Paul, His True Son and Christian Liberty

INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT

The last time we were in Acts together, we saw Paul and Barnabas separate after having a sharp disagreement over John Mark and whether or not he should go with them on their second missionary journey.

In the end, Barnabas took Mark and went on a mission trip of his own, going to strengthen the churches in Cyprus.

Meanwhile, Paul selects Silas to go with him to strengthen the churches in Syria and Cilicia—churches planted by Paul and Barnabas on their initial missionary journey into the Gentile world.

This morning, we see Paul’s second trip underway as we begin Acts 16.

In the passage, we will see Paul meet Timothy—and this is appropriate on Father’s Day because Paul calls Timothy his “true son in the faith.”

But something odd happens with Timothy.

After all the dust in the air over circumcision back in Acts 15, Paul does something surprising—he has Timothy circumcised.

Why?

Why would the guy who told the Galatians that he wished the people who were so obsessed with circumcision would fully emasculate themselves, suddenly insist upon the circumcision of an uncircumcised believer in Christ?

Well, what we will see this morning is that it is all about the Great Commission.

It is all about making disciples.

It is all about proclaiming the Gospel.

And as we study the passage, we will learn some things regarding our witness for Christ and Christian liberty.

We will define that term Christian liberty as we go and we will have two teaching points:

(SAME SLIDE FOR TWO POINTS BELOW)

Teaching Point #1: Regarding the Law, the Christian has liberty.

Teaching Point #2: Regarding liberty, the Christian must do what is best for the Gospel.

Acts 16:1–5 ESV

Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.

PAUL AND HIS TRUE SON (v. 1-2)

We begin this morning by looking at Paul and his true son in the faith, Timothy.

Paul is going to recruit Timothy in Lystra.

Paul ends up in Lystra after taking a route filled with opportunity for preaching the Gospel and discipling young believers in the newly planted churches. It also would have been a road filled with threat and risk.

He would have traveled across the Tarsus mountains through the pass known as the Cilician Gates.

Then he would have traveled west on the Via Sebaste (Via SEH-BEST), a major Roman road, passing through cities located in modern-day Turkey.

Podandos, Tynna, Kybistra.

Then it would have been the Lycaonian town of Sidamaria, before arriving at Derbe and Lystra.

Derbe and Lystra are in Southern Galatia. There were congregations in both cities.

Luke tells us that Timothy is the son of a Jewish woman and a Greek man (v. 1)

According to 2 Timothy 1:5, Timothy’s mother and grandmother were Christians.

2 Timothy 1:5 ESV

I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.

Timothy is also a believer, as Luke refers to him as a disciple. (v. 1)

It is highly probably that Luke’s father was an unbelieving Greek man—evidenced by the fact that his son was not circumcised.

And with Timothy’s mother marrying him, you would assume that her Jewish family had very much assimilated into Greek culture.

Her marriage to a Greek man would be a real problem when it came to Old Testament law and evidently, her family did not care.

However, it seems like Timothy’s mother was converted on Paul’s first missionary journey.

And it wasn’t out of nowhere.

Though her family seemed to have integrated Hellenistic Greek ways into their home, Timothy’s mother had a love for the holy book of her heritage throughout Timothy’s life.

She had taught him the Old Testament from childhood.

2 Timothy 3:15 ESV

and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Perhaps she had learned to love the Scriptures from her own mother, Lois.

Regardless, she had planted the seed of God’s revealed Word in her son’s heart and then, like her, he came to faith in Christ.

Maybe he was also led to faith by Paul or it was by his mother and/or grandmother.

Either way—God’s grace has transformed this family.

When it comes to Timothy’s father, the fact that he is not talked about in Paul’s letters would make it seem like he passed away before Paul came into the family’s lives.

We can’t be totally sure.

But whatever we may know or not know of Timothy’s earthly father, we can be sure about the identity of his spiritual father.

1 Timothy 1:1–2 ESV

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

He uses similar language to start 2 Timothy.

2 Timothy 1:2 ESV

To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul took Timothy on as his spiritual son.

He fed him spiritually.

He warned him of danger.

He exhorted him to faithfulness.

And as we will see in the next few verses, he taught him how to be a missionary—even at some cost to Timothy’s personal well-being.

Of course, you see Paul’s warm, fatherly care for Timothy most clearly in his two letters to him in the New Testament.

