Call to Commitment

 

Medieval wall of Thessalonica to Aegean Sea

 

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

2.     Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 

3.     explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ." 

4.     And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas. 

5.     But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. 

6.     But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. 

7.     Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus." 

8.     And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. 

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

 The last time that Luke mentions his part in this story, is in Philippi in Hechos 16:10-17. Apparently, he remained in that city, because he does not say that he was with them, when they departed. From Philippi, they went through two cities of Macedonia, Amphipolis and Apollonia. Amphipolis is 33 miles southwest of Philippi, on the northern coast of the Aegean Sea. Apollonia is another 30 miles southwest of Amphipolis, but the exact site is unknown. Thessalonica is 37 miles due west of Apollonia (v. 1).

 We come to understand, in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, the general reception of the word there. “For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance…”. And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit” (1 Th. 1: 6-7). I will only add a small phrase from verse 9: “… you turned to God from idols…” In Acts, we get more details.

 Although Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles, it is always his custom to preach to the Jews first. This is done according to divine principle, because of God’s election of the Jews since the very beginning. Let us take verse 2 and Paul’s custom as an opportunity to go into the principle in more depth, because some Christians ignore it. God called Abram out of the world, precisely out of Ur of the Chaldeans to make a nation from his offspring. Isaac followed and then Jacob. We have the history of their nation and prophets throughout the Old Testament. We have their literature from Job to Ecclesiastes and the promises given to them specifically.

  In Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the gospel is promised first to them, with a new covenant. “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." (Jer. 31:31-34).

 Then we have two similar verses in Ezekiel 11:19-20: “Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:  That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”

 Jesus made it clear that He came to be their Messiah: “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mt. 15:24). He instructed His disciples: “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mt. 7:5, 6). Two examples in the Gospels show us that Gentiles enter into the Kingdom of God through the powerful vehicle of faith… the Syrophoenician woman (Mt. 15:21-28) and a Roman centurion (Lk. 7:2-9). For this reason, Paul teaches, the gospel is preached to the Jew first (v. 2, Ro. 2:10).

 Paul taught from their Scriptures that Jesus was the promised Messiah and that He had already come to them. Paul was preaching Jesus to them, explaining and showing to them from their own Scriptures that the Messiah had to die, but that He would be resurrected (v. 3). The anointed preaching convinced a great number of the Greeks, as well as leading women in the city and they joined Paul and Silas (v. 4).

 The Jews, however, had their synagogues in cities like this and it was their goal to gain proselytes. Jesus told of this practice and the fact that it was useless to the souls of those they gained: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Mt. 23:15). Therefore, they were jealous of Paul and Silas’ results and used their political influence to stir up evil men, until a mob assembled. They upset the entire city, attacked the house of Jason, a fellow Jew, who was Paul’s host, hoping to find Paul and his companions (v. 5).

 They could not find them, so they dragged the owner and some other Christians from his house and then made this statement, which showed the effect of the gospel upon society everywhere. "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too” (v. 6). The statement was not accurate; a true account would have been “These who are attempting to turn the world right side up,” were achieving the same end in the great city of Thessalonica. This was what was happening there, as a multitude of people turned to the gospel. This reaction showed the mighty work of God in setting a city spiritually aflame. May it happen again in the 21st Century!

 The accusation was that the disciples had claimed Jesus King, challenging the Caesar’s religion, which claimed that Caesar was god, and it was very powerful in the day. Jason was blamed for having shown the disciples hospitality (v. 7). It was a challenge to the city’s rulership (v. 8) but it was settled, as the world often solves its problems, by extracting money from the accused (v. 9) 

 

Paul and Silas in Berea

10.  Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 

11.  These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. 

12.  Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. 

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

14.  Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away, to go to the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there. 

15.  So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed. 

Sign in Berea

 Before anything else could occur in Thessalonica, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea, about 60 miles from the city of their departure, and they preached in the synagogue (v. 10). The Jews in Berea have gained a favorable place in the hearts of all Bible students, because they opened the Scriptures to see if they affirmed what the apostles were saying. This is the legitimate way for all searchers to find truth, because the Scriptures are the word of God, 100% reliable. All teaching should be judged by the Bible, as to whether it is truth or error. Therefore, there was a positive reaction to the gospel in Berea. There was an urgent need to confirm the claims of the gospel, so they gave daily attention to it, without delay (v. 11). Consequently, there was a great harvest of souls in that city, not only of the Jews, but also the native Greeks, men and women (v. 12). (The leader of the RETO work in Thessalonica and a modern Berean Christian took me on a tour of the city.)

