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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Why circumcise Timothy in Acts 16? | Acts 16:3 | MrsDean | 196072 | ||
Why did Paul circumsize Timothy? Acts 15 dealt with the issue of Gentiles not being required to follow this Jewish tradition, and then, in the very next chapter, Paul circumcizes Timothy who was half Jew and half Greek. I don't understand this. | ||||||
2 | Why circumcise Timothy in Acts 16? | Acts 16:3 | DocTrinsograce | 196081 | ||
Hi, McDean... Luke tells us in the second half of the verse, "because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek." The Biblical scholar J. S. Howson wrote on this question, "Had Timothy not been circumcised, a storm would have gathered round the apostle in his farther progress. His fixed line of procedure was to act on the cities through the synagogues; and to preach the Gospel to the Jew first and then to the Gentile. But such a course would have been impossible had not Timothy been circumcised. He must necessarily have been repelled by that people who endeavored once to murder Paul because they imagined he had taken a Greek into the temple (Acts 21:29). The very intercourse of social life would have been almost impossible, for it was still 'an abomination' for the circumcised to eat with the uncircumcised." This had nothing to do with any kind of saving or sanctifying efficacy (cf 1 Corinthians 7:19). This was a simple expediency that opened doors for Timothy's ministry that would otherwise have been closed at that time. Paul's refusal to bow to the demands of the Judaizers (Galatians 2:3) was a response to an issue that struck at the very core of the Gospel itself. In Him, Doc |
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3 | Why circumcise Timothy in Acts 16? | Acts 16:3 | MrsDean | 196085 | ||
Thanks! This makes sense to me. It just seemed at first like a contradiction of Paul's earlier insistence that circumcision was not required. I can see now that sometime in order to witness to others, we must first respect their culture. | ||||||