NOTES for Act 21:1-26

Paul has no doubt about the cause of the persecution and suffering that await him in Jerusalem. He knows that he will have to endure all this for the name of Jesus, because the Jews had long been outraged by his preaching of freedom in Christ, beside which devotion to the Law of Moses ceased to be the most important matter. Moreover, he associated openly with Gentiles, entered their homes, and spoke to them about salvation in Christ without requiring them to live according to the Law. Hatred of Paul in Jerusalem had reached such intensity that even the Jerusalem Christians, who continued to observe the Law, regarded him with distrust and suspicion. Yet Paul not only declares himself ready to die for Christ; he also gives us a crucial example of evangelical peacemaking. For the sake of peace among Christians and Jews, he is ready to submit to the Law, complete the days of purification required by it, and offer sacrifice in the Temple. Truly, in our age of indifference on the one hand and fanaticism on the other, this example is extraordinarily important to us: faithfulness to Christ, even unto death, combined with love for brothers by blood and by spirit, and consent to the existence of other ways of life and religious practices.