Acts 17:10-15--Paul and Silas in Berea

Acts 17:10-15
English Standard Version
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Paul and Silas in Berea
10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 12 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. 13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. 14 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. 15 Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

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I mentioned last time that I was part of a church-planting/evangelism/missions-minded group of students at Liberty University that used Acts 17:6 as their key/theme verse, but one of the first college-aged ministries that I was ever a part of here in Virginia was named the College Bereans.  We took our name from today's passage--specifically verse 11, "...they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so."  That is what we were encouraged to do not just with everything we heard at church, but also everything we heard at college.   College is a time when the professors try to deconstruct whatever world view the students have and usually try to replace it with a worldview that is more consistent with the professor's own worldview.  Students must stay anchored to the sure and steady anchor of the gospel and God's word so that no matter if they are learning about history, ethics, philosophy, theology, economics, psychology, sociology, biology, law, or politics, we center all that on what the Bible has to say about God, Man, Nature, and how we are to interact with each.

After the riots that happened in Thessalonica, Paul and Silas were sent away immediately by the brothers to Berea (the people we read about today).  They immediately went to the Jewish synagogue when they arrived for Paul and Silas were called to preach the gospel to the Jews first, and then also to the Gentiles.  We see that same pattern as we have seen before that many believed including Greek women of high standing and some Greek men as well.

We also see the pattern being followed that the Jews who had become jealous and made trouble for Paul in their own town are willing to follow Paul from place to place to continue to make trouble for him--especially when they hear that Paul and Silas are having success somewhere else.  The agitation was so bad this time that Paul was sent away by sea (likely they feared for his life), but Silas and Timothy remained in Thessalonica a while longer.  Paul was guided by other as far away as Athens where he sent a message back to Silas and Timothy to come join him.  That is where we will pick things up next time.