Acts 21:15-30 Keep The Law, But Don't Impose It On The Gentiles

After these days we got ready and started on our way up to Jerusalem.  Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came. After we arrived in Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.After we arrived in Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.  And the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.  After he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.  And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law;  and they have been told about you, that you are teaching 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.  What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.  Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law.  But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.”  Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them.When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him,  crying out, “Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”  For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.  Then all the city was provoked, and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.

The people of Israel had a covenant with God to obey the Law of Moses.  Paul was called by Jesus Christ to be His ambassador to the gentiles and share His gospel and preach it to them and their kings. God's covenant of the Law was with Israel, but for God's Kingdom to grow, the Age of Grace needed to be preached in the world.  The Israelite s didn't understand that the Law was not a method of salvation, but it was Christ's atonement for sin and His resurrection from the dead, thus overcoming death is the way, the truth and the light of God.  Nobody can come to the Father except through Christ.  But the problem is the many did not receive Jesus as their Savior and somehow wanted the gentile converts to first practice Judaism before they could be saved.  Paul's response is that all who come to Christ and saved by their belief in Him and not by works of the Law.  The Jews somehow wanted a monopoly on God's grace, but Paul was there to remind them that a new day had come, which is the New Covenant where salvation is through faith and not works of the Law.

Daily Prayer:  Lord, people want to hold on to trying to please You through what they do, instead of worshiping You for what You have done.  Keep our hands and voice busy proclaiming the true gospel of Jesus Christ which is God's manifestation of His method of reconciliation with a fallen humanity. In Jesus name I  pray Amen.