Acts 17-18: Different responses to teaching

We read Acts 17 and 18 and watch the gospel collide with jealousy in Thessalonica, careful study in Berea, curiosity in Athens, and conflict in Corinth. We end by asking what kind of listener you are when God’s Word challenges you, especially when the message feels familiar instead of new. 
• Paul reasons from Scripture that Jesus is the Christ 
• Thessalonica erupts in jealousy and political accusations 
• Bereans examine the Scriptures daily as a model for discernment 
• Paul confronts idols in Athens and preaches the Creator and resurrection 
• Mixed reactions to the resurrection and a few believe 
• Paul’s work and ministry partnership with Priscilla and Aquila in Corinth 
• God’s encouragement to keep speaking without fear 
• Gallio dismisses the charges and the case fizzles 
• Apollos grows through humble correction and becomes a powerful advocate 

At outloudbible.com, you can find free resources to help you study the Bible. And while you’re there, send us a message to say hi, or start a conversation about having us at your church or event. 

If Outloud Bible has been a valuable part of your understanding of the Bible, please consider supporting the ministry by visiting outloudbible.com.

Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Reading

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hey, welcome to the Out Loud Bible Podcast. We've been reading through the book of Acts, and last time our guest reader, Simon Camillary, read Acts chapter 16. In it, we found Paul and his missionary partner Silas run into some issues as they were starting this new church in Philippi. They didn't really know they were starting a new church, but they were finding some early believers in some interesting situations. Today we continue Paul and Silas's missionary journey as they go to Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, they're all over the place. Let's check out their story here in Acts chapter 17 and 18 in the New English Translation. After they traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. Paul went to the Jews in the synagogue as he customarily

Thessalonica Erupts Over Jesus

SPEAKER_00 1:06

did, and on three Sabbath days he addressed them from the scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, saying, This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ. Now some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large group of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. But the Jews became jealous. And gathering together some worthless men from the rival in the marketplace, they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. They attacked Jason's house, trying to find Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly. When they didn't find him, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, screaming, These people who have stirred up trouble throughout the world have come here too. And Jason has welcomed them as guests. They're all acting against Caesar's decrees, saying there's another king named Jesus. They caused confusion among the crowd and the city officials who heard all these things. And after the city officials had received bail from Jason and the others, they released them. Now the brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Berea at once during the night. When they arrived, they went to the Jewish synagogue. These Jews were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica,

Berea Models Careful Bible Testing

SPEAKER_00 2:34

for they eagerly received the message, examining the scriptures carefully every day to see if these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, along with quite a few prominent Greek women and men. But when the Jews from Thessalonica heard that Paul had also proclaimed the word of God in Berea, they came there too, inciting and disturbing the crowds. Then the brothers sent Paul away to the coast at once, but Silas and Timothy remained in Berea, and those who accompanied Paul escorted him as far as Athens, and after receiving an order for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left. And while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was greatly upset because he saw the city was full of idols. So he was

Athens And The Unknown God

SPEAKER_00 3:26

addressing the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles in the synagogue and in the marketplace, every day, those who happened to be there. Also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him, and some were asking, What does this foolish babbler want to say? Others said, Oh, he seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods. They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. So they took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is that you're proclaiming, for you're bringing some surprising things to our ears, so we want to know what they mean. All the Athenians and foreigners who lived there used to spend their time in nothing else than telling or listening to something new. So Paul stood before the Areopagus and said, Men of Athens, I see that you're very religious in all respects, for as I went around and observed closely your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription to an unknown god. Hmm. Well therefore, what you worship without knowing it, this I proclaim to you, the God who made the world and everything in it, who is the Lord of heaven and earth, doesn't live in temples made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands as if he needed anything, because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone. From one man he made every nation of the human race to inhabit the entire earth, determining their set times and the fixed limits of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around for him and find him, though he's not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, for we too are his offspring. So, since we are God's offspring, we should not think the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image made by human skill and imagination. Therefore, although God has overlooked such times of ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent, because he set a day on which he's going to judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he designated, having provided proof to everyone by raising him from the dead. Well now, when they heard about the resurrection from the dead, some began to scoff, but others said, We'll hear you again about this. So Paul left

Resurrection Reaction At The Areopagus

SPEAKER_00 6:19

the Areopagus, but some people joined him and believed. Among them were Dionysius, who was a member of the Areopagus, a woman named Demeris, and others with them. And after this Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla,

