We are going to read: Acts 21:17-36

v18 James – Yeshua’s brother and leader of the congregation in Jerusalem.  

v20 The response here is from the believing elders with James. They were excited about what was happening among the Gentiles as well as what G-d was doing in the lives of the Jews.  

• The foundation of the law is LOVE.  Both the OT and the NT have the same purpose – to teach us what is right and what is wrong.  They show us how to behave righteously. 

v21 those in Jerusalem had heard slander against Paul.  

• The word used for forsake (to turn away) here is the word apostasy. An apostasy (heresy)  is a departure from what is good to that which is bad. (It is the same word used in 2 Thess 2:3)

v23 The leaders have a solution to combat these false reports. They are calling Paul to be submissive. They know what the situation is like in Jerusalem. 

• Those four men were fellow believers
• The vow was probably the Nazarite vow (see Acts 18:18)

v24 Sacrifices cost money. The leadership was telling Paul to refute these claims in a very visible way.  

v25 It was not necessary for the Gentiles to keep the Jewish customs. What we do does not make us more pleasing to G-d. Only through the work of Yeshua can anybody (Jew or Gentile) please G-d. 

v26 This offering had nothing to do with sin. It was offered up as a gift to G-d as a way of blessing Him and blessing others (a portion of this offering would go toward supplying food for the workers in the temple and some of it would be given to the poor)

v28 Paul loves his fellow Jews, but he understands his call to go to the nations. They are accusing Paul of bringing defilement when in fact Paul is teaching truth that justifies.  

v30 What they did was against Sanhedrin protocol. They seized Paul based on an assumption, instead of giving him a fair trial and judgement. 

 v32 These were not light blows. They were beatings with the intent to kill.  

v33 This man was interested in getting to truth. He wanted decisions made based on truth/fact. 

v35 These people were meant to be submissive to the authority of G-d’s Word, but they were not behaving in that way.  

v36 The enemy likes emotion, the Spirit likes truth.  We need to make sure that we are not led by our emotions but that our emotions are subjected to the truth of G-d.