1 Timothy is a letter in which Paul is teaching Timothy how to run God’s church.

1 Timothy 3:14–15 ESV

I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

2 Timothy is a letter in which Paul is teaching Timothy how to run his life AS he runs God’s church.

2 Timothy 1:13–14 ESV

Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

But even before Paul gets his hands on Timothy, the young man is excelling in the faith and in service in the church.

You can see in v. 2 that he is well spoken of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium.

These two congregations were 22 miles from one another and both had come to know Timothy, as a helpful, useful, godly young man in Christ.

You can see why Paul would have met him and thought, “Let me disciple this one. This is one I could entrust my ministry to.”

And you can see why Paul would want to recruit Timothy for his team.

THE CIRCUMCISION (v. 3)

But Timothy’s on-boarding process has a little more to it than signing some paperwork and getting a background check.

In verse 3, Luke tells us that Paul circumcises him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew his father was a Greek.

A few weeks ago, we were at the Jerusalem Council and Paul was standing with Peter and James, fighting for justification by faith alone.

In fact, the whole council was called because Paul was tangling with some men from Judea in Antioch who were saying that Gentiles must be circumcised before they can turn to Christ and be saved.

Why would the guy who wrote Galatians and fought for the clarity of the Gospel at Jerusalem, suddenly have Timothy, who would have been between 16-24 years old at this time, circumcised?

How does this not go against everything he had fought for in Antioch and Jerusalem?

It is more than a fair question.

After all, in Galatians, we read about Paul confronting Peter about being one way around the men from Judea and another way when those men were absent.

Is Paul the one that needs a talking to now?

To begin to understand Paul’s actions, we have to start with how Jewish people thought about marriages between Jews and Gentiles.

Under OT law, children born with a Jewish mother and a Gentile father would be considered Gentile because of patrilinear principle.

That is just a fancy way to say that ethnicity was tracked through the father.

However, by the time of the first century, the Mishnah was starting to be considered in these matters. The Mishnah was a compilation of Jewish oral laws that were seen as authoritative and in it, ethnicity is tracked using the matrilinear principle—meaning through the mother.

Now, here is why this is all important as it relates to Timothy’s circumcision...

If Timothy remains uncircumcised, Jews will look at him as an unclean Gentile or an apostate.

By Old Testament Law, some will call him a Gentile. Full on.

By Mishnaic Law, some will call him an uncircumcised Jew—a rebellious apostate.

Either way, with everyone in the area knowing his dad’s family heritage, Timothy will be unwelcome in the synagogues that Paul is eager to evangelize in.

Furthermore, Paul will be unwelcome for traveling with him.

In other words—Timothy’s lack of circumcision creates a major barrier to the Gospel in the evangelization of the Jewish world.

And to the Gentile world, he would have been strange.

Why would someone with a Jewish mother not be circumcised?

So this is what leads Paul to circumcise his young companion. It is for the sake of the mission.

He wants to remove any barrier to Gospel proclamation that he and Timothy and Silas can continue the ministry of the Word.

Here is Paul talking about this sort of breakneck commitment to keeping the door open for the Gospel to go forth:

1 Corinthians 9:19–23 ESV

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 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. 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. 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. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

In that chapter, Paul is telling the Corinthians that he has rights as an apostle.

For example, he has the right to financial support.

But Paul did not exercise that right and found ways to support himself so that his receiving of money would not lead to anyone accusing him of wrongdoing and take the spotlight off of Christ and the cross.

And that serves as just one example of how Paul is willing to forego his rights for the Gospel’s sake.

What Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 9 is that this is his track record.

He is always willing to die to his preferences, give up his rights and adopt customs and cultural practices so that the door for the Gospel will be open.

He isn’t willing to sin. He won’t sacrifice his integrity.

But he will give up things and take on things that are not his preference in order for the Gospel to reach the unbelieving souls who need God’s grace for their rescue.

To the Jews, he will become as a Jew.

To the Gentiles, he will become as a Gentile.

He will become all things to all people that by all means, he would see some saved.

This is Paul’s mindset as he circumcises Timothy.

It is for the mission.

It is for the Gospel.

THE RESULTS (v. 4-5)

And you would have to say that it is hard to argue with the results.

In verses 4 and 5, we can see how Timothy goes with Paul and they are trekking through cities, delivering news of the Jerusalem Council, strengthening the church in the faith and seeing the church increase in number every single day.

The Greek word that translates to increase is perriseuo (pear-eh-SEV-oh) which can also translate to abundance.