Berea... synagogue on site of old synagogue

 The news arrived in Thessalonica of Paul’s success in Berea and the Jews reacted. They not only attempted to clear their city of this new teaching, but also their religious zeal extended to Berea. The Jewish population in Thessalonica was more powerful, besides there was a favorable reaction from the Berean Jews, and so the enemy used the forces from Thessalonica to confront his loss in this city, as well. Spiritual forces combined with the Jews from Thessalonica, and the secular population in Berea to stir up opposition in that city (v. 13).

 Apparently, new Christians, native to Berea, sent Paul on, familiar with the nature of that place. The native believers before them in other cities, also saw the danger and urged the visitors to escape. In this case, however, Timothy and Silas remained in Berea (v. 14). Brethren conducted Paul to Athens, and he urged Timothy and Silas to join him there, which they immediately endeavored to do, however it seems that there stay was brief (v. 15).

  

Paul in Athens

        16.  Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw                          that the city was given over to idols. 

17.  Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. 

18.  Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, "What does this babbler want to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods," because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. 

19.  And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? 

20.  For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean." 

21.  For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing. 

 Paul awaited the arrival of Timothy and Silas in this great Grecian city. We see a major theme in the book of Acts of the union of the Spirit of God with that of His servants. The Holy Spirit has been grieved with the idolatry of the citizens of Athens since its inception and sends His servant to share in the pain of its evil departure from the true God. They are given over to idolatry, which has taken deep root in deceived hearts (v. 16).

 Again, Paul begins in the Jewish synagogue, and the Jews are accompanied, as is common, by spiritually hungry Gentile proselytes, turning to the God of the Jews. He went to evangelize in the open market, where buyers and sellers circulated (v. 17). We know from history, that Greece is famous for its philosophers and philosophy. Two schools of philosophers encounter Paul here, the Epicureans and the Stoics. The Epicureans favored pleasure in their teachings, as the end of all existence, some leaning towards refined pleasure, others given over to sensuality. All were atheistic materialists. The Stoics were quite the opposite, maintaining a pantheism that taught that a severe force manifested itself through nature and humans were to conform to this force, ignoring circumstance and change. The Stoics were the more powerful philosophy and both, they and the Epicureans, opposed the gospel. In Paul’s doctrine, he warned the Colossians against philosophies: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8).

 The proud philosophers saw Paul as a non-intellectual “babbler”, certainly a title of contempt. Others saw him as a non-sophisticated, rather pagan teacher. This was due to Paul’s teaching of what they deemed polytheism, I suppose: Jehovah God and the Risen Savior… that is “Jesus and the resurrection” (v. 18). Some sects have concluded the same, because of the teaching of the trinity.

Temple of Athena on Acropolis

 At any rate, his claims seemed to carry enough weight to bring him to the center of debate… the Areopagus. Here, my friend, Roberto, took me, when I visited Athens, and I saw it was an elevated hill, where justice was conducted under the highest Acropolis, where is the temple of Athena and the Parthenon overlooking Athens. The Epicureans and the Stoics, who heard Paul speak in the marketplace, brought him here, because he was speaking of things that were totally new to them (v. 19).

 They wanted to know the meaning of Christianity, which was strange to them. It was not because they sincerely wanted to know the way of salvation, but were intellectually curious of another school of thought (v. 20). This was characteristic of the Athenians and strangers, who were interested in the same and came to the city. Their idea was to accumulate knowledge, as an end in itself, not unlike a great percentage of the world’s population today (v. 21). Solomon said concerning this subject: “I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind. For in much wisdom is much grief, And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow” (Ecc. 1:18).

  

Paul Addresses the Areopagus

       22.  Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I perceive that in                           all things you are very religious; 

23.  for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 

24.  God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 

25.  Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 

26.  And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 

27.  so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 

28.  for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.' 

29.  Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising. 

30.  Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 

31.  because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead." 

