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Category: Acts for a 21st c. Church

Acts of the Apostles + a History of Christ’s Church

Acts of the Apostles 1-28

Acts of the Apostles:
+ The first century Church SHARED Christ while suffering severe persecution.
+ Luke records a historic account of the Church which gives 21c Christians a context to SHARE the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others.

Read more about the Early Church & add your COMMENT on Scripture.

ACT now.

+ SHARE the Gospel history witnessed in the CURRENT chronological SERIES from ACTS of the APOSTLES.

Jews in Berea receive and believe the Gospel
What do Christians mean when they call themselves Bereans?

Berean Bible Believer

Are YOU one?

No doubt you have your own imagery.

(Let’s set our pictures of the past aside for a moment and go straight to the source – THE BIBLE – for some context of Paul’s visit to Berea.)
Acts of the Apostles 17:
A Brief Stay in Berea
Βέροια – Berea or beroia
The Clash of Titans and Cultures
What is Luke’s point in Acts 17:11?
Nobility
Why are they more noble-minded?
Paul’s briefer stay in Berea
Timothy and Silas in Berea
NEXT: Paul in Athens, ACHIA
Acts of the Apostles 17:
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So IF you are a Berean sort of believer you will first want to examine the Scriptures of our Source. Here they are!
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10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue.

Three Weeks in Thessalonica- Acts 17

This, of course, was where we left Thessalonica with Paul, Silas and Timothy last time in v. 10a

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
Acts of the Apostles 17:11 – English Standard Version

12 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.

13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds.

14 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there.

A Brief Stay in Berea

Luke, as you can see, covers this apostolic visit to Berea in just four and a half verses. And from their arrival [v. 10b] until Paul’s hurried departure [14a] even less time and scripture.

Yet hardly a Protestant Church lacks a “Berean” Bible Study or group of some sort (even those churches lacking a Berean store front to bring in believers of the Bible).

Βέροια – Berea or beroia

Pronunciation
ber‘-oy-ah

Modern Veria in Central Macedonian Greece

Mount Olympus and Berea near base of Olympus Mountains

Although the drama of Paul in this place was most brief, the mythical influence of the ancient Greek gods of Mount Olympus impacted nearby Berea. Olympus is a familiar stage of the Hellenist culture of all Greece.

The Clash of Titans and Cultures

ALEXANDER – the Great Macedonian

The former classical glory of Alexander’s empire had faded into a Hellenist culture for nearly four centuries and was then absorbed into a modern Roman culture of the A.D. 1st century.

As Rome’s Caesars sought to conquer the vast lands ruled by Alexander they discovered that the same ancient Babylonians, Medes and Persians to the East had all been influenced by the Hellenist culture of Alexander.

A Pax Romana created a culture of peace with Rome’s captive peoples and incorporated their gods and traditions into local practice.

41 foot tall statue of the god of gods Zeus

The cultural clashes between Jews, Greeks and other Hellenist-influenced peoples of the Roman Empire are inevitable, undeniable and central to Paul’s proclamation of the Gospel to Greeks.

No better place than Berea near Mount Olympus to set the stage for the world into which these apostles have been sent to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

What is Luke’s point in Acts 17:11?

FIRST, what it is NOT:

The Scriptures here are NOT the New Testament (which will later include two letters of Paul to to the Thessalonians).

And although like in OTHER Jewish synagogues Paul undoubtedly had proclaimed the Gospel to these Jews AND probably shared the letter from the Council of Jerusalem with believers, the SCRIPTURES referenced here were EXCLUSIVELY ‘Old Testament’ similar to earlier preaching of Peter, Paul, Stephen and others connecting it all to Jesus the risen Messiah of Israel.

Nobility

Why does Luke refer to these Jews as ‘more noble than those in Thessalonica?’
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(After all, Paul will later write two encouraging letters to those in Thessalonica and the Epistles do NOT include a single correspondence to Berea.)

Let's take a 'Berean' examination of the Scriptures illustrating Luke's meaning.
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“noble” occurs 18 times in 16 verses in the ESV, yet only 7 times in 7 verses in the KJV.
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Hear, for I will speak noble things,
and from my lips will come what is right,
for my mouth will utter truth;
wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

Proverbs 8:6-7 ESV

Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?


