From wedding vows to ordination vows, promises made before God are resolute. Sadly, however, they are not inviolate. Marriages fail. Ordination vows are abandoned. But more often than not, these vows hold people together. They can bring back a wandering husband, and restore an unfaithful wife. Pastors can be reminded of their vows of faithfulness and care for God’s people and return to their calling.
All this is by the grace of God and the influence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of God’s people. For it requires not only the repentance of the wayward one, but the gracious welcome of the harmed.
In the case of Paul, vows were made, and purifications were needed so that Paul could be seen to have been faithful to his Jewish heritage and roots. At the end of it all an offering was made to God to show the earnestness of their actions.
Years later the Roman Church would require people to pay an offering to redeem a loved one from purgatory. These indulgences were little better than an abusive fund-raising program. And even worse, an attack on the gospel. We do not earn our way to God by any means. It can’t be done.
Here, however, these vows, purifications, and offerings were made not for the sake of God, but for the sake of the other believers. They were being done to quell misunderstanding, confusion, and wrong ideas about Paul and his working and his teachings.
I sense a hint of the need to convince Paul of the need for this. They not only told him of the 1000s of Jewish believers who had their concerns. They also reminded Paul that the Gentile believers had been accommodated by the simple requirements: “that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.”
Paul’s work among the Gentiles was being validated and honored. His care for fellow Jewish believers was also urged. And he, man of God that he was, agreed. His vows, purifications, and offerings were a blessing to the Jewish believers and evidence of his desire not to offend.
These offerings, vows, and purifications were done because of God’s favor and work in his heart, not as a means of gaining God’s favor. His whole message stressed this vital truth – one we must keep in mind whenever we seek to honor God by any means – while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, forgave our sins, and offers us eternal salvation by his grace through faith.