vv.1-3 Paul’s Preaching in Thessalonica. Paul journeyed from Philippi to Thessalonica, which was about 100 miles southwest. On the way he passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, cities that divide the journey into nearly equal thirds. No doubt Paul preached in those places, but the spirit of God passes over them without comment. Arriving in Thessalonica Paul did as was customary for him, to preach “to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16), he went into the synagogue of the Jews. On three Sabbath says (he was there for several weeks) Paul reasoned from the Jews’ own scriptures that Jesus was the Christ (Messiah), and that scripture predicted that the Messiah “must have suffered and risen up from among the dead”. Passages such as Isaiah 53 would have been useful in this work, although there are many other passages in the Old Testament that he could have used to the same end. We find Paul taking a different tact with the Greek Athenians at the end of the chapter. But here it was Jews, and Paul addresses them pointedly, according to the need of their soul. Note: this is a good kind of “reasoning”, in contrast with the reasoning of the secular mind. In this case Paul “reasoned with them from the scriptures”. Conversion is the work of the Spirit of God using the Word of God. Further, it is important to reason from or out of the scriptures, rather than come with our own ideas attempting to justify them by reasoning into the scriptures.

 

v.4 Those who believed. There was a mixed reaction to Paul’s preaching, but “some” of the Jews in the synagogue believed, and also “a great multitude” of the Greeks that were there worshipping, and “not a few” of the chief women of that town. It sounds as if there were more Greek proselytes converted than Jews. We read more about the Thessalonian saints in 1 Thess. 1:6-10, where Paul says that they “turned to God from idols”, indicating many of them had a pagan background. Perhaps Aristarchus and Secundus were among those mentioned that believed at this time (Acts 20:4). Whatever their backgrounds, they did join themselves to Paul and Silas, willing to associate with these servants who had been so ill-treated in Philippi. Even though Paul was only permitted to stay in Thessalonica for a few weeks, many were converted. When God is working it doesn’t take much time to bring souls from darkness to light! 

 

vv.5-9 The Response of Unbelieving Jews. The Jews who did not believe were stirred up to jealousy because of the mass conversion as a result of the preaching of Paul. They didn’t want to lose their place, just as the Jewish leaders in the time of our Lord, who falsely accused Him and delivered Him for envy (John 11:48). These Jews resorted to underhanded means to try to squelch the work of the Lord. They invoked the lowest rabble, got a mob together, and turned the whole city into confusion. Surrounding the house of Jason, they searched for Paul and Silas, but the Lord allowed them not to find them. Instead, they dragged Jason and others out before the magistrates, accusing the brethren of preaching rebellion against the Romans. Satan is clever to pick our one part of the Christian message and try to use it to discredit the gospel. Paul had taught the Thessalonians when present of the coming kingdom and reign of Christ. In fact, the Jews brought this up when accusing Jason, twisting his words to appear treasonous; “these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying, that there is another king, Jesus”. As the epistles to the Thessalonians shows us, the knowledge of the appearing and reign of Christ according to Old Testament prophecy was a great joy to the assembly in Thessalonica, and they were waiting for the Son from heaven. The authorities took securities from Jason and the others, perhaps an equivalent to a bond payment, and let them go. This is a nice example of how persecution should be handled. They submitted to the consequences of faithfulness to the Lord, but seeing the brewing storm, they took steps to avoid further persecution (v.10).

 

The First Epistle. In 1 Thessalonians 3, Paul attributed the riots of Acts 17 to Satan’s efforts to hinder him. Paul says that he was “bereaved” of the company of the Thessalonians, and “separated for a little moment in person, not in heart” (1 Thess. 2:17). This was to show that his sudden departure was no indication that he loved them any less. If anything, the epistle would show that Paul had a special place in his heart for new converts. It was Paul’s great love for the Thessalonians that caused him to send Timothy back to Thessalonica while Paul was in Athens (1 Thess. 3:1). When Timothy came again to Paul with a good report, it caused the apostle to praise the Lord, and beseech Him for an opportunity to return to Thessalonica in person. Nevertheless, Paul recognized that he would have to wait for God’s direction. By the language of ch.3, it would appear that the timing of the first epistle was shortly after Timothy’s return; “Timotheus having just come to us from you” (1 Thess. 3:6). Since Paul was only a short time in Athens, he probably wrote 1 Thessalonians from Corinth, where he stayed for eighteen months.

