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Category: Acts for a 21st c. Church

Acts of the Apostles + a History of Christ’s Church

Acts of the Apostles 1-28

Acts of the Apostles:
+ The first century Church SHARED Christ while suffering severe persecution.
+ Luke records a historic account of the Church which gives 21c Christians a context to SHARE the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others.

Read more about the Early Church & add your COMMENT on Scripture.

ACT now.

+ SHARE the Gospel history witnessed in the CURRENT chronological SERIES from ACTS of the APOSTLES.

Roman Oversight of Jerusalem’s god
There’s been some trouble in town.

Now controversary and crowds are nothing out of the ordinary here (or in Roman oversight of Jerusalem), but I have been trying to determine how best to present an equitable view of recent events.

Oh, I might mention that today’s look back at history incites reaction in some no different than the acts concerning religion that caused mobs of angry men to fabricate their own stories on what actually took place.
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Can you imagine such a riot in a Common Era familiar to US?
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Jerusalem ~A.D. 56

Previously we witnessed the arrival of the Jewish Christ-follower Paul, or Saul as the Jews knew this Apostle of Jesus as he worshipped in the Temple along with thousands of others.

Jerusalem – a City Stirred Up

Today we will skip over some of Paul’s “Jewish” speeches, with which most Christians and Jews are most familiar from the Apostle’s THREE MISSIONARY JOURNEYS that go back several years to A.D. 47.

ACTS on Mission

Acts of the Apostles 21:
- Then the whole city was provoked…
- .. and the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple; and immediately the doors were shut.
³¹And as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. ³²He at once 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 arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains.
- Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, some another.
- he could not learn the facts because of the uproar
- he ordered him to be brought into the barracks.
Let’s STOP here for a moment to view some conflicting reports.

The Antonia Fortress Barracks
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Note the several differences in archeological conjectures about the Temple and Antonia Fortress.
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A picture may be worth a thousand words, but sometimes a thousand words will not paint the true picture.
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Even a simple scene from Luke's account enters into the controversies of the Jerusalem, Rome and religion to this day.
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And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd, for the mob of the people followed, crying out, “Away with him!”
Acts of the Apostles 21:35-36 ESV

A Greek View of Things

As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, “May I say something to you?”

And he said, “Do you know Greek?
Acts21:37 μέλλων τε εἰσάγεσθαι εἰς τὴν παρεμβολὴν ὁ Παῦλος λέγει τῷ χιλιάρχῳ εἰ ἔξεστίν μοι εἰπεῖν τι πρὸς σέ ὁ δὲ ἔφη Ἑλληνιστὶ γινώσκεις

WHY does a ROMAN military ruler even care that this Paulos knows Greek?

Are you not the Egyptian, then, who recently stirred up a * revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?”
* to excite tumults and seditions in the State: Acts 17:6; Acts 21:38.

ROMANS, like the GREEKS, worship a pan-Theon of gods and show tolerance for the religions of all.

AS for the politics of war and assassins, ROME had conquered a crumbling democracy of the Athens with many gods and overran a Senate of its own Republic with daggers and legions to establish this Roman peace unconditionally ruled by those who served Caesars.

Paul replied,

“I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no obscure city. I beg you, permit me to speak to the people.”
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So the ROMAN COMMANDER here learns that in addition to Paul NOT being an Egyptian opponent of Caesar that he is an out-of-towner from CILICIA (probably here for the festival). 
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40 And when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hand to the people.

And when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language [dialect, probably Aramaic]..
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This accused man speaks Greek, the universal language of his Roman Empire AND also the local Judean language.
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A Jewish View of Things

Let’s just highlight a few of Paul’s points to this mob of Hebrews who were just going to stone him.

.. he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.
Acts of the Apostles 21:28b-29 ESV
- Remember the controversy of the Jew Paul in Ephesus?
- But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
  - Acts 19:34
- The Ephesians are pagans!
Acts of the Apostles 22:

Rav Sha’ul said, “Anashim, Achim, Avot, listen now to my hitstaddekut (defense).”

²And when they heard that Rav Sha’ul was addressing them in the language of the Hebrews, they were even more quiet.
Acts of the Apostles 22:1-2a Orthodox Jewish Bible
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A few of Paul's points:
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- brought up in this city,
- educated at the feet of Gamaliel
- strict manner of the law of our fathers,
- zealous for God as all of you are this day.
I persecuted this Way to the death..
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.. near to Damascus [nearly 20 years ago  in ~ A.D. 37]
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.. ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me,

‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’
Acts of the Apostles 22:8b ESV

.. ‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth..
Acts 22:14b

22 Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.”

