11主耶稣清楚的指明律法要结束，圣殿要被毁。毫无疑问，祂的话给门徒深刻的印象。圣殿和律法既是犹太人的大事，门徒必定交通过关于律法的结束与圣殿的被毁。主升到诸天之上，并将那灵浇灌下来，门徒中间就有了得胜的行动。反对者开始曲解信徒中所流传关于律法时代的结束，并圣殿的被毁的话。反对者特别控告司提反『说谤讟摩西和神的话，』并控告他曾说，『这拿撒勒人耶稣要毁坏此地，也要改变摩西所交给我们的规例。』（徒六11，14。）无疑的，反对者在曲解真理。主耶稣说过律法时代结束和圣殿被毁的话，但反对者曲解了祂的话。旧时代乃是律法和圣殿的时代。新时代乃是基督作生命之律并基督作活殿的时代。在这两个时代之间有一段过渡时期。神要将祂所拣选的人从旧时代转移到新时代。所有早期的门徒，包括彼得，都在经历神的转移。他们生在旧时代，随著那时代的知识长大。因此，他们是旧时代的人。然而，他们蒙了主的呼召，与主同在三年半之久。不仅如此，在主复活之后，他们又奇妙的、属灵的与主同在四十天。我们也许以为，这足以叫神将他们从旧时代完全转移到新时代，从字句的律法和物质的殿转移到作生命之律并作活殿的基督。虽然他们已经这样认识了基督，却仍然在犹太教强烈的影响之下，并且受他们犹太亲族的包围。所以，他们很难从旧的背景得释放。主耶稣肉身的兄弟雅各特别是这样。雅各敬虔、虔诚，深受犹太人尊敬。他很难从犹太教的背景转移出来，反而带头留在那里，如行传二十一章的记说所指明的。按照行传二十一章，保罗末次访问耶路撒冷时，去见雅各，长老们也在那里。（徒二一18）雅各鼓励保罗回头实行犹太教的作法：『我们这里有四个人，都有愿在身；你带这些人去，与他们一同行洁净的礼，替他们缴费，叫他们得以剃头，这样，众人就可知道，先前所听说你的事都是虚的，反而你自己却是按规律而行，遵行律法。』（徒二一23～24。）保罗听从这劝告，同那些许了愿的人一起到殿里去。很难相信，保罗写了罗马书和加拉太书，指明律法时代已经结束之后，会作出这样的事。但保罗在行传二十一章，胜不过犹太教的环境。按照使徒行传的记载，在耶路撒冷的召会，包括十二个使徒，都没有成功的度过那段过渡时期。他们失败了。他们没有完全转移，这是主差遣罗马军队毁灭耶路撒冷及其圣殿的一个原因。在耶路撒冷那里宗教的混杂，也在那时被毁灭了。
11The Lord Jesus indicated plainly that the law would be terminated and that the temple would be destroyed. No doubt, His word made a deep impression on the disciples. They must have had fellowship concerning the termination of the law and the destruction of the temple, since both the temple and law were great matters to the Jews. After the Lord ascended to the heavens and the Spirit was poured out, there was a prevailing move among His disciples. The opposers began to twist the words that must have been circulating among the believers concerning the termination of the dispensation of the law and the destruction of the temple. In particular, the opposers accused Stephen of “speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God” and of saying that “Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us” (Acts 6:11, 14). To be sure, the opposers were twisting the truth. The Lord Jesus had spoken concerning the termination of the dispensation of law and the destruction of the temple. But the opposers twisted His word. The old dispensation was the dispensation of the law and of the temple. The new dispensation is the dispensation of Christ as the law of life and as the living temple. Between these two dispensations there was a transitional period in which God was transferring His chosen people from the old dispensation into the new. All the early disciples, including Peter, were undergoing God’s transfer. They had been born into the old dispensation, and they had been raised with the knowledge of that dispensation. Thus, they were people of the old dispensation. However, they had been called by the Lord and had spent three and a half years with Him. Moreover, they spent forty days with Him after His resurrection in a wonderful, spiritual way. We may think that this would be sufficient for God to transfer them fully out of the old dispensation into the new, that is, out of the law in letters and the material temple into Christ as the law of life and as the living temple. Although they had come to know Christ in this way, they were still under a strong Judaic influence, and they were surrounded by their Jewish kinsmen. Therefore, it was very difficult for them to be released from their old background. This was especially true of James, a flesh brother of the Lord Jesus. James was godly, pious, and highly respected by the Jews. It was very difficult for him to be transferred out of the Judaic background. On the contrary, he took the lead to remain there, as indicated by the record in Acts 21. According to Acts 21, when Paul made his last visit to Jerusalem, he went in to James, and all the elders were present (v. 18). James encouraged Paul to come back to certain Judaic practices: “Four men are with us who have a vow on themselves; take these and be purified with them, and pay their expenses that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things of which they had been instructed concerning you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the law” (vv. 23-24). Paul followed this advice and went to the temple with those who had made the vow. It is difficult to believe that Paul could do such a thing after having written the book of Romans and the book of Galatians, books that indicate that the dispensation of law is over. But Paul in Acts 21 was not able to overcome the Judaic environment. According to the record in Acts, the church in Jerusalem, including the twelve apostles, did not pass through the transitional period successfully. Rather, they had a failure. Their failure to make the transition in full was one of the reasons the Lord sent the Roman army to destroy Jerusalem with its temple. The religious mixture there in Jerusalem was also destroyed at that time.