A Tale of Two Cities

Acts 17:1-15

As Paul leaves Philippi and heads on to Thessalonica the text switches back to the third person. This could mean that Luke stayed behind in Philippi and helped the new church there, possibly even staying on as its Pastor. The route form Philippi to Thessalonica was around one hundred miles. It is supposed that they made this trip in three days, which would mean that they traveled thirty miles a day. Since they were beaten and tossed in prison only a day before this trip that must have been a grueling trip to make.

Thessalonica was the capital of Macedonia, and a free city. It sat on a major trade route and had a population of around 200,000. This fits perfectly with Paul normal means of doing evangelism. He likes to hit up major cities, and leave that city to evangelize its own neighborhood.

When Paul arrives he heads right to the synagogue as per his normal custom. As a traveling Rabbi and Pharisee he was pretty much guaranteed to be able to speak and find an audience there. Our English text says that Paul “reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving” (Acts 17:2, NIV) his case. The Greek words used here suggest that this was a debate. Paul would make a point, and they would argue it. Paul would then open the scriptures to them and say something to the effect of “here read it in your scriptures, what I am saying is all there.” In other words unlike the easy and free conversations that Paul had with Lydia and her small group in Philippi, here Paul had to fight, and fight hard.

The result of this appears to be that after three weeks Paul was forced out of the Synagogue and a fellow by the name of Jason took him in. We know from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians and Philippians that Paul worked, probably as a tent maker, for a while to support himself while continuing to preach. He also received two aid offerings, so he must have been there some time, but the text does not say how long.

This teaching is successful in that many Gentiles are pulled out of the Synagogue in to Christianity, but this makes the local Jews jealous so they higher some thugs to take Paul out. When that fails they grab Jason and drag him before the authorities. Jason is required to post bond that Paul would not cause any more trouble; this forces Paul to leave town to protect Jason.

Paul and his team head to the small nearby town called Berea. In Berea we see a completely different group of Jews. Here when Paul speaks, they search the scriptures to verify what Paul says. The text calls them more noble minded and says they searched the scripture daily. The text also says they were eager to learn.

This dedication of theirs to the study of the Scriptures and the openness before God they had fostered a much better environment for the Holy Spirit to do his work. As a result many Jews were saved through this work. Over all things are going great here, until the Jews back in Thessalonica get wind of Paul’s success. They travel up to Berea with the sole purpose of stopping Paul from preaching salvation there like he just did in their town. This causes a riot and Paul is once again force to flee, this time he goes to Athens.

In this account we have two different cities mention, that Paul used the same technique on, reasoning with them from their own scriptures, but had completely different results. This table shows some of their differences between the two cities.

As you can see they both start the same, but start to fall apart as you go. The obvious question then is why was Berea so different? The answer is given to us in the text its self. It says that they were eager to receive the word, and they studied the scripture daily. They tested everything Paul said, something that later Paul would command the Thessalonians to do in his letter to them.

The Jews in Berea had open and ready hearts, but that does not mean they would have fallen for any preacher that came along. They were ready however for the Word of God to be preached to them because of their daily study of the Scripture. The principle here is fairly simple, they made it a point to know God by studying his Word, and when a preacher came to town sharing a message from the God they knew so well they were able to recognize him.

The Thessalonians from what we can tell did not search the scripture daily, nor were they as open and ready for God as the Bereans were. The interesting out come of this is that in Thessalonica the attack on Paul came from with in the church itself, while in Berea the attack had to come from outside.

So what does this tell us today? How can we take the example given by these two cities and apply it our life today? Well the first thing is to notice that the synagogue that was in the scriptures daily was not mislead and was able to recognize the truth when it was presented to them. They tested what they were told, and they are held up as an example of great minds. This is in direct opposition to the synagogue where no such daily study is mentioned, and the result there was not recognition of the truth but rejection.

Christianity is not about suspending your intelligence, but instead it is a religion that is based on truth. It boldly makes the claim to be truth and presents testable facts and statements daring the unbeliever to test it. Non-Christians would have you think that you have to believe blindly because there is no support for the claims of Christianity, but the reality is that those non-Christians that have tested it, for example Josh McDowell and Lee Stroble, have come away Christians.

The question for the Christians reading this is, are you like the Thessalonians or the Bereans? If Paul had come to your town, would the scriptures record you as “noble-minded”? Perhaps a better question would be, do you know the scriptures (and through them, God) well enough to tell the difference between a fraud and a Paul?