Acts 21:4

"After looking up the disciples" This indicates some effort on Paul's part to find the Christians in this city. This is the first mention of. congregation in Tyre, though the gospel had been preached in this region in Acts 11:19. and Paul had visited this area in Acts 15:3. "We stayed there seven days" This may be the time it took to unload and reload the ship on which Paul was traveling, but it gave Paul the opportunity to encourage and teach the brethren here. "They kept telling Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem" Seeing that Paul will set foot in Jerusalem, some have concluded that Paul disobeyed the command of the Holy Spirit at this point, but other passages need to be factored in: 1. The Holy Spirit was actually commanding Paul to go to Jerusalem (Acts 20:22; Acts 19:21). 2. Acts 21:11 is. good commentary on Acts 21:4. The Holy Spirit did reveal that bonds and afflictions awaited him at Jerusalem, but the Holy Spirit did not forbid him to go. Rather, after the Holy Spirit revealed what awaited Paul at Jerusalem, Christians of their own accord encouraged him not to go there. "The better solution is to draw. distinction between. prediction and. prohibition. Certainly Agabus only predicted that Paul would be bound and handed over to the Gentiles (Acts 21:11); the pleadings with Paul which followed are not attributed to the Spirit and may have been the fallible (indeed mistaken) human deduction from the Spirit's prophecy. For if Paul had heeded his friends' pleas, then Agabus' prophecy would not have been fulfilled! It is more difficult to understand Acts 1:4 in this way, since the 'urging' itself is said to be 'through the Spirit'. But perhaps Luke's statement is. condensed way of saying that the warning was divine while the urging was human" (Stott p. 333). That is, Acts 21:4 is. very condensed version of the same type of thing that is mentioned in Acts 21:11.