A Roman Reaction

23 And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air..
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And remember, just like two-score years [14] before when they stoned Stephen and two years before that when they murdered their Messiah Jesus, THE ROMAN SOLDIERS AND GOVERNMENT IS IN CHARGE!
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the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogging, to find out why they were shouting against him like this.
Acts of the Apostles 22:24 ESV
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Did these Roman soldiers under orders of their Tribune NOT believe this strange man the Jewish crowds insisted on killing?
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But when they had stretched him out with the leather straps [in preparation for the whip], Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it legal for you to whip a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned [without a trial]?”
Acts of the Apostles 22:25 Amplified Version
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Paul, of course, knew the answer. For Romans promoted their culture under Law enforced by Centurions loyal to Rome's Caesar.

Once more, skipping ahead in Paul's arrival in Jerusalem: 
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So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.
Acts of the Apostles 22:29 ESV

a glance back toward Rome’s Empire

Herod the Great, half-Arab and half-Jew, was a politically adept client King of ROME, more Roman some believed than Judean.

Mostly, this King of the Jews (an official designation of the Roman Senate), is best known Biblically for his efforts to kill the Christ child while he tested the political winds of his time.

Herod, more famous for rebuilding and expanding the Second Temple ALSO built Jerusalem’s ROMAN fortress, naming it after Marc Antony.

Marcus Antonius had helped Caesar drive Pompey from Italy..

After Caesar’s assassination, Octavian (later Caesar Augustus) initially opposed Antony but later formed the Second Triumvirate with Antony and Lepidus. Antony helped defeat republican forces at Philippi and took control of Rome’s eastern provinces. On a mission to Egypt to question Cleopatra about her loyalty, he became her lover.. Octavian declared war on Cleopatra. Antony lost the Battle of Actium, and he and Cleopatra fled to Egypt, pursued by Octavian. When resistance became futile, they committed suicide.
Source: Britannica

Antonia Fortress
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Antonia Fortress had 3 towers 50 cubits (86 ft) high and a fourth tower 70 cubits (120 ft./36.75 m) high. 
The view from this highest tower, that, according to Josephus “commanded a view of the whole area of the Temple”
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At the place where the northern and western porticoes met, there was a staircase leading up to the roof of the porticoes. At this place there was an entrance to the Antonia Fortress.
Here we can imagine the scene portrayed in Acts 21 and 22, when the Roman captain, Lysias, allowed Paul to address his fellow countrymen from the safety of the Antonia.
Source:

All Roads Lead To ROME

Paul’s three Missionary Journeys have proclaimed Christ in many places. Next: Rome

By now, in the year of our Lord 56, the Apostle Paul will continue to balance his evangelism of all the world as a Roman citizen defending his faith in Jerusalem, but also in a race to the finish in Rome.

ACTS of the Apostle Paul

To Be Continued…

Talk of JESUS .com
May 31, 2024
Jerusalem – a City Stirred Up
Then the whole city was provoked…
Acts of the Apostles 21:30 NASB20

CROWD REACTIONS with violence, retribution and vengeance, WAR between two opposing forces where some claim PEACE while others besiege it with competing claims of war and tolerance…

Nothing is new under the sun, most especially in Israel !

Jerusalem, Jerusalem!

~ In the year of our Lord 30

So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.

Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!

“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.

Look, your house is left to you desolate.
Gospel of Matthew 23:37-38 NIV {in context of vs. 31-39}

JESUS had testified against these same leading trouble-makers.

Now the Apostle Paul has returned to the same Jerusalem where many years before this up and coming Saul of Tarsus had stood with the leaders of the Temple who then stoned Stephen to death.

https://talkofjesus.com/stephen-indictment-of-our-founding-fathers

~ A.D. 32 – Stephen martyred in Jerusalem
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* ALL estimates of YEARS are provided for chronological comparison to other events and for historical context.
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*approximately A.D. 54-55

https://talkofjesus.com/mission-to-macedonia-with-more-exhortation

Paul has also encountered these zealous Jews in many cities throughout the ten years of his three missionary journeys; including in Ephesus of Asia Minor from where the Apostle has just returned. And Jewish opponents of the Gospel have also traveled to Jerusalem for the festival.

Acts of the Apostles 21:
~ A.D. 57

Photo of door in gate of Jerusalem's wall from ~A.D. 1900
And all the city was disturbed; and the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple; and immediately the doors were shut.
Acts of the Apostles 21:30 NKJV

Little doubt that the Apostle Paul, who had seen the Lord Jesus Himself along a road to persecuted Christians in Damascus twenty years ago (in ~A.D. 37) knew the similar intent of these same anti-Christs who had stoned Stephen.

Yet due to the prophesy of Agabus (Acts 21:20-21) Paul knew of a different outcome the Lord had in store for the Apostle.

Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.
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Oh, did I mention that JERUSALEM is still UNDER the control and administration of ROME and NOT its appointed Jewish leaders (who incite the mobs to their own political advantage)?