Jeremiah 2:21 KJV (after the LORD asking Judah in v.11: 
Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? 
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Luke, using Greek also common to Macedonia’s Roman rulers uses the word εὐγενής, meaning, ‘more noble-minded.’

Nobility refers associatively to a higher class; kings, princes, the well-born of certain families.

(Remember that Roman, Hellenist or Greek and Eastern cultures included many slaves as well; although Christ taught that more slaves than rich would follow the righteousness attached to nobility and ‘leading Jews.’)

Paul later addresses two Roman Governors as ‘most noble’ when addressing them.

It is this same meaning attached to the Greek women of high standing [v.12] as well.

Why are they more noble-minded?

Rather than being dissuaded by cultural arguments of leading Jews who rejected Jesus the Messiah of Scripture these Berean Jews examined what Paul had taught from the Scriptures.

δέχομαι – they received the word [logos]

Luke also records an attitude perhaps equally important to new Christians receiving the Word, who was and IS and will be, the LORD God of the heavens and earth.

“they received the word with all eagerness.”

Your Savior from sin and death, the Messiah of Israel will be the judge of ALL men. JESUS saved you!

SO DO YOU RECEIVE OUR LORD WITH ALL EAGERNESS?

μετά [meta] πᾶς [pas] προθυμία [prothymia]

‘with great (or all) eagerness‘

zeal, spirit, inclination, readiness of mind

The Macedonians of these towns and cities who examined the true witness of the Hebrew Scriptures and obeyed the guidance of the Council of Jerusalem formed a strong, vibrant, and spirited church who witnessed the Good News of Jesus Christ to all the Hellenists, Romans and anyone else who believed.

Paul’s briefer stay in Berea

14 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea,
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Christians generally note the moving on of the apostle Paul to Athens and what will become one of his most important speeches. However here we will continue our focus on the work of two remaining apostles sent out to Macedonia, Silas and Timothy.
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Timothy and Silas in Berea

.. but Silas and Timothy remained there. 15 Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens,

and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

While the Berean brothers helped Paul to flee the Thessalonian Jewish posse, Silas and Timothy stayed on (as Paul and other apostles had done in the past) to organize this church who studied the Scriptures daily.

Once arriving in distant Athens, Paul then commands them to return home and send Silas and Timothy to continue their journey later when they too will finally arrive from Macedonia NOT in Athens, but in the larger nearby city of Corinth.

When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.
Acts of the Apostles 18:5 ESV

NEXT: Paul in Athens, ACHIA

To be continued…

ACTS of the Apostles 17:16-
March 31, 2023
Three Weeks in Thessalonica- Acts 17
Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
Acts of the Apostles 17:1 ESV
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Luke summarizes an 80-90 mile [~130 km] journey from Philippi by these apostles of Christ in a single verse.
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~ A.D. 50 – Philippi to Thessalonica (by land)
ACTS 17 of the apostles Paul and Silas
This Christ whom I Preach
Thessalonica
Time to move on from Thessalonica
~ A.D. 50 – Philippi to Thessalonica (by land)
- Silas and Paulos, who are Roman citizens, as these apostles of the Messiah have just reminded Roman magistrates in Philippi;
- with Timotheus, a Greek Jew and fellow follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Once again in the city of their second stop in Europe the context of culture comes into play.

Whereas Philippi (which they have just left after unjust imprisonment and a freeing sign from God) was a ROMAN city on Macedonian soil, Thessalonica is more Greek (in a sense) and has a Jewish place of worship.

ACTS 17 of the apostles Paul and Silas
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So as in Cypress on Paul's first missionary journey and in most of the large cities of both missions to Asia, Thessalonica has a synagogue where Jews may gather, exchange thoughts and worship God. 
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²And Paul went in, as was his custom..
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Again Paul, Silas and Timothy would have listened to the prescribed Scriptures of the day and then would have discussed their relevance to the Gospel of the Messiah Yeshua.

AND once again on the next Sabbath Saulos, Silas and Timotheus would have repeated this customary worship routine of the Sabbath at the synagogue in Thessalonica.
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No doubt many of the Thessalonians became convinced by these three apostles during these three weeks that Jesus IS risen from the grave and that many Jews have witnessed this Good News of His resurrection.

