Acts 21:17-19

Acts 21:17-19

[17] And  were come  to  Jerusalem,  the brethren  gladly.  [18] And  the day following  Paul  went in  with  unto  James;  and  all  the elders  were present.  [19] And  when he had saluted  them,  he declared  particularly  what things  God  had wrought  among  the Gentiles  by  his  ministry. 

What does Acts 21:17-19 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

As he had done before, Paul related to a group of elders what God had done on his missionary journeys among the Gentiles ( Acts 14:27; cf. Acts 18:23). This undoubtedly helped the Jerusalem church accept the gift that Paul had brought from their Gentile brethren. I am assuming that the Jerusalem church leaders received the gift, but they may not have done so. Perhaps Luke did not comment on the giving and receiving of the gift because that was not something he wanted to draw attention to, even though by not explaining he left his readers with an unanswered question.
James , the Lord"s half-brother, was still the recognized leader of the Jerusalem church (cf. Acts 12:17; Acts 15:13), but this church also had elder leadership (cf. Acts 11:30). Herod Agrippa I had killed James , the brother of John , earlier ( Acts 12:2), not James the half-brother of Jesus. Luke mentioned nothing about Paul"s delivery of the monetary gift, Paul"s main reason for going to Jerusalem (cf. Romans 15:25-27; 1 Corinthians 16:1-4). His purpose was primarily to emphasize the spread of the gospel. The Gentiles had remembered the poor as Paul had urged them to do ( Galatians 2:10).
Even though the third "we" section ends with Acts 21:18, Luke may have remained with Paul in Jerusalem. He could have stopped including himself in the narrative to stress Paul"s leadership. Alternatively he may have departed for some other destination.