Tyndale Open Study Notes

Verse 1

21:1-18 This “we” passage (see study notes on 16:10; 20:5-15) covers Paul’s journey from Miletus to Jerusalem at the close of the third missionary journey.

21:1 Cos was an island in the Aegean Sea with a major trade port. • Rhodes is a large Aegean island that featured the Colossus, a huge statue 100 feet (30 meters) tall that once stood at the entrance to the city. In Paul’s time, the statue lay where it had fallen during an earthquake over 200 years earlier; it would not be removed for another 600 years. • Patara was the major port of Lycia, located on the coast opposite Rhodes.

Verse 2

21:2-3 Tyre was an important port in Phoenicia with a maritime empire of far-flung commercial interests (see Isa 23; Jer 25:15-38; 47; Zech 9; Matt 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-31).

Verse 4

21:4-6 The local believers at Tyre gave Paul a touching farewell that reveals deep Christian fellowship. • prophesied through the Holy Spirit that Paul should not go on to Jerusalem: The believers at Tyre clearly foresaw the danger in Paul’s visiting Jerusalem and out of brotherly concern tried to dissuade him. Paul willingly accepted the risks in order to fulfill his apostolic mandate (cp. Phil 3:7-10). See also study note on Acts 21:11-14.

Verse 7

21:7 Paul visited Ptolemais, an important city on the coast of the Mediterranean, as he made his way from Tyre to Caesarea.

Verse 8

21:8 Philip had the title of Evangelist due to his evangelistic activity (8:4-40; cp. Eph 4:11; 2 Tim 4:5).

Verse 9

21:9 Philip’s daughters’ gift of prophecy demonstrated the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy, as Peter had preached at Pentecost (2:17-21; Joel 2:28-32).

Verse 10

21:10 Luke juxtaposes female prophets (21:9) with a male prophet (see study note on 17:34). Agabus, like the Old Testament prophets, used symbolic actions to proclaim his message (see “Prophetic Sign Acts” Theme Note).

Verse 11

21:11-14 Despite Agabus’s prediction of suffering and the believers’ begging Paul not to go to Jerusalem, Paul was resolutely ready even to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus. Luke stresses Paul’s courage, determination, and heroism as a Christian missionary who would let nothing interfere with his mission. See study note on 21:4-6.

Verse 18

21:18-19 It was important for James and all the elders of the Jerusalem church to hear of Paul’s successful mission among the Gentiles and for the mother church to continue to endorse this effort (21:20; see 15:7-21). Paul’s report communicated that God had accomplished his purposes among the Gentiles through Paul’s ministry.

Verse 20

21:20-25 The Jerusalem church leaders urged Paul to strengthen his credibility by demonstrating that he was not teaching Jews to turn their backs on the laws of Moses. At the same time, no attempt was made to force Jewish rules on Gentile converts—those terms had been set previously (15:22-29) and were simply to be honored.

Verse 26

21:26-36 The concerns of the Christian leaders (21:20-25) were evidently well based, for when their vows were almost completed, some Jews from the province of Asia raised a mob against Paul with false charges. They were intent on killing Paul, but the Roman commander rescued him.

Verse 28

21:28-29 Gentiles: It was a crime punishable by death to bring any non-Jew into the Temple precincts beyond the Court of the Gentiles (see also Josephus, War 5.5.2; 6.2.4). The Jews assumed that Paul had violated this sacred law by bringing Trophimus, a Gentile from Ephesus (see also Acts 20:4; 2 Tim 4:20), into the forbidden area.

Verse 30

21:30 This supposed desecration of the Temple aroused the fury of the Jewish populace. The Temple . . . gates were closed because they thought the Temple had been defiled by a Gentile.

Verse 31

21:31 commander: Or tribune, a Roman officer who commanded 1,000 men.

Verse 34

21:34 The fortress of Antonia, a large military garrison built by Herod the Great on the northwest corner of the Temple Mount, accommodated the Roman cohort that was stationed there to keep the peace.

Verse 37

21:37-40 The commander had mistaken Paul for an Egyptian false messiah who had planned to seize power from the Romans around AD 54 (roughly three years earlier; see Josephus, War 2.13.5). Paul corrected the mistake, gained permission to speak to the people, and addressed the crowd in Aramaic, the common language of Judea. He gave a strong statement of his faith in Jesus as the Messiah (Acts 22:1-21).