It is like Luke is saying, “Everyday, the mission team would go to bed after fishing for souls all day and the nets were full.”

Praise God for brothers and sisters saved on this missionary journey, that you and I will one day meet in heaven.

Praise God for brothers and sisters who were a part of these first churches in the Gentile world and for how they were strengthened by Paul’s team at this crucial time in their infant faith.

But as we praise God for these things, we also applaud the wisdom he gave to Paul.

Paul knew Timothy needed to be circumcised for him to do ministry in these cities.

Clearly the strategic decision paid off, as the team is experiencing great fruit with every place they go.

It is the sort of fruit that every mission team would desire...

…The sort of fruit that every Christian longs to see through the ministry of their churches and their own personal evangelism.

So seeing the fruit that God gave after such strategic wisdom was applied, let’s go back and dive a little deeper into Paul’s decision to circumcise Timothy and see how it might impact decisions we make every single day.

We will have two points as we go and the first one is this...

REGARDING THE LAW

Teaching Point #1: Regarding the Law, the Christian has liberty.

Our relationship to God’s Law has changed.

From birth, we stood condemned by the Law.

All have fallen short of the glory of God...

None is righteous, no not one...

But Christ came and kept the Law.

And then He died on the hill of Calvary.

He was pierced for our transgressions...

He was crushed for our iniquities...

When we trust in him by faith, we are redeemed from the curse of the Law.

A Lawkeeper has paid for our sins and given us His perfect record of righteousness before God.

We have received this gift by repenting and trusting in Him.

Now the Law no longer pronounces a death sentence over us.

Christ has bore our judgment and we are accepted at God’s throne.

Now, we are free to do something we were not free to do before.

You can take off the works of the flesh and you can put on love.

Colossians 3:14 ESV

And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

You are free to please God with your life, which you are offering up to Him as a living sacrifice in Christ.

And because it is in Christ, praise the Lord—He receives it.

So what is your relationship to the Law?

It used to be the measuring rod that found you guilty.

But the spiritual freedom you have received in Christ has now granted you a new desire to please God and to keep His commandments.

AGAINST THE LAW OR AGAINST LIBERTY

When Christians get their relationship with the Law wrong, it is because they make one of two mistakes:

They are against Law.

They are against liberty.

Those who are against Law make the mistake of disregarding the Law all together.

They say, “We are free in Christ! We can do whatever we want!”

But that isn’t how Jesus said we relate to Him.

John 14:15 ESV

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

We show that we love Him when we obey Him.

We show that through the Son, God is our God and we are His people, when lovingly adhere to His precepts of life.

If we disregard God’s law—His commands—we are relating to God in an unloving manner.

We are saying, “Your Word and Your will and Your way do not matter to me.”

That can’t be a Christian’s heart, right?

So we reject that. You can’t be against Law.

Then there are those who are against liberty.

These are those who are legalists, and they want to make conformity to the Law a means of salvation.

This is what Paul was battling in Antioch and the church was standing against at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15.

This is when the Law is being used as a means of salvation.

The brothers from the party of the Pharisees fell into this error when they said, “Gentiles must be circumcised in order for them to be saved.”

Circumcision is a part of the Law. The are saying law-keeping will earn you favor with God.

This mistake is not just made by Pharisees 2,000 years ago.

It has been made again and again in the generations of the church, when people begin to take “good behavior,” in some way, shape or form and turn it into a way to please God and earn salvation.

It might be Jesus + circumcision

Or it might be Jesus + any sort of duty you must perform in order to gain salvation

Jesus + any sort of sin you must avoid in order to keep your salvation

This is all a form of legalism that is against liberty.

Whenever we attempt to take away from the Gospel by adding to it, we are against liberty.

We have to avoid this mistake as well.

The 1689 London Baptist Confession is good to help us understand the Christian’s relationship to God’s Law.

Listen to this first part. This is explaining what has been bought for us by the blood of Christ.

The liberty which Christ has purchased for believers under the gospel, consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the severity and curse of the law, and in their being delivered from this present evil world, bondage to Satan, and dominion of sin, from the evil of afflictions, the fear and sting of death, the victory of the grave, and everlasting damnation: as also in their free access to God, and their yielding obedience unto Him, not out of slavish fear, but a child-like love and willing mind. All which were common also to believers under the law for the substance of them;

1689 London Baptist Confession, Chapter 21

Under the Old Covenant, believers under the ceremonial law would make their sacrifices and keep their feast days and look forward to the Messiah to come and trusting in God’s promise for salvation.