32.  And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, "We will hear you again on this matter." 

33.  So Paul departed from among them. 

34.  However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them. 

 Now we come to Paul’s preaching to the intellectuals of Athens, very different from that which he preached in the synagogue of the Jew, yet ending on the same note… he preached Jesus resurrected. We need to learn from the apostle of Jesus Christ, who championed the Lord among Jews, among Romans and Greeks. Whether or not they saw themselves as religious people, Paul does see them in that way.  Remember that we learned the philosophers were atheistic.

 Paul begins by giving his listeners a title, which is very indicative of their spiritual state; according to the New King James, he says they are very religious; according to the old King James, they are too superstitious. The Amplified Version translates “you are very reverent to demons,” and is as accurate as any other translation. Let me give you the original Greek in Strong’s Greek dictionary: deisidaimonia meaning more religious than others or too superstitious. It is the compound of a derivative of the base of deilia meaning timidity or fear and daimonizomai meaning to be exercised by a daemon: have a (be vexed with, be possessed with) devil (-s).

 Paul is helping us to see something beyond the state of his listeners on Areopagus. He is giving us a description of all that is not true biblical Christianity. It is, first of all, superstition. Then it is to be, as the Amplified translates, fearful or reverent to demons. It is to be exercised by a demon or vexed with or possessed with demons. That is why Pharisees and Sadducees had Jesus crucified. That is why Roman cardinals burned protestants at the stake. That is why fanatical Catholics killed evangelicals in Mexico. That is why Muslims behead Christians where they control government. That is why people find it so hard to leave their old religious beliefs behind and turn to Jesus. Paul defines you, my friend, in your religious state! (v. 22).

 To prove his point, Paul describes a ridiculous sight that he saw, yet in godly wisdom turned it around to show the Athenians an unconscious inner cry for reality. He saw an altar inscribed to the Unknown God. I am calling on you, he is proclaiming, who think you are wise, but are in reality are very ignorant, to turn to the true and living God (v. 23). He described Him as the Creator, Lord of heaven and earth, who needs no temple to house him (v. 24).

 He is in need of nothing and no human can give to Him. He is the Giver of life itself to mankind. All religion wants to give to Him, from Cain to every religious person today. Human attributes are useless to Him; man can only give Him, what He has first given us. We can only worship with His love, only believe with His faith, only rest in His peace, only rejoice in His joy, and only live in His life! (v. 25).

 He is the God, who orders all history and geography, the times and boundaries of every nation and He created all men equal. The blood of every race is valuable to Him, and when any man’s blood is shed, He demands justice (v. 26). It is His purpose that every man on the face of the earth men seek Him in true hope that comes from above… and find Him, for faith brings Him near to all… if you seek, you will find (v. 27). He is merciful, He is kind and will receive us as His offspring, as the Father received the prodigal son in the parable (v. 28).

 Because we are God’s creation, we should not think of Him materially, all of which materials are things that He has created. We should not think that an artful man can imagine His likeness, draw Him from an earthly comparison, and then depict Him as an idol. No, we have been created in His likeness and in His image (v. 29). This mighty Creator has been patient with us in our sinfulness and idolatry, but now we have heard the truth, and it is time that we accept it, for He Himself will bring deception and damnation on all those who do not love the truth. Before it is too late, we must turn from all our demon-inspired superstition, our arrogant opinions and sinful ways and turn repentantly to Him (v. 30).

 The Holy Spirit is in this message to convict men of sin, righteousness and judgment to come. Righteous judgment is in the future for everyone. Every Athenian listening to Paul ought to know that, because of his message, he has a responsibility to receive it. Judgment will meet him, when he draws his last breath and Paul’s message will be the dominating thought in his mind. He will surely confront the resurrected Christ, when he draws his last breath and he will be physically resurrected to face Him at the Great White Throne (v. 31).

 Never mind the mockers, truth is looking each one in the eye. There was not  another opportunity for these men and there may not be for an unbelieving reader (v. 32). “Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.  Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon” (Is. 55:6, 7).

 Paul departed from them and from Athens. His sermon was over. Everyone present could have believed and be saved, but we can thank God that some joined him and believed. God sends some servant our way and the one he sends, we must join and believe. Here Luke mentions Dionysius and Damaris, a woman, and some others, unnamed. Isn’t it good, that in each of these cities, Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens, women, as well as men, come into the church?