1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 

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These missionaries always went to the Jews first. When they arrived at Philippi in Macedonia (Chapter 16), they found no synagogue, so I imagine they were very happy to find one here in Thessalonica.

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2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 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.” 4 And 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. 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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Fortunately some of the Jews did accept Jesus as their Christ and were saved, as well as many gentiles. In God’s design, the church was growing and growing into an international church that did not depend upon ancestry.

People process thoughts differently. I am a reasoning man. I am so glad that our faith is reasonable and that I can have debate-style discussion with both believers and unbelievers about Christ and the gospel as Paul did here.

It should have been a relatively easy thing to open the Jewish scriptures and reason them into recognizing that Jesus was the Messiah. But the saying that “power corrupts” is often true, and jealousy is a terrible ailment.

The resistant Jewish leaders were described as jealous here in Acts 17:5 as well as in back in Acts 5:17. The leading Jews had too much to lose, assuming they even believed the Messiah would come. It is likely that centuries of unfulfilled promises about the Messiah caused their hearts to harden, their spiritual eyesight to dim, and their faith in the coming Messiah to be spiritualized into metaphor.

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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, 

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Now I’m jealous (with a godly jealousy). I want our generation of Christians to be accused of turning the world upside down with the gospel.

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7 and Jason has received them, and 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.

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We don’t know anything about Jason except that he was happy to let these evangelists stay with him. Paul had a friend named Jason who was mentioned in Romans 16:21. This may have been the same man, but if so he moved from Thessalonica to Rome.

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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. 11 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. 12 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.

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There evidently was no more opportunity there with such a tough crowd, so they “shook the dust off their feet” per Jesus’ instruction (Matthew 10:14) and moved on to Berea. Again, they sought out the local synagogue.

The leaders at the Berean synagogue didn’t carry on and incite riots like those at Thessalonica. They were more “noble” - a Greek word that suggests generous and dignified (eugenes, εὐγενής).

This synagogue seemed to be more biblically oriented than the one in Thessalonica. As with churches today, it appears some synagogues were very devout and held the Word of God in high reverence and others were more political in their operations. That appears to me to be the primary distinction between these two groups.

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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.

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The Jewish leaders that essentially chased Paul & Co out of town travelled 45 miles to stir up trouble for them in Berea! They were seriously arrogant and jealous!

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

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I find this interesting. Timothy and Silas were capable of handling the crowds. The master teacher Paul meanwhile went on to his next teaching spot. Each Christian is a minister and each minister has his own gift. Paul’s was teaching so he went where he could teach.

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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.16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

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Note that the city of Athens being full of idols in itself wouldn’t be surprising, though Paul’s sensitivity would still be heightened because it was contrary to God.

I would expect that what affected Paul more deeply was that the synagogue of Jews and “devout persons” there evidently had little effect upon the surrounding pagan culture.

If that seems like a stretch it might be because in 21st Century America, Christians practically take for granted that we will just peacefully, quietly live among our pagan neighbors and not rock the boat in our neighborhoods. We are fearful of rejection and damaged neighbor relationships if we speak too boldly or plainly. If that weren’t so, we would likely be living now in mistreatment like that inflicted upon these disciples by the Jews in Thessalonica

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18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21
Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

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It isn’t surprising that the Stoics (who believed every experience was part of an individual’s development and should be engaged) and the Epicureans (whose teachings among other things included perpetual tranquility) engaged in conversation with Paul. But his teachings raised their eyebrows and they cautiously wanted to know more. That was a blessing to Paul, who wanted nothing more than to converse with them as well. So they took him to the Areopagus, which was a large rocky hill outside of Athens where important meetings frequently took place.  

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22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,

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We must engage the culture around us as Paul did rather than criticize and condemn it. We should not be surprised when unregenerate people act like unregenerate people. They act like you and I would if we hadn’t been reborn and, if we’re open and honest, like we still often do even on this side of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling.

Engaging rather than attacking the ungodly culture around us should be easier for us if we realize internally that they are our responsibility. We have allowed the culture to deteriorate by being silent, by separating ourselves from the world instead of putting ourselves in its midst as Paul did, and by not separating ourselves completely from its dead end values and lifestyle.

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28 for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “For we are indeed his offspring.’29 Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

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Paul was culturally aware. He was familiar with the writings of two of their philosophers (in this case Aratus, whom he quoted in the first part of v.28) and philosophers (in this case Epimenides, whom he quoted in the last part of v.28)

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32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul went out from their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

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Paul went in to make as many converts as possible. His mission was successful.

Amen, Bro. We take our faith far too lightly. This is war!

But the infantry is sitting on the curb eating PB&Js while watching and discussing the enemy's attacks!