WHEN MISUNDERSTANDING TAKES OVER
ACTS 21:18-39
NASB
18 And the following day Paul went in with us to [a]James, and all the elders were present. 19 After he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many [a]thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law; 21 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 [a]walk according to the customs. 22 What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. 23 Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who [a]are under a vow; 24 take them and purify yourself along with them, and [a]pay their expenses so that they may shave their [b]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. 25 But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from [a]meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.” 26 Then Paul [a]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.
27 When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from [a]Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him, 28 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.” 29 For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. 30 Then all the city was provoked, and [a]the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. 31 While they were seeking to kill him, a report came up to the [a]commander of the Roman [b]cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. 32 At once he took along some soldiers and centurions and ran down to them; and when they saw the [a]commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 Then the [a]commander came up and took hold of him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains; and he began asking who he was and what he had done. 34 But among the crowd some were shouting one thing and some another, and when he could not find out the [a]facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. 35 When he got to the stairs, he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the [a]mob; 36 for the multitude of the people kept following them, shouting, “Away with him!”
37 As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the [a]commander, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek? 38 Then you are not the Egyptian who some [a]time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?” 39 But Paul said, “I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.”
21:18 [a]Or Jacob 21:20 [a]Lit ten thousands 21:21 [a]I.e. observe or live by 21:23 [a]Lit have a vow on them 21:24 [a]Lit spend on them [b]Lit head 21:25 [a]Lit the thing 21:26 [a]Or took the men the next day, and purifying himself 21:27 [a]I.e. west coast province of Asia Minor 21:30 [a]Lit a running together of the people occurred 21:31 [a]I.e. chiliarch, in command of one thousand troops [b]Or battalion 21:32 [a]V 31, note 1 21:33 [a]V 31, note 1 21:34 [a]Lit certainty 21:35 [a]Lit crowd 21:37 [a]V 31, note 1 21:38 [a]Lit days
NLT
18 The next day Paul went with us to meet with James, and all the elders of the Jerusalem church were present. 19 After greeting them, Paul gave a detailed account of the things God had accomplished among the Gentiles through his ministry.
20 After hearing this, they praised God. And then they said, “You know, dear brother, how many thousands of Jews have also believed, and they all follow the law of Moses very seriously. 21 But the Jewish believers here in Jerusalem have been told that you are teaching all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn their backs on the laws of Moses. They’ve heard that you teach them not to circumcise their children or follow other Jewish customs. 22 What should we do? They will certainly hear that you have come.
23 “Here’s what we want you to do. We have four men here who have completed their vow. 24 Go with them to the Temple and join them in the purification ceremony, paying for them to have their heads ritually shaved. Then everyone will know that the rumors are all false and that you yourself observe the Jewish laws.
25 “As for the Gentile believers, they should do what we already told them in a letter: They should abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.”
26 So Paul went to the Temple the next day with the other men. They had already started the purification ritual, so he publicly announced the date when their vows would end and sacrifices would be offered for each of them.
27 The seven days were almost ended when some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the Temple and roused a mob against him. They grabbed him, 28 yelling, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who preaches against our people everywhere and tells everybody to disobey the Jewish laws. He speaks against the Temple —and even defiles this holy place by bringing in Gentiles.[*]” 29 (For earlier that day they had seen him in the city with Trophimus, a Gentile from Ephesus,[*] and they assumed Paul had taken him into the Temple.)
30 The whole city was rocked by these accusations, and a great riot followed. Paul was grabbed and dragged out of the Temple, and immediately the gates were closed behind him. 31 As they were trying to kill him, word reached the commander of the Roman regiment that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He immediately called out his soldiers and officers[*] and ran down among the crowd. When the mob saw the commander and the troops coming, they stopped beating Paul.
33 Then the commander arrested him and ordered him bound with two chains. He asked the crowd who he was and what he had done. 34 Some shouted one thing and some another. Since he couldn’t find out the truth in all the uproar and confusion, he ordered that Paul be taken to the fortress. 35 As Paul reached the stairs, the mob grew so violent the soldiers had to lift him to their shoulders to protect him. 36 And the crowd followed behind, shouting, “Kill him, kill him!”
37 As Paul was about to be taken inside, he said to the commander, “May I have a word with you?”
“Do you know Greek?” the commander asked, surprised. 38 “Aren’t you the Egyptian who led a rebellion some time ago and took 4,000 members of the Assassins out into the desert?”
