²⁰. . . and they said to him [Paul], “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law; ²¹and 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. ²²What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. ²³Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; ²⁴take 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. ²⁵But 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.”

Paul’s detractors, the so-called “Judaizers,” spread their propaganda about Paul ahead of his visit. Many Jews in Jerusalem had become believers in Jesus but had not yet worked out how faith in Christ affected their understanding and embrace of the Mosaic Law. There seemed to have been an ongoing disagreement and angst over this in Jerusalem, even though the church had formally settled the Gentile issue at the Council in Acts 15.

The accusations leveled against Paul were partially right; he did not promote circumcision or Jewish customs among the Gentiles. But he was absolutely not preaching against the Mosaic Law! No, he was interpreting the Law rightly, as enlightened by faith in Jesus Christ. He embraced the Law’s truth, but because of Christ, he was no longer “under” the Law, but under grace.

The problem is this: the gospel outreach had been so successful that there were now “thousands” of believing Jews in Jerusalem, yet many were unconvinced that believing Gentiles could be fully accepted by God without becoming Jewish proselytes. In other words, many had not accepted the church’s deliberation on this issue in Acts 15. Paul wrote extensively in his letter to the Romans, explaining a Christ-centered understanding of the Law. And he recounted the early struggles over this issue in his letter to the Galatians.

Practically minded as the Christians in the church at Jerusalem were, they wanted to keep the peace and avoid a huge division among believers. To prove to the Jews that Paul was not against the Law of Moses, they recommended that he should publicly participate in a Jewish ritual and support four men who were doing likewise. This was solely for the Jewish believers’ sake. The church would stand by their earlier determination that the Gentiles would only be required to avoid things particularly offensive to Jews.

Lord, help me to walk in wisdom toward people of faulty theological thinking.