“ Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:
And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.
And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks — a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.—-
But the Jews which believed not, —-moved with envy——, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.”
And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things. And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go.
And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Therefore —-many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few. —-
—-But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people. —-
And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea: but Silas and Timotheus abode there still.
And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed. — Acts 17:1–15
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The Man with 2 Names - Thessalonica and Berea
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The quartet have left Phillippi.
The magistrates there, had whipped and imprisoned Paul and Silas, and thrown them in jail for the night. The next day, they sent officers to the prison to instruct the jailor to let them go. After all, these men had committed no criminal act. Here is the accusation verbatim ....
Acts 16:20–21 (AV): “These men, —being Jews—, do exceedingly trouble our city, And —-teach customs—-, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, ——being Roman.—-“
They were whipped for being bad teachers.....?..?... no... ? ... for teaching bad “customs”, “customs” -Jews- observe, not Romans! Racist much? It’s worse when you consider that the people bringing this absurd charge are actually doing it because they are mad at Paul for damaging their golden goose... a fortune telling servant girl!
This is not new. In Paul and Barnabas first journey, we have seen that they encountered opposition from their own brethren, in Antioch of the West, Pisidia, and Iconium... here is the form that took..
Acts 13:50 (AV): “But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. “
This they did in Antioch, in Pisidia, going to the extent of chasing Paul and Barnabas down to Derbe and Lystra, and having Paul stoned! The -same group from Antioch- did all this because of.... ENVY! (Acts 13:45 (AV): “ But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with -envy-, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.)”
We see this pattern in our passage this week as well.
Jews from Thessalonica are not content with hounding Paul out of their own city, they follow him to Berea as well, and for the same reason, envy! In Thessalonica, unable to grab Paul, they grab his host Jason and “certain brethren”...( could Luke or Mark be alluded to? ) — proxy candidates - and accuse THEM instead.... here are their charges...
“These that have turned the world upside down -are come hither also; —-Whom Jason hath received: —- and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.”
Jason is being charged with simply harboring a man... a man who was said to be proclaiming a new king! Yes, horrible crimes indeed!
What was the charge laid against Christ?
“ Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, ‘Art thou the King of the Jews? ‘
Jesus answered him, ‘Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? ‘ {wow!}
Pilate answered, “—-Am I a Jew?—-Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?”
Jesus answered, “ My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. “
Pilate therefore said unto him, “Art thou a king then? “
Jesus answered, “Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.
—-Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. —-“
Pilate saith unto him, ‘What is truth?’ ... And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, ‘I find in him no fault at all.’ “
: John 18:33–38 (AV)
The charge against Christ within Israel, was blasphemy for claiming He was God Himself or claiming He was His Son... take your pick. Never mind the manifest miracles in unprecedented numbers bearing witness to the truth ... the priestly elite rightly perceived Him to be a threat to the status quo, and this was the ONLY charge they could make stick.... because Christ could be counted on to stand by these claims!
Isn’t it ironic that —Christ— provided his accusers with the weapon they would use to seek His life? ..... Hallelujah ! ..... the Jews could not themselves inflict the death penalty for blasphemy... but had to find a Roman charge to execute Him... the claim to kingship. This satisfaction was DENIED... Pilate finding no fault with that claim... so that His accusers would forever be recorded as unjust, and wicked!
Poor Paul is getting the same treatment.... when he preached in the synagogue, members in his own community rejected the Gospel message and violently persecuted him, dragging him to court over “violations” of “ Roman” laws, and stoning him. The reception at Phillippi was better, the situation there you could argue was self-inflicted, but resulted in similar physical hurt.... When he goes back to preaching in the synagogue at Thessalonica, he gets in trouble again!
The only satisfaction Paul gets is to ... (a) play the Roman card himself, invoking his Roman citizenship to scare the Phillippian magistrates to come personally to get him out of prison and....(b)....
The ever increasing number of believers, and the Bereans.” —-Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. —-“
Here is a division as old as Cain and Abel, rooted in envy. Those who receive, and those who do not. Un/Believing Jews, Romans, Greeks.
The Gospel is uniformly offered, uniformly accepted ( across all cultures and races ) , and also uniformly rejected ( across all cultures and races)! What makes some people accept it, and others not?
We will never know the basis of God’s choosing - but scripture, and experience .. here in the book of Acts, and in our life, bear out that it is His choice as to where He will give Grace and mercy!
If accepting the Gospel is a function of birth , culture, education, upbringing, and pure happenstance that you walked into a sermon, coincidental... then it’s just roulette! There is no Grace and Mercy there.... ......no, it is extremely intentional, and always has been. God works to draw us to Himself till we say ... Yes!.. of our own free will. He is a very persistent suitor!
You will note that the Spirit says that the Bereans were ...also.... a “nobler” kind to begin with.... they were people who received new information with -mental openness- a willingness to check it out... and who then —daily fact-checked— Paul against the scriptures. They did not mess around!!!..... they were seekers of truth, and He was found of them!
A mixture of truth and false accusations, confusion, misguided mob hysteria, persecution of the innocent, the twisting of law, invoking religious zeal or political conservatism, using cultural differences as a legal lever to persecute... these are the hallmarks of envy and hatred..... fingerprints of the enemy.
Sounds familiar even today, some 2000 years later...
The Bereans valued truth. They were open to dialogue about, but committed to the validation of , truth, and their reference was the Word of God, deeply examined. Truth is the belt of our spiritual armor... the Word IS Truth!
Lies, half-truth’s and confusion come from the devil, who is their originator ... Eve was deceived with a truth , mixed with a lie, mixed with doubt.... you will be like God, you won’t die, why shouldn’t you have it... .... a highly potent concoction, you may recognize the pattern.
We need to to tune our radios to truth!
Paul is resting in Athens, contemplating the growth of his .. cities I’ve been kicked out of .. list, and getting in some sightseeing while he waits for Silas and Timothy to join him. Will he suffer the same fate here? What will happen..... ..... we will find out next week.. God willing!
Hallelujah!