Paul’s Arrest - Acts 21:27-36

Upon Paul’s arrival in Jerusalem the following day he and his group met with James and the elders of the Jerusalem church. After he had shared what God had done through his ministry the elders shared their concerns that there were myriads of Jewish Christians that were strictly observing the ceremonial customs of the Mosaic law, and there were also unbelieving Jews who were accusing Paul of telling Jewish Christians who lived among Gentiles, that they no longer needed to circumcise their children nor live according to Jewish customs. None of these accusations were true. But they were serious charges, and something needed to be done to prove them to be false. So the elders devised a plan and urged Paul to take four of their men who had taken a Nazirite vow and join in with their purification requirement since he had returned from Gentile territory and had previously had taken a Nazirite vow (Acts 18:18), and pay for their expenses to have their heads shaved. By doing this it would prove that the accusations against Paul were false. Paul understood the seriousness of the contention these false accusations were causing and he didn’t want it to hinder non-believing Jews from accepting the gospel. So, Paul humbly agreed and the next day he took the four men and he and the men were purified and he went into the temple to announce the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each of them.

This leads us to the disturbance in Jerusalem in v.27

Acts 21:27“Now when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him,”

Just when Paul had returned to the temple to complete days of purification Jews from Asia saw him in the temple. These Jews were unbelievers who were most likely from Ephesus since v.29 says that they recognized the Ephesian Trophimus. These Jews knew Paul he had spent three years in Ephesus preaching that Christ is the Messiah in their synagogues they hated Paul, and still having anger against him when they saw him in the temple they had their opportunity to attack him, so they began to stir up a disturbance with the crowd and immediately laid hands “epiballo” means to seize a person to lead him off as a prisoner. When you are doing the work of the Lord there will be those who will hold hatred against you and they will wait for an opportunity to attack you.

this leads to The Deliberate Accusations

Acts 21:28–30 These Jewish men began “crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore, he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” (For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.) 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.”

This group of Jews finally had Paul and knowing that they needed the help from the crowd to carry out killing Paul they began to cry out to the Men of Israel and deliberately began to make accusations against him saying, that Paul had been teaching everywhere against the Jewish people, the law, and the temple. On top of all that they accused Paul of bringing Trophimus a Greek into the temple and defiled the holy place, which was a major violation for Gentiles were only permitted to be in the outer court of the Gentiles, a barrier sectioned them off from entering the inner area of temple, and the court of the priests and court of Israel.

The priests had posted notices leading to this area of the temple in Latin and Greek prohibiting Gentiles from entering the inner court area of the temple, priests, and Israel. One writer mentioned that archaeologists had found two notices that read: “No man of another nation to enter within the fence and enclosure round the temple. And whoever is caught will have himself to blame that his death ensues.”

According to the Jewish historian Josephus, The Romans allowed the Jews to put to death any Gentile, even a Roman citizen, for proceeding beyond this barrier.

These accusations against Paul were false on several accounts. First, these Jews according to v.29 had only seen Trophimus and Paul in the city, they lied about Paul bringing him into the temple. Secondly, Paul knew that bringing a Greek into the temple would have placed Trophimus life in danger of death, and he wouldn’t do that. Lastly, Paul never taught Jews that they needed to abandon the law of Moses, he taught that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, nor did he ever speak against the temple.

None of this mattered the Jews deliberate accusations against Paul had caught the ear of a vast amount of people and before long the whole city was stirred up. And the people rushed together, and grabbed a hold of Paul, and dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut, not wanting to defile the temple area by the riots or Paul’s death.

The accusations by these Jews from Asia who were there in Jerusalem in the temple for religious observance of the feast of Pentecost, but their religious act turned into riotous actions in wanting to kill Paul, and this shows you that just because you are a religious person it doesn’t make you righteous in the sight of God. We have read and seen how religious Muslims have carried out genocide against our brothers and sisters in Nigeria. And many of you listening to me have had religious people do you wrong in some way or another. This bears repeating. Not every person who claims to be religious makes them righteous in the sight of God.

The Deliverance and arrest of Paul

Acts 21:31–36“Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 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 commander came near and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and he asked who he was and what he had done. And some among the multitude cried one thing and some another. So when he could not ascertain the truth because of the tumult, he commanded him to be taken into the barracks. When he reached the stairs, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob. For the multitude of the people followed after, crying out, “Away with him!””

Outside of the gate the Jews were dead set on killing Paul, and the news of this uproar had reached the commander Claudius Lysias (Liss ih uhs) who was responsible of the garrison, 1,000-foot soldiers that were station there. He quickly took soldiers and centurions (100 officers) and ran down the 100 foot temple tower of Antonia that was built by Herod the Great for defense of the temple, allowing the guards to have a bird’s eye view of the temple area. When the crowds saw the commander and soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.  The commander immediately took Paul and commanded his officers to bind him with two chains. This was a fulfillment of the Holy Spirit’s warning (Acts 20:23) “except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me.” Also, a fulfillment of the prophecy from Agabus (Acts 21:11)  “When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ”

The commander Lysias (Liss ih uhs) began to question those in the crowd what had Paul done. Some were shouting one thing that Paul was being accused of, while others were shouting something different. Since there was no clear cut truth why this riot was happening, he commanded that Paul be taken into the barracks. As they came to the stairs the soldiers needed to lift Paul up to their shoulders to protect him from the violent mob. But that didn’t stop the mob from following after Paul and shouting “Away with him.”

Satan wanted to use this crowd to kill Paul and put an end to him spreading the gospel, but God had sovereignly delivered Paul from death by allowing him to be arrested. Paul’s arrest would ultimately lead him to share his testimony and the gospel before the Sanhedrin, both Governor Felix and Festus, and King Agrippa, before being sent to be imprison in Rome where he would still be effective in sharing the gospel with soldiers were chained to him, and he even witnessed to Caesar’s household. Paul’s chains didn’t hinder the gospel. This ought to encourage you that no matter what Satan tries to do against you to hinder you from spreading the gospel, God is sovereign and he will deliver you. Even if you are facing trials and tribulations by the attacks of the enemy you just need to remain faithful to the Lord Jesus, and to the work of the ministry. Our God will see you through.