Acts 18:1-3 & 1 Thessalonians 1:1

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Acts

Rusty's Notes

• We left off last week with… Paul preaching in Athens at the Aeropagus where he was both ridiculed and followed. Notably by specific women

A SHORT MINISTRY IN THESSALONICA
Acts 18
51 AD
1 After this, he left Athens and went to Corinth,

• Corinth was approximately fifty miles from Athens and almost due west. (Show map)
• Corinth, with its 200,000 people, would not be the easiest city in which to start a church, and yet that’s where Paul went after leaving Athens.
• And he went alone! The going was tough, but the apostle did not give up.
• A man was shoveling snow from his driveway when two boys carrying snow shovels approached him.
• “Shovel your snow, Mister?” one of them asked. “Only two dollars!”
• Puzzled, the man replied, “Can’t you see that I’m doing it myself?”
• “Sure,” said the enterprising lad; “that’s why we asked. We get most of our business from people who are half through and feel like quitting!”[1]
• Rob Bell - “Puke & Rally”
• Corinth’s reputation for wickedness was known all over the Roman Empire. (Rom. 1:18–32 was written in Corinth!)
• Thanks to its location, the city was a center for both trade and travel. Money and vice, along with strange philosophies and new religions, came to Corinth and found a home there.
• Corinth was one of the two most important cities Paul visited. The other was Ephesus.

2 where he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them, 3 and since they were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he stayed with them and worked.[2]

• Jewish rabbis did not accept money from their students but earned their way by practicing a trade.
• All Jewish boys were expected to learn a trade, no matter what profession they might enter.
• “He who does not teach his son to work, teaches him to steal!” said the rabbis; so Saul of Tarsus learned to make leather tents and to support himself in his ministry[3]

 

• Priscilla and Aquila are Jews who have been expelled from Rome by Emperor Claudius.
• They, like Paul, are tentmakers. Because the Isthmian games are being held in Corinth at this time, there is a great need for temporary shelter. Thus the three tentmakers get plenty of business.
• Were Aquila and Priscilla Christian believers at that time? We don’t know for certain, but it’s likely that they were.
• Perhaps they were even founding members of the church in Rome. We do know that this dedicated couple served most faithfully and even risked their lives for Paul (Rom. 16:3–4).
• They assisted him in Ephesus (Acts 18:18–28) where they even hosted a church in their home (1 Cor. 16:19).
• Aquila and Priscilla were an important part of Paul’s “team” and he thanked God for them. They are a good example of how “lay ministers” can help to further the work of the Lord.
• Every pastor and missionary thanks God for people like Aquila and Priscilla, people with hands, hearts, and homes dedicated to the work of the Lord.
• Paul lived and worked with Aquila and Priscilla, but on the Sabbath days witnessed boldly in the synagogue.
• After all, that was why he had come to Corinth. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia (Acts 17:14–15; 18:5), they brought financial aid (2 Cor. 11:9), and this enabled Paul to devote his full time to the preaching of the Gospel.
• What a joy it must have been for Paul to see his friends and to hear from them the good news of the steadfastness of the Christians in the churches they had planted together (1 Thes. 3).[4]

 
Problems in Thessaloniki

• There is a Greek scholar who said this Thessaloniki is the only seaboard city of contemporary Greece that has never, from its foundation (316 BC) till today, lost its commercial importance.
• Ranged in population anywhere from sixty-five thousand to a hundred thousand is a good guesstimate, and that means that Thessalonica ranks up among the top ten most important cities in the ancient world in the Roman Empire.[5]
• You’re likely familiar with the fact that Julius Caesar was assassinated, and, ultimately, that assassination led to a battle against two of the assassins, Brutus and Cassius.
• [There were] two other Romans who were defending the honor of Caesar. One was Marc Antony, and the other was a kid, because he was only eighteen years old. He was the grandnephew of Caesar, and he became, ultimately, Caesar Augustus.
• And so we have this massive battle between Romans taking place—of all places, not in Italian soil but in northern Greece, just down the road from Thessalonica around the city of Philippi.
• And on one side, with Philippi behind it, stood Brutus and Cassius, and they were in the stronger position.
• And on the other side, to the west, with Thessalonica behind them, was Marc Antony and Octavian.
• And so the city of Thessalonica had to make a choice: Which side would they support? And the consequences were potentially great.
• Well, either out of wisdom or out of luck, they sided with the right people because, somewhat surprisingly, Marc Antony and Octavian won this battle, and as a result of their loyalty, the city of Thessalonica was rewarded by these two now-Roman leaders Marc Antony and Octavian with the status of a “free city.”[6]
• Now, the status of a free city is really a big deal because that meant that the city enjoyed some important benefits, like a measure of autonomy over administrating their local affairs.
• They had the right to mint their own coins, they had some tax concessions, and they also were free from military occupation.[7]
• We might think today that in a city of 65,000–100,000, a top-ten city in the ancient world, so what if there are some fifty Jesus followers in the city? Who cares?
• But if you remember this close intimate relationship between Thessalonica and Rome, we can better appreciate how the city leaders and those people in positions of power and authority would be very much concerned if there were any local citizens who would be saying or doing things to undermine this special relationship between the city of Thessalonica and Rome.[8]