39 “No,” Paul replied, “I am a Jew and a citizen of Tarsus in Cilicia, which is an important city. Please, let me talk to these people.”
[21:28] Greek Greeks. [21:29] Greek Trophimus, the Ephesian. [21:32] Greek centurions.
Ralph Waldo Emerson declared, “To be great is to be misunderstood.”[195] Writer, artist, philosopher, and free spirit Elbert Hubbard expressed this thought more eloquently in his book Love, Life and Work: “The man who is anybody and who does anything is surely going to be criticised, vilified and misunderstood. This is a part of the penalty for greatness, and every great man understands it; and understands too that it is no proof of greatness. The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure [derision] without resentment.”[196]
The great difficulty of being misunderstood is that the more you work at revealing facts in your favor, the guiltier you appear. Yet doing nothing seems to concede defeat. To accept this no-win scenario without suffering personal anguish requires almost supernatural self-assurance —or at least confidence in God’s approval against a chorus of criticism.
No one worked harder than Paul at the art of communication. He described his complete commitment to making the gospel understood this way:
For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it. (1 Cor. 9:19-23)
So, imagine Paul’s frustration when his fellow Jews twisted his message to characterize him as a blasphemer and an enemy of the Mosaic Law. Paul had impacted the community of the Gentiles in a never-to-be-forgotten manner over the course of three great journeys. But back home, back among the squint-eyed, narrow-minded, petty guardians of a closed society, a vindictive few took advantage of a simple misunderstanding to inflame a mob. Paul’s response would become his most challenging test of greatness.
— 21:18-21 —
Luke’s narrative stops using the pronouns “we” and “us” after 21:18, but there’s no reason to believe Luke left. At this point, the entourage fades into the background as the events of the story center on Paul. As a Gentile, Luke could move about freely in Jerusalem, but he wisely kept a low profile in the temple and around unbelieving Jews. Meanwhile, Paul’s experiences would isolate him from the group, leaving very few contexts in which “we” would be relevant. Luke could personally witness Paul’s experiences, even visit the apostle throughout the events, but he would not participate in them.
Paul’s visit to Jerusalem started pleasantly enough. He met with the elders of the Jerusalem church and James, the brother of Jesus, who had become their functional leader. In deference to their authority, Paul gave a full account of his three missionary journeys and the results. Dozens of churches thrived in major cities across the eastern half of the empire, and already they were beginning to grow and replicate themselves. Notably, he gave God the credit for the rapid spread of the gospel among the Gentiles. The elders appropriately glorified God as Paul told of each success (21:19-20). They warned, however, that not everyone in Jerusalem would be as pleased with his efforts. Rumors had been circulating among the myrias [3461], the “tens of thousands” of Christian Jews, concerning Paul’s teaching.
CIRCUMCISION: A RIGHT OR A RITE?
ACTS 21:21
When the Lord confirmed His covenant with Abraham for the third and final time (Gen. 17), He commanded that each male living in the covenant community was to be circumcised as a symbol of his participation (cf. Lev. 12:3; Luke 1:59). Refusing circumcision (for oneself or, more often, one’s male children) was tantamount to divorcing oneself from the community and rejecting God. Therefore, such a rebel and his family were to be removed from Hebrew society and regarded as outsiders. Such a rejection of God and His covenant was a mark of condemnation. The faithful observance of circumcision, on the other hand, allowed one’s male offspring access to all the rights and privileges of Hebrew society once he came of age.
With such emphasis placed on this intimate rite of participation in God’s covenant, it’s easy to see why many Jews enlarged its significance. Many reasoned that if refusing circumcision condemned a man, then circumcision must save him. Participation in the covenant and obedience to the Law came to be seen as the exclusive path to salvation, an attitude that some Jewish Christians attempted to carry over to the church (Acts 15:1; Gal. 2:3-4).
This was, of course, a perversion of the rite as God had established it. Justification by faith had always been the cornerstone of Hebrew doctrine. As Paul noted, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness” (Gal. 3:6; cf. Gen. 15:6). The rite of circumcision did nothing to save a man from sin or credit him with righteousness. Paul called it a “seal” (Rom. 4:11), a notary stamp authenticating the Hebrew male’s participation by faith in Abraham’s covenant with God. Although this covenant with Abraham was unilateral and unconditional —God gave an oath to do what He promised, regardless of the people’s response —the Lord intended Hebrew participation to include both this private physical sign and a plainly visible godly character.
