ACTS CHAPTER 17

      No Comments on ACTS CHAPTER 17

ACTS CHAPTER 17

PREACHING CHRIST AT THESSALONICA (1-4)
∗ After leaving Philippi,  Paul and Silas passed through two cities called Amphipolis and Apollonia before reaching Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of Jews. 
∗ The mention of synagogue in Thessalonica may indicate the absence of one in the other towns, explaining why Paul and his companions pass through those locations before passing.
∗ Despite their recent imprisonment, they didn’t alter their usual routine.
When they arrived in Thessalonica, they went to the synagogue and spoke to the  people assembled there.
∗ The response must have been encouraging because they had the opportunity to speak on three consecutive Sabbaths.
∗ And based on the indications, (Philippians 4 : 14 – 16; 1 Thessalonian 2 : 8-9) they spent more than a few weeks there.
∗ The Gospel was wide spread reaching Jews, Gentiles and considerable number of prominent
women.

ASSAULT ON JASON’S HOUSE (5 – 9)
∗ As had been the problem previously, the Jewish leaders grew jealous and took action.
∗ When they couldn’t find Paul and his companions at Jason’s house, where apparently they had been staying, they took Jason and some other believers as well.
∗ Little is said about Jason, although Paul had a relative of that name. (Romans 16 : 21) 
∗ Perhaps Jason know more than he was telling about Paul and Silas, but if so, he didn’t let the crowd know.
∗ The most important crime in the Roman empire was to acknowledge allegiance to any king, but Caesar. (John 19: 15)
∗ By nightfall, the believers in Thessalonica had reconnected with Paul and Silas and saw them on their way to Berea about fifty miles north-west of Thessalonica.

MINSTERING AT BEREA (10 – 14)
∗ Those people were more noble in receiving the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily. 
∗ The Jews of Thessalonica came to know that Paul is preaching about the Word of God at Berea  and stirred up the whole situation.
∗ Rather than allowing the situation to become public spectacle,  as it had previously, the believers escorted Paul to Athens about three hundred miles away and possibly a sea voyage.
∗ Since Paul was the agitators’ main target, Silas and Timotheus were able to remain in Berea for a while.

THE PHILOSOPHERS AT ATHENS (15- 21)
∗ Athens was a home to the most renowned philosophers in history including Socrates, Plato and Aristotle who was arguably the most influential philosopher of all.
∗ Two other philosophers taught there, Epicurus, the founder of Epicureanism and Seno, the founder of Stoicism, two of the dominant philosophers in that day.

STOICISM
∗ Stoics believed that the true essence of life was the ability to understand rational order veiled by natural phenomena.
∗ Freedom and the joy are the results of detaching from the other world and mastering ones reactions to his or her environment, Stoicism did not allow for sympathy, pardon or genuine expression of feeling.

EPICUREANISM
∗ Epicurean philosophy taught the chief end of man was the avoidance of pain. Epicureans were materialists – they did not deny the existence of God, but they believed that He did not become involved with the affairs of men. When a person died, they believed his body and soul disintegrated.

ADDRESSING THE AREOPAGUS (22 – 34)
∗ In Athens Paul found a novel approach. He had seen an altar inscribed with the words, ” To the unknown God” Athenians worshipped many gods, apparently afraid of overlooking One and suffering his wrath.
∗ Paul explained that he knew the God, they didn’t know – the God who made the world and everything in the lives of those created.
∗ To emphasise his point that God is more personal than all the idols strewn around Athens, Paul quotes two Greek poets familiar to his listeners.
“For in Him we live and move have our being.” were the words if Epimenides, a poet from Crete. Paul quoted again in (Titus 1 : 12).
∗ Then Paul quoted Aratus, a poet from Celicia  (Paul’s homeland): “For we are also His offspring.”
∗ When Paul mentioned the resurrection, the encounters resistance from some of his listeners.
∗ But some also had the attention of others, wanted to hear more and eventually became believers.
∗ However no evidence existed that a church was formed in Athens as a result of Paul’s visit.

Reference: THE UNKNOWN GOD 
∗ The Athenians were supernaturalists – they believed in supernatural powers that intervened in the course of natural laws. They at least acknowledged in the existence of someone beyond their ability to understand who had made all things.   
∗ Paul thus had the opportunity to introduce to them the creator, God who could be known.
∗ When evangelizing pagans, Paul started from creation, the general revelation of God,
∗ When evangelizing Jews, he started from the Old Testament.
∗ This preaching totally contradicted both Epicureans, who believed matter was eternal and therefore had no creator, and Stoics, who as pantheists believed God was part everything and could not have created himself.
∗ Paul’s teaching finds its support throughout Scripture, all men are equal in God’s sight since all came from one man – Adam.
∗ This teaching was a blow to the national pride of Greeks, who believed all non-Greeks were barbarians.
∗ God’s sovereignty controls all the humanity.
∗ God’s objective for man is in revealing Himself as the Creator, ruler and controller of the world.
∗ Men have no excuse for not knowing God because He has revealed Himself in man’s conscience and in the physical world.
∗ So ‘in Him we live and move and have our being and we are the offspring of God.’ the quotes of the famous poets.

Let’s pray
Lord, give us proper understanding and make us as Your being. Amen,

Glory be to God

Share the Article..Share on Facebook0Share on Google+0Tweet about this on TwitterPin on Pinterest0Share on LinkedIn0Share on StumbleUpon0Digg thisShare on Reddit0Email this to someone

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *