Acts Chapter 17.

Acts Chapter 17.

Thessalonica.    B-D. 1272.        17:1-9.

Beroea.                            "     142.         17:10-15.

Athens.                "     107.         17:16-34.

Thessalonica.   They followed the precedent that the Gospel is to the Jew first.  The Church often forgets this.  Paul's approach to the Jews was to demonstrate that the facts of the Gospel provide the true interpretation of the Old Testament Scriptures.  The testimony of the book of Acts as to Paul's success among the Gentiles and the hostility of the Jews, is confirmed from 1.Thessalonians.

           

Evangelism.

           

Paul sought to establish Churches (not just missions) at strategic centres.  Thessalonica was a capital of Macedonia.  The Churches were centres for evangelism from which the Word of God was to be spread abroad.  If the local church is to be an efficient instrument for evangelism, it must:-

a.  Be sufficiently instructed for the task of evangelizing the surrounding district.

b.  It must have adequate leadership and autonomous organization.  Leadership is necessary for discipline and administration.

c.  It must be endowed with spiritual gifts and power, adequate for the task. These things must be promoted in the local church.

d.  It must possess sufficient conviction and enthusiasm to share the reproach of the cross.  Evangelism involves hardship, opposition and persecution.

           

The great need, is evangelizing churches, more so than more evangelists.  "There is need of a new recognition of the fact that the totality of the Church's life should be directed towards the evangelization of the entire community."   Again, "evangelism is not an extra task which the churches may undertake as they please; evangelism is the very essence of the Church."

           

Bp. Temple concluded a three-day discussion on evangelism with these words, "The key to effective evangelism lay in the quality of the corporate life of the local congregation."  Again he said, "The presupposition of effective evangelism and the first step towards it is a truly dedicated church."

           

Every Christian is a witness for Christ and is therefore an evangelist.  Leaders are important in every activity and without them there can be no unity.  But leaders can do nothing without armies and works.

           

The aim of evangelism is church-building and churches are built up with a view to greater efforts in evangelism.  The Church must evangelize or fossilize.  Evangelism is the essential atmosphere in which the Church lives and moves.  It must be the passion of every member of the Church.

           

The apostles took the Gospel to the people.  They fished where fish are found.  They selected the most likely point for attack.  They sought out the Synagogue, the place where devout persons prayed, the riverside, the home and the public place. 

           

They adapted their preaching to the audience.  They did not approach Gentiles with the same approach they used for the Jews.  At Athens Paul starts from natural revelation; at Jerusalem, he charged the Jews with the murder of Jesus; and to the Jews, they constantly appealed to the Old Testament Scriptures.

           

Beroea.   Again Paul and Silas go first to the Synagogue.  B-D. 1227.   The Gospel is to the Jew first and then to the Greek.  The apostles were not indifferent to the place of the nation of Israel in the History of salvation.  Besides, they had much in common with the Synagogue and believed in many things in common with the Jews.  Preachers are likely to be more successful among people with whom they have much in common.  The Jews, of all people, should have been the most ready to receive the Gospel.

           

At Beroea, the Jews were more liberal and generous and more free from prejudice than those at Thessalonica.  They eagerly received the message and studied the Scriptures every day, to see if it was really true, that the Messiah must die and rise again.  (17:3, 10, 11.  B-D. 811-8).

           

But Jews came from Thessalonica to stir up trouble.  17:13.   They were determined to oppose Paul in every place.  The Jews of the Dispersion (B-D. 318) were no more amenable to the Gospel than those in Judea.  Paul refers to the hostility of the Thessalonian Jews in 1.Thess.2:14-16. Paul knew that public strife did not help the progress of the Gospel and he avoided useless strife by moving on to the next place.  He was careful that the Gospel did not get a bad name as a disturber of public peace.

           

The opposition was centred on Paul, who filled the chief role in missionary work.  It was necessary for Paul to go underground while lesser men maintained what had already been accomplished.  Paul went underground by moving on to Athens.

           

Course of events.  Carefully compare with 1.Thess.3:1-6.

*   Paul leaves Silas and Timothy in Beroea and travels to Athens, from whence he sends a message for them to rejoin him at once.  17:14.

*   They rejoin Paul at Athens, 1.Thess.3:1.

*   Paul sends Timothy to Thessalonica, 1.Thess.3:1, and Silas elsewhere in Macedonia, probably Philippi.  18:5.