v.10 Paul and Silas Come to Berea. Those who were formerly idolaters were now brethren, and were quick to help Paul and Silas in a difficult situation. The Thessalonian brethren conveyed Paul and Silas to the nearby city of Berea. Once again, Paul went first to the place where the Jews met, where the scriptures were read and accepted as truth.

 

v.11 Noble Jews of Berea. We find a very different reception of the gospel among the Jews in the Berea as compared to the Jews in Thessalonica. The Berean Jews “received the word with all readiness of mind”. This means that they heard about Jesus and Paul’s explanation of how He came in accordance with the scriptures, died, and rose again; and they accepted it! This was no small thing for Jews to receive. We too need to receive the truth of God with readiness of mind. It requires having a humble and teachable spirit. But the second thing they did is equally important; “daily searching the scriptures if these things were so”. As Paul preached, and they received, the Bereans searched the Old Testament scriptures to verify what Paul was saying. This was a “daily” ongoing thing, and it required diligence and attention to the Word of God. We too need to show the same energy; “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thess. 5:21).

v.12 Reception. The results of the right of mind and diligent searching among the Berean Jews was that many of them believed, in contrast with some at Thessalonica. There were also many women of the upper or patrician class, as well as men, that believed. There was a wide reception of the gospel in Berea, but Satan was quick to stir up opposition to the work.

 

v.13 Persecution Comes. Satan was not content to have Paul and Silas out of Thessalonica. He did not want to see blessing anywhere, nor did the envious Jews of Thessalonica. When they heard that the gospel was being preached in Berea, they came down to stir up the crowds as they had done at home.

 

vv.14-15 Paul Sent, Silas and Timothy Left. Once again the newly converted brethren in that place sent Paul away for his protection. Whether they actually sent Paul by sea to Athens or just made as if they were going to send him by sea is not known. It is possible that it was a clever move to throw the pursuers off the trail. Paul left Silas and Timothy there, but then sent a message to fetch them as quickly as possible. We find in 1 Thessalonians 3:1-2 that Timothy brough news of the Thessalonians to Paul in Athens, and he sent Timothy back to them to establish them! The first epistle to the Thessalonians shows that Timothy was very useful in that region. Paul appreciated the help of young people.

 

v.16 Paul’s spirit stirred. At Athens, while waiting for his brethren, Paul’s spirit was stirred within him as he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. The home of philosophy and art, Athens was also the capital of pagan idol worship. While boasting in the intellect, but it was enslaved to demons. How solemn: intellectual pride without God always ends in moral blindness. The apostle saw men worshiping everything but the Creator, and his zeal was kindled.

 

vv.17-18 Disputes in synagogue and marketplace. He reasoned daily in the synagogue with the Jews and in the marketplace with whoever came by. There he met Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. The Epicureans where the pleasure-seekers who lived loosely and without restraint, while the Stoics were fatalists, Pantheists, and took a sterner view on life. But both were equally ignorant of God. They called him a “babbler,” yet curiosity led them to hear more, for he preached “Jesus and the resurrection.” To the learned, this seemed strange. Some thought he was announcing strange God’s, foreign to their pantheon!

 

 

vv.19-21 Brought to the Areopagus. The philosophers brought Paul to the Areopagus, not for trial but inquiry. Athens loved novelty more than truth; they spent their time in nothing else than to tell or hear some new thing. Yet God’s grace led His servant there to declare the one truth they lacked: the knowledge of the living God.

