You may say that Paul ministered in another way after that time, but at the very least you must admit that the first part of his ministry was ended by his mistake. Then the Lord kept him in prison away from any kind of frustration, attraction, distraction, and influence. He was isolated from everything in prison and the sky was clear.
Under that clear sky in the prison Paul wrote the Epistles to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, and to the Colossians. After his first imprisonment he wrote 1 Timothy and Hebrews, and during his second imprisonment he wrote 2 Timothy. Most Bible teachers recognize that these books are high, deep, and profound, and that they touch the very heart of God’s New Testament economy. How could Paul write in such a way? He could do it because he was under a clear sky with a clear view to look at God’s economy. If that vow in Acts 21 had been completed and Paul had still been free to continue his travels, his ministry would have become the carrying out of a mixture. In that case, the entire history of the Acts would have been changed.
We all need to be deeply impressed with the significance of Acts 21—even such a strong apostle as the apostle Paul, one with a clear view of God’s economy, was not that strong in facing the problem in Jerusalem and not that accurate in his action in that kind of situation. If Paul had been stronger and more accurate in facing the problem in Jerusalem, he would have told James that he absolutely would never agree to participate in that Old Testament vow. Rather, he would have urged James to cancel that vow, take those four brothers out from under the vow, and forget about the temple. He may have said, “Brother James, I am sorry that I could never take your word. Why would you go back to offer the cattle as sacrifices again? Do you not know that the offerings of the cattle were in the old dispensation, and that was fulfilled by the Lord Jesus? When He came, He offered Himself once to replace all the offerings. Why would we go back to offer the old dispensation offerings again? To do such a thing is an insult to the Lord Jesus in the heavens. If you brothers in Jerusalem and in Judea would still go back to the old Judaic religion, that is your decision, but please do not try to convince me. I am sorry, brother, but I would never go back to that old way.” If Paul had done this, I do not believe he would have been put into prison. Then he would have been able to go on to take another journey for his ministry, perhaps to Spain as he had planned (Rom. 15:28). His journeys for the ministry were ended by his mistake. The Lord put him into prison in order to clear up the cloudy sky.
Not many years later, God sent an army under Titus to destroy all of Jerusalem to clear up the situation. It was as if God said to forget about Jerusalem and about the tens of thousands of believers zealous for the law. The Lord cleared up the situation that was clouded by the mixture of the old things of Judaism with the New Testament economy. This is history, and no one can deny the facts of history.
What was left after Jerusalem was destroyed were some deeper Epistles written by the apostle Paul under a clear sky. The cloud of mixture was blown away, and the apostle who tolerated too much was disciplined to be very clear concerning God’s economy. Therefore, he wrote these deeper Epistles, which have all become the most rich inheritance to us today.
We need to consider what would have happened if Paul had succeeded in his way of being tolerant and that vow of the Nazarite had been completed. Suppose that had been the case, and suppose Paul had left Jerusalem after the seventh day of that vow with the best wishes of the Jewish brothers for a good journey, and he continued on in that way. Suppose Jerusalem had never been destroyed, but still remained today with the church full of its mixture of Judaism as it was then, and suppose Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Timothy, Hebrews, and 2 Timothy had never been written. We need to consider seriously what the situation would be today if that had been the case.
Today’s Christianity is altogether in a clouded situation even after God’s stern dealings with the church of mixture in A.D. 70 to clear up that situation. If there had not been such a clearing up carried out by God to put Paul into prison, to destroy Jerusalem, and to use Paul to write these few deeper Epistles, including Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Timothy, Hebrews, and 2 Timothy, we would be in a clouded situation today. How we thank the Lord that these three things are facts in history, and we are inheriting these facts as our rich portion. With such a rich inheritance as our portion, we should no longer be in a situation that is clouded by the mixture of Judaism.
It is not the purpose of the New Testament ministry to carry out anything other than the incarnation of the Triune God, His human living, His all-inclusive terminating death, His germinating resurrection, and His exalting ascension to replace God’s chosen people with such a One so that the members of Christ could be produced to form a Body as the expression of the Triune God. This is the ministry of the New Testament. It has nothing to do with theology, philosophy, morality, ethics, culture, or religion. It is only related to this wonderful person, to His life, and to His ministry to produce the believers as members to form the Body of Christ. We need to be deeply impressed with this point.
None of us should put out anything to satisfy people’s curiosity or to show that we know something more than others or that we know something new. The Gnostics knew many things that were strange. The Judaizers preached things that were different from the things the apostles preached. Through the twenty centuries what has been put out has been one new thing after another, different from the teachings of others.
Some would say that they do not like to follow Paul in their preaching. They would rather preach something new and different. Actually, their preaching does not contain anything new; it is only different. There are some who think that it is a shame to preach, to teach, to speak, or to write the same things that others have. They expect to receive a special glory for themselves by speaking and teaching something different to show that they know something others do not know. All of these attitudes are a shame.
Moreover, dear saints, we need to see that all of these things could be under the cloak that they are for the defending of the truth, for the defending of the faith, or for the further recovery of the biblical truth. Nevertheless, we need to realize that the issue of this kind of teaching has always been a division. Every denomination, every division, and every free group is based upon a certain so-called truth other than the New Testament ministry. To be a Presbyterian means to take the presbytery as the ground to build a Presbyterian denomination. To baptize people by immersion has been taken as a base to form the Baptist denomination. These items are not the basic and central elements of the New Testament ministry.
We all need to be very clear what the New Testament ministry is. The ministry of John the Baptist initiated the ministry of Christ, and the ministry of Peter continued Christ’s ministry. Paul’s ministry continued and further developed all the foregoing ministry and went forward to reach the goal to build up the Body of Christ. This is the New Testament ministry.
However, if you look at today’s situation, you will realize that there are many different ministries in addition to this unique New Testament ministry. If you could take away all the different ministries and leave only the unique ministry of the New Testament, all the denominations, all the different groups, and all the divisions, would disappear. There would be no division and no confusion.
All of us need to learn this sober lesson and be on the alert not to deviate from the ministry of the New Testament. If we carry out something new, something different, something other than this unique ministry, we will be through as far as the Lord’s recovery is concerned. Actually, the Lord’s recovery is to bring us back to the unique ministry of the New Testament.