Acts 18:9-18

The Lord knows what we go through, and from time to time will give us direct encouragement, as He does here with Paul. You cannot force God to give you a vision, but the more we walk with Him the more we will receive from Him. 

Paul was going to face much opposition, but God had a purpose, to save many people. So Paul was to keep on preaching, and God assured him that no one would harm him. Note that elsewhere, both earlier and later, God speaks of the suffering Paul will have to endure. Sometimes God saves us from danger, at other times He takes us through danger. Sometimes there is suffering to be endured, at other times He will rescue us from suffering. There are no hard and fast rules on this. The key is to keep close to God and to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Luke immediately gives an illustration of the vision being put into practice.Some Jews made a joint attack on Paul. Paul was about to defend himself, but there was no need. Gallio dismissed the charge out of hand, and it was the Jewish leaders who ended up being beaten.

Acts 18:1-8

Corinth was the chief commercial city in Greece at the time, having ideal trade connections. Claudius had expelled the Jews from Rome because of riots. Aquila met Paul, and had presumably already converted to Christianity. Aquila and Priscilla were tentmakers like Paul, and Paul worked with them. Note that Paul was quite happy to work for his living. As in other cities, Paul went to the synagogue to expound the gospel. Paul went to the places where he could get a hearing. What are the best places for us to get a hearing today?

After Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia Paul was able to devote himself entirely to preaching about Jesus. There is no hard and fast rule about whether preachers should be fully employed in preaching. The key is to take the opportunities as they present themselves. When Paul had to work he preached on the Sabbath, when it became possible to devote himself entirely to preaching he did so.

As usual there were Jews who objected and abused him and it became impossible for him to preach in the synagogue. So Paul declared he would go to the Gentiles.

"So Paul went next door". I love this verse, Paul was thrown out of one place, so he simply went next door and preached there, and the whole family got saved, along with many others, and so were baptised. What counts above all are not strategies, but the condition of our hearts. May God give us the same attitude that Paul had.

Acts 17:26-34

"From one man He made all nations." All mankind is descended from one man, Adam. Man was made to fill the earth (Gen 1:28). Moreover, God set the times and boundaries in history. God is the Lord of history. Now this does not mean that it doesn't matter what man decides, it does. It does mean that God has a plan, and it is being fulfilled. We have a terrible tendency to think that any hint of predestination means that we do not really have free will, or that everything is predetermined. This is fatalism and is not Biblical. The Bible teaches that we have free will and that it matters what we do, and also that the Lord has a plan and a purpose. 

Indeed in the next verse the plan and purpose is set out, it is that men would reach out to God and find Him. Note also that it says "perhaps reach out", see the element of uncertainty. God is actually close to everyone. We do not worship a distant God. The problem is that man has turned away from God.

God has set a day when He will judge the world through Jesus Christ. The resurrection was the proof that Jesus is Lord. Our response to this should be to repent and turn to Him, to acknowledge Him as Lord.

The resurrection was the sticking point. Some thought it nonsense (as they still do today), others believed.

Acts 17:24,25

We now get a lot of the creation/world view theology of the gospel. The first thing is that God created the world. Some believed that the world just was, others that it came about as a by-product of conflict between various "gods". The truth is that the world was created on purpose and for a purpose, and we were created on purpose and for a purpose. Please note that it is not necessary to believe in a  6 day creation or" intelligent design" in order to believe that the world was created and designed by God. It is quite possible that evolutionary processes play a part (and a designed part at that) in the creation process, but I am sure that evolution does not explain everything. The key thing is that God created us. This is as important today as it was then. For some extreme evolutionists seem to delight in us and the universe supposedly being the product of purely random processes and utterly without meaning. This is nonsense, it is even nonsense from an evolutionary science perspective! We have meaning, and that meaning is found in Christ, through whom all things were created and have their being (Col 1:17-20)

God does not live in man made temples. Stephen made a similar statement in his speech in Acts 7, and this is relevant to both Jews and Greeks. The Jews revered the temple, and Athens was full of temples, indeed you can still see many of them today. God is not dependent upon us, and He certainly was not invented by us!

Acts 17:18-23

Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to argue with Paul. Originally the Epicureans had taught that the supreme good is happiness (something that still holds sway to a certain extent in the West), but not mere momentary pleasure. However, it had degenerated into a more sensually oriented system. Stoic philosophers taught that people should live in harmony with nature and suppress their desires, it too had degenerated into pride and self-righteousness. They didn't think much of Paul's preaching, which was focused on Jesus and the resurrection. So they took him to Mars hill and wanted him to explain more. In Greek society at the time there was a great interest in various ideas and debate, but Luke implies that this was a rather idle notion, rather than one truly devoted to the betterment of mankind.

So Paul addresses the people. When he says they are religious this could be either positive or negative, ie saying they are devoted to higher things, or that they are merely superstitious. Paul points out that they have lots of gods, including one called the "unknown god". So Paul uses their own points of reference as a way in to explain the good news to them.

Acts 17:16,17

Some see the encounter in Athens as a prime exemplar of how to do evangelism, others see it as a bit of a failure! Anyway, let's see what we can learn.

Athens was full of idols and this caused Paul great distress. Why was Paul distressed? Probably not because he was offended, but because he knew that the people were living futile lives, when things could be much better. In the increasingly anti-Christian environment in the West we need to make sure that we keep the correct focus. We are not to be concerned so much about our being offended. Indeed, I might even go so far as to say we should not be overly concerned about the name of Christ being offended. Instead we should be concerned for the salvation of the lost. Jesus said that even blasphemy against God could be forgiven, and His primary purpose was to bring life to people. If we become obsessed with being offended it will only detract from our true mission.

Paul argued in the synagogues and in the marketplace, essentially anywhere where he could get a hearing.

Acts 17:1-15

They then moved on to Thessalonica, and as usual went along to the synagogue. For three Sabbaths Paul reasoned with them from the scriptures. Note that although miracles and signs were a key part of the New Testament church, proclamation and explanation were still fundamental to the advancement of the gospel. Signs and wonders back up the word. The focus of their preaching was that Jesus was the messiah and had been raised from the dead. A significant number of people were convinced and became believers.

At the same time, jealousy was aroused among others. We should not be surprised that the same message can have radically different effects on different people. This group fermented dissent against Paul and started a riot. Failing to find Paul and Silas, they attacked Jason who was looking after them.

At night Paul and Silas slipped out of the city. Note that sometimes Paul faced opposition head on, at other times he fled from it. There is a time to stay and a time to go. They went to Berea, where the reception was much better. They received the message eagerly, and examined the Scripture to see if the message was true. Many became believers.

We should always check the message we hear against the Bible. This is particularly true with some charismatic preachers. A lot of it is good , but sometimes rubbish is preached. 

The agitators from Jerusalem came after Paul and caused trouble in Berea as well. Paul left the city and went off to Athens.