Acts 17

In chapter 16 we saw Paul and Silas released from prison after the earthquake and the request that they leave the city of Phillipi. In this chapter, we follow them in the continuation of their second missionary trip.

• Unto the uttermost parts of the world
  • At Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-9)
    • From Philippi to Amphopolis was 30 miles and an additional 25 miles to Apollonia. Thessalonica was another 40 miles beyond.
    • Paul and Silas did not stay in the cities they passed through on their way to Thessalonica because they had a master strategy to go to larger cities located on trade routes.
      • They were directed by the Holy Spirit.
      • The Holy Spirit had hindered them from going where they had intended
    • Thessalonica was a larger city of 200,000 people and the capital city of the Province of Macedonia
  • They followed their strategy of speaking with the Jews first (Act 17:1-4)
    • The results
      • Limited with Jewish people as only some were persuaded
      • Greater success with the God-fearing Greeks
    • Success has its problems (Acts 17:5)
      • The root cause of the upheaval was jealousy
      • The nature of the complaint (Acts 17:7)
        • They turned a spiritual matter – proclamation of the Gospel – into a political matter
          • The agitators were referring to an insurrection in 49 AD when Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome. They were inferring Paul and company were stoking an insurrection
      • Not finding Paul and Timothy, they took Jason, a Jewish convert, in whose house the men were staying. They arrested Jason and others and posted security. It was an assurance to the authorities that there would be no trouble
  • On to Berea (Acts 17:10-15)
    • Berea was 50 miles from Thessalonica
    • Bereans were of more noble character
    • The people of Berea accepted the authority of the Scripture and examined what Paul taught against what the Bible says
    • The Jews in Thessalonica heard Paul was preaching in Berea and arrived to agitate the crowds
    • Paul left as his presence was the lightning rod.
      • His leaving defused the situation
      • Silas and Timothy stayed to develop the church
  • Paul in Athens (Acts 17:16-21)
    • Athens was a leading city in Greece
    • What he found in Greece was different from any other city where he had shared the Gospel
      • Pagan temples
        • There were more idols in Athens than in all the rest of the county
        • Whenever a new god was introduced, they immediately built a temple to that god
        • No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. I Corinthians 10:20
      • He summoned Silas and Timothy to come and assist
        • While waiting for them, he did his usual practice of taking the message to the synagogue and quietly to the marketplace
      • He encountered two groups in the marketplace
        • Stoics – they taught you should live in harmony with nature and depended on reasoning as their way of learning
        • Epicureans – they were pleasure seekers and their purpose in life was to live free of anything painful
        • They thought Paul was a “babbler” a derogatory term meaning scrap collector or peddler.
          • He was peddling junk
        • They took Paul to a meeting of the Areopagus (Acts 17:19-21)
          • They were eager to hear him
          • They spent their time listening to any new thing that came along
          • They were prone to listen to new ideas, but they discussed and never acted on what they learned

While Paul and his fellow workers were forced to leave the cities where they ministered, they left behind a company of believers who carried the message of the Christian Gospel there.

The fact they were forced out of cities was a way for the Holy Spirit to expand the mission of the church. Paul and Silas had only intended to revisit the churches established on their first mission trip. This means the Great Commission was being carried out under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.