(And then, they might confidently add, we have witnessed the many such signs including those last month in Philippi.)

Signs of Release from the Bondage of Culture

And the men and women we baptized were Romans, including our jailer!

.. and on three Sabbath days he [Paul] reasoned with them from the Scriptures, ³explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead,

“This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”
ACTS 17:3b

– Did Saulos of Tarsus PREACH IT IN HEBREW to the JEWS?

Did Paulos PROCLAIM IT from the Greek Septuagint?
- For that would be how Jewish Thessalonians knew their Scripture of the Old Testament better than you and I
- Faithful Jews took the Old Covenant of God’s written word to heart.
Were these Jews converted to their own Messiah by Paul’s reasoning with them perhaps daily for three weeks?

This Christ whom I Preach

.. he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”
Acts 17:2b-3 ESV

⁴And 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.
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When the gentile Physician Luke records in his second account that, 'many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women' joined Paul and Silas, he refers not to Jews but to local Hellenist gentiles of Thessalonica - local Greeks. 
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Saul of Tarsus, first a Jew, also a Roman, goes to the Jews first AND when they refuse to listen to reason from their own Scripture about the Messiah of Israel, Savior of sinners in all the world, these Apostles and disciples of Yeshua PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED in their own HOME Churches, the public squares and to any of the places a humble created people of any origin gather to seek our Lord and only Savior.

5 But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.
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Why would they attack 'the house of Jason' (who is first mentioned here)? 

Jason is a Jew who certainly also worshipped in the Thessalonian synagogue and who apparently hosted these three travelers as had Lydia hosted them in Philippi. Some commentators suggest that Jason may be related to Paul.

Like back in Philippi, or contemporarily like those crashing the doors of the US Capitol, this lynch mob (so to speak) wants to rule over the city and throw their opponents out of town.
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6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting,

“These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

Another King, Jesus

“KING Jesus in v. 7 is just an accusation

Worldly god claimants would use the same title for JESUS as Pontius Pilate when the GOVERNOR asks his accused prisonor:

Are you a king?

Paul, Silas, Timothy and Christian disciples of the Lord Jesus addressed the Risen Messiah as Christ or Lord!

In fact, “Caesar is lord” and “Jesus, king of the Jews“ (like Herod was) were ROMAN labels. Except here, as false accusations these are not in any way legitimate Jewish labels OR acknowledgement of a Roman emperor.

Caesar is Lord evoked emotional reaction to SOME Jews, but others compromised their faith to acknowledge that any MAN other than the LORD God Almighty could be THEIR Lord.

Thessalonica

Θεσσαλονίκη

Thessalonica founded in 315 BC by Cassander of Macedon, who named it after his wife Thessalonike, daughter of Philip II of Macedon and sister of Alexander the Great.

An important metropolis by the Roman period

source Wikipedia

The same claim that offends the Jews, JESUS IS LORD, also offends those who worship MANY gods out of our own selfish motives to worship only our SELF by choosing which gods to which we will bow down. INCLUDING:

ROMANS, who worship Caesar as a god and Greeks, who in addition to celebrating many gods worship their own philosophies of self-deduced knowledge.

SOON we will travel to Corinth where Paul will later write to the church:

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
~ A.D. 55 – from the first letter of Paul to the Church at Corinth – Corinthians 1:22-24 ESV

Time to move on from Thessalonica
- “These men have turned the world upside down
- Jason has received them
- they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar
- saying that there is another king, Jesus.”
8 And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things.

9 And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea..

ACTS of the apostles Paul, Silas and Timothy — To Be Continued…
March 24, 2023
Signs of Release from the Bondage of Culture
The Bondage of Culture and Corruption
The Shaking of Earthquakes
σεισμός – seismos
Signs by the One God of Power!
Acts 16:
Sorry, my public judgment was a mistake
Returning to the Jailer
The Bondage of Culture and Corruption

.. that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

This is only reference to ‘bondage’ in the English Standard Bible — BONDAGE is not a very popular word of cultural correctness — and “bondage of culture” does NOT occur in any version of the Bible (though the NKJV mentions bondage more than two dozen times).

