Acts 21:20

And they, when they heard it, glorified God; and they said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of them that have believed; and they are all zealous for the law: and they have been informed concerning thee, that thou teachest all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.

In the absence of the Twelve, who presumably might have known better, the whole Jerusalem church was involved in law-keeping, being "zealous for the law of Moses." One may only be astounded at such a statement as James made here. This very James had already publicly assented with Peter and the Twelve that they would not place upon the Gentiles "a yoke" which neither themselves nor their fathers could bear; and here James is concerned for circumcision and keeping the "customs." The great error of James, the Jerusalem elders, and the majority of that church was in the supposition that God had two plans, one for Gentiles and another for Jews. The apostolic mandate lifting law-keeping from the back of the Gentiles was also the theoretical and logical lifting of it off the backs of "all Christians"; but this had somehow been overlooked in Jerusalem. This writer can find no rational basis for supposing that James was blameless in this situation, although it was probably a blameworthiness due to ignorance of the implication of what had already been decided by the apostles, rather than of any willful disobedience.

An extenuation of the blame of those Jewish Christians in not being able to accept the abolition of the Mosaic law and all the temple services, is seen in our Lord's prophecy of the temple's destruction. The Lord knew that the hold of its forms and sacrifices would have such a force upon all the Jews, that rather than their being able to tear away from them, God would tear them away from the Jews. See reasons for God's destruction of the temple in my Commentary on Mark under Mark 13:2.

As Wesley said, "James should have told those Jewish Christians: I do not keep the law of Moses; neither does Peter; neither need any of you!"[28]

The charges mentioned here, to the effect that Paul had persuaded Jewish Christians not to circumcise their children, was a base lie. He had even circumcised Timothy with his own hands, and it is evident that Paul had carried on no campaign of any kind as that alleged against him. However, in Paul's making circumcision and all Mosaic regulations absolutely unnecessary for salvation, he had laid the theoretical foundation for their total abandonment by all Christians.

James' proposal as to what Paul should do about the situation was next offered.