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Scripture Reading: Acts 21:18-39
The Bible reveals that God had an eternal plan and that this plan eventually became His economy. God’s plan is to have a group of human beings who are regenerated with the divine life become His sons and the members of Christ so that the Triune God in Christ may have a Body through which to express Himself.
God’s plan is accomplished through Christ’s incarnation, human living, and all-inclusive death to terminate everything of the old creation so that He may germinate His chosen people in resurrection. In His resurrection Christ became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) so that He may propagate Himself as the processed Triune God to produce the Body. After His resurrection Christ ascended to the heavens, and there He was made the Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). In His resurrection the Lord had already breathed Himself as the Spirit into His chosen people essentially (John 20:22). Then in His ascension He poured out Himself as the all-inclusive consummated Spirit upon them economically. Therefore, everything has been fulfilled and accomplished: incarnation, human living, the all-inclusive death, the life-giving and propagating resurrection, the breathing of the life-giving Spirit essentially, the ascension, and the pouring out of the consummated Spirit economically. Because all this has been accomplished, the church has been produced.
Before Christ came to pass through the processes for accomplishing God’s plan, the points related to it were put into the Old Testament in the way of promises, prophecies, types, figures, and shadows. Then, in the fullness of time, the Triune God in the Son became a man (Gal. 4:4). In His humanity He passed through the processes of human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to accomplish everything for the fulfillment of God’s plan. Having become the all-inclusive Spirit, He now enters into God’s chosen people to apply to them all that the Triune God in the Son has accomplished. Through such an application, God’s people become living witnesses of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ (Acts 1:8).
As those who have the all-inclusive Spirit within us, what should we do? We should simply be living witnesses containing, bearing, and conveying the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ so that He may be propagated throughout the earth for the fulfillment of the divine economy. This is a brief summary of the entire revelation in the New Testament.
Since Christ has come and passed through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, breathing the Spirit into God’s chosen people essentially and pouring the Spirit upon them economically, many of the promises, prophecies, types, figures, and shadows in the Old Testament related to this are now out-of-date. God’s people should not hold on to these out-of-date things. However, degraded Judaism as a religion continues to hold on to those things which have become out-of-date.
Between those in degraded Judaism and the Christian believers was the situation of mixture in Jerusalem. In Jerusalem was the first group of vessels chosen by God to contain Christ. This group included the apostles, among whom Peter was the leading one and James was the most influential one. According to Acts 21, with these apostles there were thousands of Jews who believed in Christ (v. 20). Although they had become believers in Christ, they were still strongly under the influence of their Judaic background. Because of this influence, it was impossible for them to abandon their background and to give up the atmosphere that prevailed in Jerusalem.
The Jewish believers in Jerusalem became those who insisted on having both faith in Christ and also the out-of-date things of the Old Testament. They wanted to put these two matters together. I would say that, according to my study of the New Testament, James was the leader in this trend. It seems that he took the lead to say, “There is no need for us to fight. We may keep our faith in Christ and at the same time also keep the Old Testament laws, customs, and practices. We may still practice circumcision.”
In not wanting to fight or offend others, James may have had a very good intention. He may have had a good heart in wanting to blend the Old Testament dispensation with faith in Christ. We also need to realize that James had a broadened heart. This is indicated by the fact that he did not propose that the Gentile believers be circumcised. Consider the solution he proposed to the problems concerning circumcision during the course of the fellowship recorded in Acts 15: “I judge that we do not harass those from the Gentiles who turn to God. But that we write to them to abstain from the pollutions of idols and fornication and what is strangled and blood. For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who proclaim him in the synagogues, being read every Sabbath” (vv. 19-21). James made it clear that it was not necessary for the Gentiles to be circumcised or to keep the law. He only required that they abstain from idol worship, fornication, things strangled, and blood.
James, however, continued to think that it would be better for the Jewish believers to practice the things of the Old Testament and to keep the law. James seemed to say, “The Gentiles do not need to keep the law or to be circumcised. But we Jews should practice circumcision and keep the law. We need to practice the kind of life exactly like that practiced by our forefathers in the Old Testament. Of course, we now have faith in Christ. Therefore, let us keep both the Old Testament things and our faith in Christ.” This, I believe, was James’ concept.
If James’ concept had been widely accepted in Asia Minor and Europe, how could there have been one Body for Christ in a practical way? Would there be two kinds of churches — a Judaic church for the Jewish believers and a Gentile church for the Gentile believers? Such a thing is utterly impossible.
