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The Book of Acts
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BIBLE STUDY ACTS 17:1-34 REVIEW: Setting out with Silas on his second missionary journey of the Book of Acts, Paul quickly chose to add an assistant, named Timothy, to their expedition. Timothy, as Pastor George noted in his commentary on Chapter 16, would come to play an invaluable role in Paul’s missionary endeavors for months and years to come. He was called “co-worker,” “special representative” and was even listed as co-author of several of Paul’s letters. Having limited success in Asia-minor, this second missionary journey would take this trio even farther into the missionary field—to Europe. Following a vision of a Macedonian man pleading for help, they set sail for Philippi. Once there, Paul and his companions made their first convert in Europe, a woman of means named Lydia, who also befriended them and gave them housing. As has become routine by this point in Acts, wherever the gospel is proclaimed, Paul and his colleagues seem to encounter opposition from demonic forces. In this regard, Macedonia proved no different. Having freed a slave girl from demonic possession, Paul and Silas were severely flogged and then imprisoned. After a miraculous escape, in which the jailer himself winds up being converted and baptized along with his entire family, we learn that Paul was a Roman citizen, in which case the authorities apologize, set him free and ask them to leave. The Chapter ends with Paul and Silas returning to Lydia’s home, encouraging the brothers and sisters there. Then they depart from Philippi. CHAPTER 17:1-9 “Thessalonica” After they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days argued with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise form the dead, and saying, “This is the Messiah, Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you.” Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews became jealous, and with the help of some ruffians in the marketplaces they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. While they were searching for Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly, they attacked Jason’s house. When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some believers before the city authorities, shouting, “These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has entertained them as guests. They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus.” The people and the city officials were disturbed when they heard this, and after they had taken bail from Jason and the others, they let them go." In this section of Acts we find great correspondence between Luke’s narrative and the information given in Paul’s letters (Read 1 Thess 1:5-2-6 for Paul’s account). Here in Acts, we can learn something more of the details regarding Paul’s journey. As Luke writes, “on three Sabbath days [Paul] argued with them…” By this we know that Paul invested significant time in the locations he would visit. At least three weeks were spent in Thessalonica, if not more, to introduce himself and explain his gospel message. Although the details of their relationship are not elaborated upon, this story reveals that Jason was a contact for Paul and Silas in Thessalonica. The only other time Jason is mentioned in the Bible is in the “greetings from” section at the end of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Romans was written just as Paul was completing his work in this (Aegean) region, so this is likely the same “Jason.” This also reveals that Jason was a prominent figure and someone who became known by people in the wider Church. CHAPTER 17:10-15 “Chased by Thessalonians” That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas off to Beroea; and when they arrived, they went to the Jewish synagogue. These Jews were more receptive than those in Thessalonica, for they welcomed the message very eagerly and examined the scriptures every day to see whether theses things were so. Many of them therefore believed, including not a few Greek women and men of high standing. But when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Beroea as well, they came there too, to stir up and incite the crowds. Then the believers immediately sent Paul away to the coast, but Silas and Timothy remained behind. Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and after receiving instructions to have Silas and Timothy join him as soon as possible, they left him. With a nighttime escape from Thessalonica we see how Paul’s method and mission continued to cause him to make quick and less than glorious exits due to the trouble he generated wherever he went [recall Paul’s escapes from Damascus (9:23-25), Jerusalem (9:30), Pasidian Antioch (13:50-51), and Lystra (14:20)]. This time, after staying for several weeks in Thessalonica, the outcome was an angry mob of Jewish “ruffians” who not only drove him out of Thessalonica, but pursued him out of Beroea as well. As with his earlier sojourns with Barnabas, here Paul seems to attract the brunt of the animosity. Notice how Silas (called “Silvanus” in Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians) and Timothy are able to stay in Beroea, while Paul runs all the way to Athens. Regardless of the trouble, Acts makes clear that wherever he went many people came to believe his message (Jews, and Greeks including women). In this section we see how many of the Jews in this community eagerly “examined the scripture” for themselves, in order to verify the truth of Paul’s message. CHAPTER 17:16-21 “Paul in Athens” While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and also in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities.” (This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.” Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new. In this short episode, we get yet another view of the famous character that is Paul the apostle. Left to his own devices in the city of Athens while waiting for Silas and Timothy to tie up some loose ends, we see how Paul spends his time… He argues with anyone and everyone, or at least those who would listen. Luke even records peoples’ varied reaction to Paul’s activity. Some seem to have thought he was babbling about nonsense, while others, namely Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, seem intrigued by him. Beginning, as always, with the Jews in the synagogue, Paul proceeded to carry on his argumentation on a daily basis with those who happened to be out in the marketplace at the (right?) time. Although some might cringe at Paul’s behavior, Athens actually turned out to be the ideal place for one such as Paul to practice his art. For in Athens, it was the custom for the residents there to spend their time doing nothing other than telling and hearing new ideas—or debating them. Alleluia! Paul found a place where his activity actually meshed with the national pass-time. CHAPTER 17:22-34 “Paul’s Address in the Areopagus” Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he as appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, “We will hear you again about his.” At that point Paul left them. But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius and Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them." Paul argues here for the abandonment of false idols. In his day and age, Paul would have been regarded as the atheist—someone who does not believe in “the gods.” In Paul’s atheistic view there is really only one God, the creator of heaven and earth. The time has come according to Paul, for people to repent of ignorance, and embrace the one true God. This God is not made by human hands, but is involved in the creation itself. In Paul’s theological system as presented to the Athenians, the role of Christ is as the awaited and coming judge of human righteousness. The resurrection event, in a way, serves as the introduction of God’s appointed judge to the world of God’s creation. Important to notice, from a missionary standpoint, the fine line that Paul treads in approaching this and every culture that he meets. While he does not condemn the Greeks for their religiosity, or the poets, or the Athenian propensity to “grope” for God with philosophy, he does make a bold and challenging proclamation. He even calls them to repentance. May we be so accepting of peoples’ varied attempts at finding God, without allowing our fear from limiting our proclamation about Jesus. Let Paul’s example live among us as a Christian proclamation as bold and fearless as it is understanding and accepting! -------------------- Joshua W. Magyar, Pella Lutheran Church 418 W. Main Street Sidney, MT 59270
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