Observing a brief (or
not so brief) reminder in continuing this examination of this passage from Acts,
it should be remembered that this study has returned again to this book (Acts),
and to this section of the book, because of its usefulness in demonstrating the
attitude taken towards Gentiles and the Temple.
In co-ordination with
Paul’s demonstrably sustained focus on Jew and Gentile relations in the early
church, the associated controversies concerning covenant markers and covenant
inclusion (justification), the repetitive use of highly inclusive language in
the first chapter of Colossians, the incredible significance of the sweeping
expansion of the covenant peoples to include Gentiles as Gentiles through
confession of Jesus as Lord and Messiah (rather than Gentiles as
Gentiles-converted-to-Judaism through the adoption of covenant markers that are
generally referred to as “works of the law”), a side-by-side reading of
Ephesians two with Colossians one (with expansions and abbreviations noted), this
study has contended that the statement of the twenty-second verse of Colossians
one, “but now He has reconciled you by His physical body through death to
present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before Him,” is Temple
language that echoes the Levitical code and its provisions for service in the
Temple.
Furthermore, it is
proposed that this short statement stands in for the longer statement of
Ephesians two, which speaks explicitly about the Temple and the unquestionable
qualification of Gentiles to not only serve the Temple, but to actually be
components of the Temple (the place of the Creator God’s dwelling and the
ultimate symbol of this God’s covenant with humanity and with His
creation). What will be seen in what comes next in Acts twenty-one serves
to demonstrate just how revolutionary this thinking was.
As Paul is conducting
his business in the Temple, something goes horribly wrong. Contrary to
what was insisted would be the result of Paul’s activity in the Temple, which
was that “everyone will know there is nothing in what they have been told about
you, but that you yourself live in conformity with the law” (Acts 21:24b), Luke
writes that “When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from the province
of Asia who had seen him,” that being Paul, “in the Temple area stirred up the
whole crowd and seized him, shouting ‘Men of Israel, help! This is the
man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this
sanctuary!’” (21:27-28a) So much for expectations. Instead, a
near-riot ensues. Of course, what is here mentioned is only half of that
which is causing people to take issue with Paul.
Reading further, one
finds a revelation of the generalized attitude towards Gentiles, proving just
how deep these long-cherished notions ran, when reading “Furthermore he has
brought Greeks into the inner court of the Temple and made this holy place
ritually unclean!” (21:28b) This, of course, was patently untrue, as Luke
parenthetically inserts “For they had seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city
with him previously, and they assumed Paul had brought him into the inner
Temple courts” (21:29). The inner Temple courts were strictly off-limits
to Gentiles.
The words of the
crowd, as reported by Luke, are thoroughly informative, as the insistence in
regards to Gentiles in the Temple and subsequent ritual uncleanness dovetails
well with Paul’s insistence that Gentiles (at the point in Colossians that
stands in for the Temple-specific language in Ephesians) are in fact able to be
presented before Israel’s God (the one whose dwelling place was the Temple),
based on their trust in Jesus as the Messiah and as the one mediator between
the Creator God of Israel and all men, as holy, without blemish, and
blameless. This naturally stands in contrast to their being ritually
unclean and their being able to confer ritual uncleanness upon the Temple
itself.
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