Acts 21:26

Paul takes the Nazarite's VowThe Uproar in the TempleHe is arrested by the Roman Soldiery and interrogated by the Officer in Command, who allows him to address the Crowd, 26-40.

Acts 21:26. Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them, entered into the temple. Dr. Schaff (Hist, of the Apostolic Church, Book I., ‘Missions') well remarks on this concession of Paul to the request of James: ‘The position of James, as his martyrdom a few years after shows, was at all events one of extreme difficulty; since, amidst the growing obduracy of the nation, and in sight of its impending doom, he still had to stand for this was his proper mission as the connecting link between the old and the new dispensations, to rescue as many as possible from the destruction. And as to Paul, he was here not in his proper Gentile-Christian field of labour. His conduct on other occasions proves that he was far from allowing himself to be restricted in this field. He reserved to himself entire independence in his operations. But he stood now on the venerable ground of the Jewish-Christian mother Church, where he had to respect the customs of the fathers, and the authority of James, the regular bishop. Clearly conscious of already possessing righteousness and salvation in Christ, he accommodated himself, with the best and noblest intentions, to the weaker brethren. Though himself free, he became to them that were under the law, as under the law; to the Jews, a Jew; to those who were not free, a servant, that he might gain some, according to his own maxim (1 Corinthians 9:19-23). Should he therefore, in this particular instance, have yielded too much, it would at all events not have been a betrayal of his convictions; this is precluded by the firm, logical consistency of his character, but a personal sacrifice for the great end of the peace and unity of the Church. And surely this sacrifice must have been duly appreciated by the more moderate and noble-minded of the Jewish Christians.'

Surely these records of the ‘Acts,' with their unflinching truth, speak with a strange mighty power to us after all these ages. We feel, while we read of the awful fall and miserable death of one of the Twelve (chap. Acts 1:16-20); of the sin and punishment of two of the most notable believers of the first days (chap. Acts 5:1-11); of the jealous murmuring and discontent of the poor saints (chap, Acts 6:1); of the failure in courage of Mark, and the bitter quarrel of two of the most prominent Christian leaders (chap. Acts 15:38-40); and, here, of this doubtful compromise of Paul and James, that we have before us a real picture, painted from life, of the Church of the first days, by one who never shrinks to paint the errors, the faults, and the grievous mistakes of even the most distinguished of the first believers. Nothing is concealed, nothing is even partially veiled. On the same page with the splendid successes of the Christians of the first days, appear their failures; side by side with their supernatural powers are described their sins and human weaknesses. No careful reader can study these ‘Acts' without gaining with every hour's work a surer confidence that he has before him a true and genuine record of the life of Christian men and women during the thirty years which immediately succeeded the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

To signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them. Expositors have differed slightly as to the meaning of the original words here. The literal translation here would be, ‘declaring the fulfilment of the days of purification until the offering was offered for every one of them;' that is to say, Paul entered the temple declaring [to the priests] when the days of purification would be completed for himself and the four, namely, in seven days; and that then, at the close of them, the customary offerings for all of them would be made; or, in other words, Paul announced to the temple authorities the interval, viz. seven days, between this declaration of his and the end of the vow and the presenting the required offerings. Dean Alford purposes to translate, ‘signifying their intention of fulfilling;' but this is inadmissible. Dean Howson (St. Paul, chap, xxi.) would render the whole passage thus: ‘He entered into the temple, giving public notice that the days of purification were fulfilled, [and stayed there] till the offering for each one of the Nazarites was brought.' If this rendering be adopted, we must understand that Paul entered the temple and told the priests that the period of the Nazaritic vow was accomplished; and he waited then within the sacred enclosure till the necessary offerings were made for each of them, and their hair cut and burnt in the sacred fire. Wieseler also adopts this view. [The rendering, however, given above, which looks on the announcement of the days of purification as having reference to the future, on the whole appears best and simplest.] Seven days was the ordinary period for the more solemn purifications. See Exodus 29:37; Leviticus 12:2; Leviticus 13:6; Numbers 12:14-15; Numbers 19:14-16, etc.