Turning the World Upside Down

Paul lived an exemplary life in front of the people. It’s important that we also expound the Scriptures with personal integrity. After commenting on his God-glorifying motivations and his loving pastoral care in 1 Thessalonians 2:3-9, Paul reminds the believers of his godly lifestyle, including his hard work in both manual labor and in ministry of the Word:

For you remember our labor and hardship, brothers and sisters. Working night and day so that we would not burden any of you, we preached God’s gospel to you. You are witnesses, and so is God, of how devoutly, righteously, and blamelessly we conducted ourselves with you believers. As you know, like a father with his own children, we encouraged, comforted, and implored each one of you to live worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. (1 Thess 2:9-12)

Paul didn’t say these things to brag but to defend his ministry in Thessalonica. He was assuring the church that he and his coworkers had acted in conformity with both God’s law and human law while they were in Thessalonica. They hadn’t “defied Caesar’s decrees.” They weren’t lawbreakers. They weren’t rebels. They weren’t greedy moneymakers. Instead, they were role models who set an example of what it looks like to obey God. By reminding the church of this fact, Paul was also instructing the believers on how they should live out God’s Word.

Paul’s life illustrated his teaching; his teaching explained his life. We must constantly evaluate both our lives and our teaching for our good and for the good of others (1 Tim 4:16).

Some Jews “joined” Paul and Silas, and a large number of God-fearing Greeks believed. A number of “leading women” also believed. John Polhill says,

That Luke singled out the influential female converts in the Macedonian congregations (cf. 16:14 and 17:12) is very much in keeping with inscriptional evidence that in Macedonia women had considerable social and civic influence. (Acts, 360–61)

We should be encouraged here. God still converts people through faithful, Christ-exalting exposition. Trust in the power of the gospel and proclaim it!

The conversion of so many made many Jews “jealous” (v. 5), something that had also happened in Pisidian Antioch (13:45; cf. 5:17). The disgruntled Jews recruited some thugs in order to stimulate public outrage against Paul and Silas. They stormed the house of Jason, who had opened his home as a gathering place for the new church and had extended hospitality to Paul and Silas. When the attackers couldn’t find the missionaries (Johnson, Let’s Study Acts, 321), they attacked Jason and other brothers and brought them out before the crowd (cf. 1 Thess 2:14-15).

The mob leveled three charges against the Christians. First, they essentially called Paul and Silas troublemakers (v. 6). Second, they condemned Jason for harboring the pair. And third, they declared that the men were acting contrary to Caesar’s decrees. This was untrue, but it was a strategic ploy. Rebellion against Caesar was pure treason. The mob believed that, in saying Jesus was King, Paul and Silas defied Caesar. This, John Polhill points out, was virtually the same charge leveled at Jesus in Luke 23:2-4 and John 19:12,15 (Acts, 362).

James Boice clarifies that instead of turning the world upside down as charged, Paul and Silas were actually setting it right (Acts, 290). They did affirm Jesus as the King, but Jesus’s rule dictated not revolution against Rome but respectful submission to human rulers (Johnson, Let’s Study Acts, 214). Accusations stemmed from jealousy over the fact that the Gentiles were becoming Christians rather than Jews. The opponents couldn’t refute Paul’s arguments, so they resorted to mob violence.

The city officials were disturbed but responded to the charges with caution (v. 8). It’s possible they were aware of the events in Philippi and didn’t want to commit a similar embarrassing error (Johnson, Let’s Study Acts, 214). They forced Jason to post bond, depositing money that would be forfeited if there were any more disturbance. That meant Paul and Silas had to go. During the night the brothers sent Paul and Silas (along with Timothy) fifty miles west to Berea.

Thus, the team was “forced to leave” the believers and would later long to return to see them (1 Thess 2:17-19). The team would make plans to revisit the believers but encountered Satanic opposition in the process (1 Thess 2:18). Nevertheless, they did send Timothy back to the church to encourage them in the faith (1 Thess 3:1-2), and they continued praying earnestly for the church (1 Thess 3:10). Paul had a deep pastoral love for these believers.