These tens of thousands of believing Jews were enthusiastic about keeping the Law of Moses (21:20). In fact, it seems that the believing Jews, saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, had a renewed joy in the Law —not as a means of salvation, but as a means of demonstrating their love for God and for others within their unique Jewish cultural and religious context. This doesn’t necessarily identify them as legalistic. Their decision to keep the Law was an authentic act of worship and devotion, not a way to please God, and not something to force upon Gentile converts as their legalistic, Judaizing counterparts were eager to do.
Unfortunately, rumors flowed into Jerusalem stating that Paul lambasted Jews who wanted to keep the Law, even to the point of forsaking the rite of circumcision (21:21). Even though the church agreed that Gentiles should not be required to submit to circumcision, they never forbade Jews from continuing the ancient ceremony, which even predated the giving of the Law.
Of course, the rumors were false. Paul didn’t object to circumcision unless someone assigned value to the ritual as a means of salvation. In fact, he circumcised Timothy for the sake of expediency (16:3). The elders most likely knew this before Paul arrived. After his visit, any and all doubts were wiped away.
— 21:22-24 —
The church elders believed Paul immediately. Having affirmed him and his ministry, they turned to the question of vindicating his work among those who did not have an opportunity to interview the apostle in person. For the sake of unity and order, they needed to reassure tens of thousands of believing Jews without the aid of mass media. So they decided to use the same grapevine that had spread the rumors.
The “vow” (21:23) refers to the Nazirite vow, one of Israel’s most ancient customs (Num. 6:1-21). This special oath set a Jew apart from normal life, often to be used by God to accomplish a specific objective. While he or she was dedicated to this task, the individual agreed to three stipulations: abstain from any product of the vine (wine, strong drink, grapes, vinegar, raisins, juice), avoid all contact with the dead, and allow his or her hair to grow uncut. In recorded Hebrew history, we know of only two men who took the oath of the Nazirite for life —Samson (Judg. 13:7; 16:17) and John the Baptizer (Luke 1:15). In most cases during Paul’s time, the vow was temporary. At the end of this special season, the Nazirite would deliver a special sacrifice to the temple:
one male lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering and one ewe-lamb a year old without defect for a sin offering and one ram without defect for a peace offering, and a basket of unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened wafers spread with oil, along with their grain offering and their drink offering. (Num. 6:14-15)
During the ceremony, the Nazirite shaved his or her head and presented the cut hair to the priest, who burned it on the altar. After this ritual, the Nazirite received a portion of the sacrificial meal to eat and could again enjoy the fruit of the vine.
Naturally, ending a vow cost the Nazirite a large sum; the animals alone could serve a hundred people at a banquet. Because Jews regarded Nazirites so highly, the community considered any assistance given to them a great honor. Moreover, the vow provided the ideal opportunity for Paul to illustrate his disposition toward Old Testament Law. Unlike circumcision, which Jews confused with the means of gaining salvation, people placed themselves under the Nazirite vow voluntarily. Paul could show his support for Jewish law without compromising his stand on grace. So, the elders suggested he sponsor these four Christian Jews as they consummated their vows. As a patron, he would go through the purification ritual with them and pay for their offerings. Funding one Nazirite ritual demonstrated a high regard for Jewish tradition; funding four would have made front-page news.
This gesture would not only mollify Jewish Christians, but it should also have gone a long way to pacify angry nonbelieving Jews. When Agrippa I received the crown of Judea from Claudius, “he also came to Jerusalem and offered all the sacrifices that belonged to him, and omitted nothing which the law required; on which account he ordained that many of the Nazirites should have their heads shorn,”[197] meaning he sponsored their sacrifices. Paul was much more Jewish than Agrippa in terms of ethnicity, culture, education, and customs. No conscientious Jew could accuse Paul of denigrating Judaism. Or so the elders thought.
— 21:25-26 —
Although the elders hoped to reassure Jewish Christians that Paul had not blasphemed or declared the Law obsolete, they nevertheless affirmed their earlier resolution concerning Gentiles and the old covenant (cf. 15:20, 29). While the Law is good, God never intended it to become a means of salvation; while the Law benefits any who follow it, God has written His law on the hearts of believers and will personally see to their conduct of life. For the sake of unity, however, the Council at Jerusalem had requested that Gentiles limit their freedom in deference to their Jewish brothers who detested meat contaminated with blood or defiled by association with idols. And they should avoid all porneia [4202], the Greek word for all forms of sexual sin.
