Expressions of Faith. Acts 16. Doing What's Best
Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek… 3Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. 5So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.
Acts 16:1, 3-5
After the decision of the restrictions new converts should embrace, Paul leaves Jerusalem and returns to two cities he’s been in before.
This is the beginning of his second missionary journey.
Paul is introduced to Timothy, a Jew/Gentile hybrid.
Verse 3 seems to be in direct conflict with the decision by the Council in Jerusalem that specifically omitted circumcision as a step in becoming Christian.
John Wesley’s Explanatory Notes reads like this.
The unbelieving Jews, to whom [Timothy felt] he should preach… would not have conversed with him at all, so long as he was uncircumcised. (https://tinyurl.com/yy7qcnjp)
Another commentary pointed out that the verse reads like Paul did the circumcision himself.
Whatever the motivation at this point in Paul’s ministry, he writes this four or five years after this sequence of events.
19 For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law; 21 to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law. 22 To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. 23 Now I do this for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it.
(1 Corinthians 9:19-23 WEB)
It’s dangerous to craft your own interpretation of any situation.
It’s also something most of us do, almost unconsciously.
History proves Paul’s decision to interpret the Jerusalem Council’s intent to fit this situation to be a good one.
I suspect that there are no records of most misinterpretations of the Council’s decision for posterity.
If you strive to serve God by following Paul’s advice to the church in Corinth, and your motivation is to “by all means save some,” God will guide you to the path you need to follow.
The next Expressions of Faith is "What must I do...?"
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