Acts 17:10

In these verses we have,

I. Paul and Silas removing to Berea, and employed in preaching the gospel there, Act 17:10. They had proceeded so far at Thessalonica that the foundations of a church were laid, and others were raised up to carry on the work that was begun, against whom the rulers and people were not so much prejudiced as they were against Paul and Silas; and therefore when the storm rose they withdrew, taking this as an indication to them that they must quit that place for the present. That command of Christ to his disciples, When they persecute you in one city flee to another, intends their flight to be not so much for their own safety ("flee to another, to hide there") as for the carrying on of their work ("flee to another, to preach there"), as appears by the reason given - You shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of man come, Mat 10:23. Thus out of the eater came forth meat, and the devil was outshot in his own bow; he thought by persecuting the apostles to stop the progress of the gospel, but it was so overruled as to be made to further it. See here, 1. The care that the brethren took of Paul and Silas, when they perceived how the plot was laid against them: They immediately sent them away by night, incognito, to Berea. This could be no surprise to the young converts; For when we were with you (saith Paul to them, Th1 3:4), when we came first among you, we told you that we should suffer tribulation, even as it came to pass, and you know. It should seem that Paul and Silas would willingly have staid, and faced the storm, if the brethren would have let them; but they would rather be deprived of the apostles' help than expose their lives, which, it should seem, were dearer to their friends than to themselves. They sent them away by night, under the covert of that, as if they had been evil doers. 2. The constancy of Paul and Silas in their work. Though they fled from Thessalonica, they did not flee from the service of Christ. When they came to Berea, they went into the synagogue of the Jews, and made their public appearance there. Though the Jews at Thessalonica had been their spiteful enemies, and, for aught they knew, the Jews at Berea would be so too, yet they did not therefore decline paying their respect to the Jews, either in revenge for the injuries they had received or for fear of what they might receive. If others will not do their duty to us, yet we ought to do ours to them.

II. The good character of the Jews in Berea (Act 17:11): These were more noble than those in Thessalonica. The Jews in the synagogue at Berea were better disposed to receive the gospel than the Jews in the synagogue at Thessalonica; they were not so bigoted and prejudiced against it, not so peevish and ill-natured; they were more noble, eugenesteroi - better bred.

1. They had a freer thought, and lay more open to conviction, were willing to hear reason, and admit the force of it, and to subscribe to that which appeared to them to be truth, though it was contrary to their former sentiments. This was more noble.

2. They had a better temper, were not so sour, and morose, and ill-conditioned towards all that were not of their mind, As they were ready to come into a unity with those that by the power of truth they were brought to concur with, so they continued in charity with those that they saw cause to differ from. This was more noble. They neither prejudged the cause, nor were moved with envy at the managers of it, as the Jews at Thessalonica were, but very generously gave both it and them a fair hearing, without passion or partiality; for, (1.) They received the word with all readiness of mind; they were very willing to hear it, presently apprehended the meaning of it, and did not shut their eyes against the light. They attended to the things that were spoken by Paul, as Lydia did, and were very well pleased to hear them. They did not pick quarrels with the word, nor find fault, nor seek occasion against the preachers of it; but bade it welcome, and put a candid construction upon every thing that was said. Herein they were more noble than the Jews in Thessalonica, but walked in the same spirit, and in the same steps, with the Gentiles there, of whom it is said that they received the word with joy of the Holy Ghost, and turned to God from idols, Th1 1:6-9. This was true nobility. The Jews gloried much in their being Abraham's seed, thought themselves well-born and that they could not be better born. But they are here told who among them were the most noble and the best-bred men - those that were most disposed to receive the gospel, and had the high and conceited thoughts in them subdued, and brought into obedience to Christ. They were the most noble, and, if I may so say, the most gentleman-like men. Nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus - Virtue and piety are true nobility, true honour; and, without these, Stemmata quid prosunt? - What are pedigrees and pompous titles worth? (2.) They searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so. Their readiness of mind to receive the word was not such as that they took things upon trust, swallowed them upon an implicit faith: no; but since Paul reasoned out of the scriptures, and referred them to the Old Testament for the proof of what he said, they had recourse to their Bibles, turned to the places to which he referred them, read the context, considered the scope and drift of them, compared them with other places of scripture, examined whether Paul's inferences from them were natural and genuine and his arguments upon them cogent, and determined accordingly. Observe, [1.] The doctrine of Christ does not fear a scrutiny. We that are advocates for his cause desire no more than that people will not say, These things are not so, till they have first, without prejudice and partiality, examined whether they be so or no. [2.] The New Testament is to be examined by the Old. The Jews received the Old Testament, and those that did so, if they considered things aright, could not but see cause sufficient to receive the New, because in it they see all the prophecies and promises of the Old fully and exactly accomplished. [3.] Those that read and receive the scriptures must search them (Joh 5:39), must study them, and take pains in considering them, both that they may find out the truth contained in them, and may not mistake the sense of them and so run into error, or remain in it; and that they may find out the whole truth contained in them, and may not rest in a superficial knowledge, in the outward court of the scriptures, but may have an intimate acquaintance with the mind of God revealed in them. [4.] Searching the scriptures must be our daily work. Those that heard the word in the synagogue on the sabbath day did not think this enough, but were searching it every day in the week, that they might improve what they ha heard the sabbath before, and prepare for what they were to hear the sabbath after. [5.] Those are truly noble, and are in a fair way to be more and more so, that make the scriptures their oracle and touchstone, and consult them accordingly. Those that rightly study the scriptures, and meditate therein day and night, have their minds filled with noble thoughts, fixed to noble principles, and formed for noble aims and designs. These are more noble.