*   Paul goes on to Corinth.  18:1.

*   Silas and Timothy return from Macedonia to Corinth.  18:5;  1.Thess.3:6.

*   From Corinth, Paul writes his two epistles to the Thessalonians. - F.F.Bruce.

           

Athens.  Date 49-50.AD.   This city marks the centre of the course of Paul's mission of taking the Gospel from Jerusalem to Rome.  Luke gives Paul's stay there an important place in his narrative.  He is aware of the prestige of Athens as the centre of human culture.  Men still regard it as the Mother University city and as the intellectual centre of the Graeco-Roman world.  The message of salvation for all men must be heard in this city, so famous as the centre of human philosophy.  Paul speaks first to the philosophers, representing the two principle schools of philosophy, the Epicureans, B-D. 383, and the Stoics, B-D. 1217.

           

Paul stood before the Areopagus or Mars Hill,  B-D. 80.  It was before this very Council that Socrates was accused of introducing strange divinities into the city.  Luke may see a parallel between Socrates and Paul.  The Athenians imagine Paul a teacher of strange deities, for he preached Jesus and the Resurrection.  They demanded an explanation.

           

Paul now stands where Socrates stood and he makes his catchword their inscription about the 'Unknown God'.  He uses a pagan inscription as a text for his sermon.  The Athenians respected the 'Unknown God', D-D. 1304, and built an altar to Him.  They had altars to many gods and they feared lest some god unknown to them should have been omitted.  Paul saw in this their marked religiousness, but he also discerned that their philosophical quest had not brought them to the knowledge of the true God. 

           

Paul declared to them the 'Unknown God', that is, unknown to them.  It can be translated 'Unknowable God', but here preferably the 'Unknown God'.

           

Luke may regard Paul's address as a sample of his preaching before pagan audiences.  Scholars note similarities to the Jewish-Hellenistic propaganda literature, for Hellenistic Judaism used similar argument in seeking to turn pagans to monotheism:-

*   The criticism of pagan temples, for God made the world and does not live in houses made by men.  17:24.

*   The criticism of the cult or worship which is offered in pagan temples, for God is not served by men's hands.   17:24.

*   The criticism of idols, the statues honoured in the temples, for God is not like gold, silver, etc.

           

Christology.

           

Note the parallelism between the two Adams.  As to their earthly origin men sprang from Adam.  There is one species of man.  But in the last times, all men everywhere, shall be judged by the One Man, the Last Adam, whom God raised from the dead.  This act of God marks out the Man whom God has appointed Judge of all.  The Resurrection of Jesus makes the judgment of all men a certainty and constitutes repentance a demand upon all.

Evangelism.

Paul makes his approach through Natural Theology, both creation and history reveal God's activity.  He is Creator of all, and Lord of history.  (See the words of their poet, Aratus,  B-D. 1009d.).  There is severity in Paul's message, it is one of repentance and judgment.

           

The apostles concluded their messages with a demand for repentance.  Their preaching was shaped to secure this result.  But this was done in different ways.  When speaking to the Jews at Jerusalem, Peter charges them with crucifying their Messiah.  When Paul speaks to the pagans at Lystra, (14:15), and at Athens, (17:30-31), he insists on their evil idolatry. B-D. 551-3.  In every case, repentance is with a view to the forgiveness of sins. B-D. 435.  Repentance is to become aware that one is a sinner, and needs and desires the forgiveness of sins.

           

Paul's message had a threefold response from the Athenians.  Some scoffed; some would hear more another time; some believed.

           

Dionysius, B-D. 312, a member if the Court or Areopagus, B-D. 80, was one who believed.  This Court constituted for Athens what the Sanhedrin was for Jerusalem. B-D. 1142.  The Court, like the Sanhedrin claimed the right to judge heretical opinions.  Paul's stay at Athens was not a happy and successful one and it is unlikely that he succeeded in founding a church there.

           

It is interesting to note that the household of Stephanus is described as the firstfruits of Achaia, and, they were at Corinth.  See 1.Cor.16:15.

           

Literary Activity.

           

R.Gregson argues that Paul wrote 2.Thessalonians from Athens, and that Timothy carried the epistle to Thessalonica.  The usual view is that both epistles were written from Corinth. B-D. 1270.  W.T.Manson also accepted the priority of 2.Thessalonians.  This may well be the correct order.