Acts 21:26Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Paul, observe, did not say, “I can present Timothy, whom I circumcised; I can persuade them by word.” Rather, he obeyed them and did everything, because it was necessary.

It would not have been the same if he had begun to justify himself, or had done this so that no one knew of it. His assuming the expenses could also serve to remove suspicion.

“Having announced.” Thus he himself made it known. “Then Paul,” the writer says, “took the men the next day.” He does not delay. Showing his obedience in deed, he at once takes those with whom he intended to perform the purification.

So ardently did he share in this prudence. But how, they say, did the Asian Jews see him in the temple? They were permitted to be there on certain days. See how all this happened by divine dispensation.

Paul shaved his head and fulfilled all the Jewish rites. He did this not because he had changed his mind, for that would have been an impure act springing from vice, but because love is condescending. "Announcing the completion of the days of purification" means declaring it. He himself made the declaration about himself.

Thus, for the salvation of those under the law, he somewhat relaxed the strictness of the conviction according to which he had said, "Through the law I died to the law, that I might live to God" (Gal 2:19). He was compelled to shave his head, be purified according to the law, and offer sacrifice in the temple according to the rite of Moses.

Having arrived in Jerusalem, Paul went the very next day with his companions to the Apostle James. The presbyters of the Church then gathered to him. All listened with great interest to what Paul told them about the work of the Gospel among the Gentiles.

James only observed that there were now several thousand believing Jews in Jerusalem who nevertheless strictly observed the law of Moses. Some of the Judaizers were everywhere trying to present Paul’s actions in a bad light.

They had spread among them the rumor that Paul not only freed the Gentiles from observing the law of Moses. They said he also forbade Jews living among the Gentiles to circumcise their children, and generally taught them apostasy from the law.

When the Apostle Paul arrived in Jerusalem, the apostles and the other brethren there received him warmly. They glorified God as they listened to his accounts of what God had done through his hands among the Gentiles.

Yet all were troubled by fear that the apostle of the Gentiles might suffer insult and violence from the Jews. They had heard about him that he taught Jews living in the dispersion not to circumcise their children, and in general not to live according to the law of Moses.

To dispel this prejudice of the Jews against Paul, and thus deliver him from the danger threatening him, the Jerusalem presbyters gave him counsel. At their head was James, the Lord’s brother according to the flesh.

They advised Paul to take part in a temporary Nazarite vow borne by four Christians from among the Jews. They also advised him to take part in the public performance of this vow’s rites in the temple.

As a result, the Apostle agreed to the proposal. For seven days he performed the Nazirite rite in the temple together with the other four brethren, whose expenses he took upon himself. The last day of the rite had already arrived, and it seemed that everything would end well. Suddenly everything changed, and the Apostle nearly became the victim of popular fanaticism.

Since this counsel did not contradict Paul’s teaching on the meaning of the law of Moses in Christianity, it could fully attain the goal desired by James, the presbyters, and surely Paul himself. Therefore the wise apostle does not delay in carrying it out.

On the very next day, having purified himself with the four men who had the Nazarite vow upon them, he entered the temple. According to the law, the Nazarite vow had to be removed there.

He announced to the priests, who had to remove the vow and offer the appointed sacrifice, that the time of purification through the Nazarite vow would end in seven days; see v. 27.

This was the period for which the four men had taken the vow upon themselves. Therefore a sacrifice had to be offered for them, and their heads had to be shaved.

Paul’s readiness to fulfill the counsel of the Jerusalem presbyters was complete and swift. The very next day he went to the temple and informed the priests of his participation in fulfilling what was prescribed.

This concerned the vow under the law that four Christians from among the Jews intended to complete. He indicated the time when the ascetic undertaking would end, and his desire to offer the required oblation for each of them when the days of purification ended, after seven days.

But the subsequent disturbance against Paul did not allow this matter to be completed. It was futile and not fully in accord with the character and direction of the holy Apostle Paul’s teaching and activity.