Lesson for July 16, 2025
Paul the Apostle
Lesson 8
Paul’s Failure in Jerusalem
Acts 21:3-24
Verses 3-11
“When we came in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left, we kept sailing to Syria and landed at Tyre; for the ship was to unload its cargo there. 4 After looking up the disciples, we stayed there for seven days; and they kept telling Paul, through the Spirit, not to set foot in Jerusalem. 5 When our days there were ended, we left and started on our journey, while they all, with wives and children, escorted us until we were out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach and praying, we said farewell to one another. 6 Then we boarded the ship, and they returned home.
7 When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and after greeting the brothers and sisters, we stayed with them for a day. 8 On the next day we left and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. 9 Now this man had four virgin daughters who were prophetesses. 10 As we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 And he came to us and took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, ‘This is what the Holy Spirit says: In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and hand him over to the Gentiles.’”
Paul was warned twice and begged once not to go to Jerusalem. The first warning came from the disciples who lived in Tyre. The second warning came inCaesarea from Agabus who was sent by the Holy Spirit to Paul regarding his imprisonment in Jerusalem if he travelled there. It was an accurate prophecy of what actually happened when Paul arrived in Jerusalem, a few days later. The prophetic illustration should have been enough warning for Paul, but he was determined to go to Jerusalem, despite the warnings.
Verses 12-13
“When we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Though Paul would have gladly given his life for Christ, he was out of God’s will. His answer to Agabus and the others confirmed that his decision to go to Jerusalem was strictly emotional. However, God did not want Paul to go to Jerusalem, He wanted Paul in Rome and then in Spain. Agabus was right, the people of the city of Tyre were right, and Paul was wrong. To see this great man moving in the wrong direction caused them to weep. Their tears showed something of their love and respect for him. Their weeping broke his heart but did not change his mind. While Paul’s attitude of sacrifice for Christ was sincere, he was ignoring God’s will. Paul should have been on his way to Rome and to Spain, but he was on his way to disaster in Jerusalem. Even so, Paul had the free will to make his own mistakes without interference and judgment from others, as we all do.
Verse 14
“And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, remarking, “The will of the Lord be done!”
These believers allowed Paul to make his own decisions without a judgmental attitude. Even though they knew Paul was wrong, they did not abandon him. The Lord would deal with Paul through discipline, and the grace of God would eventually triumph by turning cursing into blessing. The application for us is to put others in the “God’s hands” and to not interfere with their privacy or their volition.
The royal priesthood must have privacy to fulfill its function. No believer has the right to intrude into the privacy of another believer. In John 21:21-23, Peter was sticking his nose into John’s business and Jesus told him it was none of his business what happened to John. Peter was to pay attention to his own spiritual life. Violation of privacy means judging others. (Romans 14:10-12) When you judge another person, you violate their privacy, and you violate the principle of “live and let live.” (II Thessalonians 3:11-12)
Verses 15-19
“After these days we got ready and started on our way up to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came with us, taking us to Mnason of Cyprus, a disciple of long standing with whom we were to lodge. 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.”
Paul arrived at Jerusalem out of fellowship with God, having ignored God’s warnings not to enter Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, there were many churches with many pastors. The Apostle James was the head of the local churches in Jerusalem, and he and the other pastors greeted Paul and were happy to hear what God had been doing among the Gentiles. However, James and the churches in Jerusalem had fallen prey to the legalism of the Mosaic Law.
Verses 20-21
“And when they heard it, they began glorifying God. ‘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.”
While the pastors glorified God because of the report, they seemed to be more concerned about the fact that Paul was a controversial figure. They were disturbed by having someone who would come in and upset their program and possibly call them out on the issue of legalism. Remember, in Jerusalem there were a lot of pastors who had limited knowledge of the Word of God, as evidenced by the fact that they were not oriented to the grace of God and were not teaching spirituality by grace. They did teach salvation by grace, but they were not teaching spirituality by grace. They simply used the Mosaic Law for the Christian Way of Life, which was legalism. Now began a series of disasters that led to a maximum catastrophe in the life of the Apostle Paul, a total disorientation to the grace of God. In verses 21-24, we have the bad advice from the Jerusalem pastors. These pastors had begun to focus their attention on getting Paul to conform to their form of spirituality.
These pastors were going to entrap him in a legalistic gimmick so that they could imply that Paul had changed his mind about grace! They were going to start involving him in legalistic actions, which would temporarily neutralize the grace of God in his life.
You see brother how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law. The Greek word for see is “theoreo,” from which we get our English word “theory.” It means to be a spectator, to observe a situation, and to draw conclusions from a situation that may or may not be true. It was true that thousands of Jews had come to know Jesus Christ as Savior, but they had been erroneously taught that spirituality was by keeping the Mosaic Law. Because James and the pastors in Jerusalem were legalistic, they used the “numbers game” on Paul. The pastors in Jerusalem based their success on how many people were in their congregation. God does not keep count of the number of people in a congregation; He is interested in the spiritual growth of those in the congregation, regardless of the number. These thousands of believers were legalistic like their pastors and were totally ignoring grace. Therefore, instead of inviting Paul to teach their congregations, the pastors at Jerusalem demanded that Paul take a Jewish vow.
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. The pastors had been maligning Paul for teaching grace instead of the Law for the Christian life. Christ had fulfilled the Law and abolished it as a way of life for believers. This does not mean that the principles of the Mosaic Law with regard to morality were to be ignored. However, Christ introduced a new covenant of grace which excluded keeping the Law of Moses as a means of spirituality. The filling of the Holy Spirit was now the basis for spirituality. (Galatians 3:1-5, 23-29, 5:16-25)
The teaching of James and the other pastors in Jerusalem may remind you of the Judaizers. However, these pastors were teaching something different than what the Judaizers taught. The Judaizers taught that you had to keep the Mosaic Law for salvation and for the Christian life. Both teachings were false. Salvation has always been by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and the payment He made on the Cross for the sin of the world. The Christian life is also lived by grace through faith in God and His Word under the filling of the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titu 2:11-12)
Verses 22-24
“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.”
In this phrase, we can readily see the fear of the pastors in Jerusalem.
The very place where the church began historically on the basis of grace was now a place where Satan had made great inroads. The only way that Satan can make inroads with believers is to infiltrate their minds with false doctrine. (I Timothy 4:1) Grace was not being taught in Jerusalem, believers were not growing spiritually, and legalism was the order of the day. They were ordering Paul to comply with their demand. They were saying that Paul was going to have to do something to appease the legalistic Jews.
The demand of the Jewish pastors in Jerusalem was blasphemous. Paul should not have gone to the Temple and performed this legalistic ritual. The rituals of the Temple were something to be avoided. Because Paul was out of fellowship with God, he bowed to their command in order to please them. But Paul was an apostle himself and had the highest authority from God available in the early church. Paul had ignored God’s warnings to stay out of the city and by taking this vow he would be out of the will of God. Vows are not condoned by God under any circumstance in the Church Age. The vow that Paul took was tantamount to apologizing for preaching the grace of God for the Christian life. We will learn about this vow in our next lesson.
The grace of God is its own defense, and its own power. There is no apology needed for the grace of God!!!