Chapter 17
After Paul gets his apology from the rulers of Philippi, he and Silas go to Thessalonica. Paul speaks in their synagogue three Sabbaths running. What he does first is show by the OT scriptures that when the Messiah appeared, he had to suffer many things at the hands of men. This was not how the rabbi's had taught it, this was NOT what the Jews expected from their Messiah. Paul "proves" from the Bible - not from his own opinion - that this was necessary. Only then does he testify of the life of Jesus, showing that all that was foretold about the Messiah was fulfilled by Jesus during his life, death, and resurrection. So he doesn't just throw Jesus at them and try to displace Judaism, but instead to show that their awaited Messiah has come, and that because of this, the covenant has changed.
Many believe, but there are always those who want to hold onto their power and who saw the teaching about Jesus as undermining their power, and in fact making them obsolete. They understood the gospel. They may even have believed that Jesus was in fact the Messiah. But they rejected him, refused to bow to him, because they wanted to be the big dogs. Jesus taught humility, and they had none. It is hard to humble oneself.
So those who are about staying in power recruit lowlifes to stir up the city, to riot and generally cause trouble. You know they destroyed property and stole TV sets and burned down business...because they'd been given encouragement to do so by those in power. I would bet that the ruffians went a lot further with their riot than those who recruited them intended. But there's no stopping such a thing. The perpetrators have no "brakes" but fear of authority and this had been removed. Unable to find Paul and Silas, they bring the man who has put them up in his house before the town leaders. The accusations mimic those made about Jesus. They claim that Jesus is being proclaimed as King in place of Caesar. When Jesus was accused of this, he answered that his kingdom was not of this world. He was not there to compete with civil authority. We aren't told what Jason answers. But luckily this time, they just take a deposit from the innocent to pay for all the damage done by the guilty, and then let them go.
This might make a good FB post on the right day.
It is interesting that they leave under these circumstances, and yet Paul writes two letters to them in the NT. Paul was only there for a month, yet they came very far, and persisted despite the kind of civil opposition they faced.
Paul and Silas are sent away to Berea in the night. Doesn't say Paul and Silas decided to leave, says the brothers in Thessalonica sent them away immediately, for their own safety. They repeat the Thessalonica procedure. They go to the synagogue first. It says the Berean Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica. They checked Paul's facts against their own copies of the OT. They were looking for the truth, not protecting their positions. The less noble in Thessalonica hear that Paul is over in Berea preaching again so they go and make trouble there, probably blaming the unrest and property damage in T on Paul and Silas rather than on those who incited it in the first place. The Bereans likely believe these messengers, rather than looking at what Paul and Silas are actually doing. They send Paul away, but Silas and Timothy stay there. There are no NT letters to Berea.
2024 - This verse: 11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. [Act 17:11 ESV]. This should train ourselves to be like this. Christians are so often labeled close-minded, unwilling to listen to alternatives, unwilling to change, and so on. We don't like new music, preachers without suits and ties, emotionally demonstrative worship practices....but look at how these Bereans, called noble in the Bible, reacted to this revolutionary interpretation of the OT Scriptures. They didn't just accept it outright for its novelty...but they did give it a fair hearing and they studied and compared and contrasted and looked for evidentiary proof of what Paul was saying. We too ought to have that attitude. Rather than refusing to listen, or running people out of town without a hearing, we ought to study and see if God has revealed something that was not previously recognized. Jesus was always in the OT, his death on the cross was always there. But even he 12 did not comprehend that until after the resurrection. There are surely things in the Bible that remain unraveled even to this day.
Possible FB post...if I ever do another one.
2023 - These verses:
14 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. [Act 17:14 ESV]. This verse indicates that Timothy was still there with Paul and Silas. I infer from the wording that Luke went with Paul. But here in Berea is where they split up. That also makes it fairly clear that only Paul and Silas had been arrested earlier and thrown into prison in Philippi. Only those two. As it goes on, we see that Paul (and Luke?) sends for Silas and Timothy and sends orders that they come to Athens where Paul is as soon as possible.
