… I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
Summary: Looking back over Paul’s life gives us a bit of perspective on his letter to the Ephesians and his stand against requiring Gentiles to be circumcised.
Paul is in trouble. By any measure, Paul should be sweating bullets while he writes this letter. He has been beaten (Acts 21: 30-33), nearly flogged (Acts 22: 24-25), and hauled before the Jewish authorities (Acts 22:30).
One thing led to another, and before he knew it, Paul found himself dragged out into the night under Roman guard (Acts 23:23-24). After his hearing before Felix, Paul is kept in detention for two years without any charges being filed.
Two years!
To Paul, that must have seemed like twenty years. He was a man used to traveling around at will. In Paul’s day, he would have been considered a globe-trotter. He traveled extensively in the ancient world and knew it well. To be locked up for two years wasn’t a vacation for Paul. It was torture.
Finally, he is heard by King Agrippa. King Agrippa is not the ultimate human authority, but he is an important and powerful man. Will he help? After hearing Paul, Agrippa says, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.” (Acts 26:32)
Doh!
Why did Paul appeal to Caesar? (Acts 25: 9-12) It was a defensive tactic to keep himself out of the hands of the Jews. If he had not used this legal tactic, he would have been murdered on the way back to Jerusalem. (Acts 23: 12-15) The result of this appeal was a long journey to Rome and another two years of imprisonment.
So why is Paul a prisoner? Would the Jews like him any better if he had never started preaching to the Gentiles?
Interestingly, if Paul had restricted his ministry to preaching to the Jews, he might never have been in this situation. Jews tolerated Jewish Christians better than Gentiles because they were… Jewish. Gentiles, on the other hand, were not, and because they were not Jews, they were not circumcised.
Sadly, it was the Jewish Christians who were Paul’s biggest detractors. They insisted that Gentile believers be circumcised in order to conform to the Old Testament law. Paul rightly argued that the Gentiles were not bound by the Old Covenant (Galatians 5:1-12).
Perhaps, if Paul had gone along with the circumcision crowd, none of this would have happened. A few more Gentiles would have lost their foreskins. So what? At least the Jewish Christians would have been appeased.
Or would they?
It is hard to second guess these things. The monsters hiding behind the circumcision issue were the dietary laws (Galatians 2:12). If Paul had caved on the circumcision issue, then how could he have argued against any other Old Testament law?
Paul stood his ground. Because of his stand, he was in prison. He took the stand he did for the sake of us Gentiles, so we would not be dragged down by the trap of the Old Covenant.
Thank you, Paul!
Application: Standing on principle carries a price.
Food for Thought: Where would Christianity be today if Paul had not stood firmly against conforming to the Old Covenant law?
Where would Christianity be today if Paul had not stood firmly against conforming to the Old Covenant law?
This doesn’t answer the question directly, but Paul wrote the books of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon while in prison in Rome. Paul may have enjoyed traveling, but God had another mission for him. The impact of those epistles in Christianity today is great.
More direct to the question: if Paul had not stood his ground we would have eventually found ourselves under the law again. Counting our steps again instead of focusing on the walk with the Lord. The law can be a harsh reality for those whose hearts are not right with God. Men also tend to use it to tear each other down. Christ builds us up. The focus would be more on completing checklists than communicating with God in earnesty. I know, people still put theselves under some form of the law even today. But there are also spiritual leaders today that confirm the Word of God, Christs freedom, and relational verses transactional obedience. Returning to the law for salvation would have stifled Christianity, as transactional obedience did under the Old Covanent.
Galatians 6: 1–5 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load.
Chris,
You touch on a lot of important points this morning. Regardless of whether we are talking about Jewish law or “Christian rules” what you say is true; there is a tendency to beat each other up with rules stifling life in the Spirit.
I think Christianity would be fine because Christ is the head of His church loves His bride. But Paul was willingly used by His Lord to accomplish God’s will and sets a great example for us. Esther 4: 12 – 14.
Brother,
Great answer! 🙂 You are absolutely right and the passage from Esther is very appropriate. If Paul had fallen short in his mission, “relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place”
Romans 8:28 also comes to mind.
We would have a lot fewer letters to read
Good point! 🙂
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