Acts 17:1–15: Eagerly Examining the Scriptures
Introduction
On the surface, so many passages in the Book of Acts sound similar. Missionaries (now always including Paul, but others early on) come to an area. They preach the gospel in that area, and many people believe. Many others, however, resist the message and respond with varying degrees of opposition. Then, when opposition grows beyond a certain level, the missionaries move on to the next place to start the process again. Why have so many stories of the same series of events? One of the reasons is that each passage gives us a slightly different angle on that general pattern. Here, then, we hear a clear call for today: respond to the Scriptures with faith.
Discussion Questions
1. Why was it Paul’s “custom” to go to the Jewish synagogue (vv. 1–2a)? That is, why do you think Paul put such a priority on evangelizing the Jews, even though he had been appointed as an apostle to reach the Gentiles to the end of the earth? Where have we seen him do that before? What do the various words (“reasoning,” “explaining,” “proving”) for Paul’s exposition of the Scriptures all communicate about what Paul was doing in his preaching?
2. What did Paul reason/explain/prove from the Scriptures about the Christ/Messiah (v. 3)? What do the Scriptures of the Old Testament say that makes it a necessity “for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead” (v. 3)? How does Jesus uniquely fulfill that Scriptural picture of the Christ? What has made it so hard for Jews across the centuries to see this truth? What is different among those who are “persuaded” and believe this gospel (v. 4)?
3. What makes the Jews at Berea “more noble than those in Thessalonica” (v. 11)? How do they receive the word? With what frequency? What do they do with the message that is preached to them? How does their own Scripture study prompt them to respond to the gospel? How are you receiving the preached word? How does what you hear on a Sunday prompt you to search the Scriptures to see if those things are so?
4. What is your sensitivity to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments? How does that sensitivity manifest itself in your day-to-day study of Scripture? Where are you careless or sloppy in your approach to God’s holy Word? Where do you fall short of putting your faith in what the Scriptures declare about Jesus the Christ: namely, that he suffered, died, was buried, and rose again from the dead?