Corinth Ministry And Courtroom Drama

SPEAKER_00 6:41

because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to depart from Rome. And Paul approached them, and because he worked at the same trade, he stayed with them and worked with them, for they were tent makers by trade. And he addressed both Jews and Greeks in the synagogue every Sabbath, attempting to persuade them. Now, when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul became wholly absorbed with proclaiming the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. When they opposed him and reviled him, he protested by shaking out his clothes and said to them, Your blood be on your own heads. I am guiltless. From now on I'll go to the Gentiles. Then Paul left the synagogue and went to the house of a person named Titius Justus, a Gentile who worshipped God whose house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the president of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians who heard about it believed and were baptized. The Lord said to Paul by a vision in the night, don't be afraid, but speak and do not be silent, because I'm with you. And no one will assault you to harm you, because I have many people in this city. So he stayed there a year and six months teaching the word of God among them. Now, while Gallio was proconsul of Achaea, the Jews attacked Paul together and brought him before the judgment seat, saying, This man is persuading people to worship God in a way contrary to the law. But just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, If it were a matter of some crime or serious piece of villainy, I would have been justified in accepting the complaint of you Jews. But since it concerns points of disagreement about words and names in your own law, settle it yourselves. I will not be a judge of these things. Then he had them forced away from the judgment seat. So they all seized Sosthenes, the president of the synagogue, and began to beat him in front of the judgment seat. And yet none of these things were of any concern to Gallio. Now Paul, after staying many more days in Corinth, said farewell to the brothers and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He had his hair cut off in centuria because he had made a vow. And when he reached Ephesus, Paul left Priscilla and Aquila behind there. But he himself went into the synagogue and addressed the Jews. When they asked him to stay longer, he wouldn't consent, but said farewell to them and added, I'll come back to you again if God wills. And then

Travel Notes And Apollos Strengthened

SPEAKER_00 9:28

he set sail from Ephesus, and when he had arrived in Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church at Jerusalem and went down to Antioch. After he spent some time there, Paul left and went through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, arrived in Ephesus. He was an eloquent speaker, well versed in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and with great enthusiasm he spoke and taught accurately the facts about Jesus, although he only knew the baptism of John. He began to speak out fearlessly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately. When Apollos wanted to cross over to Achaea, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. And when he arrived, he assisted greatly those who believed by grace, for he refuted the Jews vigorously in public debate, demonstrating from the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. This is a really fascinating, really fast-paced section of Acts here, where we see Paul and his friends going all over the place, and we see a vast array of different

Choose Your Reaction To God’s Word

SPEAKER_00 10:49

types of reactions to the gospel. We started off in chapter 17 looking at the Jews in Thessalonica who were just so offended. It said that they were jealous. They were offended and jealous over the gospel that was being shared. We talked about that a couple uh a couple episodes ago. That's not necessarily a new reaction by the Jews. But then we see Berea, the Jews, be more open-minded. And what did they do? They heard what was being said and they went to the Bible. They went to their scriptures, and it's like, let me compare what you're saying with what I know in the scriptures. And for this reason, the Berean Jews have set a precedent for we Christians today who know the scripture. We we believe the scripture is true. And any new teaching we hear, anything that's being taught, even if it's not new teaching, any teacher or preacher, any podcast, any social media reel, anything that someone's teaching, we have a responsibility. Let me let me compare that with what I know in the scripture. And if you don't know enough scripture to necessarily know uh if something lines up or not, then do it. Ask a trusted believer, help them walk you through it, and also just get to know the Bible more, get into it. Like we say, at least four times a week, get into the Bible and start having that be the filter that we sort the rest of the world's messages through. And if they line up, then great, we welcome that. And if not, then we say, you know what? I'm not I'm not giving that more time. We also see reactions from the Athenians in the sense of, oh, this is interesting, tell me more. And we get a little bit of commentary from Luke here, who's writing the book of Acts, get a little commentary that the Athenians and those who live there used to spend their time in nothing else than telling or listening to something new. That's not a note of high praise, that's a bit of a jab by the author Luke here, as it's not really a good thing to just spend all your time talking about or listening just to new things. Especially nowadays when because we have the Bible, we don't need new teachings, we don't need new information about how to get right with God, we don't need new information about what Jesus said. It's a potentially dangerous mindset to only want to hear new things all the time. Because the most important, foundational truths are in the Bible, and that's not a new book. We've had it for a while, and it's still true, and it's still living, and it's still active, but it's not new. There's no new teaching. Even Paul says if someone comes and teaches, even a if an angel comes and teaches some gospel other than the one you received, let him be accursed. I'll tell you what, there's a lot of people out there presenting scripture in some way that sounds like a new interpretation of it that now has implications for how our culture is now. Watch out. There is no new morality.

unknown 13:53

C.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity that really good moral teachers don't teach new morality. They spend their time just bringing us back to what we already know to be true and we've drifted from. That's our problem. We tend to drift from what is old and established in search of something new. When someone comes along teaching something new, a new way to interpret the scripture, a new application for the scripture that we hadn't thought of before, or a new way to fit what is taught in the Bible with our culture now that is constantly changing and searching for something new? All this considered, how do you react to when the Bible is being taught? And let's assume it's being taught faithfully. Do you receive it like the Jews in Thessalonica, who kind of were on guard and ah, I don't this I don't want to change, this sounds wrong, I don't I don't want to uh I don't I don't like this. Are you like the Jews in Berea who are like, all right, well let me see what the Bible says? Or are you like the Athenians, who, if it sounds new to you, you lean in, and if it sounds like something you've heard before, you check out, even if it's something you need to hear. I know I'm guilty of that sometimes. Well, we'll let that be the thinking out loud thought for the day. Thanks for joining me here this time as we continue to read through the book of Acts. We'll see you next time on the Out Loud Bible Podcast.