Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 17-18.

Luke compares the Jews in Berea favorably to those in Thessalonica by saying that they examined the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul was saying was true.  Which should be taken as an example for all of us to follow: when we hear someone speak on a subject, we should read their source material to see if it supports what they are saying. We should especially follow this when someone claims to be communicating a message from God.  Of course that also gives us an example which those claiming to be speaking God’s word should follow: provide sources for what you say God’s message is.

When Jews from Thessalonica arrived in Berea to make trouble, the Believers in Berea sent Paul to Athens while Silas and Timothy remained in Berea.  In Athens, Paul got into a philosophical debate with some philosophers there after which he went on to Corinth.  From  1 Corinthians we learn that Paul changed his approach somewhat after Athens.  Perhaps that is me reading something into that passage from 1 Corinthians, but it has longed seemed to me to indicate that Paul felt chastised by his experience in Athens.  In Athens Paul took the existence of an altar to “an unknown god” to indicate that the Athenians were open to the possibility that their understanding of the divine was incomplete.  So, Paul started his preaching from there, but soon discovered that the Athenians behind that altar were not willing to accept the existence of the supernatural, the possibility that someone might be raised from the dead.  In Athens, Paul tried to win people over with a philosophical argument.  In Corinth, he focused on reaching those who were genuinely seeking, not those who merely sought debate.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.