Was Paul just being a hypocrite? When he met with the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem, he told them of how the gospel of grace was spreading like wildfire among the Gentiles (21:19). Moreover, he had already told them, at a previous meeting in chapter 15, about how God had poured out His Spirit on the Gentiles, even though they had not been circumcised (15:8-9). Over and over again, he had preached salvation by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” he had told his jailer in Philippi (16:31).

So why did Paul ask Timothy to be circumcised when he became Paul’s partner in ministry (16:3)? And why did Paul go along with Old Testament ceremonies such as not cutting his hair until a vow was fulfilled (18:18; Numbers 6:5)? Indeed, why did he encourage other Jewish believers to do the same sorts of things, paying for the sacrifices that they would have to offer when their promises to God were finally completed (21:24; Numbers 6:13-15)?

Well, Paul wasn’t the only one who observed two different standards of Christian conduct – one for Jewish believers and one for Gentiles. The whole Jerusalem council had already decided not to require Gentile believers to observe all the ceremonial law of Moses, instead asking them only to stay away from sexual sin, from food that had been offered to idols and from eating meat with blood in it (21:25; 15:20, 28-29). But in today’s passage, they obviously encouraged Jewish believers to follow the Old Testament customs.

Were they just talking out of both sides of their mouth? No, they were making it plain that, where it comes to the Christian faith, it is possible for different people from different cultures to worship Christ in very different ways. As long as the essential truths of the gospel are upheld, there are many non-essential areas in which diversity may be not only allowed but encouraged.

Paul put it this way in his first letter to the Corinthians: “To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings (I Corinthians 9:20-23).”

So, let’s keep the main thing the main thing. Instead of looking down on people who don’t worship exactly the way we do, let’s rejoice in everyone who truly trusts Jesus as their Savior and bows the knee to Him as their Lord. And let’s work together to expand His kingdom – in all sorts of different ways.

Acts 21:17-26 (ESV)

17 When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly.
18 On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.
19 After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
20 And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law,
21 and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs.
22 What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.
23 Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow;
24 take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law.
25 But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.”
26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself along with them and went into the temple, giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them.