Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens

November 22, 2015 Background Scripture: Acts 17:1 – 32 Lesson Passage: Acts 17:1 – 4, 10 – 12, 22 – 25, 28 The rulers in Philippi quickly changed their attitude when they learned that Paul and his companions were Roman citizens. Perhaps the rulers were frightened because of their ill treatment of the missionaries. They demanded that the missionaries leave Philippi. Upon departure, they traveled through several towns of Macedonia and stopped in Thessalonica. Paul’s custom was to visit local Jewish synagogues. This he did in Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens. It was in this setting that Paul did his evangelistic work. He used the Old Testament writings to support his argument about Jesus being the Messiah. The Grecian men and well-established women of the regions readily accepted Paul’s teaching. Paul’s popularity became an issue of jealousy for some of the Jews in the regions. Rather than deal with their envy of Paul in a mature fashion, many of the Jews claimed to defend Caesar’s honor against Paul’s claims about Jesus being king. This argument was used to rally the local citizens against the missionaries and attack the local residents who aided them by providing room and board. One noted example of this was when they assaulted Jason, in Thessalonica, because he received the missionaries. Jason was later arrested and released. The Christian converts and sympathizers sent Paul and Silas away at night and they departed for Berea. The nobility of the Jews in Berea was noted by Luke in this historical account. Rather than jealousy, this group was curious and open to being enlightened concerning the scriptures they studied. It is to be noted that they were noble but not gullible. They freely received Paul’s teaching but studied the scriptures for themselves everyday to see if Paul’s doctrine was accurate or not. This could only happen because they understood their own doctrine of Judaism. I believe this is what Paul expected in all of the synagogues he visited. What was true then is still true today. Everyone who comes to a Bible Study is not open to being taught when they arrive for class. Some will be offended and may become hostile towards anything that is contrary to what they already believe whether it is supported by the scriptures or not. Paul experienced this hostility more than he experienced acceptance according to Luke’s record in the book of Acts. In fact, the hostile Jews of Thessalonica learned of the accepting Jews in Berea and went to Berea and incited the citizens there against the missionaries. The brethren in Berea responded by sending Paul completely out of the region—almost certainly for the sake of maintaining civil peace in Berea. The hostile Jews of Thessalonica had a complaint against Paul and his companions that many evangelists would envy today. They claimed that Paul and his companions had turned the world upside down with their doctrine. That was not completely true but rather it was the hostility of the Jews who rejected the gospel and attempted to turn the world upside down in order to maintain the status quo. Paul went on to press his argument in Athens with the devout Jews and the philosophers there. Paul confronted the Jews there because the city was overrun with idolatry. The philosophers there challenged Paul because his doctrine of the resurrection of the dead seemed too bizarre even for philosophers. The philosophers were seeking tangible facts and not faith or belief in something they could not prove for themselves. The gospel continued to spread in spite of opposition. Robert C. Hudson November 11, 2015

From Derbe to Philippi

November 15, 2015 Background Scripture: Acts 16:1 – 15 Lesson Passage: Acts 16:1 – 5, 8 – 15 The spread of the Christian faith was due in large part to the persecution of the church and her missionaries. The external persecution caused the Christians to scatter and as they went they proclaimed the good news to all who would listen and receive it. Today’s lesson highlights a different mechanism that spurred Christian propagation and that is internal disagreement among the missionaries. In our text, Paul and Silas pressed on into Asia while Barnabas and John Mark sailed to the island of Cyprus. This separation was due to the dissension between Paul and Barnabas concerning John Mark accompanying them on their planned mission back into Asia. Whether it was external persecution or internal dissension, God used it all to His glory. In Lystra, Paul and Silas met a young Christian convert named Timothy whose mother was a Jew and father was a Gentile. Since this was Paul’s second missionary trip to that area, it is quite likely that Timothy was one of the many converts from his first trip. On this trip, Paul felt compelled to add Timothy to their missionary team but first circumcised him so that the Jews there would not be offended with Timothy’s presence since much of their mission work was done in the Jewish synagogues at that time. Paul’s circumcision of Timothy is an indication that Timothy’s father was not a Jewish proselyte or the circumcision would have taken place earlier in his life. The work of Paul and his missionary team in that area and the surrounding locations strengthened the congregations that were previously established. The size of the congregations also grew as a result of their work. From Lystra, Paul continued to trace back through the cities he visited during his first missionary journey. This work was interrupted at least twice by the Holy Ghost. First when Paul wanted to go into an area that the Holy Ghost forbade them and secondly when Paul was given a vision of a cry for help from Macedonia. Paul’s vision showed a man in Macedonia requesting their help so his missionary team responded by going to Macedonia. It should be noted that Luke was part of the missionary team because he writes the account of their work in the first person plural. In other words, Luke wrote about “we” went into the region. Although the vision indicated the request came from a man, the first group they encountered was a group of women having prayer meeting on the side of the river. One of them, Lydia, received the gospel message and was baptized along with her household. For a time, her house became a haven for the missionary team in Macedonia. The leaders of the missionary team, Paul and Silas, would later suffer beatings and imprisonment before a man would emerge and be saved and that man was the keeper of the prison. Paul’s heart was set on retracing his previous missionary trail when the mission team went to Derbe but the team was diverted to Philippi by the prompting of the Holy Ghost. Robert C. Hudson October 30, 2015