James Boice lists five results of Paul’s Christ-exalting exposition in Thessalonica, based on Paul’s later assessment of the experience (Acts, 291):

This, then, was a worthwhile trip! May the Lord grant us a measure of this fruitfulness as we make known the Word of Christ and the Christ of the Word.

Acts 17:10-15

Paul traveled about fifty miles to Berea at night. The journey would have taken about three nights to complete. Luke records Paul’s visit with great brevity, noting the Bereans’ devotion to the Word. As usual, Paul starts off in the synagogue proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah. The response of the Bereans to the teaching of the Scriptures is exemplary. Notice four commendable qualities in their actions.

Verse 11 says the Bereans were more “noble” than the Thessalonians. On this John Polhill comments,

He [Luke] used a word (eugenesteros) that originally meant high born but came to have a more general connotation of being open, tolerant, generous, having the qualities that go with “good breeding.” Nowhere was this more evident than in their willingness to take Paul’s scriptural exposition seriously. (Acts, 363)

The Bereans, then, had a teachable attitude. Their hearts were open, not hardened. Here is the first step in becoming a student of the Bible: approach God’s Word with humility, saying, “Teach me, oh God.” Psalm 119 is filled with similar cries (e.g., vv. 12,18,27,33-36,66,125). James told the Christians, “Ridding yourselves of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (Jas 1:21; emphasis added).

These Berean citizens were serious about what they were learning. Peter urged Christians to study the Bible with the same “eagerness” and passion a baby has for milk:

Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that you may grow up into your salvation, if you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Pet 2:2-3)

Oh, that churches would be filled with people longing more for biblical food than for Sunday-morning cotton-candy entertainment, funny stories, and pithy anecdotes! May God grant us a Berean appetite for the Scriptures.

Luke also commends the Bereans for their spiritual discernment. They weren’t gullible. They listened to Paul and then proceeded to do their own homework. They examined Paul’s claims about the Messiah to see whether they were true. It’s easy to be drawn in by a charismatic teacher. Paul, in fact, rebuked the Galatians for accepting the false gospel of false teachers rather than weighing their messages against the Word. The Bereans provide us a positive example of examining what is being taught (cf. 1 Tim 4:1-5; 6:2-10; 2 Tim 3:1-9; 2 Pet 2:1-22; 1 John 2:18-27; Jude 3-23).

This group of people did more than study the Bible on the Sabbath. They met every day (cf. Acts 2:42-47). Because Paul’s claims had eternal ramifications, they spent time pondering them daily.

What were the results of doing so?

As a side effect of such devotion to Paul’s teaching, many of the Bereans believed (v. 12; cf. John 5:39-40). Not only did many Jews believe but many Greeks as well—not just men but Greek women of high standing (cf. Acts 2:18; 5:14; 9:2,36-42; 12:12-17; 16:13-15; 17:34; 18:18-26). Thus, a church in Berea was born.

Let this passage encourage you if you are a Bible teacher. Not everyone will be changed when you teach, but the seed of the Word will bear fruit in some hearers’ lives.

Unfortunately, the great movement among the Bereans was disrupted because Jews from Thessalonica traveled to Berea, stirring up a mob against Paul (v. 13). This isn’t the first time we have read of such hostility, and it won’t be the last (cf. 16:20-21; 17:6-7; 19:40; 1 Kgs 18:17-18). Apparently Paul was the main object of persecution since Silas and Timothy didn’t leave town when he did (v. 14). They stayed and strengthened the new congregation as the “brothers and sisters” sent Paul off by sea. Paul eventually ends up in Athens where he engages another audience with the gospel (v. 15).

The Word of God is central in these stories. Paul and his companions turned the world upside down by turning the Word loose! Keep teaching and learning the Christ-centered Scriptures, and ask God to use you to change neighborhoods and nations for the glory of King Jesus.