Daily Devotional Acts 21:26 – Did Paul sin when he paid for purification? – Free online Bible study – Commentary in easy English – Day 647

The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them. (Acts 21:26)

Paul sewed tents to pay the expenses for himself and his entourage. Money was tight, but he excelled in the grace of giving and collected an offering in every city for the poor Christians in Jerusalem devastated by the famine.

Luke doesn’t tell us if the offering, mostly from Gentiles, was well received by the predominantly Jewish church. He does tell us that James, the brother of Jesus, strongly requested him to fund the purification of himself and four others. It wasn’t cheap—the animals that were sacrificed would have provided enough meat for a large wedding banquet. He also had to pay the fees associated with the temple and having their heads shaved. (burning their hair at the altar was part of the ritual). Most likely that money came from the Jerusalem offering.

Jesus’ death purified us, so did Paul spend the money for the purification ritual out of love to uphold their traditions? Or did he spend the money to save himself as James suggested?

Daily Devotional Acts 21:26 – Did Paul sin when he paid for purification? – Free online Bible study – Commentary in easy English – Day 647

4 thoughts on “Daily Devotional Acts 21:26 – Did Paul sin when he paid for purification? – Free online Bible study – Commentary in easy English – Day 647

    1. The Jews had many laws in Leviticus which would make them unclean. Coming in contact with blood, even when a woman had her period, made them unclean. Coming in contact with a leper or a Gentile also made them unclean. There were hundreds of laws that made people unclean when they broke them. Jesus makes us righteous when we sin. But the Jews don’t have Jesus so they go through a ritual of purification to make themself clean or righteous in the eyes of God. If you are interested read Leviticus 11-22. Paul and the other men were taking a Nazirite vow which is described in Numbers 6:1-21. The end purpose is to make themselves Holy as Jesus does for us.

  1. Jody, thanks for the additional info. I looked at Leviticus and Numbers and those are a lot of rules to follow and a lot of ways to be unclean. I suppose that Reform or Conservative Jews do not practice these laws but Orthodox Jews do. You explained it very nicely for me! Blessings

    1. I remember when our friends, Mayra and David, changed from being reformed to Orthodox after their children were born. Prior to becoming Orthodox, they put dairy and meat on the same plate which is considered unclean. They gave us their everyday dishes because we had the same pattern but they buried their more expensive china in the ground for eight years to purify them. I don’t know how the Orthodox Jews could possibly keep all the rules. There are too many. Purification through Jesus is so much easier!

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