Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Acts: Chapter 21]
absence from Jerusalem, since 18:22, they have had a free hand,
save what opposition James would give, and have had great success
in prejudicing the Jerusalem Christians against Paul. So James,
in the presence of the other elders and probably at their
suggestion, feels called upon to tell Paul the actual situation.
{That thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to
forsake Moses} (\hoti apostasian didaskeis apo M•use•s tous kata
ta ethn• pantas Ioudaious\). Two accusatives with \didaskeis\
(verb of teaching) according to rule. Literally, "That thou art
teaching all the Jews among (\kata\) the Gentiles (the Jews of
the dispersion as in 2:9) apostasy from Moses." That is the
point, the dreadful word \apostasian\ (our apostasy), a late form
(I Macc. 2:15) for the earlier \apostasis\ (cf. 2Th 2:3 for
\apostasia\). "In the eyes of the church at Jerusalem this was a
far more serious matter than the previous question at the
Conference about the status of Gentile converts" (Furneaux). Paul
had brought that issue to the Jerusalem Conference because of the
contention of the Judaizers. But here it is not the Judaizers,
but the elders of the church with James as their spokesman on
behalf of the church as a whole. They do not believe this false
charge, but they wish Paul to set it straight. Paul had made his
position clear in his Epistles (I Corinthians, Galatians, Romans)
for all who cared to know. {Telling them not to circumcise their
children} (\leg•n m• peritemnein autous ta tekna\). The
participle \leg•n\ agrees with "thou" (Paul), the subject of
\didaskeis\. This is not indirect assertion, but indirect
command, hence the negative \m•\ instead of \ou\ with the
infinitive (Robertson, _Grammar_, p.1046). The point is not that
Paul stated what the Jewish Christians in the dispersion do, but
that he says that they (\autous\ accusative of general reference)
are not to go on circumcising (\peritemnein\, present active
infinitive) their children. Paul taught the very opposite (1Co
7:18) and had Timothy circumcised (Ac 16:3) because he was
half Jew and half Greek. His own practice is stated in 1Co 9:19
("to the Jews as a Jew"). {Neither to walk after the customs}
(\m•de tois ethesin peripatein\). Locative case with infinitive
\peripatein\. The charge was here enlarged to cover it all and to
make Paul out an enemy of Jewish life and teachings. That same
charge had been made against Stephen when young Saul (Paul) was
the leader (6:14): "Will change the customs (\eth•\ the very
word used here) which Moses delivered unto us." It actually
seemed that some of the Jews cared more for Moses than for God
(Ac 6:11). So much for the charge of the Judaizers.
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