Acts 21:27-32 - Paul arrested in the temple

21:27-29

Devout Jews made visits to Jerusalem from time to time and some had travelled from Asia. They obviously still harboured hatred of Paul and his message and sought to stir up the crowd. They accused Paul of being “against our people and our law”. We see two important points here. First, they try to make the Jews feel threatened, implying that Paul stirred up hatred against them. We still see this tactic used today by various groups. For instance, if you argue against the LGBT agenda you are likely to be accused of hate speech. Then they used the term “our law”, it was of course “God’s law”. We are likely to run into trouble when we appropriate something that is God’s and try and claim it for ourselves. Then they accused Paul of bringing Greeks (ie non-Jews, uncircumcised) into the temple, something that was strictly forbidden. This latter accusation was based on Trophimus being in the temple, and they accused Paul of bringing him in, which was not the case.

21:30-32

There was general mayhem in the city, much as there had been in Ephesus. The mob seized Paul and were intent on killing him. Today we see mob rule on social media if someone promotes arguments that are not accepted by society. As in Ephesus, the civic authority comes to Paul’s rescue. In Romans 13 Paul talks about respecting civic authority. He did not mean a blind acceptance of all that governments do, but did mean a proper respect. And Paul knew how civic authority could be helpful in the promotion of the gospel. It is far better if there is a proper rule of law, rather than anarchy. The Roman authorities did not want riots in their territories, so they intervened to put a stop to what was going on.