16:1-3 Why did Paul circumcise Timothy here yet he opposed circumcision for Christians in Ch 15?
16:1-3 Why did Paul circumcise Timothy here yet he opposed circumcision for Christians in Ch 15?
(CP 15:1-4). Here the Jewish Christians were trying to impose circumcision, which only applied to covenanted Jews under the law of Moses, upon Gentile Christians (CP Gen 17:9-14; Lev 12:3).
Furthermore the law of Moses had been abolished and done away with at the cross of Christ, and it no longer applied even to the Jewish Christians (CP 2Cor 3:15-17; Ga 2:11-21; 4:21-5:6; Eph 2:13-19; Col 2:8-17; He 7:12, 18-19; 8:6-13; 10:9).
Paul opposed circumcision in Ac 15 because there was a principle at stake, but in Ac 16:1-3 there is no principle involved. He simply circumcised Timothy as a matter of expediency to enable him to minister to the Jews of that region. Although Timothy's father was a Gentile his mother was a Jew, and that made Timothy a Jew too.
Paul knew that in God's eternal purpose circumcision meant nothing and uncircumcision meant nothing (CP 1Cor 7:18-19; Ga 5:6; 6:15). But so that the Jews would not reject the gospel being proclaimed by Timothy as an uncircumcised Gentile, he circumcised him. Paul was not compromising the gospel of grace here - he was simply doing everything possible so the gospel would not be hindered.
An uncircumcised son of a mixed marriage between a Jewish mother and a Greek father would be a stumbling block to winning Jews to Christ (CP 1Cor 9:19-23). Paul did not circumcise Titus, who had no Jewish blood, when they went up to Jerusalem in Ga 2 (CP Ga 2:1-5).
See also comments on Ac 15:1-29.
16:6-7 How did the Holy Spirit prevent Paul and His party preaching the gospel in Asia and Bithynia?
Scriptures do not tell us how the Holy Spirit conveyed His will to Paul in this regard. He may have done it through prophecy or some inner conviction. However, scriptures do tell us the reason why (CP V9-10).
Macedonia was the northern part of Greece - the doorway to Europe. The Holy Spirit was closing doors in Asia for that particular time and opening them in Greece for the gospel to be taken into Europe.
It was on this, Paul's second apostolic mission, that the churches were founded in Troas (CP Ac 20:5-12); Philippi (CP Php 1:1-7); Thessalonica (CP Ac 17:1-4); Berea (CP Ac 17:10-12); Athens (CP Ac 17:16-18, 32-34); Corinth (CP Ac 18:1-4, 7-8; 1 Cor 1:1-3) and Cenchrea (CP Ac 18:18; Ro 16:1).
The complete record of Paul's second apostolic mission is found in Ac 15:40 - 18:22 (see also comments on Ac 16:10, 16:13-15, 16:27, 17:11, 17:18-22, 18:18 and 18:22 and author's study Paul the Apostle - a Chosen Vessel unto God in his book Advanced Studies in the Christian Faith (Volume 2).).