Here is another point of interest that shows Paul was not preaching the same thing that the Apostles in Jerusalem were teaching.
The author of the book of Acts tries to paint a rosy picture of harmony between Paul and the Apostles. He tries to give the impression that Paul and the Apostles were all preaching the same gospel message.
At the very end of Acts, Paul visits Jerusalem for the last time and it seems that the author of Acts reveals more than he intended.
The truth finally comes out. The Apostles had heard some bad rumors about Paul. They had heard that Paul was preaching a different gospel than the one Jesus taught them to preach, and they were concern that Paul was not only lying about what Jesus taught, but was also stumbling a lot of believers.
When Paul arrives in Jerusalem, James and all the elders who had become believers in the gospel of Jesus wanted to dispel that Rumor that Paul was teaching the new converts that the Law of Moses had been abolished. This is what the account says:
RSV Acts 21: 18-22; On the following day Paul went in with us to James; and all the elders were present. 19 After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed; they are all zealous for the law,
21 and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs. 22 What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.
Now this is important to James, the rest of the Apostles, all the elders who had come to believe in the gospel of Jesus, and all those others who had come to believe in the gospel of Jesus as well.
The reason being because Jesus made it plain that he did not come to abolish the Law of Moses. That was not part of his Gospel.
AMP Matthew 5:17 Do not think that I came to do away with or undo the Law [of Moses] or the [writings of the] Prophets; I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
James then proposes to Paul that something needs to be done to prove the rumor is false. So this is what happens.
Acts 21:23-24 Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; 24 take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you but that you yourself live in observance of the law.
During this time Paul keeps silent. He neither denies or confirms that he has been preaching that the law of Moses has been abolished. He just goes along with it saying nothing, so as not to be labeled an apostate and thus lose all his converts.
Paul had a way of living a double life and using what the Watchtower calls Theocratic Warfare. In other words he lied when he needed to.
1 Corinthians 9:20 o the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews; to those under the law I became as one under the law—though not being myself under the law—that I might win those under the law.
So the apostles had
heard through the grapevine that something was not right with the
Gospel Paul was preaching about Jesus Christ.The book of Acts reveals this point about Paul's Gospel. That it was different than what the Apostles or even Jesus actually preached.