Acts 17:1-9 Rioting in Thessalonica

Acts 17:1-4 Paul and company travel to Thessalonica where Paul preaches. The Holy Spirit must have been leading Paul regarding what cities to stop in, since he passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia without sharing the gospel. His custom was to start by taking the gospel to the synagogue. After three weeks some Jews joined Paul and Silas, along with many Greeks. The text does not say whether the leading women were Greeks or Jews or some other category. Since he reasoned with the Jews in the synagogue on the Sabbath for those three weeks, it seems likely he spent many of the other days of the week sharing the gospel with non-Jews, although no details are given, since many Greeks joined him.

Acts 17:5-9 The Jews attack the believers. Whether this was jealousy because of the choice of some of the Jews to follow Jesus, or because the gospel was well-received by many Greeks, we cannot tell. However, the Jews were not above inciting non-Jews from the marketplace to start a riot and then attack Jason's house. Jason was not previously mentioned but it seems clear he must have been one of those who joined Paul. Based on his name, it seems likely he was Greek rather than Jewish, but again it does not say. The accusation at least bears the marks that they had heard something of what Paul was saying, since the accusation in Acts 17:7 is reminiscent of the charges raised against Jesus (Luke 23:2). At this early stage in church history, it seems odd that they would say that these men (Paul and Silas) had upset the world (anastatosantes - stirred up, excited, unsettled). They had been to four cities in Asia Minor and only one city in Greece. Granted, the events in Philippi had made the magistrates there uncomfortable, but that was scarcely upsetting the world. From the Jewish viewpoint, their homeland, Judea, was being evangelized, but it seems unlikely that would have upset the Greeks, for whom Judea was a backwater province. When they failed to find Paul and Silas at Jason's house, they realized they had no real charges against Jason and the other believers. It is not stated what pledge they received from Jason, but perhaps the magistrates realized that they were following in the path of the magistrates in Philippi and wanted to avoid public embarrassment.

          The opposition to the spread of the gospel seems almost demonic in its intensity. Jews who rejected the gospel were following in the path established by the Jewish priests and elders who had rejected Jesus and had stirred up the mob against Him. (Matthew 27:20).  The response of the Greek mob from the marketplace seems disproportionate to the events, suggesting that the Jews who were inciting them got a much bigger reaction than they ever got in sharing the Jewish law with the Greeks. Perhaps this suggests that sharing slander and tale-bearing, stirring up people's emotions through anger and hatred is a much easier thing to do than encouraging them to live in a fashion that is righteous and loving and honoring of God. But it also hints at a possible level of spiritual opposition to the gospel entertained by the Jews who rejected it.

          Paul makes reference to the opposition to the gospel in I Thessalonians 2:2, following on the heels of their persecution in Philippi. He also makes reference to the suffering of Jason and the other believers. (I Thessalonians 2:14) In his letter, Paul goes on to mention that he sent Timothy to them since he could not himself return to them. There does not seem to be anything in this passage that suggests a need for the focus of his later letter to be on the second coming of Christ.