writer of the Acts and Paul. Rabbi Jacob Emden, in a remarkable apology for Christianity contained in his appendix to Seder Olam Rabbah, gives as his opinion that the original intention of Jesus, and especially of Paul, was to convert only the Gentiles to the seven moral laws of Noah and to let the Jews follow the Mosaic law, which explains the apparent contradictions in the New Testament regarding the laws of Moses and the Sabbath. Persecution of Paul by Jews in Acts Several passages in Acts describe Paul's missions to Asia Minor and the encounters he had with Diaspora Jews and with local gentile populations. In , the Jews from Antioch and Iconium go so far as to follow Paul to other cities and to incite the crowds there to violence against him. Paul had already been stoned and left for dead once. In Philippi, a Roman colony, Roman magistrates beat and jailed Paul and his companions on behalf of the Gentiles. Clearly at this point, Paul and his companions were still considered to be Jews by those in Philippi who raised protests against them, despite Paul's attempts to tailor his teachings to his audience. Later, in nearby Thessalonica, the Jews again incited the crowds and pitted the Christians against the Roman authority. Circumcision controversy Paul, who called himself "Apostle to the Gentiles",, ; ; ; . criticised the practice of circumcision, perhaps as an entrance into the New Covenant of Jesus. In the case of Timothy, whose mother was a Jewish Christian but whose father was a Greek, Paul personally circumcised him "because of the Jews" that were in town. Some believe that he appeared to praise its value in , yet later in Romans 2 we see his point. In he also disputes the value of circumcision. Paul made his case to the Christians at Rome that circumcision no longer meant the physical, but a spiritual practice. And in that sense, he wrote: "Is any man called being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised" in —probably a reference to the practice of epispasm.Catholic Encyclopedia: Circumcision: "To this epispastic operation performed on the athletes to conceal the marks of circumcision St. Paul alludes, me epispastho ." Paul was already circumcised at the time of his conversion. He added: "Is any called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised", and went on to argue that circumcision didn't matter: "Circumcision