Why is Paul told to go to Jerusalem by the Holy Spirit and then told by his disciples, in the Spirit, not to go? Why would the Holy Spirit give conflicting messages? I can't figure it out. :help
He was told to go:
Acts 20:22 22 And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:
Then told not to go:
Acts 21:4 And having found the disciples, we tarried there seven days: and these said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not set foot in Jerusalem.
Hi Rockie,
I thought I would pitch in here because I see this a little bit differently than some of the views expressed here so far.
Riverwolf actually made a thread similar in topic to this just a month or two ago about who Agabus was (the one who warned Paul about going to Jerusalem). You can see my reply
here where I explained that I saw it merely as a warning
but not a forbidding word from the Spirit about what going to Jerusalem would cost. As I pointed out in my post there, Jesus also knew what he was about to face in His crucifixion (even when he was told by Peter that he shouldn't go through with it) and was also even greatly distressed about it in the garden of Gethsemane, yet he did it anyway.
The
NASB reads this for
Acts 21:4, "
After looking up the disciples, we stayed there seven days; and they kept telling Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem." I believe that this shows that the Holy Spirit revealed to them (like He did to Agabus) what would befall Paul, and then because of it they expressed their concern because of the revelation given to them, of their own accord, to beg him not to go. I do not see an explicit command by the Holy Spirit not to go stated anywhere, although I can see where people might get that idea. I find this issue is illuminated further in the episode that followed about Agabus.
The passage reads: "
10 As we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” 12 When we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, remarking, “The will of the Lord be done!” "
(Acts 21:10-14)
What we see here is that what Agabus tells Paul from the Holy Spirit is
informational, giving a solemn warning of what
will happen if he goes, however
Agabus does not forbid Paul from going in the name of the Holy Spirit. We see that Paul's friends naturally, and certainly not wrongfully, emotionally responded by begging Paul not to go to Jerusalem to his certain imprisonment. We do not see here, though, a clear statement of the Holy Spirit forbidding anything, like is seen in
Acts 16:6 where it says, "
They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia". And in fact, after they had given up begging Paul they said, "
The will of the Lord be done," which certainly - if the people and Paul had known that that
will was to
expressly forbid Paul from going - they would have rather
rebuked Paul and told him the
Spirit's will. Paul also, I believe,
would not have knowingly disobeyed the Spirit, especially when he in previous times (as in
Acts 16:6) had obeyed. Nothing in the context of
Acts 21 implies that Paul was being disobedient to a
command of the Holy Spirit. I believe rather that the warning was given as a matter of fact, to let him know and be aware of the full consequences of what would happen to him if he returned to Jerusalem.
Also remember (as a backdrop to all this) that Paul in a few of his epistles (and also in Acts; cf.
Galatians 2:10; Acts 24:17; Romans 15:24-28; 1 Corinthians 16:3-4; 2 Corinthians chapters 8-9) had mentioned the
collection for the poor Jews in Jerusalem that he had literally been collecting for years from Christian congregations among the Gentiles. And so Paul especially wanted to return to Jerusalem to
finally deliver all of that gift offering money that the Gentile Christians had laid aside for Paul to give to the Jews in Jerusalem. To not go to Jerusalem after all would have
invalidated all that previous effort of giving, for which Paul had
highly praised all the Gentile churches.
So I hope in light of all this that I have made a sufficient case for seeing Paul's actions as not being disobedient, but rather him hearing a warning given of what would happen to him if he went to Jerusalem, as revealed by the Holy Spirit - but not forbidden by the Holy Spirit.
God Bless,
~Josh
It's kind of weird to think it was Paul who made that mistake, but an example for us, too. Sometimes it's hard to have a clean, clear heart, one that does exactly what God wants us to do, w/out pride and self-righteousness presenting themselves.
I think that's why it's important to see Paul going and also being told he would suffer and be bound in chains. I have my own experiences, but it helps to see how others persevered under fire.