.
The Apostle Paul In Berea
The Apostle Paul evangelizes Berea at least three times
during his ministry.
He visited once during his second journey and twice
during his third as he traveled back and forth through the Roman province of
Macedonia.
His first visit to Berea was prompted by persecution he,
Silas and Timothy (whom he had met just a few months before in Lystra - Acts
16:1) encountered in Thessalonica (17:10,
13).
Although the evangelizing of the city was somewhat
successful (Acts 17:1-9), Jews who were envious of Paul's success at
attracting new converts stirred up the people against them.
“4 Now some of
them (in Thessalonica) were convinced, and joined themselves to Paul and Silas,
including a great multitude of devout Greeks, and of the chief women not a few.
5 But the
unbelieving Jews became envious and took to them certain evil men of the baser
sort; and when they had gathered a huge crowd, they set the city in an uproar .
. .” (Acts
17:4-5, HBFV throughout)
Brethren in Thessalonica, after witnessing the tumult, send
the evangelistic team, at night, to Berea (Acts
17:10).
Luke, the writer of Acts, makes special note of the
unique mindset of the Bereans as contrasted with those in Thessalonica.
They possessed a teachable attitude toward the Bible and
were willing to spend the time verifying what was taught against the written
Scriptures (Jesus overcame a multiple of Satan’s temptations by
showing they were not right based on the written Word - Luke 4:4, 8; Matthew 4:4, 7, 10).
“11 Now these were
more noble than those in Thessalonica (which was roughly 50 or so miles from
Berea), for they received the Word with all readiness of mind and examined the
Scriptures (the Old Testament) daily to see if these things were so. 12 As a result, a great number of them believed, including not
a few of the honorable (upper class) Greek women and men.” (Acts 17:11-12)
Concerning the attitude of those in the city and the fruit
born by preaching the gospel, Conybeare and Howson state the following.
"In a
spirit very different from the ignoble violence of the Thessalonian Jews, the
Bereans not only listened to the Apostle's arguments, but they examined the
Scriptures themselves, to see if those arguments were justified by prophecy.
And, feeling the importance of the subject presented to them, they made this
scrutiny of their holy books their ‘daily’ occupation. This was the surest way
to come to a strong conviction of the Gospel’s divine origin. Truth sought in
this spirit cannot long remain undiscovered. The promise that ‘they who seek
shall find’ was fulfilled at Berea; and the Apostle's visit resulted in the
conversion of 'many.'" (Life and Epistles of Paul by
Conybeare and Howson)
Unfortunately, his stay in Berea was not long.
Thessalonian Jews came to the city, stirred up the people
against the apostle, and forced him to go to Athens.
Silas and Timothy were left behind to help the new
church and eventually meet up with him at Corinth (Acts 17:13-15, 18:5).
Paul will again visit Berea during a three-month stay in the
Macedonia region in late 57 A.D.
He comes to the city on his way to and back from Corinth (Acts 20:1-3).
No comments:
Post a Comment