A Postscript to Acts 15 (Acts 16:1-3)

by Dave Brown

Acts 15 is a chapter on both doctrinal and personal conflict resolution.  Doctrine involves the entire local church (or churches) in which the false doctrine is being taught.  Personal conflict should be isolated from the church so as not to cause the work of the Lord to suffer.  Further insight into the difference between collective and individual responsibility is obtained by continuing our reading into Acts 16:1-3: “And he [Paul] came also to Derbe and to Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek, and he was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium.  Paul wanted this man to go with him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.”  The natural question is: “Why would Paul, who spoke out so effectively against circumcision just a few weeks before (Acts 15:1f), now take and have his gentile companion circumcised?”  

Some scholars proclaim Paul to be fickle and inconsistent, and use these events to discredit his writings.  However, Paul himself explains his actions quite effectively in 1 Cor 9:19-22: “For though I am free from all {men,} I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more.  And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law, though not being myself under the Law, that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, that I might win those who are without law.  To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.”  Paul’s actions are totally consistent when seen as a response to his desire to save the souls of all men.

Paul’s actions in Acts 16:1-3 are totally consistent with those of Acts 15 when we recognize that, under the New Testament, there is no directive with regarding circumcision.  This means that while it was wrong to mandate circumcision as doctrine (which was what the Jewish Christians were attempting to do at Antioch), it would be equally wrong to deny the individual the right to practice it.  In other words, this was a matter that was left to the individual to determine.

But how did Paul resolve this?  In 1 Cor. 9:19 we have the criterion that he used.  If there was any way that his freedom could be used to influence someone in the direction of hearing and obeying the gospel of Jesus Christ, then that was the course of action that he took.  In the case of Acts 16:3, there was bias on the part of the (non-Chrsitian) Jews against Timothy that would cause some of them to fail to consider the gospel, and perhaps prejudice others to do the same thing.

When we consider the list of things mentioned in 1 Cor. 9:19f, we see this principle exemplified over and over again. To the extent that he conscientiously could, Paul behaved as a gentile when in the midst of gentiles so as not to unnecessarily violate their sense of right and wrong.  His extreme statement is that he “became all things to all men that by all means he might save some.”  And yet these means did not and could not transcend the law of Christ, for he clearly stated that he was acting totally “under law to Christ.”  We can never win anyone to Christ by violating the law of Christ.

We see then, that God has given us latitude, i.e., individual freedom, in some areas.  However, it is up to us to use this freedom wisely.  Circumcision was one of these freedoms.  However, if, as a church, we either mandate it or deny the right of the individual to practice it, we violate God’s law.  For, we can only require of our fellow Christians that which the New Testament requires.  This is where many religious organizations go wrong.  For, what seems good for one individual to practice should not be mandated upon all.  The simple work and worship of the church as given in the New Testament is exactly what God wants of his people collectively.  When we go beyond this, we are acting presumptuously and without divine authority (1 Cor. 4:6; 2 John 9).