to first obey the Law. They also had heard that he had even suggested to the Jews of the dispersion that they forsake the laws of Moses and not have their male children circumcised nor walk after the "customs" of Israel.
How true were these stories that these Jews in Jerusalem had heard? It was true that Paul preached that it was impossible to be justified by the Law, but it was not true that he taught the "dispersed" Jews to forsake the Laws of Moses. Jesus had said that He came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it. However, how do you "blend" the freedoms in Christ with the confines of the Law, and even a greater question, how do you explain this to these "prejudice" Jews?
There was another problem bothering these Jews besides his teachings and that was the matter of him associating with the Gentiles. The question, in their minds was, was Paul "unclean"? Could they accept him into their fellowship? Could they invite him to speak in their churches? These questions needed to be settled in the minds of these Jews for two reasons. One, for Paul's sake. His usefulness should not be impaired in any way. Secondly, for the peoples sake. to clear their minds that they might not loose the benefit of his ministry.
How could these problems be resolved? After some deliberation, it was discovered that at that time there was 4 men who had taken the vow of the Nazarite and their time had expired and they would shave their heads and make the necessary offerings which would cleanse them and terminate their vow. Now, we know that shortly before this while Paul was at Cenchreae, he had shaved his hear at the termination of a vow that he had made. So, it would be expedient for all if Paul would join these 4 men and make the necessary sacrifices which would purify him and terminate his vow and more importantly, make him acceptable in the eyes of these prejudiced Jews. Now this seemed fair to everyone but there was a "catch" to it. Paul would, to show his gratitude for the "opportunity", pay not only for his own sacrifices but also for the sacrifices of the other 4 men.
Certainly Paul must have thought long and hard about this and he made his thoughts known to them. He was an Apostle to the Gentiles. He believed in the freedoms that was given to all believers in Christ. He reminded them that they had gone this route once before concerning circumcision for the Gentile believer and that they had agreed that the Gentile was not bound by the ceremonial Law. All that was asked of the Gentile was that they keep themselves from things that had been offered to idols, that they refrain from the blood of animals, and that they refrain from fornication. They had agreed at that time that those Gentile Believers were not "unclean" and if they would adhere to the three above stipulations, they would be accepted in to the Church of Jesus Christ. Why then, was Paul considered in any way "unclean" for having associated with these people?
Well, I'm sure some effort was made to justify their position on this and Paul was persuaded to do as they had requested for the sake of his ministry there. Notice the rites were accomplished at the Temple by a Priest. An appointment for all 5 of them had to be made. The sacrifices had to be arranged for and paid for. Three sacrifices had to be made for each man. A he-lamb, for a burnt offering, a she-lamb for a sin offering and a ram for a peace offering. The whole thing took 7 days.
Was Paul wrong in agreeing to do this? Some thought that he was. Wouldn't it had
been a better witness for Paul to these Jews of the freedoms that that are ours in
Christ Jesus if he had refused to do this? Others, who understood Paul better, say
that right or wrong was not the question. It was Paul's undying principal to be
"all things to all people, that he might gain some". Here he was simply carrying
out that goal. How do you feel about it?
Arrest in the Temple
["Click here for Acts 21:27-40"]
Did this satisfy everybody? Read verses 27 thru 40 of Chapter 21. For twenty some years, Paul had been a welcomed and honored person in the Temple. Then he met his Master on the road to Damascus and was converted to Christianity. Then for almost 7 years he was a hunted man. There were those in Jerusalem who believed that he was a traitor and would have killed him if they had found him. Here, some 20 years after his conversion, he goes to the Temple and most of the people did not even know him. Notice it was the Jews from Asia Minor, where he had been the last 10 years, that recognized him.
Notice these Asian Jews did not go to the High Priest nor to the Magistrates of the city, they went to that mob of people who were already stirred up. Notice what the Jews charged him with. One, bad doctrine. He taught others and preached against the Jews, the Law and the Temple. Secondly, they charged him with bad practices. He had polluted the Temple by bringing a Gentile (Luke) into it. The truth was that they had not actually seen Luke in the Temple but assumed that he was because he was with Paul there on the street. Not much of a charge but it was enough for this angry group and they dragged Paul from the Temple area and vowed to beat him till he was dead.
Fortunately, there were Roman Guards stationed throughout Jerusalem for trouble invariably occurred during these Feast celebrations and they, drawn by the turmoil, approached the crowd and their presence quieted the people. The Roman Tribune in charge, arrested Paul and put him in chains. Then he inquired of the crowd who Paul was and what he had done to deserve their anger. Well, the opinions were mixed, some said one thing and others said another. The noise was so loud that the Centurion ordered Paul be taken back to his barracks. As Paul was about to be taken into the barracks, he requested permission to speak to the people.
Notice some mistakes were made here by the people and by the Centurion. It would appear that the Centurion thought Paul was an Egyptian, one who had recently led an insurrection out in the wilderness, but when Paul speaks in Greek, the Centurion was puzzled. Paul straightens him out by telling him some information about himself. He was a Jew, and a citizen of Tarsus. These facts put an entirely different light upon the situation so when Paul asked for permission to speak, it was granted.
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