Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Acts 21:26 - 21:30

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Acts 21:26 - 21:30


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

The beginning of the riot:

v. 26. Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself with them, entered into the Temple to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification until that an offering should be offered for every one of them.

v. 27. And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the Temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him,

v. 28. crying out, Men of Israel, help! This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people and the Law and this place; and further brought Greeks also into the Temple, and hath polluted this holy place.

v. 29. (For they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus, an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the Temple.)

v. 30. And all the city was moved, and the people ran together; and they took Paul, and drew him out of the Temple; and forthwith the doors were shut.

Paul here showed that the spirit of Christ lived in him, that he was willing, for the sake of others, to take part in a ceremony of which he knew that it had lost its real significance and value and had become a mere empty form, 1Co_9:20. He took the four men with him, became their associate, performed the required rites of purification in his own case, and then entered into the Temple proper, that part which was reserved for the exclusive use of the children of Israel, giving notice there, for the convenience of the priests of the day when the vow would be ended, and the necessary offerings brought for every one of the four. Apparently, Paul also spent most, if not all the time in the Temple during this week. Thus he became all things to all men. Note: in matters in which no fundamental Scriptural principle is involved, a Christian may accommodate himself to others: but he must be careful lest hypocrisy and fear of men furnish his motive for so doing. So far everything had proceeded with gratifying smoothness, and no cloud seemed to be darkening the horizon. All the more surprising, therefore, was the fact that the storm broke from a practically clear sky. For when the seven days of the purification of the Nazirites were about to come to an end, the time for which the apostle was associated with the men, Jews from the province of Asia, probably from Ephesus itself, that had come up for the Feast of Pentecost, saw him in the Temple, and their hatred was at once inflamed to a white fury. The very fact that this supposed despiser of the Temple should dare to enter its inner courts (which were forbidden to the Gentiles under pain of death) was an insult in their estimation. So they immediately raised a disturbance, stirred up the people, like liquids that refuse to mix and surge to and fro, and laid violent hands upon Paul. At the same time, they raised their voices, calling upon the assembled Israelites to help. The very name intended to remind them all of the dignity and glory, of the hopes and obligations, of their nation. Contemptuously referring to Paul as "this man," this outcast, they accused him of making it a habit to teach all men, everywhere, against the people, against the Law, against this place, this city. Mark the significant coincidence that the charge against Paul is made in almost the same words as that which had been brought against Stephen, chap. 6:13. But the gravest part of the accusation was the allegation that Paul had brought Greeks into the Temple proper, inside the Soreg, or stone wall, which enclosed the sanctuary, and had thus profaned the Holy Place itself. But the latter charge was based upon a false supposition, namely, that Paul had brought Trophimus, the delegate of the Ephesian congregation, who had been seen in his company in the city, into the Temple an altogether unwarranted deduction. But the Jews were in a mood to rest their suspicions upon even slighter evidence, if they could but succeed in removing Paul. The immediate effect of their startling and vehement charge and denunciation certainly left nothing to be desired. The entire city was moved, the excitement having spread like wildfire; there was a tumultuous concourse of the people; he was surrounded by a band of people that grabbed him and dragged him outside of the sanctuary into the Court of the Gentiles. And then the doors of the Temple, of the sanctuary, were locked by the Levites, either because they feared that the Temple would be defiled by the shedding of blood, or because they believed that this defilement had already taken place by the entrance of a Gentile into its Holy Place, and that it must be purified before it could be reopened. Note: The Jews, just like their successors in our days, were so hostile to the Gospel preached by Paul because he condemned their Pharisaic self-righteousness and testified before Jews and Greeks alike that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the Law. The false church, boasting its own righteousness, and the honorable, virtuous world have ever been the principal enemies of the Church of Christ and of the Gospel of God's free grace and mercy.