And some of them believed
That is, some of the Jews, power went along with the word, and
faith came by it, and they believed that Jesus of Nazareth was
the true Messiah, and that what the apostle preached concerning
him was the truth; and this they received in the love of it, and
cordially embraced it, and made a profession of it:
and consorted with Paul and Silas;
associated with them, and privately conversed with them, as well
as publicly attended their ministry; for when souls are
converted, they love to be in company with believers, and
especially with the ministers of the Gospel, to hear their
discourses, and learn from them the doctrines of grace:
and of the devout Greeks a great multitude;
these were Gentiles who were proselytes to the Jewish religion;
and these in greater numbers believed, and joined themselves to
the apostles, and became followers of them, than there were of
the Jews, who were the most averse to the Gospel, and were more
hardened, and incredulous:
and of the chief women not a few;
some of the wives of the principal men of the city were become
proselytes to the Jews, and these attending synagogue worship,
and hearing the discourses of Paul from time to time, were
convinced and converted, and professed faith in Christ Jesus; and
these converts laid the foundation of a Gospel church in
Thessalonica, of which church Silvanus is said to be the first
bishop; (See Gill on Luke
10:1). In the "second" century there were martyrs for
Christ here; and to the inhabitants of this place, Antonintus
Pius the emperor wrote in behalf of the Christians there, to give
them no disturbance F6: in the "third" century there was a
church here; Tertullian F7 makes mention of it: in the "fourth"
century F8 Theodosius the emperor was baptized
at Thessalonica, by Acholius bishop of that place; who first
asked him what faith he professed, to which he replied, that he
embraced and professed that faith which the churches in
Illyricum, who were not yet infected with the Arian heresy,
namely the same which was of old delivered by the apostles, and
afterwards confirmed at the synod at Nice; in this century
Ireminus, Paulinus, and Alexander, were bishops of Thessalonica:
in the "fifth" century it was a metropolitan of Macedonia, and
Anysius was bishop of it, and so were Rufus and Anastasius: and
that there was a church here in the "sixth" century is manifest
from hence, that their bishops, for fear of the emperor
Anastasius, agreed with Timothy bishop of Constantinople, whom
the council at Chalcedon had anathematized; and in this age Pope
Gregory, among others, wrote to Eusebius bishop of Thessalonica,
that he would not receive any of a military habit into
monasteries within three years: in the "seventh" century a bishop
of this place assisted at the sixth council at Constantinople;
and in the same age it was the seat of an archbishop: in the
"eighth" century there was one Thomas bishop of this place, and
also Theophilus, who was present at the Nicene synod; in the
ninth century a bishop of Thessalonica was beaten with two
hundred stripes, for being against image worship.