The Relationship of Jewish and Gentile Believers to the Law Between A.D. 30 and 70 in the Scripture

138 fanatical party. The Nature of Paul's Action James' recommended action for Paul was to join in with four men who were in the process of a Nazirite vow and pay their expenses. The Nazirite vow involved a minimum time element of thirty days and its conclusion entailed the offering of financially substantial sacrifices . 227 It was not uncommon for others to pay the expenses of the Nazirite and such support was considered a special act of piety. 228 The confusing element is that Paul is encour– aged to purify himself along with them which could not have been done in a mere seven days. Conzelmann objects : "ayv(a811Tt KT.A . , "purify , etc. , " can only be understood as ' enter into the vow with them! ' But that could not be done for a period of only seven days (vs 27). Luke has misunderstood a report here. " 229 Several possible explanations have been offered . It could be that Paul had previously taken a Nazirite vow and was now joining in with the four men to complete his : 230 Or perhaps these men were being purified from some defilement (21:26) o that they could fulfill their vow in seven days and Paul ' s purification was that required from every Jew returning from the diaspora . Thus , Paul would be j oining in with the men in hi purification at the Temple , though technically he would not be fulfilling a Nazi rite ow . 231 227 The time element is specified by the Mi hnah tractate azir i. 6ff. Th mpl - tion of the azirite vow involved the offering of a male lamb, a ewe lamb , a ram, a drink offering and variou grain offerings (Num 6:14-15) . 228 Mar hall , Act , 345 . 229 onzelmann, A ts , 180. 1 . 1 ) f H n h n, a , l lf . nd t, 4 t