Many of the Jews who had accepted the gospel still cherished a regard for the ceremonial law and were only too willing to make unwise concessions, hoping thus to gain the confidence of their countrymen, to remove their prejudice, and to win them to faith in Christ as the world's Redeemer. Paul realized that so long as many of the leading members of the church at Jerusalem should continue to cherish prejudice against him, they would work constantly to counteract his influence. He felt that if by any reasonable concession he could win them to the truth he would remove a great obstacle to the success of the gospel in other places. But he was not authorized of God to concede as much as they asked.

Mange af de jøder, der havde taget imod evangeliet, havde stadig ærbødighed for ceremoniloven og var kun alt for villige til at gøre ukloge indrømmelser, hvorved de håbede at vinde deres landsmænds tillid, fjerne deres fordomme og vinde dem for troen på Kristus som verdens Frelser. Paulus var klar over, at så længe mange af de ledende medlemmer af menigheden i Jerusalem nærede fordom imod ham, ville de bestandig modarbejde hans indflydelse. Han forstod, at hvis han ved en eller anden rimelig indrømmelse kunne vinde dem for sandheden, ville han rydde en stor hindring af vejen for evangeliet andre steder. Men han havde ikke Guds bemyndigelse til at give så meget efter, som de ønskede.