 

vv.22-23 The altar to the unknown god. Standing in the midst of Mars Hill, Paul addressed them courteously but faithfully: “Athenians, in every way I see you given up to demon worship.” Among their countless idols, he had found an altar inscribed, “To the Unknown God”. They had an altar for an unknown deity in case one existed they knew not of! What they confessed in ignorance, Paul now declared in truth.

 

vv.24-25 The Creator and Sustainer. Paul declared the one true God, the Maker of the world and all things in it, Lord of heaven and earth, a spiritual Being, not dwelling in temples made with hands, nor served by human hands as though He needed anything. Creation refuted both chance of the Epicureans and the fatalism of the Stoics; the former because it shows that the universe is the work of a sovereign Creator, the latter because the same Creator is active and intentional in all He does. The true God is not dependent on man’s worship but the Giver of life and breath to all. He is transcendent above creation yet present in sustaining it.

 

vv.26-28 The nearness of the Creator to mankind. From one man He made every nation of men, determining their appointed seasons and boundaries, with the purpose that they might seek God. This silenced Athenian pride in their race and Greek culture: all nations have one origin and are accountable to one God. Man’s conscience tells him there is a God, and his spirit makes him conscious of God, which shows God is accessible to man: “for in Him we live, and move, and have our being.” Even their own poets bore unconscious witness to this truth: “For we are also His offspring.” Thus Paul shows the nearness of God to man. In v.28 Paul quotes several Greek poets. First, he quotes a native prophet of the Crete, a philosopher called Epimenides of Crete from the 6th century BC, who wrote a poem called Cretica concerning the Greek god Zeus; “in him we live and move and exist”. Actually, Paul quotes this famous poem twice, once in Acts 17:28 and once in Titus 1:12. The poem was written by a pagan idolater who believed Zeus was immortal, an opinion that differed from the common view of the Cretans, which was that Zeus was mortal. Paul quotes two lines from this poem for separate purposes, and shows that they are true.¹ In Acts 17 Paul explains that the idolatrous poet was correct in describing the attributes of the Creator, although wrong in assigning them to Zeus. But in Titus he shows that the line about the Cretans, although intended by Epimenides for a different purpose, was intrinsically accurate in that described the deceitful, base, and slothful character of the people of Crete. Then Paul quotes a famous line that is found in two places, first in a poem called Phenomena by Aratus of Cilicia (Paul’s countryman) in the 3rd century BC, and again in Cleanthes of Assos’ Hymn to Zeus, also written in the 3rd century BC; “For we are also his offspring”. In both cases Paul takes an element of truth from the otherwise idolatrous statement, and shows (v.29) the folly of idolatry itself!

 

vv.29-31 Call to repentance and coming judgment. If we live and move and have our being from God, how could He “be like gold or silver or stone, the graven form of man’s art and imagination”? And if we, living, breathing, thinking creatures, are His offspring, how could God be an inanimate object? Idolatry, therefore, was moral blindness, not mere ignorance. God had once borne with such darkness, but now (after the cross) commands all men everywhere to repent. The day is appointed when He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained (Jesus Christ) of which He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead. “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honour the Son… because he is the Son of man” (John 5:22-23, 27). The resurrection, ridiculed by human philosophy, is God’s proof of both salvation because our sins are gone, and of judgment because the One the world cast out and crucified has been raised from the dead! Here it is specifically called the “resurrection from among the dead” (Matt. 17:9); i.e. not all the dead are raised together. Christ Himself was the one who first taught this distinction; having “brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim. 1:10). He taught that the resurrection would have two parts; that those of faith would rise first, and then later those without faith would be raised for judgment (John 5:29). Paul added even more detail which he got by revelation: Christ would rise first (He is the first-fruits), and then those that are Christ’s at His coming would rise (1 Cor. 15:23).

vv.32-33 Mixed reactions. When they heard of the bodily resurrection of the dead, some mocked, others postponed, saying they would hear Paul again on this matter. Notice that it wasn’t the doctrine of the immortality of the soul that brought out their mockery, but of the bodily resurrection of the dead. These responses, scorn and delay, are the same old responses of the human heart. Paul wisely departed, leaving the results with the Lord.