Paul followed through with the gesture (21:26). By that time, the temple had embellished the ritual described in Numbers 6:13-21 —as they had done with every point of the Law —making a great show of the purification, which took seven days to complete. Of course, the church elders hoped that the Jews’ love of conspicuous piety would work in Paul’s favor. Over a period of several days, Paul came and went from the temple with each of the four Nazirites, meticulously following protocol and shelling out a small fortune for the sacrifices.
— 21:27-29 —
Regrettably, but not surprisingly, Paul’s gesture wasn’t enough to offset the hatred of his enemies from Ephesus. Several recognized him and “laid hands on him” (21:27), meaning they seized him in a citizen’s arrest the same way a crowd in a shopping mall might subdue an infamous felon.
They publicly accused Paul of preaching against the Jews and the Law of Moses and of defiling the temple. In a twist of historical irony, they accused Paul of the same crimes for which they —with his affirmation —had stoned Stephen (6:11-14). Their charge immediately should have been seen as a blatant lie. Paul had come to the temple in support of four Jews under the Nazirite vow, in honor of the Law, to sacrifice on the temple altar! The liars from Ephesus topped their slander with the allegation that Paul had defiled the temple by escorting uncircumcised Gentiles beyond the wall separating the court of Gentiles from the court of Israel, where no Gentiles were allowed. This wall was referred to in Hebrew as the soreg (Mishnah Middot 2:3).
5W Infographics LLC
This illustration of Herod’s temple complex features the courts surrounding the holy place (or most holy place). The low gate, or soreg boundary, marked the perimeter that Gentiles were not allowed to cross.
Archaeologists have discovered inscriptions warning Gentiles not to pass the wall. The Ephesian Jews recognized Paul and had seen him around Jerusalem with a confirmed Gentile, Trophimus, whom they knew from Ephesus (21:29). Luke states that they did not actually see Trophimus within the balustrade; they only “supposed” (nomizō [3543]), which means they made an educated assumption based on what they thought they knew about Paul.
Suddenly, the assumption was treated as a fact, which they used to incite a crowd in the temple. These men had apparently studied in the school of Demetrius the silversmith (19:24-27) and become experts in the art of stirring crowds into a frenzy with little or no factual support. As in Ephesus, the mob didn’t know why they had formed.
— 21:30-32 —
The mob dragged Paul from the court of Israel out to the court of Gentiles, and temple officials closed the doors to ensure that no other Gentiles entered during the melee. They intended to kill Paul, which would have encroached on a Roman prerogative; the Romans reserved use of the death penalty for themselves. Furthermore, vigilante justice undermined Roman authority and could mushroom into outright insurrection. Suddenly, a sectarian religious matter became a political matter.
When Herod the Great built the massive temple structure, it is likely that some people in Rome worried that it could double as a fortress of the Jews. To ease tensions, he refurbished a garrison directly adjacent to the temple, which the Romans used to house a cohort of soldiers.[198] Upon completion, he named it Antonia in honor of his patron, Mark Antony. The Fortress of Antonia sat just outside the northwest corner of the wall and rose high enough for sentries to keep watch over the courtyard.
The “report” (21:31) probably came from one of the sentries. The commander, later identified as Claudius Lysias (23:26), led as many as two hundred fighting men into the temple courtyard to restore order. (A centurion commanded one hundred soldiers; the commander took “soldiers and centurions,” which means there were at least two centurions.) The Romans generally gave the Jews wide latitude, but they gave none for civil disorder. In the chaos, soldiers would focus on anyone engaged in violence and stop them using any means they deemed appropriate, including death. Naturally, the mob backed away from Paul as soon as the soldiers arrived.
— 21:33-36 —
The commander arrested Paul not because he considered the apostle guilty but to secure the object of the mob’s anger. His priorities were to restore order first, then sort out the details. His binding Paul with two chains probably means that he secured each arm to a soldier. He tried to get some answers from Paul, but the commotion began to escalate again. Luke’s description here resembles his description of the mob of pagan merchants in the theater of Ephesus (19:32). When the commander finally decided to remove Paul to the garrison, the crush of people followed after him, shouting “Away with him!” (21:36), just like the enemies of Christ had done (Luke 23:18).
The “stairs” (Acts 21:35) most likely led down to a paved pathway running between the temple exit and the Fortress of Antonia.