They tasted morsels of what we have as New Testament believers. But listen to what the confession says next:

but under the New Testament the liberty of Christians is further enlarged, in their freedom from the yoke of a ceremonial law, to which the Jewish church was subjected, and in greater boldness of access to the throne of grace, and in fuller communications of the free Spirit of God, than believers under the law did ordinarily partake of.

1689 London Baptist Confession, Chapter 21

The ceremonial law, with its sacrifices and feasts, pointed beyond itself to Christ.

Now that Christ has come and died, all who have faith in Him are freed from the yoke of that Law.

However, we are not free to do whatever we want.

We are free to act on our new desires to please God by keeping His commandments as an expression of our love and worship.

We are free to serve Him.

Understand that Paul and Barnabas and the other Apostles are fighting for this very doctrine at the Jerusalem Council.

They are fighting for the idea that faith alone justifies the repentant sinner before God, but you can’t contend for that truth without having a proper understanding of the Christian’s relationship to the Law.

Free from the yoke of the ceremonial law—This was the Jerusalem Council, right? No circumcision necessary.

Free to obey Christ by doing things like refraining from idolatry, sexual immorality and offending your Jewish brothers with what you eat.

This was also the Jerusalem Council when you take a look at their resolutions they sent in the letter that Paul is still circulating in Acts 16 this morning.

PAUL AND TIMOTHY

So then, understanding the relationship that we have with the Law, did Paul do wrong by circumcising Timothy?

Is he being a legalist and taking away from the Gospel by adding to it?

Is he saying, “Timothy, the grace of Christ is lacking and you must be circumcised in order for your salvation to be truly effective?”

Some have been so convinced that the answer is YES, that they have actually contended this part of Acts was made up by Luke because clearly Paul would never do this!

But in truth, Paul is not making the mistake of legalism.

He does not believe that Timothy must be circumcised to be a believer.

Instead, he believes Timothy must be circumcised to be a believer who goes to cities and preaches the Gospel, starting with the synagogues first.

He must be circumcised to be a faithful missionary.

This has nothing to do with Timothy’s salvation and everything to do with Timothy’s circumstances.

He is a Hellenistic Jewish boy in a cultural no-man’s land until he has this procedure done.

REGARDING LIBERTY

This brings us to our second teaching point this morning:

2. Regarding liberty, the Christian must do what is best for the Gospel.

Paul’s situation with Timothy far from a hypocritical misstep by the Apostle.

It is actually a great example of what we are to do with our Christian liberty.

Now when I say Christian liberty, I am simply referring to that spiritual freedom that we just talked about.

The liberty won for you by the blood of Christ.

You are freed from the penalty of sin.

You are freed from the power of sin.

You are free to do those things which God has commanded us in His Word.

And conversely, you would say we are free to do those things which God has not forbidden in His Word.

I am free to love my neighbor.

I am free to eat shrimp with my neighbor, because all foods are declared clean for New Covenant believers.

But this can get sticky can’t it?

Am I free to see this rated R movie if there’s language and violence, but no sex and nudity?

Am I free to have this drink with my unbelieving friend?

Am I free to listen to music that I listened to before I was saved?

Or it can get more serious?

Am I free to educate my children in this way or that way?

Am I free to vote for certain political candidates or political parties?

OR Am I free to be circumcised or not be circumcised?

These are questions that carry a little more weight than, “Can I have this margarita and listen to Jimmy Buffet?”

WHAT IS BEST FOR THE GOSPEL?

Well I believe that if we go back to 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, which we looked at earlier, we will see Paul’s primary concern on these matters.

When he is considering whether or not he should accept any money for the work he is doing for the church as an Apostle, he decides he should not.

Why? (VERSES FOR SLIDES AND NOT FOR YOU TO READ)

1 Corinthians 9:19–23 (ESV)

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 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. 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. 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. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

…that I might win more of them (v. 19)

…in order to win Jews (v. 20)

…that I might win those under the law (v. 20)

…That I might win those outside the law (v. 21)

…That I might win the weak (v. 22)

I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

I think Paul is making himself pretty clear.

His decisions about matters of Christian liberty are governed by his desire to see souls won to the Kingdom through the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

He will bend and flex in order to keep the Word at work.

Verse 19 shows this most clearly.

