Acts 17:7

Whom Jason hath received (ou upodedektai Iaswn). Present perfect middle indicative of upodecomai, to entertain, old verb, but in N.T. only in Luke 10:38 ; Luke 19:6 ; Acts 17:7 ; James 2:25 . This is Jason's crime and he is the prisoner before the politarchs. These all (outoi pante). Jason, the "brethren" of verse James 6 , Paul and Silas, and all Christians everywhere. Contrary (apenanti). Late compound preposition (apo, en, anti) found in Polybius, LXX, here only in the N.T. The decrees of Caesar (twn dogmatwn Kaisaro). This was a charge of treason and was a sure way to get a conviction. Probably the Julian Leges Majestatis are in mind rather than the definite decree of Claudius about the Jews ( Acts 18:2 ). Saying that there is another king, one Jesus (Basilea eteron legonte einai Ihsoun). Note the very order of the words in the Greek indirect discourse with the accusative and infinitive after legonte. Basilea eteron comes first, a different king, another emperor than Caesar. This was the very charge that the smart student of the Pharisees and Herodians had tried to catch Jesus on ( Mark 12:14 ). The Sanhedrin made it anyhow against Jesus to Pilate ( Luke 23:2 ) and Pilate had to notice it. "Although the emperors never ventured to assume the title rex at Rome, in the Eastern provinces they were regularly termed basileus" (Page). The Jews here, as before Pilate ( John 19:15 ), renounce their dearest hope of a Messianic king. It is plain that Paul had preached about Jesus as the Messiah, King of the Kingdom of God over against the Roman Empire, a spiritual kingdom, to be sure, but the Jews here turn his language to his hurt as they did with Jesus. As a matter of fact Paul's preaching about the kingdom and the second coming of Christ was gravely misunderstood by the Christians at Thessalonica after his departure ( 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:4 ; 2 Thessalonians 2 ). The Jews were quick to seize upon his language about Jesus Christ to his own injury. Clearly here in Thessalonica Paul had faced the power of the Roman Empire in a new way and pictured over against it the grandeur of the reign of Christ.