Footsteps #79

Read Acts .16:1-13. V10, “So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there.” NLT has an interesting shift of pronouns. Up until this point the narrative was 3^rd person pronoun “they”. Suddenly it becomes first person, “we.” In a subtle way Luke has announced his arrival and that of Timothy, into the entourage of Paul’s second missionary journey.

There is a conspicuous irony in this passage (v3) as the Narrative moves from the council of Jerusalem (Acts.15) to Lystra, one of the stops in Paul and Silas’ journey. With a letter nullifying the need for the covenantal rite of circumcision in one hand, and a cutting instrument in the other, Paul performs Timothy’s circumcision! The reason given is “because of the Jews” (Acts 16:3). It was one matter to release believing Gentiles from circumcision, but an entirely different matter to release Jews them­selves from the ancient rite. Paul, on the other hand, personally holds circumcision as a non-issue, repeating in multiple letters that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision “counts for anything” (1Cor.7:19, Gal.5:6, 6:15).

Right here, at the connection of theological conviction and missionary practice, Paul shows that he is ever mindful and considerate of the convictions of his audience. With an assumed recognition of essentials and nonessentials, Paul invokes a criterion of offense in a number of issues. Paul and Timothy clearly believe circumcision unnecessary, but for the sake of not offending their target audience, they comply with convictions other than their own. Should one eat food offered to idols? Theologically, Paul knows that “an idol is nothing” and admits that one is no “better” if they eat or “worse” if they abstain from such food (1Cor.8:4,8). However, not all Christians are convinced, so Paul clarifies that it is not what you eat, but whom you eat with, that becomes determinative (Rom 14).

Being sensitive to another’s conscience, not unilaterally exercising your own convictions, not being a stumbling block, these are the considerations that undergirded the effective ministry of the apostle Paul.

Timothy deserves recognition too. He was the one who endured real physical pain for the sake of simply not offending fellow Jews.