Just like when Pilate governed JERUSALEM is controlled from beyond its oft-breached walls.
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He immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them.

And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

Then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done.
Acts of the Apostles 21:33 ESV – The arrest of Paul in Jerusalem
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SOUND FAMILIAR? 

Will an arrest in JERUSALEM to appease shouting crowds restore a pax Romana? 
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21st Century of the Common Era

MAY, 2021 of the Common Era

Observant readers of Talk of JESUS .com will have noted that the COVER PHOTO of today’s post is contemporary rather than from the time of the Apostle Paul.

Palestinians protest at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City on May 21, 2021. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)

7 October 2023 C.E.

Most of us recall an initial incursion by militant Islamists into a pax UN of Israel tenuously instituted in 1949 after an A.D. 20th century holocaust of the Jews.

Their own atrocities of war and proven provocation of Jerusalem has led to great evil perpetrated by both sides.

Although I take no side in this divisive war I would ask you to consider current outcomes in light of entrenched positions which have led up to these current events.

23 May 2021

THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

OP-ED
Losing the war

2024 C.E.
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"Meanwhile, Israel celebrated the nation’s 76th anniversary on Tuesday." - IMAGE of Gaza (date uncertain) 
By The Bharat Express News
May 14, 2024
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‘What does all this have to do with Paul and ACTS of the Apostles?‘
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While you consider and compare  A.D. FIRST CENTURY JERUSALEM with a 2024 of the Common Era Jerusalem, Israel let's LOOK BACK at what 1st c. A.D. JEWISH leaders already knew about their City.
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Before Christ
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* ALL estimates of YEARS are provided for chronological comparison to other events and for historical context.
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~1000 Before Christ + David rules a United Israel for 40 years

Now Yahweh was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from Yahweh, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice..

“However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”
1 Kings 11:9,13 LSB
- 930 B.C. Solomon dies. The Kingdom (which did not include Philistia & Gaza) had grown since David’s reign to influence all of the world from the Nile to the Euphrates. It now becomes divided between his sons.
- 721 B.C. Fall of Israel [Samaria] to Assyria
Assyria takes Samarian captives 722 BC & Babylon takes Judah’s captives 607-537 BC
- 661 B.C. on Yom Kippur (the day of atonement)
Now the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people and said to them, “Thus says God, ‘Why do you trespass against the commandments of Yahweh and do not succeed? Because you have forsaken Yahweh, He has also forsaken you.’”

So they conspired against him and at the command of the king they stoned him to death in the court of the house of Yahweh [the Temple].
2 Chronicles 24:20-21 LSB
- AFTER refusing to listen to Prophets sent to them by the LORD Judah also falls.
- 587 B.C. Jerusalem falls
Flight of the Prisoners, Artist: Tissot, Photographer: John Parnell, Photo © The Jewish Museum, New York

And Judah was taken away into exile to Babylon for their unfaithfulness.
1 Chronicles 9:1b LSB
- 559 B.C.
“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia,

‘Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Ezra 1:2 LSB

331 B.C.

After having defeated Tyre, Alexander the Great seizes Jerusalem, Gaza and much of Egypt.
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We'll skip past the Seleucid Empire to the east and Egyptian Empire to the west of Jerusalem, BOTH threats to Judea and ROME, as well as a familiar Jewish political/religious tiff between the Maccabees and Hasmonaeans.
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63 B.C.

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus or Pompey the Great captures Jerusalem and creates an alliance with the part-Edomite King of Jerusalem, Herod the Great. – Source

48 B.C.

Julius Caesar (100BC – 44BC)

Roman Rule (Before & in the years of Christ)
- Caesar was a politician and general of the late Roman republic – source BBC
- A civil war broke out, and Caesar’s soldiers were victorious against Pompey.
- Pompey escaped to Egypt in search of refuge upon losing the battle. Instead, he was assassinated in the Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy XIII’s bid to win over Caesar. – source
August 9, 48 BC – Battle of PHARSALUS (in Greece)
- (Gaius Julius) Caesar went on to become the ruler of Rome, proclaiming himself to be the sole consul and dictator.
Paul: more than just a Jew
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Returning once more to  Jerusalem in A.D. 57 ... 

(where those present do NOT know that ROME will completely destroy Jerusalem and its Temple just 13 years from now...)
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Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, some another.

And as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks.

And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd,

for the mob of the people followed, crying out,

“Away with him!”
Acts of the Apostles 21:36 ESV (vs. 34-36 above)

Sound familiar?