 
Luke the Historian

• In Philippi:
• Acts 16:20-21 - Bringing them before the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are seriously disturbing our city. They are Jews 21 and are promoting customs that are not legal for us as Romans to adopt or practice.”[9]
• In Thessaloniki
• Acts 17:5-9 - But the Jews became jealous, and they brought together some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob (citizen assembly – lowest form of authority), and started a riot in the city. Attacking Jason’s house, they searched for them to bring them out to the public assembly (city council – executive branch of the lowest authority).  6 When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too, 7 and Jason has welcomed them. They are all acting contrary to Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king—Jesus.” 8 The crowd and city officials who heard these things were upset. 9 After taking a security bond from Jason and the others, they released them[10] (city officials - Now, the third and highest level is a very unique office. The Greek word is politarchēs, and there’s no really easy way to translate it. Most Bible translations simply say the “city leaders” or the “city rulers.”)
• And there’s been a bit of controversy about this highest level because in the past, a generation or more ago, many scholars, especially more liberal scholars who seriously doubted the historical reliability of Acts, wondered about this particular office of politarchēs because, by the early 1900s, there was no inscriptional or archaeological evidence for the existence of this particular office.
• And so those scholars tended to appeal to that as evidence that Luke was not a good historian; he was only making up history to serve his theological purposes.
• But as is often is the case, these scholarly claims often are later proven false, and that’s what happened here.
• In fact, they’ve uncovered now seventy inscriptions to this unique office of politarchēs, twenty-eight of which come from the city of Thessalonica itself.
• There’s a reason that we didn’t find them for a long time, and that has to do with the second thing we talked about just a few moments before, and that was that “free city” status that Thessalonica enjoyed.
• One of the benefits of having that free city status is [that] instead of wiping out the existing political structures and doing things the Roman way, instead, in Macedonia they could keep doing things the way they had done all along.
• And so this office of politarchēs is actually a rather ancient Macedonian office because of the free city status of Thessalonica that was allowed to continue to exist in the city of Thessalonica.[11]

 

• And this is important because it shows, again, how historically reliable Acts—and Luke, the writer of Acts—is. In fact, [Luke] is so [familiar] with the historical context that just earlier, in the account in Acts 16, when Paul is in the city of Philippi, Luke uses particular titles for the city leaders there that are appropriate for that being a Roman city and then switches to this unique title here in Acts 17, the account in Thessalonica, that unique phrase politarchēs.
• So, instead of Luke looking like a bad historian, he actually comes across as an extremely knowledgeable one, and he knows that when the missionaries of Paul and Silas and Timothy come from the Roman city of Philippi to the ancient Macedonian, free city-status city of Thessalonica that in that place Paul would have been brought before politarchēs.[12]

 
Crisis in Thessalonica

• Silas and Timothy join Paul at Corinth. The church in Philippi has once again sent a financial gift to Paul, and Silas hands it to him. The money enables Paul to devote himself exclusively to the work of church planting.
• Timothy brings news from Thessalonica. The church is being persecuted, but it is standing steadfast for the Lord. It is also sounding forth the gospel.
• Believers from the churches in Macedonia (Philippi) and Achaia (Corinth) have visited the Thessalonican believers, and they are encouraged by their faith, their love, and their steadfastness in the midst of local persecution.
• However, due to the pressure, some of the Thessalonican believers are returning back to their pagan lifestyles—namely fornication. Someone has died in the church recently, and the believers are grieving the loss.
• They also have questions about what happens to believers when they die.
• The church in Thessalonica has been on Paul’s heart. He has desired to see the believers and has been lifting them up to the Lord day and night, asking for God to make a way for him to visit them.

 
1 THESSALONIANS
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy:
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace to you and peace.

• Paul’s ministry in Thessaloniki, is that he worked as a tentmaker… Yet, he lived out the Gospel through his daily life and conversations.
• I’ve been asked, what is my response to “all this”.
• What is “all this”? Pandemic, Spaceex, Covid-19, riots?
• I have my thoughts… both good & bad. I express many of them to Michelle (because she is safe).
• But my response was…
• “Staying focused. I can't change people's behavior, opinions or minds. Not my job. Be the light.
• Nor can they tell me what I should say or do.”
• As most pastors have posted, I am probably in most agreement with Tony Dungy’s post. But he’s said it.
• The best that I can do is remain true to my calling.
• Teach the Word of God in a fallen and evil world.
• Love others with the leading of the Holy Spirit that resides in my body.
• See the bigger picture and remain faithful in the little things that reflect Jesus to this world.

[1] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 474). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Ac 18:1–4). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 475). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 475). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[5] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[6] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[7] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[8] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[9] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Ac 16:20–21). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[10] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Ac 17:6–9). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[11] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[12] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.