Acts 21:18-21 NIV “The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs.” https://bible.com/bible/111/act.21.19.NIV

Perhaps the reason the Apostles did not originally obey the Great Commission to ‘go’ and make disciples is because they interpreted Jesus’ work as the fulfillment of their religion rather than the replacement of that religion. The Apostles allowed the gospel to make the people more zealous for obedience to the law. They became more focused on their personal righteousness rather than on discipleship by following Jesus to seek and save the lost. The gospel should not cause us to become more self-conscious of our own righteousness or lack thereof but on God’s glory on earth proclaimed through the gospel in obedience to the Great Commission as modeled by the Apostle Paul, a Hebrew of hebrews and among the Jews, faultless. This is true because the gospel message is righteousness is appropriated to God’s redeemed children by faith and not by works. We cannot add to the work of Jesus. We can only live in adherence to the work appropriated to us. We do this by living as Jesus lived. Jesus did not teach a righteousness of greater adherence to the law of Moses. God in Jesus taught us that righteousness comes by faith in Him alone, appropriated to us through the cross, where He paid the debt of sin we could in no way overcome through our own acts of righteousness. The correct response to the gospel isn’t to become more concerned with our perfection. We are declared that already in Christ. Our proper response is to live as Jesus lived, taking up our cross, denying ourselves, and seeking and saving the lost until all peoples in all nations are obedient to the Lord Jesus’ command to repent and believe in Him. His righteousness gained by His perfect life is ours by faith. Now, we live to please God, to glorify Him in the world. This is most and best accomplished when every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.