Homily 46 — Acts 21, verses 18 to 38

“And the next day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. And when he had greeted them, he told them one by one the things God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.” [a]

This James was the bishop of Jerusalem, and it was to him that Paul was sent on an earlier occasion too. He was the brother of the Lord, a great and admirable man.

“Paul went in with us,” it says — in to him. Notice how unassuming the bishop is: “and the elders” were present too. Again Paul tells them about the things concerning the Gentiles (Acts 15). He does it not out of empty glory — far from it! — but because he wants to make known the mercy of God and to fill them with great joy. And see how it turns out: “when they heard it,” it says, “they glorified God.” They did not praise or admire Paul, for he had told the story in such a way as to refer everything to God. “And they said to him, ‘You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed.’”

Notice how modestly and deferentially they too speak. “They said to him”: it is not James holding forth with a bishop’s authority; they take Paul in as a partner in their view. “You see, brother” — as though right at the outset they were excusing themselves and saying: “We did not want this. Do you see how necessary it is? ‘How many thousands of Jews there are’ who have come together!” And they do not say, “how many thousands we have made catechumens,” but “there are.” “And these,” they say, “are all zealous for the law” (verse 20).

There are two reasons here: their number, and their views. If they had been few, it would not have been right to disregard them even so; and if they had been many but had not all clung to the law, there would have been no need to take much account of them. Then a third reason is given as well: “And they all,” it says, “have been informed about you.” They do not say “have heard,” but “have been instructed” — that is, this is what they have come to believe and have been taught — “that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or to live by the customs” (verse 21). [c]

“What is to be done, then? The crowd is bound to come together, for they will hear that you have come. So do what we tell you” (verses 22 and 23). They say these things as advice, not as commands. “We have four men who are under a vow. Take them, purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses.” Make your defense by what you do, not by what you say. “So that they may shave their heads,” it says, “and all may know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in good order and keep the law” (verses 23 and 24). They do not say “teach,” but, going further than they needed to, “that you yourself also keep the law.” For of course the point that mattered most was not whether he was teaching others or not, but whether he himself kept the law.

He might say: “What then if the Gentiles hear of it? I will do them harm.” “How so,” they answer, “when even we, the teachers of the Jews, have sent word to them?” “As for the Gentiles who have believed, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they keep themselves from what is offered to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality” (verse 25).

Here they speak in a way meant to put him on his honor: “Just as we gave them these orders, though we are preachers to the Jews, so you, though you are a preacher to the Gentiles, should work together with us.” [e]

Look at Paul. He does not say, “Well, but I can point to Timothy, whom I circumcised; well, but I can satisfy them by what I have to say about myself.” No, he gave way and did it all, for in fact that was the useful course. It was one thing to take real steps to clear himself, and another to have done these things without the knowledge of anyone concerned. This was a step open to no suspicion — the very fact that he even paid the expenses.

“Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having purified himself with them, went into the temple, giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the offering should be offered for each one of them” (verse 26). “Giving notice” — that is, announcing it publicly, so that it was he himself who made himself conspicuous.

“And when the seven days were nearly over, the Jews from Asia” — for his arrival fell exactly in with their own — “when they saw him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, shouting, ‘Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place; and what is more, he has brought Greeks into the temple as well, and has defiled this holy place’” (verses 27 and 28). Notice their usual behavior: how turbulent we find it everywhere, and how, with reason or without it, they raise an uproar in the middle of the crowd.

“For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. And the whole city was stirred up, and the people ran together; and they seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the doors were shut” (verses 29 and 30). “Men of Israel,” it says, “help! This is the man who teaches against the people, and the law, and this place” — the things that trouble them most, the temple and the law. And Paul does not blame the apostles for having brought this on him. “And they dragged him,” it says, “out of the temple, and the doors were shut.” They wanted to kill him, and that is why they were dragging him out: to do it with less risk to themselves.

“And as they were trying to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. At once he took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them; and when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Then the tribune came up and took hold of him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains; and he asked who he was and what he had done. And in the crowd some shouted one thing and some another” (verses 31 to 34). The tribune, having come down, rescued him, and “ordered him to be bound with two chains,” and in this way appeased the anger of the people.

“And when he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be taken into the barracks. And when he reached the stairs, it came to this: he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd. For the mass of the people followed, shouting, ‘Away with him!’” (verses 34 to 36). What does “Away with him!” mean? It is what people among us say, after the Roman custom: “To the standards with him!”

