dation of a church at Philippi, which became very eminent; had its bishops and deacons, and people that were more generous to Paul than any other church, as appears by his epistle to the Philippians, ch. 1. 1.—4. 15. Let not ministers be discouraged, though they see not the fruit of their labours presently; the seed sown seems to be lost under the clods, but it shall come up again in a plentiful harvest in due time.
CHAP. XVII.
We have here a further account of the travels of Paul, and his services and sufferings for Christ. He was not like a candle upon a table, that gives light only to one room, but like the sun that goes its circuit to give light to many. He was called into Macedonia, a large kingdom, ch. 16. 9. He began with Philippi, because it was the first city he came to; but he mustnot confine himself to that. We have him here, I. Preaching and persecuted at Thessalonica, another city of Macedonia, v. 1..9. II. Preaching at Berea, where he met with an encouraging auditory, but was driven thence also by persecution, v. 10..15. III. Disputing at Athens, the famous university of Greece, (v. 16..21.) and the account he gave of natural religion, for the conviction of those that were addicted to polytheism and idolatry, and to lead them to the christian religion, (v. 22..31.) together with the success of this sermon, v. 32..34.
1.NOW when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: 2. And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath-days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, 3. Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. 4. And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. 5. But the Jews which believed not, moved with, envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. 6. And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; 7. Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying, that there is another king, one Jesus. 8. And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things. 9. And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go.
Paul's two epistles to the Thessalonians, the two first he wrote by inspiration, give such a shining character of that church, that we cannot but be glad here in the history to meet with an account of the first founding of the church there.
I. Here is Paul's coming to Thessalonica, which was the chief city of this country, called at this day Salonech, in the Turkish dominions. Observe,
1. Paul went on with his work, notwithstanding the ill usage he had met with at Philippi; he did not fail, nor was discouraged. He takes notice of this in his first epistle to the church here; (1 Thess. 2. 2.) After we were shamefully entreated at Philippi, yet we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God. The opposition and persecution that he met with, made him the more resolute. None of these things moved him; he could never have held out, and held on, as he did, if he had not been animated by a spirit of power from on high.
2. He did but pass through Amphipolis and Apollonia, the former a city near Philippi, the latter near Thessalonica; doubtless, he was under divine direction, and was told by the Spirit, who, as the wind, bloweth where he listeth, what places he should pass through, and what he should rest in. Apollonia was a city of Illyricum, which, some think, illustrates that of Paul, that he had preached the gospel from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, (Rom. 15. 9.) that is, to the borders of Illyricum, where he now was: and we may suppose, though he be said only to pass through these cities, yet that he staid so long in them as to publish the gospel there, and to prepare the way for the entrance of other ministers among them, whom he would afterward send.
II. His preaching to the Jews first, in their synagogue at Thessalonica. He found a synagogue of the Jews there, (v. 1.) which intimates that one reason why he passed through those other cities mentioned, and did not continue long ih them, was, because there were no synagogues in them. But, finding one in Thessalonica, by it he made his entry.
1. It was always his manner to begin with the Jews; to make them the first offer of the gospel, and not to turn to the Gentiles till they had refused it, that their mouths might be stopped from clamouring against him because he preached to the Gentiles, for if they received the gospel, they woould cheerfully embrace the new converts; if they refused it, they might thank themselves if the apostles carried it to those that would bid it welcome. That command of beginning at Jerusalem was justly construed as a direction, wherever they came, to begin with the Jews.
2. He met them in their synagogue on the sabbath-day, in their place and at their time of meeting, and thus he would pay respect to both. Sabbaths and solemn assemblies are always very precious to those to whom Christ is precious, Ps. 84. 10. It is good being in the house of the Lord on his day. This was Christ's manner, and Paul's manner, and has been the manner of all the saints, the good old way which they have walked in.
3. He reasoned with them out of the scriptures. They agreed with him to receive the scriptures of the Old Testament, so far they were of a mind; but they received the scripture, and therefore thought they had reason to reject Christ; Paul received the scripture, and therefore saw great reason to embrace Christ. It was therefore requisite, in order to their conviction, that he should, by reasoning with them, the Spirit setting in with him, convince them that his inferences from scripture were right and their's were wrong. Note, The preaching of the gospel should be both scriptural preaching, and rational; such Paul's was, for he reasoned out of the scriptures: we must take the scriptures for our foundation, our oracle, and touchstone, and then reason out of them and upon them, and against those who, though they pretend zeal for the scriptures, as the Jews did, yet wrest them to their own destruction. Reason must not be set up in competition with the scripture, but it must be made use of in explaining and applying the scripture.
4. He continued to do this three sabbath-days successively. If he could not convince them the first sabbath, he would try the second and the third; for precept must be upon precept, and line upon line.
