Tuesday: Thessalonica and Berea
When Paul and Silas were released from prison, the missionaries departed from Philippi (Acts 16:35-40). From Philippi, Paul and his companions went straight to Thessalonica, the capital city of Macedonia.
Read Acts 17:1-9. How did the Thessalonian Jews react to Paul’s successful preaching among the Gentiles?
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Once again we see Paul looking for the synagogue where he could share the gospel. Many devout Greeks and not a few prominent women were persuaded by Paul’s message. That these converts “joined Paul and Silas” (Acts 17:4, NKJV) seems to mean they formed a separate group and met apart from the synagogue, probably in Jason’s house.
Moved with jealousy, their opponents started a riot. Their intention was to bring Paul and Silas—Timothy is not mentioned—before the city’s assembly and accuse them. As they could not find the missionaries, Jason himself and a few other new believers were dragged to the local authorities under the charge of sheltering political agitators.
Read Acts 17:10-15. What was the response of the Berean Jews in comparison to that in Thessalonica?
The term eugenes (Acts 17:11) originally meant “well born” or “of noble birth” but came to denote more generally a “fair-minded” attitude, which is likely the case here. The Jews from Berea are praised not simply because they agreed with Paul and Silas but because of their willingness to examine the Scriptures by themselves and on a daily basis to see if what the missionaries were saying was correct. A merely emotional response to the gospel, without the necessary intellectual conviction, tends to be superficial and short-lived.
Before long, however, persecution interrupted Paul’s productive ministry in Berea, compelling him to move farther south, to Athens.
| When was the last time you diligently searched the Scriptures in order to find out “whether these things [whatever they were] were so”? |
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Paul continued his practice of going to the synagogue in each city that he visited. There was a very practical reason for this. The synagogue would usually be the only place where a reasonably full collection of Scriptures would be available. In New Testament times, Paul did not have the luxury of a book-sized Bible that he could carry with him on his travels. The Old Testament was typically only available as a fairly large collection of carefully hand-written scrolls and would have held a place of honor in those synagogues that were able to afford them.
It is worth noting too that Jewish education was often centered on the synagogue and would have comprised largely of rote learning of Scripture. The paucity of books meant that remembering what you had learned was not only a useful but necessary skill.
With this background, we can understand the significance of the rejection of Christianity by the Jewish community. Christian converts would no longer be able to access the Scriptures held in the synagogue and would have to rely on their memories.
Jews in general at the preaching of Paul
Did not receive the word; therefore were led into jealousy
Daily worked to undermine the message
Destruction of the message giver was the ultimate outcome.
Berea
They received with all readiness
They Searched scriptures daily
They Believed and there is no indication of envy or rivalry against the truth.
"Lesson's thought question: When was the last time you diligently searched the Scriptures in order to find out “whether these things [whatever they were] were so”?"
My question is: When last did we hear something new that needed to be checked?
Everything we hear has been check and re-checked and been written about again and again.
Shirley, that's not quite so in my experience. Of course, in a local small congregation that may be so. But what about sermons and videos of them on the internet. There are many voices claiming to have the best angle on "the truth." many of them criticizing others who do not see things the same way. So there's plenty of reason to check things out, whether they be so. Just like the people of Paul's time, those who truly check things out are relatively rare, while too many just accept a "convincing" presentation.
Come to think of it, even some very prominent and highly placed evangelists have preached some weird things with no real biblical backing - including one of my favorite preachers. When a younger preacher essentially preached the same sermon, I tried to point him to the biblical evidence which had been distorted to say something that wasn't there, and he replied to me, But Elder Xxxxxxx preached the very same thing!" I still like both preachers. But they're only human, and humans make mistakes.
To the law and to the prophet of they speak not according to the scriptures then there is no truth or there is no light in them
It is very important to sit down and reflect after each sermon or presentation
What I read from Paul's evangelism is the Parable of the Sower that Jesus told. There are people who receive and are excited and die quickly too, Others do not even want to hear the gospel, while a different group gets chocked by the people around them, but there is always a special group that takes time to read and find out more and flourish in God's word.
The times we live in are more complex several times than when Paul preached on this earth. We cannot just listen without us taking the extra step to seek the truth and be bound to Christ for he is the way, the truth and life. When faced with situations like Paul did, it requires tact, knowledge and grounding in the Lord to tell it successfully in this modern times.