Even though Paul knew it was his destiny to go to Jerusalem, he was warned three times not to go to Jerusalem at the present time. Jerusalem was full of Jewish pilgrims from all over the empire, celebrating Passover, the days of unleavened bread, and Pentecost. It was a dangerous time for the apostle to the Gentiles to be in Jerusalem. Yet, in Acts 21:4,11, & 12, Paul receives a warning from the Holy Spirit to tarry, to wait for the appropriate time, but, as we saw in v.13-14, he would not listen to the warnings. It wasn’t that the Lord did not want him to go to Jerusalem, He wanted Paul to be patient. Nevertheless, Paul and his group of followers pushed on to Jerusalem.
Chapter 21 records Paul’s interaction with the leadership of the church, and James in particular. Paul gives his report of how Jews and Gentiles were being saved by his gospel (Galatians 2:7-9). James responds by letting Paul know that thousands of Jews had received the gospel of the kingdom – the gospel of the circumcision, and were well aware of his efforts to remove the yoke of the Law of Moses from the Jews who believed his preaching. This is a very interesting exchange, because James is putting Paul to the test, and wanted him to prove that he still kept the law, by going to the temple with four men who had fulfilled a vow, and go through the purification rituals with them, and present themselves to the High Priest. Paul humbled himself and submitted to James’s demands.
This chapter gives us insight into understanding the last nine books of the New Testament. We must always keep in mind that the four gospels transition the Bible from Old Testament to New Testament through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is the gospel that Paul preaches (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). The book of Acts, the book of history of the first century church, transitions from a Jewish church centered in Jerusalem, with Peter as the main apostle, to a Gentile church centered in Antioch, with Paul as the apostle.
The 13 books that follow Acts (Romans – Philemon) are the books written directly to the New Testament Church of this Mystery period, known as the Dispensation of the gospel of the grace of God. The last nine books of the Bible, beginning with Hebrews transition the Bible from Gentile to Jew. The leaders of the gospel of the circumcision — James, Peter, and John, as well as Jude, the brother of James, and half brother of Jesus, write their letters to encourage the Jewish believers looking for the kingdom to come. “All the Bible was not written to us, but all the Bible was written for us.” reminds us that there is much that we can learn devotionally, but we must be careful that we do not apply things as church doctrine, that are not meant for this dispensation, as we saw this morning in James 2:17-26. Salvation in this dispensation of grace, is by God’s grace through faith alone!