Concerning the Body Paul had seen a clear vision. He spoke of the one Body in Romans 12:5, and in 1 Corinthians 12:13 he said, “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.” Furthermore, in Galatians 3:27 and 28 Paul said, “For as many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There cannot be Jew nor Greek, there cannot be slave nor free man, there cannot be male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Although Paul had seen a clear vision, in his first six Epistles — Romans, Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and 1 and 2 Thessalonians — this vision was not yet presented in a full way. No doubt Paul was waiting for a time to put into writing the vision he had seen.
When Paul saw the situation of mixture in Jerusalem, he must have been heavily burdened by it. Perhaps when James made his presentation to him in chapter twenty-one concerning the thousands of Jews who believed and who were zealous for the law and concerning Paul’s joining with those who had the Nazarite vow, he was hesitating what to do. Perhaps he said to himself, “Humanly speaking, I should simply do what James says. After I pass through this critical time, I may have another opportunity to adjust or clarify the situation in Jerusalem.” This may have been Paul’s thought as he complied with James’ proposal (21:23-26).
The Lord, however, did not allow Paul to complete the days of the purification. Paul, a chosen vessel, was the unique one used by the Lord to carry out God’s New Testament economy. How could the Lord allow such a one to complete the days of purification, which involved the temple, the priesthood, and the offering of animal sacrifices with the shedding of blood? All these things were terminated by God’s New Testament economy. The Lord could not tolerate this. Hence, almost at the last minute, at the time when Paul’s vow was about to be completed, the Lord came in, and there was a great disturbance. That was the Lord’s exercise of His sovereignty concerning Paul to rescue him from that dilemma.
In Acts 21 Paul was in danger of being killed, and he certainly must have been afraid of this. If the Roman commander had not intervened when he did, Paul certainly would have been put to death. But the Lord’s sovereign hand controlled everything to rescue Paul from that situation and to preserve his life. Later, after Paul defended himself before the rioting Jews (21:40—22:21), was bound by the Romans (22:22-29), and defended himself before the Sanhedrin (22:30—23:10), he was encouraged by the Lord. According to 23:11, “the Lord stood by him and said, Take courage, for as you have solemnly testified concerning Me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” This was a great encouragement to Paul and assured him that he would not be killed by the Jews. We all need to have a clear view of Paul’s situation here at this point in Acts.
At this point we need to go on to consider today’s situation. As a whole, Christianity is not a testimony of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ. There is a great deal of mixture in Christianity, not just of the one element of Judaism, but also of many other elements. The mixture has gone to such an extent that among the millions of Christians very few know what God’s New Testament economy is. For the most part, fundamental Christians know the redemption of Christ in a rather superficial way. In addition, they teach people to be ethical and moral in order to glorify God. Who among your Christian friends knows God’s New Testament economy to propagate the resurrected Christ and to impart this Christ into the believers so that they may be living members to form Christ’s Body in this age in order to express the Triune God? Where can you find believers who know this?
Because the majority of today’s Christians have not seen the vision concerning God’s New Testament economy in the Word, I am burdened in this Life-study of Acts to emphasize God’s economy. It is not my burden to touch the many small points in this book. For example, someone has asked me why in Acts 18:18 and 26 Priscilla is mentioned before Aquila but in 1 Corinthians 16:19 Aquila is mentioned first and Priscilla last. I simply do not have the heart to cover these minor things. In my heart is the concern for the matter of a dispensational transfer. As we study the book of Acts, we should learn to say, “Lord, we need a great transfer, a dispensational transfer. We need to be transferred from degraded Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism into God’s New Testament economy. We need a transfer from all religious things into the pure revelation of God’s economy.”
We need to see that God’s intention is to propagate the resurrected Christ by imparting Him into us so that we may become His living members saturated with Him and constituted of Him in order that Christ may have a Body on earth for His expression. Then He will bring His kingdom in, and following that there will be the ultimate consummation of God’s New Testament economy. Our need is to see this and to have a dispensational transfer so that we may be in it in a practical way.
In these messages it is not my burden merely to teach the Bible. Rather, I am burdened to present what the Lord, in His mercy, has shown us from the Word concerning the New Testament economy of God. If we see this vision, we shall not care about opposition or attack. Those who oppose the Lord’s recovery do not have the view, the vision, concerning God’s New Testament economy. We cannot deny that we have seen this vision, and our testimony concerning it is becoming stronger and stronger. In our reading of Acts may we devote our full attention to and concentrate our entire being on the vision of God’s New Testament economy.
