A Study of Acts: Noble-minded Bereans; the Mob Reappears
Acts 17:10-15 - Do you know where your favorite Bible is located?
“The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these 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. Therefore many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men. But 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. Then immediately the brethren sent Paul out to go as far as the sea; and Silas and Timothy remained there. Now those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left.”
Acts 17:10-15 NASB1995
So Paul and Silas are sent away by night from Thessalonica to Berea. This small town was inland a short distance to the west of Thessalonica. Accessing Bibleatlas.org, here is a map showing the area:
From Bibleatlas.org
When Paul and Silas reach Berea, they did what they would do in every town. They went to the synagogue. The Jews in this synagogue were noble-minded. They listened eagerly to Paul’s preaching and examined the scriptures daily to see if these things that he preached were true. They were lovers of the truth of God’s Word and not at a superficial level!
First, let’s do a word study! Examining comes from the Greek verb ἀνακρίνω or anakrínō, with the following Biblical usages:
examine or judge
to investigate, examine, enquire into, scrutinise, sift, question
specifically in a forensic sense of a judge to hold an investigation
to interrogate, examine the accused or witnesses
to judge of, estimate, determine (the excellence or defects of any person or thing)
The Bereans were able to examine and accept for themselves the truth of what Paul was preaching. Because of this scrutiny, many of them are able to see that scriptures supported the testimony that Paul gave about Jesus as the Messiah and their savior. Many believed, including a number of prominent Greek men and women.
Digging into scripture has now become a daily habit for the two of us, doing this in a much more profound way than just following a Bible in One Year plan. I really liked this commentary in Precept Austin quoting a sermon by Jack Arnold:
The Bereans were the ideal audience, and would be to God we would have more like them today. The Bible is our only guide, as Christians, to tell us what is true and what is false, what is right and what is wrong, what is of God and of Satan. Unless a Christian grounds his faith in the Holy Scriptures, he will be lost in a sea of relativism, where everybody does that which is right in his own eyes, setting each individual up as his own authority. Unless a Christian makes the Bible his only authority for faith and living, he will be misled and manipulated so as to believe that he is his own god. This, of course, is the basis for all humanism today.
We face a great danger in America today among evangelicals. Most evangelicals are gullible, emotional and man-centered. They rarely search the Scriptures. They have believed in Christ but they do not search the Bible for convictions for living and theology. They gather around some teacher and say, “I am of Paul, or Peter or Apollos.” They do not test things they believe and do by the Bible, and their theme song is, “Where he leads us we will follow; what he feeds us we will swallow.” Just because some Bible teacher or evangelist says something, that does not make it right.
If a man says, “I have the truth,” or “I know the Greek,” that does not make him an authority. We must study the Bible for ourselves and check all teaching of men with the Bible. We must be willing to change when we are convinced from the Scripture alone. The Reformation brought back to Christians our right as self-sustaining believer-priests to read and interpret the Bible without a priest or a church telling us what Scripture means. It is our God-given right and privilege to study the Scripture daily. Remember, too, that as long as we are in this body of flesh, we shall never understand the Bible perfectly. There is always room for improvement and refinement in one's understanding and proclaiming of the Word of God. (Sermon)
Love those words. Jack Arnold’s commentary is becoming a favorite! An honest skeptic will give the Bible a fair hearing, but people do not want to listen to other viewpoints in this day and age. If you run into a humanist who closes their minds (and ears) to the Word, well, all I can say is that I used to run from God’s word, too. Fear drives that skepticism. What if the believers are right?
Is your Bible located where you can readily find it? I use on-line Bible sources for the devotionals I write, so that makes it convenient in any location, but we also have several physical Bibles in the house, including Study Bibles and a fascinating Hebrew Bible (including the NT in Hebrew) that we bought in Israel. I used to read regular books electronically, but we have reverted back to reading paper copies again to avoid distractions from notifications and social media, which is probably also a good idea for Bible study time. This story found on Precept Austin from a devotional in Our Daily Bread is so good:
An unknown author tells the following story: "Some Christian women had gathered in a home for Bible study. The leader, much to her dismay, discovered that she had come away without her Bible. So the hostess hurried to get hers. She looked where she usually kept it, but it wasn't there! She searched for it every-where but still couldn't find it. `What will those ladies think of me?' she thought. Running downstairs, she said to the newly employed cleaning woman, `Pearl, have you seen my Bible?' The maid exclaimed, `Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!' `What do you mean, Pearl?' Beaming with joy, she said, `The first thing I do when I go to work at a new place is hide the Bible.' `But why?' the other asked in astonishment. Pearl replied, `Just to find out how long it takes the people to miss it! I put yours in the linen closet under the sheets!'”
Well, we can all guess what happens again in Berea. The Jews from Thessalonica hear that the Bereans are converting and they weren’t content with having driven Paul and Silas from their city, but have now come to Berea where they are agitating and stirring up the crowds. The brethren act immediately and send Paul out towards the seaside and then he is escorted as far as Athens. Silas and Timothy remain in Berea to help with the new church. Paul wants Silas and Timothy to join him in Athens as soon as possible. I would have dearly loved to hear Paul preach, because he obviously gets amazing results (both good and bad). But he is also concerned with church planting, not just preaching the Gospel, so he finds those who are trustworthy to continue this task.
My next devotional examines Acts 17:16-21 - Paul is disturbed by the idols in Athens, preaches to synagogues and reasons with Stoics and Epicureans and is brought to the Aerogapus to speak.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - I am so grateful that You have given us a way, through our devotional studies, to be like the Bereans and dig deep into Scripture and examine the beauty of Your Word. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
The Blue Letter Bible was accessed on 12/03/2024 to review the lexicon for examining.
Precept Austin was accessed on 12/03/2024 to review commentary for Acts 17:10-15.