Paul's Nazarite Vow

(Thread begun by RandyP )

Paul in kjv@Acts:18:18 and kjv@Acts:21:15-40 performs what appears to be a temporary Nazarite vow for purification yet in Galatians:2 etc.. insists that believers are dead to the Law. Is there contradiction with Paul? Is there a place for the Law after all?

Today's introductory text: jps@Acts:18:18

The vow that Paul was under most likely was a form of the Nazarite vow originally established in jps@Numbers:6:1-21

jps@Numbers:6:1 @ And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying:

jps@Numbers:6:2 @ Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When either man or woman shall clearly utter a vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to consecrate himself unto the LORD,

jps@Numbers:6:3 @ he shall abstain from wine and strong drink: he shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried.

jps@Numbers:6:4 @ All the days of his Naziriteship shall he eat nothing that is made of the grape-vine, from the pressed grapes even to the grapestone.

jps@Numbers:6:5 @ All the days of his vow of Naziriteship there shall no razor come upon his head; until the days be fulfilled, in which he consecrateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long.

jps@Numbers:6:6 @ All the days that he consecrateth himself unto the LORD he shall not come near to a dead body.

jps@Numbers:6:7 @ He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die; because his consecration unto God is upon his head.

jps@Numbers:6:8 @ All the days of his Naziriteship he is holy unto the LORD.

jps@Numbers:6:9 @ And if any man die very suddenly beside him, and he defile his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it.

jps@Numbers:6:10 @ And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the door of the tent of meeting.

jps@Numbers:6:11 @ And the priest shall prepare one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, and make atonement for him, for that he sinned by reason of the dead; and he shall hallow his head that same day.

jps@Numbers:6:12 @ And he shall consecrate unto the LORD the days of his Naziriteship, and shall bring a he-lamb of the first year for a guilt- offering; but the former days shall be void, because his consecration was defiled.

jps@Numbers:6:13 @ And this is the law of the Nazirite, when the days of his consecration are fulfilled: he shall bring it unto the door of the tent of meeting;

jps@Numbers:6:14 @ and he shall present his offering unto the LORD, one he-lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt-offering, and one ewe- lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin-offering, and one ram without blemish for peace-offerings,

jps@Numbers:6:15 @ and a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, and their meal- offering, and their drink-offerings.

jps@Numbers:6:16 @ And the priest shall bring them before the LORD, and shall offer his sin-offering, and his burnt-offering.

jps@Numbers:6:17 @ And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace-offerings unto the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall offer also the meal-offering thereof, and the drink-offering thereof.

jps@Numbers:6:18 @ And the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the tent of meeting, and shall take the hair of his consecrated head, and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace-offerings.

jps@Numbers:6:19 @ And the priest shall take the shoulder of the ram when it is sodden, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazirite, after he hath shaven his consecrated head.

jps@Numbers:6:20 @ And the priest shall wave them for a wave-offering before the LORD; this is holy for the priest, together with the breast of waving and the thigh of heaving; and after that the Nazirite may drink wine.

jps@Numbers:6:21 @ This is the law of the Nazirite who voweth, and of his offering unto the LORD for his Naziriteship, beside that for which his means suffice; according to his vow which he voweth, so he must do after the law of his Naziriteship.

3 well known men in the bible under a life long commitment to the Nazarite vow:

Judge - Samson jps@Judges:13:4-5
Judge/Prophet - Samuel jps@1Samuel:1:11
Prophet - John the Baptist jps@Luke:1:15

(see: dict:all NAZARITE )
(Note: both men and women could take the oath)
(Note: It later became possible to take a temporary oath lasting at least 1 week and there became the possibility of a "sponsor" who could pay the expenses+sacrifices of others thereby not having to due the complete time other than the 1 week purification)

With that vow in mind let's now examine what Paul submitted himself to in jps@Acts:21:15-40

Of interest:

nkjv@Acts:21:20 ..."You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed,
and they are all zealous for the law;
nkjv@Acts:21:21 but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.
nkjv@Acts:21:22 What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come.
nkjv@Acts:21:23 Therefore do what we tell you

Here is where the long time controversy doctrinally begins: jps@Acts:21:25

From this response it could be (and has been) argued either:

Justification differs between Jews and Gentiles or
That Paul simply overstated his claims of justification by faith only or
Paul mistakenly thought that the previous Jerusalem counsel had committed to something doctrinally that it really hadn't or was backing off of or
That Paul's beliefs on justification were not yet solidified or
That Gentile believers must have misinterpreted/mis-translated Paul else
Paul is about to make a mistake or worse sin.

What then does Paul decide to do? Why would he do this? jps@Acts:21:26

What were the results of Paul's action? jps@Acts:21:27-39

(note: The results of him doing as the apostles had ordered turned out no better for Paul than if he had resisted their order)

So we have to ask:

Why did Paul do this?
What does it mean for us and Paul's doctrine of justification?

Let's discuss some possible answers:

jps@Acts:22:17-24
jps@1Corinthians:9:19-23
jps@Acts:24:10-21
(any scriptures group can bring up?)
jps@Galatians:3:21-29

Final considerations:

Would it be permissible for a Messianic Jewish community to still submit themselves to the Law under any circumstance?
Would it be permissible for Gentiles to submit themselves under the Law in similar situations?
What would those permissible situations be?
What situations might that submission not be the permissible approach?
Anything else we haven't considered yet?

Comment Board:PaulNazariteVow

Further Resources:
http://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/15350/did-paul-take-the-nazarite-vow-in-cenchreae-if-so-why-this-vow

http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/699-did-paul-sin-in-submitting-to-the-temple-ritual

http://www.bibleresearch.org/lawbook4/b4w5.html

Child Threads: