Articles
Apostle Paul Offering Sacrifices
Apostle Paul Offering Sacrifices
By Paul R. Blake
A brother in a neighboring congregation asked the question: “Why was Paul involved in the temple and sacrifices in Acts 21? Since the Law of Moses was made of no effect in Christ, did he sin?”
Paul and his companions arrived at Jerusalem and met with the Jerusalem brethren who received them gladly. The next day, Paul and his companions met with James and the elders to give a description of the "things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry." The brethren glorified the Lord upon hearing these things. James and the elders explained to Paul the problem they faced. Many of Jews believed, but they were also zealous for the law and customs of Moses. They had been miss-informed that Paul taught Jews, living among the Gentiles, to forsake Moses; that is, Jews were not to circumcise their children nor keep the customs. They expected the Jewish believers to learn that Paul was in Jerusalem and that they would be troubled. James and the elders gave Paul a plan; he should accompany the four men who had taken a vow, purify himself, and pay their expenses, all in an effort to show that Paul still kept the customs of a Jew. They restated that the believing Gentiles were not subject to the law (Acts 15-25). Paul followed their plan. He took the men and was purified with them.
While the covenant of the Law of Moses was voided by the cross and justification was now in Christ and not the Law, it is true that God accepted the Christians of Hebrew origins to practice elements of the Law if their conscience required them to do so. For example, in Romans 14, Paul writes that some Christians feel compelled to observe the feast and fast days and to avoid unclean meats. While God is indifferent to those old restrictions from the Law of Moses, He expects Jewish Christians to continue to observe them if their conscience felt guilty if they did not do it. In fact, Paul said he would avoid meats if it troubled the tender conscience of brethren to see him eat it (1Cor. 8).
The vow under question is called the Nazarite vow. It was a custom among men who believed themselves blessed by God to undergo the Nazarite rites to discipline themselves as an expression of gratitude and a promise of future service in return for God’s blessings. While this had nothing to do with salvation in Christ, it was a powerful custom among those with Hebrew heritage. Apparently these four men’s conscience required them to do this, just as in Romans 14 those brethren avoided meat and observed the feast and fast days. God permitted them to do it because of their tender conscience.
In addition, Paul, by helping them with purifying himself with fasting and washing and by paying their expenses, was doing exactly what he wrote in 1Corinthians 8 about accommodating the tender consciences of weaker brethren.
Regarding the Nazarite customs of Paul’s day: “Among the Jews, it was common to make vows to God on extraordinary occasions; and that of the Nazarite appears to have been one of the most common; and it was permitted by the law for any person to perform this vow by proxy. It was also customary for the richer sort to bestow their charity on the poorer sort for this purpose.” (Barnes Notes)
As brethren grew in their understanding about the passing of the Law and that it was not necessary to keep on practicing the rituals, offerings, and vows for conscience sake, this sort of behavior would gradually disappear. As Jews became scattered after the destruction of Jerusalem, their customs would become increasingly irrelevant. But for a time near the beginning of the church, Christians with a Hebrew background often had strong conscience scruples toward practicing elements of the Law. God permitted it and continues to permit it today.
For example, if a man is converted out of Catholicism, but still feels guilty about eating meat on Friday, God expects him to avoid meat on Fridays for his conscience’s sake, even though it is Catholicism. It doesn’t matter one little bit whether or not you and I think he ought to cease practicing Catholic doctrine. What matters is God accepts him. It did not matter one bit that the Law of Moses was no longer valid. What mattered was that there were hundreds of Jewish believers who were troubled in heart and conscience about Paul, so he accommodated their tender conscience (Rom. 14:2-6, 20-23; 1Cor. 8:7-13).
Test Your Bible Knowledge of Jude
1. Who was Jude related to? __________
2. What office did Jude hold? __________
3. What did Jude find it necessary to write about to the brethren? __________
4. How did Michael the archangel answer Satan? __________
5. When trying to save others, what two approached did Jude instruct? __________ & __________
6. How many generations did Jude say passed from Adam to Enoch? __________
A Moments Wisdom on Grace
--“The grace of God transcends all our feeble efforts to describe it. It cannot be poured into any of our mental receptacles without running over.” (Vance Havner)
--You can plow the field and sow the seed, but what will you do without rain? Likewise is the Divine blessing of grace.
--American Christianity is in crisis, because some have marketed it as a religion of good people getting better. It is instead a religion of sinful people scripturally addressing their failure to be good.
--“Grace is given, not to them who only speak their faith, but to those who live their faith.” (Gregory of Nazianzus)
--Grace is glory begun, and glory is grace fulfilled.
--“I compare the troubles which we have to undergo in the course of the year to a great bundle of sticks, far too large for us to lift. But God does not require us to carry the whole at once. He mercifully unties the bundle, and gives us first one stick, which we are to carry today, and then another, which we are to carry tomorrow, and so on.” (John Newton)
--“A man can no more take in a supply of grace for the future than he can eat enough today to last him for the next six months, nor can he inhale sufficient air into his lungs with one breath to sustain life for a week to come. We are permitted to draw upon God's store of grace from day to day as we need it.” (D. L. Moody)
--“I am graven on the palms of His hands. I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. I know Him, because He first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, One who loves me; and there is no moment when His eye is off me, or His attention distracted for me, and no moment, therefore, when His care falters.” (J. I. Packer)
--Grace puts its hand over our boasting mouths, and shuts them once for all.
--The grace that does not make a man better than others is a worthless counterfeit. Christ saves people, not IN their sins, but FROM their sins. Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.
Upcoming Sermons
2/13/22 AM - Thank You, Lord; PM - Bible Instructions for Those Who Live Alone
2/20/22 AM - Undermining the Firm Foundation; PM - God’s Instructions for Religiously Mixed Marriages
2/27/22 AM - Paul’s Astounding Address to Agrippa; PM - The Bible is not a Science Textbook