(2023 -Later. Timothy and Silas do not catch up with Paul until he is in Corinth, as seen in the next chapter. Paul never returns to Athens. It seems probably, though I cannot say certain, that Luke was with Paul in Athens, and then went on to Corinth with him.)
Some go with Paul as far as Athens. Paul sends back word with them to tell Silas and Timothy to come asap to Athens.
Paul sees all the idols being worshiped in Athens and begins to reason with the Jews in the synagogue and with people in the streets and is eventually noted by the Stoics and the Epicureans. These are curious about the "new teaching" of Paul and want to hear about it. They are curious in an intellectual sense, but since their own philosophy has already elevated them to a higher plane than other people, they are just looking at how the new teaching will be cubby-holed into their own all-encompassing philosophy.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&sca_esv=8488350824ac1eef&sxsrf=ADLYWILMSW6-bY-2KghMdwUbePMc6OyCrw:1725456026674&q=areopagus&udm=2&fbs=AEQNm0Aa4sjWe7Rqy32pFwRj0UkWd8nbOJfsBGGB5IQQO6L3J_86uWOeqwdnV0yaSF-x2jonhbbcqQszH7grY4dWHpFL0ht9plxqHW_P5qtnlPP6fAkMD1_yvHBEYFSZgtXdm9CKC2II9yOlKJ2Wy2ujkvdmgdtO9q7kMnrRwNblKnpMzBG4Ipy0YgyKVdks_78QO_bK4ODHXgv6MFhTAD2Zziu8N6aX0Q&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjbnq7MsKmIAxUmMUQIHTiGE_MQtKgLegQICxAB&biw=2560&bih=1251&dpr=1.5#vhid=zy1frY4pVDRLnM&vssid=mosaic
2022 - There was a Jewish synagogue in Athens also. Paul started off teaching there, probably according to his usual formula. But when he saw the proliferation of idols, and understood the contradiction between knowledge and idol worship, he came up with a new approach, first establishing that God created the heavens and the earth, and all men through one man.
Paul preaches. Part of what he said is in these verses in the ESV:
26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for "'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring.' 29 Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. [Act 17:26-29 ESV]
Since they know nothing of the OT scriptures, being steeped instead in Greek philosophy, Paul begins by establishing God's credentials as creator of all that is. All men, even Stoics and Epicureans, are descended from the one man God created. God allotted to various men, nations, and times the extent of their domains. He is saying that history itself was what it was because God had established it so. I like the verse that says men "feel their way toward him and find him". That's what these philosophers are really seeking is this creator God who is the "reason" that all is as it is. Philosophers seek rational explanation for all that they observe, and Paul gives them God as that reason. Then he quotes two of their own poets to them - respected poets I would imagine - as evidence that some who are feeling their way to God have reached valid conclusions about him.
Having established God as the "reason" behind the whole world, he shows the inherent fallacy of idol worship with these words:
29 Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." [Act 17:29-31 ESV]
Since in their own philosophy men are the offspring of God, how illogical is it to project ourselves backwards as offspring of inanimate objects - idols made of gold, stone, and wood, instead of offspring of like, but greater and more powerful One.
2024 - I like the NASB wording better here:
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." [Act 17:30-31 ESV].
Does this not imply that for most of the world, God let things move along on their own, though he was aware, and yet for millennia He did not require anything of man. The Jews had the Mosaic, but faith saved them, not ritual. But at God's chosen time, more was required of the Gentiles. Now, he requires that they repent of their offensive behaviors and thoughts, and follow the one sent to save them. Never again would God allow any Gentile, indeed any person, to just "live and let live". MORE IS NOW REQUIRED. It seems that when Christ came, the time of a last judgment, was fixed in human time, and the proof of God's actions and decrees in this matter is in Jesus' resurrection from the dead. A thing unprecedented before or since. He rose glorified and perfected, never to die again. This makes Him unique.
Then Paul tells them that Jesus rose from the dead - did the impossible - as God's proof of Jesus' divine appointment as judge of the world at some future appointed time. On this point - reanimation - many of the Greeks mock Paul. Don't just disagree, don't seek some proof that this actually happened, but reject it based on their own pre-existing view of how things work.
Still, some believed.