crying, Israelites, help! this is the man who teaches all everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place, and has brought Greeks too into the temple, and profaned this holy place.
Paul had joined four men in a vow at the temple, following the advice of the leaders in Jerusalem. Jews from Asia spotted him there and shouted that he attacked the people, the law and the temple — but was a word of it true?
They seized Paul while he was doing the very thing meant to prove the charge false. One writer draws attention to how strange the picture is:
It was a singular sight: Paul purifying himself to show that he walked orderly and kept the law. Clearly, he was walking by the thoughts of other people. That neither glorifies God nor satisfies man.
The men who claimed to defend the law broke it in the act of defending it:
In the wisdom of the Lord, a man not under the law obeys it. That very act becomes the occasion for high-handed law-breaking by those who seemed to be the law's upholders... making five distinct charges against him, all of which are untrue. So those who oppose the truth boast in their law-keeping and their good deeds. They boast in appearance, not in heart. In the end they prove to be lawbreakers, liars and murderers.
The final accusation rested on nothing more than something they had seen in the street:
They added that he had brought a Greek into the temple. This was only an assumption. They had seen him in the city with Trophimus, an Ephesian.
Paul answered the charge later. One writer points out who was missing:
'But certain Jews from Asia' — they were the true culprits in the matter. It was they whose guilty rashness brought the false charge. The four men under the vow were not Greeks. They were Jews. These were the only men Paul joined in the temple, and he did so because James asked him to. Why were these Asiatic Jews not here face to face, as Roman law required?
Israel's worship worked by degrees of nearness to God, and the outer limit was absolute:
The high priest was nearest. The priests came next — these worshipped inside. Then the Levites... and then the people, who worshipped outside... But even there, even in the outer court, no Gentile could approach.
One writer describes that barrier, and what has taken its place:
It is said that a dividing wall stood in the temple court, with gates in it. A Jew could pass through. For a Gentile who dared to pass through, it meant death. How sweet that all restraint is gone! Jew and Gentile are lifted to heights above every feeling of racial hatred and pride. So we read, "Through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father" (Eph. 2:18).
Accusers had thrown the same words — against the holy place and the law — at Stephen. What one writer says there applies here too:
If the words had been said, the witnesses were none the less false. To say he spoke disrespectfully of God or Moses, of the law or the temple, was a wicked lie. But wicked men hear with wicked feeling. The Spirit calls them false witnesses, even if Stephen's words sounded the way they reported them.
Commentators see Paul in the temple as the result of advice he took from others. One writer states the principle and names this passage as a warning:
The servant of Christ does well to think of others as better than himself. He does well to ask their advice, to weigh their spiritual judgment, and even to listen to their criticism. Yet even so he must not in the last resort be guided by their opinions but by the Word of God. The passage, Acts 21:18-30, gives us a warning as to this.
And what the mob did next carried its own meaning:
It seems that from the moment the Jews closed the temple doors to Paul, God closed the door to the Jews.
- Charge — The crowd shouted five accusations, and writers judge every one untrue. The men shouting them broke the law while claiming to guard it.
- Guess — The temple charge rested on a guess. They had seen Trophimus with Paul in the city, not in the temple. Paul's companions there were four Jews under a vow.
- Wall — The charge of defiling the holy place enraged them because no Gentile could cross the barrier and live. That wall is gone: Jew and Gentile now share one access to the Father.
- Echo — Stephen faced the same charge: against the holy place and the law. Scripture calls his accusers false witnesses. Wicked men hear with wicked feeling.
- Door — Advice from others is worth weighing, but never final. Here it ended with Paul dragged out and the temple doors shut behind him.
For they had before seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.
Luke stops the riot scene to explain the charge that set the crowd off. The verse turns on two words: what they saw, and what they supposed.
The crowd shouted as if Paul had defiled the temple. All they had was a sighting in the street.
This was of no avail, for Jews from Asia, recognizing him, caught him and cried out to inform the people that this was the man who was teaching against Israel, the law and the temple. They added that he had brought a Greek into the temple, which was only an assumption, since they had seen him in the city with Trophimus, an Ephesian.
The accusers were men who prided themselves on keeping the law. Their handling of Paul exposed what that pride was worth.
The Jews from Asia stir up the whole crowd and throw the city into uproar. The people run together, seize Paul, drag him out of the temple and try to kill him. They make five distinct charges against him, and every one of them is untrue. So the opposers of the truth boast in their law-keeping and righteous deeds — in appearance, not in heart. Yet they are proved to be breakers of the law, liars and murderers.
Trophimus was no stranger to Paul. He had travelled with him, and that journey ended in Jerusalem.
When Paul passed through Miletus on his way to Jerusalem, as told in Acts 20, Trophimus was not left behind. He went on with Paul to Jerusalem. He was indeed the occasion of the uproar at Jerusalem, and because of it Paul was arrested.
A wall inside the temple courts marked how far a Gentile could go.
People say there was a dividing wall in the court of the temple, with gates in it. A Jew could pass through those gates. For a Gentile who dared to pass through, it meant death.
That wall was not God's last word about His house. He had already said who it was for.
"For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples" (Isa. 56:7). How evil, then, were the zealots who attacked Paul in Jerusalem! They supposed he had taken Trophimus, an Ephesian, into the temple area.
Watch how the crowd fills the gap between what they saw outside and what they claimed happened inside.
Some Jews from Asia find him in the temple. They had seen him earlier in the city with an Ephesian Greek — one of his Gentile "foster children," as they might taunt him, playing on the man's name. Outside, it seems, they had put up with him, or at least had held back from attacking. But now this man with his disreputable tastes had dared to invade the sanctuary itself. He was surely the same man inside as he had been outside. He had brought his Greek in there, no doubt. At once the anger of that proud, hot-tempered people flashes out.
Paul went into the temple to avoid trouble. Two suppositions failed that day, not just the crowd's.
It was a step taken for convenience, to avoid trouble, and, as so often happens, it failed to do what it was meant to do. It took Paul into the temple where his adversaries were most likely to be found. He ran into trouble instead of avoiding it… They acted on the supposition that Paul had desecrated the temple by taking an Ephesian Gentile into it. That supposition was clearly mistaken. He had not done this. But he had gone in himself. He thought this would disarm their prejudice. That supposition also proved mistaken.
The charge was false. God still used what it led to.
He was the prisoner, not of Rome, but of Jesus Christ. Men sought to confine him and his ministry, but the Lord Jesus used even his imprisonment for good. So he was a prisoner "for you Gentiles," for it was Jewish hostility to his going to the Gentiles that led to his imprisonment.
- Seen — The mob saw one thing: Paul walking through the city with Trophimus, a Greek from Ephesus.
- Supposed — From that they concluded he had taken a Gentile past the barrier. Commentators call that conclusion mistaken.
- Shouted — Guesswork became five public charges. The men who boasted in the law broke it by trying to kill an innocent man.
- Seized — Paul had entered the temple hoping to disarm suspicion. The plan failed and handed him to his enemies.
- Shackled — The charge put him in chains, but he was Christ's prisoner, and the Lord used the imprisonment for good.