NEXT, God-willing, we will continue with Paul’s troubles in Jerusalem

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
May 15, 2024
What God Hath Wrought 2
Paul’s Mission – 2 REPORTS
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A.D. 57

Previously:
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TO James and the Church:

And when he had saluted them, he rehearsed one by one the things which God had wrought among the Gentiles through his ministry.
Acts of the Apostles 21:19 – ASV – Paul’s account of his third mission to th

What God Hath Wrought

“Thou seest, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of them that have believed..” – Acts 21:20b ASV

James and the leaders of the church in Jerusalem then put forth a plan for Paul to prove his faithfulness to the LAW of Moses to the thousands of Jews in the Temple.

TO Jewish Worshipers including Proselytes in the Temple courts:

Followers of the Way of Jesus Christ are convinced, yet through the Spirit Paul will proclaim Christ to the larger multitudes of the Temple courts divided for Jews and separately set-apart areas for God-seekers among the Hellenists and pagans.

Acts of the Apostles 21: ASV

and they have been informed concerning thee, that thou teachest all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.
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James, of course, does not receive the murmuring of those influenced by the anti-Christs among the temple leadership; however the issue at hand is for Paul and the Apostles to proclaim CHRIST TO JEW AND GENTILE ALIKE.
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The Lord Jesus had received the same sort of reception in the Temple as the Apostles do now.

John 5:

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that bear witness about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.
Gospel of John 5:39-40 LSB – witness of the Lord Jesus to the leaders of the Temple

“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the only God?

“Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope.

“For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.
Gospel of John 5:46 – The Lord Jesus challenging leaders of the Temple

“But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
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James knows how these same Temple officials some twenty ago had falsely convicted and then crucified his beloved half-brother, JESUS.

These will not believe Paul either.

Yet by God's grace some will believe the Apostle when Paul once again proclaims Christ in Jerusalem's Temple.
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What God hath Wrought through MOSES
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a Scriptural sample from the Torah from which PAUL or any of the Apostles could have preached on this or any day.
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מֹשֶׁה
מֹשֶׁה (mōšê), occurs 766x in 704 verses in the WLC Hebrew.

He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses^H4872 hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

– Exodus 3:6

Then Moses H4872 answered and said, “What if they will not believe me and will not listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘Yahweh has not appeared to you.’”

– Exodus 4:1

So Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their weakness of spirit and hard slavery. – Exodus 6:9

Therefore the people contended with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.”

And Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you test Yahweh?”

But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, “Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to put us and our children and our livestock to death with thirst?”

– Exodus 17:2-3 LSB

the Tabernacle & the Temple

Now it happened, in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was erected… He erected the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and he put up the screen for the gateway of the court.

Thus Moses finished the work.

– Exodus 40:17,33 LSB

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Yahweh filled the tabernacle.
40:34 וַיְכַס הֶעָנָן אֶת־אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד וּכְבוֹד יְהוָה מָלֵא אֶת־הַמִּשְׁכָּן׃
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Paul could have preached of MOSES and the Tabernacle. 

The Apostle could have witnessed SCRIPTURE recalling THE GLORY OF THE LORD filling the Temple during its dedication by Solomon.
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Paul legitimately could have asked Judea's leaders,
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‘WHEN HAS THE GLORY OF THE LORD EVER FILLED THIS TEMPLE REBUILT BY HEROD UNDER ROME? ‘

Yet Paul had no need to reiterate this truth that leading Jews under ROME seeking the Apostle knew all too well.

AND the Apostles knew all-to-well that ‘circumcision’ (the mark of the Jew) was NOT the real issue.

‘forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children..’
FALSE WITNESS against the Apostle to the gentiles, Paul.

Nor was Moses, against whom many had been stiff-necked.

περιτομή – Circumcision
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Earlier in Paul's missionary journeys:
(the matter settled by James and the A.D. 49 Council of Jerusalem)
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But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the Law of Moses.”

Both the apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter.
Acts of the Apostles 15:5-6 LSB

ACTS 21

Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them.

27 Now when the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon noticing him in the temple, began to throw all the crowd into confusion and laid hands on him, crying out,

“Men of Israel, help!

This is the man who teaches to everyone everywhere against our people and the Law and this place;

and besides, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

MORE false accusations and lies

This latest stirring of the CROWDS in ROMAN JERUSALEM resembles earlier riots and controversies ignited against the GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST which Paul and many disciples of The Way have now proclaimed throughout much of Asia and Europe.

Paul, a Jew among jews, has abandoned an old Covenant broken by the Jews many centuries Before Christ.

“So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer.
Deuteronomy 10:16 וּמַלְתֶּם אֵת עָרְלַת לְבַבְכֶם וְעָרְפְּכֶם לֹא תַקְשׁוּ עוֹד׃
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“Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh
And remove the foreskins of your heart,

Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,

Lest My wrath go forth like fire
And burn with none to quench it

Because of the evil of your deeds.”

Jeremiah 4:4
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NEXT God-willing, we will return to the controversy unraveling in the Temple.

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
May 10, 2024