Acts 17:1-9--Paul and Silas in Thessalonica

Acts 17:1-9
English Standard Version

Paul and Silas in Thessalonica
17 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. 5 But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. 6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7 and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” 8 And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. 9 And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

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Paul and Silas will not get to stay in Thessalonica long, which will be one of the reasons that Paul writes two letters to them since there were many things he wanted to teach them, but couldn't.  Paul was there teaching in the synagogue (remember he's still a Rabbi that would be invited to teach in the Jewish synagogues) for three consecutive Sabbaths.  He used the Old Testament Scriptures to reason and prove and explain that it was necessary for the Christ (that is Jesus) to suffer and to rise from the dead.  He then clearly stated, "This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ."

Luke tells us that some of the Thessalonians were persuaded among the Jews and there were also a great number of Gentiles who also also believed Paul.  Once again though, we see that a group of Jews became jealous and sought out wicked men to form a mob and start to riot.  They attacked the house of Jason, the person housing Paul and Silas, to try to force Paul and Silas to come out to the crowd so that they could get a dose of "mob justice" (which is not justice at all because the mob finds you guilty until proven innocent).

When they  could not find Paul and Silas, they instead dragged Jason and some of the other Christians before the authorities with a charge that we used as a "theme verse" for our missions convocations at Liberty University (Acts 17:6), "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also...."  The world will and should see us as those who preach and believe a gospel that turns their world upside-down.

The Jews invoke their tried and true strategy of saying that Paul and his companions, including Jason, are preaching that there is another king other than Caesar and that this king is named Jesus.  The city authorities were unsettled by this news because they feared the heavy had of Rome and they either fined Jason or Jason had to pay them a bribe to get them to release him.  Either way, this is the last that we see Paul and Silas in Thessalonica because the brothers will send them away secretly at night and they will go onto Berea.  That's where we will find them next time.