The Shaking of Earthquakes

IF you will examine the events of ACTS of the Apostles carefully as has Luke, then you will see what some would call ‘natural events,’ such as the Philippi earthquake in Acts 16 by which Paul and Silas had the bondage of their shakles released, as one of many signs of power over nature, the idolatrous ‘mother‘ of many proclaiming the bondage of culture.

The Keeper of the Philippian Prison

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken.

And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. – ACTS 16:25-26 ESV

Wooden bonds shackled to their feet – a chain bondage to a stone floor or base of the wall of their deep prison cell. THEN AN EARTHQUAKE!

Just then? (What a coincidence of ‘mother nature.’)

Just when the witness of Paul and Silas heard by the prisoners had been singing to God?

σεισμός – seismos

Even the idolaters of the bondage of culture know this, yet minimize God’s power.

“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes G4578.

Signs by the One God of Power!

and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.
Gospel of Luke 21:11 LSB –

“But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake.
Gospel of Luke 21:12

Isn’t this what has just happened to the apostles Paul and Silas in a Philippian prison?

Acts 16:
- .. a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling.
- Paul .. said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
A spiritual bondage to the darkness of evil forbidden by Almighty God. And a bondage of culture to profit from knowledge unavailable to others.
- ..her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
- The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison
These magistrates were Roman leaders. The slave girl’s owners may also have been Roman OR these evil masters of the girl may have been Hellenist (Greek) men of Philippi clinging to the bondage of culture, not only theirs but that of their Roman overseers.

If you missed it previously READ more about the Culture of Philippi

The slave girl of spiritual bondage AND the local bondage of culture of her Philippian owners had proclaimed prophetically:

“These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.”

Yet the local Philippian owners of this girl bound to sin and under the bondage of culture – the slavery of differences:

“These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. ²¹They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.”

Is it customary for culture to beat its prisoners without a trial?

Yes, if the loudest of crowds can rule over their rulers with impunity.

It is our own bondage of culture which refuses the Savior Jesus Christ who sent his apostles and Gospel into all the world to free sinners from death.

Sorry, my public judgment was a mistake

So just go quitely away from our culture of bondage (to what we insist on doing).

35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.”

(We are moving down the cultural commanding chain of command here.)

36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.”

But Paul said to them,

“They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly?

No! Let them come themselves and take us out.”
Acts of the apostle Paul 16:37, sending out his reply to Philippian Roman magistrates through their jailer

The Legacy Standard Version [below] may be more helpful in understanding the cultural connection of this injustice.

But Paul said to them, “Having beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, they have thrown us into prison. And now are they sending us away secretly?

No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.”

Paul now draws a line in the sand by his refusal to go away quietly.

He challenges a Roman bondage of culture claiming public justice of their Pax Romana.

(Working back up the Roman chain of command ruling Philippi.)

38 The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens.

³⁹So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city.

The political leaders of this leading Roman city have publically punished men for crimes and having served an overnight sentence in the stocks they ordered their punished prisoners to go away and don’t come back.

But Paul’s witness of righteousness in Christ demands that these apostles remain in town after this public incident.

⁴⁰So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia.

Paul and Silas then visit Lydia and their NEW church in the place where Christ’s apostles were first sent and welcomed — Philippi at the eastern edge of Europe and in the very heart of the Roman Mediterranean Empire.

What’s just happened?

FAITH of two apostles singing at midnight in a prison in Philippi and THEN an earthquake!

They might have been killed in a collapsing cell in the lowest part of this jail!

BUT it’s more than just a shaking of the ground — this pivotal sign from the All-powerful God of heaven to whom Paul and Silas had prayed and praised. The prison doors are also opened yet no prison trys to escape. They wait in the darkness for the light of the hope of Paul and Silas.

Returning to the Jailer

²⁷When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped..

..the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself..

“Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”

²⁹And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said,

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” ³¹And they said,

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Acts of the Apostles 16:31b – Paul’s reply to his jailer in Philippi who asked, “What must I do to be saved?”

And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.

³⁴Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
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We have already examined the cultural bondage of the public court and its magistrates, who later attenpted to apologize and send them away quietly.
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The faith of the apostles had been public before prison, public in prison, public at the house of Lydia and the house of their Philippian Jailer.

FAITH in the Lord Jesus is a matter of PUBLIC witness every day and in every place.

And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.
Acts of the apostles 16:40b

To be continued…
March 22, 2023