What About Jewish Christians?

12. What question was left unresolved?

¹² The governing body had clearly indicated that Gentile Christians did not need to be circumcised. But what about Jewish Christians? The governing body’s decision had not specifically covered that aspect of the question.

13. Why was it wrong to assert that observance of the Mosaic Law was necessary for salvation?

¹³ Some Jewish Christians who were “zealous for the Law” continued circumcising their children and observing certain features of the Law. (Acts 21:20)

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Paul Humbly Meets a Test

After a successful missionary tour, Paul arrived in Jerusalem in 56 C.E. There a test awaited him. News that he had been teaching that the Law had been set aside had reached the congregation. The older men were afraid that newly converted Jewish Christians would be stumbled by Paul’s outspokenness on the subject of the Law and that they might conclude that Christians lacked respect for Jehovah’s arrangements. In the congregation, there were four Jewish Christians who had taken a vow, perhaps a Nazirite vow. They had to go to the temple in order to complete the requirements of the vow.

The older men asked Paul to accompany the four to the temple and to care for their expenses. Paul had written at least two inspired letters in which he argued that observance of the Law was not required for salvation. However, he was considerate of the consciences of others. He had previously written: “To those under law I became as under law . . . that I might gain those under law.” (1 Corinthians 9:20-23) While never compromising where vital Scriptural principles were involved, Paul felt that he could go along with the suggestion of the older men. (Acts 21:15-26) It was not wrong for him to do so. There was nothing unscriptural about the arrangement for vows, and the temple had been used for pure worship, not for idolatry. With a view to giving no cause for stumbling, then, Paul did as requested. (1 Corinthians 8:13) No doubt this took considerable humility on Paul’s part, a fact that deepens our appreciation for him.