ACC ~ Acts 21 v27 - 36

OVERVIEW:

The tribulations prophesied now begin, significantly, at the temple. Modern commentators advert to the threefold accusation against Paul: he is teaching “against the people and the law and this place.” A similar charge is laid against Stephen (Acts 6:11-14) and Jesus (Lk 23:2). Paul is further accused of bringing non-Jews within the temple precincts, whereas, as inscriptions from the balustrade from the former temple indicate, any non-Jew is liable to the death penalty (something the Jews could administer) for profaning the temple. Luke is not exaggerating the violence of the mob, as passages from the Jewish historian Josephus indicate. Now Paul is alone; no one is mentioned with him. Perhaps Luke means to evoke Jesus’ passion. This is his last moment in the temple. The Fathers were spare in their comment. Bede argued that some Jews feared that the Romans would seize the temple and the land if they did not hold fast to their temple observance. Arator noted that the person can be bound, but the faith cannot be bound.

21:28 | Teaching Everywhere Against the People

THE SURMISE OF PAUL’S ACCUSERS. BEDE: Because they saw that the followers of the new grace were less diligent about observing the rituals of the law and the rites of the temple, they became afraid, as we read in the Gospel, that the Romans would come and take away their place and their people. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 21.28.

21:33 | The Tribune Arrested Paul

BOUND IN BODY, NOT IN MIND. ARATOR: Nevertheless the torments that lay harshly upon his constricted arms did not tie his mind, because Paul’s epistle, full of light, proclaims that the servants can be bound [but] the faith cannot be bound, and the word is not allowed to be restrained by tortures. ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 2.