“And as Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, ‘May I say something to you?’” (verse 37). While he is being carried up the stairs he asks to say something to the tribune — and notice how quietly he does it. “May I say something to you?” he says. “And he said, ‘Can you speak Greek? Then are you not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led four thousand men who were murderers out into the wilderness?’” (verse 38).

For this Egyptian was a revolutionary and a stirrer-up of rebellion. This, then, is the charge Paul clears himself of. [l]

“So do what we tell you,” and the rest (verses 23 and 24). He shows that there was no need to do this as a matter of principle — which is also how they win his agreement — but that it was a measure fitted to the situation, a stooping down to meet them. “As for the Gentiles,” and the rest (verse 25). So this was no hindrance to the preaching, since they themselves had made laws for the Gentiles to this effect.

That is why, when he took Peter to task, he does not charge him outright with doing wrong. For exactly what Paul himself does on this occasion, Peter did on that one, merely keeping silent and so establishing his teaching (Galatians 2, verse 11).

And he does not say, “Why? It is not right to teach those among the Gentiles.” Instead they say: “It is not enough not to have preached this there. You need to do something more as well, so that these people may be convinced that you keep the law. This is a matter of stooping down to meet them; do not be alarmed.” They do not advise him to take this course until they have first spoken of the measure fitted to the situation and what is to be gained by it. “And besides, doing this in Jerusalem is something that can be borne. So ‘do this’ here, so that abroad you may be free to do the other.”

“The next day,” it says, “he took them” (verse 26). He did not put it off; for when a thing is done to meet a situation, this is how it has to be done. “The Jews from Asia, having seen him” — it was natural that they were spending some days there — “in the temple” (verse 27). Notice the arrangement of Providence that showed itself here. It was after the believing Jews had been won over about him that those Jews from Asia set upon him, so that the believers would not set upon him as well.

“Help,” they say, “men of Israel!” — as though some monster had fallen into their hands, hard to catch and hard to overpower. “Everyone everywhere,” they say, “he never stops teaching” — not here only. And then the accusation is made heavier by what was happening at that moment. “And what is more,” they say, “he has defiled the temple by bringing into it men who are Greeks” (verse 28). And yet in Christ’s time Greeks “came up to worship” (John 12, verse 20). True, but here it speaks of Greeks who had no mind to worship.

“And they seized Paul,” and the rest (verses 30 to 35). They no longer wanted laws or courts of justice; they even beat him. But he held back from making his defense then; he made it afterward, and with good reason, for they would not even have listened to him then. And why, tell me, did they shout, “Away with him!” (verse 36)? They were afraid he might escape them. Notice how submissively Paul speaks to the tribune: “May I say something to you?” “Then are you not the Egyptian?” (verses 37 and 38).

This Egyptian, you see, was a cheat and an impostor, and the devil expected to cast a cloud over the good news through him, and to entangle both Christ and his apostles in the charges that belonged to such impostors. But he gained nothing. No, the truth became even more brilliant: it was not defeated at all by the devil’s schemes, but shone out all the more. For if there had been no impostors, and then Christ and his apostles had prevailed, perhaps someone might have seized on that. But when those impostors did actually appear, this is the wonder. “So that,” says the apostle, “those who are approved may be made known” (First Corinthians 11, verse 19). And Gamaliel says, “Before these days Theudas rose up.”

So let us not grieve that heresies exist, since false Christs tried to attack even Christ, both before this time and after, hoping to throw him into the shade; yet on every occasion we find the truth shining out, clear as light. It was the same with the prophets. There were false prophets, and by contrast with them the true prophets shone all the more — just as disease sets off health, and darkness light, and a storm the calm. There is no room left for the Greeks to say that our teachers were impostors and street hucksters, for those who really were such were exposed.

It was the same in the case of Moses. God allowed the magicians, precisely so that Moses would not be suspected of being a magician. He let them teach everyone how far magic can go in putting on a fantastic show; beyond that point they deceived no one, but themselves confessed their defeat. Impostors do us no harm; rather, they do us good, if we will only give our minds to the matter. You will say: “What then if, in people’s opinion, we are counted in with them?”

That opinion is not found among us, but among those who have no judgment. Let us not care greatly for the opinion of the many, or mind it more than we must. We live to God, not to men; our citizenship is in heaven, not on earth. There the rewards and the prizes of our labors are laid up; from there we look for our praise, and from there for our crowns. We should trouble ourselves about people only this far: that we do not give them a handle against us. But if we give them none, and they still choose to accuse us thoughtlessly and without discernment, let us laugh, not weep. [r]

“Provide things honorable in the sight of the Lord and in the sight of men” (Second Corinthians 8, verse 21). If you provide things honorable and that man still mocks, give yourself no more concern over it. You have your patterns in the Scriptures. “Do I now persuade men, or God?” he says (Galatians 1, verse 10); and again, “We persuade men, but we are made manifest to God” (Second Corinthians 5, verse 11).

