The Acts of the Apostles - Part 3

Even though at least two people in Philippi had come to believe in the Lord Jesus with their homes, there was still the danger that Paul and his coworkers could have been discouraged by the great resistance.

They might easily have had the thought that the vision of the Macedonian man, who called "Pass over into Macedonia and help us!", might have been an illusion. Thankfully, we read nothing of that; on the contrary, even if they had to leave Philippi, they bravely continued and came via Amphipolis and Apollonia to Thessalonica.

The current name of the city is Thessaloniki or Salonika. Next to Corinth, Thessalonica was the most significant trading centre in Greece. At the time of Apostle Paul, the city had at least 100,000 inhabitants.

Now read chapter 17 and then answer the questions.

The population of Thessalonica consisted primarily of pagans. However, there were also Jews living there who owned a synagogue. Paul was the apostle to the nations, to the pagans, but who does he go to first?

Why does Paul do this?

He loved his people, the Jews. He wished that many of them would be saved. He says this, for example, in the letter to the Romans:

I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great grief and uninterrupted pain in my heart, for I have wished, I myself, to be a curse from the Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to flesh. (Romans 9:1-3)

If by any means I will provoke to jealousy them which are my flesh, and will save some from among them. (Romans 11:14)

We must also consider that Paul faced a great deal of resistance from them on his missionary journeys.

Paul was in Thessalonica for at least three weeks, as he discussed the Scriptures with them over three Sabbaths. When Paul was dealing with the Jews, he could always use the Scripture (the Old Testament) because he knew they were familiar with it.

He explains to the Jews in Thessalonica that (verse 3):