A Tale of Two Cities:
An Acts 17 thread on humility, faith, & discernment.

In Acts 17, Paul uses scripture to teach two churches the gospel of Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection, with vastly different results. The difference? How each church responds to new teaching.

In Thesselonica:

"the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and they attacked the house of Jason..." (Acts 17:5 NASB)

Why were they jealous? We're not told specifically, but here are some thoughts:

I'm no Greek scholar (or pastor), but it appears the word zēlōsantes is only used in one other place, to describe the jealousy that led to Joseph being sold by his brothers: envy.

Not all the Jews were jealous. My footnote says "the Greek loudaioi probably refers here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence.."

In our terms, the scholars, the "M.Divs", the leading theologians, and their most "reformed" followers.

Interestingly, the KJV translates "Jealous" as "believed not." I don't know the etymology behind this decision, but it appears to be deeper than mere disbelief tied to the Greek apeitheō which Strong's defines as: "to disbelieve (willfully and perversely)"

In other words, they willfully chose not to believe Paul's words.

Here was the "Hebrew of Hebrews" claiming to know something the Jewish leaders in Thesselonica did not. Paul presented a threat to their pride and influence.

Their response is equally telling. They formed a mob, stirring up others with anger because of their envy. And their threats weren't just directed at Paul and Silas, but also everyone who received them, "the house of Jason".

The anger of the mob turned on their own and became violent action: "they began dragging Jason and some brothers before the city authorities, shouting" (17:6 NASB)

"And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go." (17:9 ESV)

They were briefly appeased by a bond; a self-serving and self-righteous sense of justice.

Even this wasn't enough: "when the Jews of Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds." (17:13 NASB)

Their envy was relentless, becoming not just defensive, but offensive.

There's a stark contrast in Berea:

"Now these people were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so." (17:11 NASB)

This is the response of humility. To begin with, they listened, and they listened eagerly.

This was still a Jewish synagogue with their own leaders, scholars, "M.Divs", and theologians, but they understood mystery.

They were hungry to learn, knowing God is a greater mystery than any of us can understand on our own.

But they didn't just take Paul's words at face value. They studied the scriptures daily, weighing Paul's "modern" revelations against God's own word.

The Jews in Berea demonstrated humility, faith, and discernment and they did so with patience, not jumping to conclusions from their own knowledge, but studying daily.

(Bonus) In Athens:

Paul's spirit was "provoked within him as he observed that the city was full of idols. So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be present. (17:16-17 NASB)

Paul was also patient. He didn't teach with frustration or insults, nor did he ignore the idols around him. Rather he spoke the truth with patience and daily conversation, reasoning from scripture to all who would listen, including "Epicurean and Stoic philosophers" (17:18)

It's important to note that Paul did leave Thesselonica when he was being threatened. He reasoned with them until their response of bad faith made it dangerous to continue. But he conversed with good faith and patience to all who engaged genuinely.

All of this is incredibly convicting. Our ideas and our words matter, but so does the way we present and respond to them.

How many times have I (even having no leadership or degree qualifications) begun to believe I've know something well enough to be frustrated when challenged with other ideas?

How many times have I turned to sarcasm or sharp wit to protect my own pride, rather than patiently searching out claims against scripture and challenging my own beliefs?

Or even if I do know that I'm in the right, how often do I express my beliefs with the same patience, care, and respect that Paul does?

No matter how sound we believe our ideas and beliefs to be, none of us will ever understand the full breadth of His greatness, least of all on our own. We need each other to see more clearly, and we weigh each other's thoughts against God's own words with patience and humility.

This thread and reflection was inspired by @Fathom_Mag's new study journal. If you're interested, it's beautiful.