Between Acts and Antioch: Discerning Paul on Gentiles and the Jerusalem Temple

Abstract

When the author of Acts addresses the controversy of Paul’s teaching in Acts 21, he implicitly rejects the notion that Paul preaches “against the people, the law, and this place [i.e., the temple]” (Acts 21:28), including the accusation that Paul brought gentiles beyond their designated area in the temple complex. Acts’s account of the allegations against Paul, his temple attendance, and arrest is narrated in such a way as to dampen the controversy of Paul’s view on Jewish custom as assumed from his ministry and letters. In this article, views concerning the relation of gentiles to the temple are traced to show how they undergird and occasion controversies of fellowship. It is reasonable to assume that Paul would have felt about gentile temple pilgrimage the way he felt about gentile circumcision. Though there is no explicit criticism of the temple in his writings, Paul’s understanding of gentile believers’ new status in Christ runs counter to the exclusionary layout of the temple complex, an understanding demonstrated most clearly in the Antioch Incident (Galatians 2).