And this is how Christ spoke of those who take offense: “Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind” (Matthew 15, verse 14). And again, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you” (Luke 6, verse 26). And again, “Let your works shine, so that people may see them and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5, verse 16). And, “Whoever causes one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matthew 18, verse 6).

These sayings do not contradict one another; no, they agree completely. When the offense comes from us, then woe to us; but when it does not come from us, not so. And again: woe to the man through whom “the name of God is blasphemed” (Romans 2, verse 24). What then if I do what is right in some matter, and someone else blasphemes? That is nothing to me; it concerns him alone, for it was through him that God was blasphemed. “And how is it possible to do what is right in some matter, and still give the rest a handle?” [t]

Where do you want me to take my examples from — from the present, or from the old times? Not to be timid about it, shall we speak to the very point now in hand? Paul kept the Jewish customs in Jerusalem, but in Antioch he did not. He kept the Jewish customs, and people took offense; but they had no right to take offense. He is said to have greeted both Nero’s cupbearer and his concubine. What, do you think, must people have said against him because of that? But they had no right to say it.

For if he had drawn them to himself for loose living or for any wicked deeds, a person might well have taken offense. But if it was to bring them to a right life, what is there to take offense at? [v]

Let me tell you of something that happened to one of my acquaintances. The wrath of God once fell upon a city, and he, being very young, was in the order of deacon. The bishop was away at the time, and none of the presbyters gave the matter any thought. Instead, without any discrimination, they had immense numbers of people baptized all at once in a single night, and these people received baptism without discrimination, all of them ignorant of everything. He took them aside, a hundred or two hundred at a time, and spoke to them — not on any other subject, but only on the mysteries — so that the unbaptized were not allowed to be present either.

Many thought he did this because he was hungry for authority. But he paid no attention to that. Nor, however, did he keep it up for any length of time; he stopped at once. What then? Was he to blame for the offense? I think not. If he had done it without cause, they might with reason have laid it to his charge; and so too if he had kept on doing it.

For when something pleasing to God is hindered because someone else takes offense, it is right to pay no attention. The time to mind it is when we are not forced, for that person’s sake, to offend God. Suppose, for instance, that while we are preaching and ridiculing drunkards, someone takes offense — am I to stop speaking? Listen to Christ saying, “Will you also go away?” (John 6, verse 67). [w]

So the right course is neither to take no notice of the weakness of the many, nor to take too much. Do we not see physicians acting this way? When it can be done, they humor the whims of their patients; but when the indulgence does harm, then they will not spare them. It is always good to know the right mean.

Many people railed because a certain beautiful virgin stayed, and they abused those who were giving her her first instruction in the faith. What then? Was it their duty to stop because of that? Not at all. We must not look only at this, whether some people take offense, but at whether they take offense with good reason, and at whether giving way does no harm to ourselves. “If food,” says Paul, “causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no meat as long as the world lasts” (First Corinthians 8, verse 13). And rightly, for not eating did him no harm. But if it offends someone that I wish to renounce the world, it is not right to mind him. You will ask: “And whom does this offend?” Many, to my knowledge.

When, therefore, what stands in the way is a thing indifferent, let the thing be done. Otherwise, if we were to look only to this, there are many things we would have to give up; just as, on the other hand, if we were to disregard every objection, we would destroy many of our brothers and sisters. In fact Paul, too, took thought ahead of time about offense: “So that,” he says, “in this generous gift that we are administering…” — for it cost him nothing to head off an unfavorable suspicion.

But when we are in such straits that great evils would follow from the other person’s taking offense, let us pay no heed to that person. He has himself to thank for it, and we are no longer accountable, for it was not possible to spare him without harm to ourselves. Some took offense because certain believers sat down to eat in pagan temples. It was not right to sit down there, for no harm came of not doing so. People took offense because Peter ate with the Gentiles. But he, indeed, spared them; Paul did not.

On every occasion, then, as we follow the laws of God, we must take great pains to give no cause for offense, so that we ourselves may not have to answer for it, and may be granted mercy from God, by the grace and love for humankind of his only Son, with whom, to the Father and the Holy Spirit together, be glory, dominion, and honor, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.