“For though I am free from all...” = Liberty

“I have made myself...” = Disciplining himself

“a servant to all...” = Flexibility

“That I might win more of them.” = What is best for the Gospel

Put it all together: Paul is at liberty to discipline himself to be flexible for the sake of the Gospel.

This verse has led Andrew Naselli to define Christian liberty in this way:

Christian liberty is the freedom to discipline yourself to be flexible for the sake of the gospel.

Andrew Naselli

WHAT I GET TO REPRESENT, NOT WHAT I GET TO DO

I think this is pretty transformative for the way most people think about Christian liberty.

They tend to focus on what they “get to do.”

Well, the Bible says that wine gladdens the heart (which it does), so as long as I don’t get drunk, I GET to drink.

Well, the Bible doesn’t say I can’t listen to this, so I am free to do it?

Well, the Bible doesn’t say I can’t go on a long vacation with a bunch of unbelieving friends who usually influence me into making bad decisions, so I am free to do it?

Christian liberty can become this excuse to get as close to the line of disobedience as we can without crossing it.

It can become this game we play where we see how much of the world we can play with before we do something sinful.

I once heard Pastor Paul Washer say that he was struggling with temptation to do some worldly things and he told the old evangelist Leonard Ravenhill.

Ravenhill sent him a pamphlet entitled, “They Can, But You Can’t.”

Inside the pamphlet explained that lost people in the world sin because it is all they know. They play with dead things because they think there is life in them.

But we know better. There are certain things THEY can do, but we CAN’T do.

They Can, But You Can’t.

For some, it seems like Christian liberty is an excuse to explore how much we can do of what the world does, while still being obedient to the Bible.

But is this really Paul’s motivating factor in matters of liberty?

It certainly is not in Acts 16.

Paul does not circumcise Timothy to indulge his flesh.

It certainly does not indulge Timothy’s flesh.

Paul’s motivation in Acts 16 is winning souls.

Timothy must be circumcised in order to be an ambassador for Christ on the rest of the missionary journey.

His family situation left him in a place where he would be offending people everywhere he went as a missionary.

As Paul makes this decision, and as Timothy consents, both are exercising their freedom to discipline themselves to be flexible for the Gospel’s sake.

Speaking in the sense of salvation, Timothy has no need to be circumcised.

But speaking in the sense of mission, Timothy will flex himself to be circumcised in order that the Gospel he preaches would be heard.

He has the same heart as Paul, flexing to not take money, in 1 Corinthians 9.

And what happens?

As we saw in verses 4 and 5, Paul and Timothy’s target is hit.

They went on their way through the cities.

Disciples were strengthened through the preaching of God’s Word. New disciples were born through the preaching of God’s Word.

Points went on the board for the Gospel.

And that means Paul and Timothy used liberty well.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT USING LIBERTY WELL

And we should say, there are consequences when we do not use liberty well.

When liberty is used well, the Gospel wins, but when liberty is not used well, the opposite happens—the Gospel loses.

When people see Christian liberty as this opportunity to be like the world or indulge the flesh one of two things tends to happen:

A) The Christian goes too far and ends up sinning against the Lord because they cross lines

B) The Christian does not sin, but an appearance of sin causes someone to think they are sinning

And that will have one of two results:

If Christian is seen in a compromising situation by an unbeliever, they may think, “So much for their Christianity. They are no different than me.”

OR if the Christian is seen in a compromising situation by a weaker believer, they make think, “Oh! I didn’t know we could do that! I’m going to do it, too.”

It is awful either way.

Whether you are causing an unbeliever to be hardened toward the Gospel because of your so-called liberty or you are causing a more immature believer to stumble into something that would be sinful for them, the Gospel is losing.

Your behavior is not one that is advancing the purposes of God’s Word.

You have actually become the problem. You are a hurdle.

So at the end of the day, whether it is circumcision or alcohol or our political bumper stickers, we have to ask the question, “Am I removing hurdles for the Gospel or am I creating them?”

CONCLUSION

In light of what we have talked about this morning, I want to urge you to leave behind the view of Christian liberty that is self-centered.

It is all about us and what we want to do.

We must trade it in for a freedom to discipline ourselves to be flexible for the sake of weaker brothers and sisters around us.

We must trade it in for a freedom to train ourselves for flexibility for the sake of the lost.

We must trade it in for a freedom to train ourselves to bend for the Gospel’s sake.

…That by all means, we might save some and share the blessings of the Good News with them.