ACTS 21
Paul Goes To Jerusalem
21:1-6
Paul in Tyre
Chapter 20 ended with Paul leaving the Ephesian elders in Miletus. He sailed from there to the island of Cos, then to the city and island of Rhodes, and to Patara. There they changed ships and sailed across the Mediterranean Sea to Tyre. Tyre was under the governance of Syria at the time, so Luke said they sailed to Syria. (3) Today it is the 4th largest city in Lebanon.
While the ship’s cargo was unloaded, Paul and his companions found some disciples. (4) Christianity had spread there, likely as a result of the persecution that occurred after the death of Stephen, when many Jewish Christians left Jerusalem. We know also that Jesus spent some time in the area. (Matthew 15) They stayed with them for 7 days.
Luke wrote: “through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem”. (4) What does this mean? It cannot mean that the Spirit was telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem, for Paul previously stated that he was constrained (bound) by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. (20:22) It seems, then, that the Spirit, through local prophets, continued to tell them and Paul that he would be arrested in Jerusalem, as prophets in other cities had done. Because of this, those in Tyre thought Paul should not go. But Paul believed the Spirit wanted him to go even though he would be arrested. As Jesus did, He set his face to go to Jerusalem. (Luke 9:51)
At the end of the 7 days, the disciples walked Paul back to the ship. In a poignant scene, they all knelt on the beach and prayed together before saying good bye. Paul and his companions then got back on the ship and sailed to Ptolemais.
Paul in Caesarea
20:7-14
From Tyre, Paul sailed to Ptolemais. This is the Old Testament city fo Acco. It is known by that name today, though it is spelled often as Akko. He stayed there one day to visit with the disciples. Then it was on to Caesarea. In Caesarea, Paul stayed with Philip the evangelist. This is not Philip the apostle, but Philip who was one of the seven elected to assist the apostles. (6:1-7)
Philip went from delivering food to widows to mission work. He evangelized the Ethiopian Eunuch, then was taken by the Spirit to Azotus on the coast, and evangelized all the way up to Caesarea. (8:40) Evidently he stayed there. He lived there with 4 daughters who prophesied.
Paul encountered another prophet also. His name was Agabus. He arrived there from Judea. He acted out the binding of Paul and repeated the message that the Holy Spirit had been giving, that the Jews in Jerusalem would arrest Paul and deliver him to the Gentiles (Romans). (11) This set off another wave of protesting by Paul’s friends, who did not want him to go. (12)
Paul remained committed to going, but the protests and crying had an effect. He said it broke his heart. (13) Finally, the friends said “let the will of the Lord be done”. (14)
At the end of this stay, Paul and his companions went to Jerusalem. Some from Caesaria went with him and brought him to the house of an early disciple, who let them stay there. (16)
With The Believers In Jerusalem
20:17-26
The believers in Jerusalem were happy to see Paul. (17) Paul then went to see James and the elders of the church at Jerusalem. (18) Notice that no apostles are mentioned. They must have all left Jerusalem to go to other countries and evangelize, following the example of Peter.
Paul told them all the great things the Lord had done among the Gentiles through Paul’s ministry. They all glorified God for this. (20) Since Paul’s companions were Gentile converts, the elders could see a representation of this. Additionally, though Luke does not record it here, the Gentiles had brought a gift of money to the Jerusalem believers, who were suffering in poverty.
The elders were concerned, however, because the could see a conflict between the Jewish believers and Paul. The Jewish believers were still zealous for the law. (20) They believed Jesus was the Messiah, but still practiced the Old Testament law. Furthermore, they had heard tat Paul had told the Jews in other countries to abandon the law. (21) And Paul had, indeed, told believers they were free from the law. His letter to the Galatians affirms that.
As a remedy they advised taking 4 men who had made a vow and to purify himself along with them as well as paying their expenses to shave their heads. (23) This is the Old Testament Nazarite vow. They could not drink, touch dead bodies, or cut their hair. So, they often shaved their heads first to show they were under the vow. At the end of the vow, they offered a sacrifice.(Numbers 6:1-21) This was a demonstration that they had set themselves apart to the Lord.
Paul was not taking the Nazarite vow, but had to purify himself from his contact with Gentiles. So, he purified himself along with them. This was all to show the Jews that Paul lived in observance to the law so the Jews would not be angry with him. (24) Paul did it, but it turned out to be pointless.
The elders reiterated their earlier instruction to the Gentiles to assure Paul and the others that they had not gone back on that.
Paul’s Arrest
20:27-36
Once the Jews from Asia, in town for Pentecost, saw Paul, they stirred up the crowd and grabbed Paul as they had done in the cities of Asia. (27) These were likely Jews from Ephesus. They accused him of teaching against the law and the temple. They even accused him of taking Greeks into the temple and defiling it. (28) Gentiles could go no further than the court of the Gentiles, the large outer court.
There was even a sign at the gate to the next courtyard telling them they could not enter on pain of death. Two of those signs have been found. A picture of one of them is below.
Paul had not taken Greeks into the temple. But the Jews had seen him with a man from Ephesus, whom they likely recognized as a Greek, and assumed Paul had brought him into the temple. They priests even shut the gates. They crowd dragged Paul out of the temple and sought to kill him, evidently by beating him to death.
The Romans heard of the riot. The tribune of the Roman cohort came with solders and centurions. (32) A cohort is 1,000 soldiers. They would have been quartered in the Tower of Antonia (named in honor of Mark Antony) which was next to the temple.
The Jews stopped beating him when they saw the soldiers. The tribune arrested Paul, presumably for disturbing the peace. He brought Paul into the barracks for his protection and so the tribune could question him.(35)
Ironically, the crowd yelled out “away with him”. (36) This was the same cry of the crowd demanding the death of Jesus, not far from the same spot, about 27 years before. (Luke 23:18)
The efforts of the elders to avoid conflict were useless. In fact, it was not Jewish believers who were the issue, it was non-believing Jews who knew of Paul and opposed his teaching about Jesus. Jesus plainly told the disciples this would be an problem.
Jesus said “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (John 15:18)
Christians should expect persecution. They should be faithful like Paul, willing to face persecution when the Spirit says to do so. Above all, the believer should faithfully affirm Jesus as Lord regardless of the opposition.
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