— 21:37-39 —
When Paul had been taken far enough away from the tumult in the temple courtyard, he respectfully asked to speak with the commander. The Jews in Jerusalem, like most people around the empire, spoke at least two languages, their own and Greek. Many even spoke Latin. So it should not have surprised the man that Paul spoke fluent Greek (21:37). The commander revealed the reason for his confusion: He had mistaken the apostle for a returning Egyptian false prophet, who had gathered a small army on the Mount of Olives, promising to overtake the Fortress of Antonia and then rule over Jerusalem (21:38). Josephus places this during the rule of Roman procurator Marcus Antonius Felix (AD 52–60), who “met him with his Roman soldiers, while all the people assisted him in his attack upon them, insomuch that, when it came to a battle, the Egyptian ran away, with a few others, while the greatest part of those that were with him were either destroyed or taken alive.”[199] Apparently, this had occurred in the recent past, making the commander’s assumption plausible.
Paul corrected the commander, providing an impressive résumé of Roman civility. He was a Jew, not an Egyptian. He came from Tarsus, a large city known for its education and culture. He was a Roman citizen, not a thug. Based on these qualifications, he asked permission to address the mob, hoping that a rational response to the false allegations lodged by the Jews from Ephesus would set everything straight (21:39). He had been sorely misunderstood and he felt certain that once he had presented the facts, the case against him would unravel and the city of Jerusalem would come to its senses. However, the people instigating the mob against him didn’t care about facts or the truth; their motivation came from a dark place in the human soul. They were driven by jealousy and an obsessive need to destroy anyone they could not dominate.
For all his wisdom, Paul suffered from the same naïveté common to most decent, rational people: He couldn’t imagine anyone not wanting to know the truth and then live by it. Paul had faced a misunderstanding within the church, but his confrontation with the temple leadership was a flat-out war of ideas and agendas that could not be abated.
APPLICATION: ACTS 21:18-39
Understanding Misunderstanding
No one likes to be misunderstood. It’s lonely. It’s frustrating. It leaves us feeling helpless, and then hopeless, and if we’re not careful, resentful toward others. Bitterness can easily set in. As I observe Paul’s experience with misunderstanding, three truths emerge.
First, the reality of misunderstanding is inescapable. If you want to have any kind of meaningful impact or cultivate significant relationships, you will be misunderstood. If you want to drift through this life, do what everyone else does, go along with the majority opinion, and avoid saying or doing anything of significance, then you’ll never have to worry about being misunderstood. If, however, you expect to be different from the run-of-the-mill crowd, if you hope to achieve something that hasn’t been attempted, if you try to improve upon the status quo, I repeat: You will be misunderstood. Count on it.
Noah? That whole boat scene must have been unbelievable. Moses? He expected his people to understand God’s purpose for his life, but they didn’t. Joseph? He maintained the highest level of integrity and purity, yet Potiphar sided with his wife, who accused Joseph of attempted rape. In spite of his honesty, he landed in prison. And the Old Testament prophets? Ignored, marginalized, accused of disloyalty, mercilessly criticized, openly hated, often killed as enemies of Israel. John the Baptizer? Hailed as a prophet, ignored as a madman. The Protestant Reformers? Treated like heretics, cursed like devils, and hunted like animals. Anyone who has ever done anything worthwhile has been misunderstood.
Second, the reasons for misunderstanding are unpredictable. Misunderstandings occur for many reasons, so we cannot anticipate how or when they will occur. Furthermore, most of them lie beyond our control. Snap judgments, pride, fear, prejudice, slander, pettiness, ambition, vainglory —the causes are too numerous and diverse to count. And when misunderstandings occur, we can do very little to resolve them. Most could be settled in a matter of minutes with a simple conversation, but only if the other party wants to listen. You can be responsible only to communicate clearly; the response of others isn’t up to you.
Recognizing your helplessness in these situations can be incredibly freeing, giving you permission to step away and leave the matter in God’s hands.
Third, the reaction to misunderstanding is yours to decide. Typically, people respond to misunderstandings in three ways. Some work themselves into a frenzy trying to get the other party to hear and acknowledge the truth. They scream, they plead, they repeat themselves endlessly, they live in anguished desperation to be heard. Others turn inward, sulkily determined to play the martyr and allow the acid of bitterness to eat away at them. I don’t recommend either of these two responses. The best response to misunderstanding is to extend an invitation to discuss the matter, and then get on with life. Accept your helplessness, pray for strength to go on, allow God to handle the difficulty, expend no more energy to resolve it, and then devote yourself to fulfilling your purpose in life. These are true marks of greatness.