III. The good effect of the preaching of the gospel at Berea: it had the desired success; the people's hearts being prepared, a great deal of work was done suddenly, Act 17:12. 1. Of the Jews there were many that believed. At Thessalonica there were only some of them that believed (Act 17:4), but at Berea, where they heard with unprejudiced minds, many believed, many more Jews than at Thessalonica. Note, God gives grace to those whom he first inclines to make a diligent use of the means of grace, and particularly to search the scriptures. 2. Of the Greeks likewise, the Gentiles, many believed, both of the honourable women, the ladies of quality, and of men not a few, men of the first rank, as should seem by their being mentioned with the honourable women. The wives first embraced the gospel, and then they persuaded their husbands to embrace it. For what knowest thou, O wife, but thou shalt save thy husband? Co1 7:16.

IV. The persecution that was raised against Paul and Silas at Berea, which forced Paul thence. 1. The Jews at Thessalonica were the mischief-makers at Berea. They had notice that the word of God was preached at Berea (for envy and jealousy bring quick intelligence), and likewise that the Jews there were not so inveterately set against it as they were. They came thither also, to turn the world upside down there, and they stirred up the people, and incensed them against the preachers of the gospel; as if they had such a commission from the prince of darkness to go from place to place to oppose the gospel as the apostles had to go from place to place to preach it. Thus we read before that the Jews of Antioch and Iconium came to Lystra on purpose to incense the people against the apostles, Act 14:19. See how restless Satan's agents are in their opposition to the gospel of Christ and the salvation of the souls of men. This is an instance of the enmity that is in the serpent's seed against the seed of the woman; and we must not think it strange if persecutors at home extend their rage to stir up persecution abroad. 2. This occasioned Paul's removal to Athens. By seeking to extinguish this divine fire which Christ had already kindled, they did but spread it the further and the faster; so long Paul staid at Berea, and such success he had there, that there were brethren there, and sensible active men too, which appeared by the care they took of Paul, Act 14:14. They were aware of the coming of the persecuting Jews from Thessalonica, and that they were busy in irritating the people against Paul; and, fearing what it would come to, they lost no time, but immediately sent Paul away, against whom they were most prejudiced and enraged, hoping that this would pacify them, while they retained Silas and Timothy there still, who, now that Paul had broken the ice, might be sufficient to carry on the work without exposing him. They sent Paul to go even to the sea, so some; to go as it were to the sea, so we read it; hōs epi tēn thalassaṅ He went out from Berea, in that road which went to the sea, that the Jews, if they enquired after him, might think he had gone to a great distance; but he went by land to Athens, in which there was no culpable dissimulation at all. Those that conducted Paul (as his guides and guards, he being both a stranger in the country and one that had many enemies) brought him to Athens. The Spirit of God, influencing his spirit, directed him to that famous city, - famous of old for its power and dominion, when the Athenian commonwealth coped with the Spartan, - famous afterwards for learning; it was the rendezvous of scholars. Those who wanted learning went thither to show it. It was a great university, much resorted to from all parts, and therefore, for the better diffusing of gospel light, Paul is sent thither, and is not ashamed nor afraid to show his face among the philosophers there, and there to preach Christ crucified, though he knew it would be as much foolishness to the Greeks as it was to the Jews a stumbling-block. 3. He ordered Silas and Timothy to come to him to Athens, when he found there was a prospect of doing good there; or because, there being none there that he knew, he was solitary and melancholy without them. Yet it should seem that, great as was the haste he was in for them, he ordered Timothy to go about Thessalonica, to bring him an account of the affairs of that church; for he says (Th1 3:1, Th1 3:2), We thought it good to be left at Athens alone, and sent Timotheus to establish you.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Act_17:10-15

And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas unto Berea … These were more noble than those in Thessalonica.

From Thessalonica to Berea

1. Paul and Silas were sent away by night. That is the way to make the most of time. Travel by night and preach by day if you would make the best of your opportunities. We sleep by night, and hardly get over the slumber all day. The enemy would say they had driven Paul off the ground--Paul himself would say that he was going to make new ground, and that he would certainly come back again to the old place. We have seen the tide go out, but we have seen it also return, and in the returning it seems to play at going back again; but the refluent wave increases in volume, and returns with enhanced force and grandeur. Paul will come back again--personally, or by letter--to Thessalonica. He is fifty miles away, and yet he is not one inch off. He has taken with him in his heart all that he won at Thessalonica.

2. When Paul came to Berea he went into the synagogue of the Jews. How was that? Surely he had suffered enough in connection with synagogues! It is one of two things with us all: either the inward conquers, or the outward--the soul or the body, love of God or love of ease.

3. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica. Thessalonica was a capital, a metropolis, and Berea was an out-of-the-way place. Yet the Bereans were more noble than metropolitans. That often happens. London is the largest place in England; it is not, therefore, the greatest. It is quite possible that there may be more reading of a solid and instructive kind in a little country town. Every locality has its advantage. In the metropolis we have continual motion, man sharpening man by daily collision, and in the country we have the opportunity of profound cultivation, because of the time which is at our disposal. Let us not complain of our circumstances, but rule them, sanctify them; and every sphere of life will afford an opportunity for intellectual and spiritual advancement.

4. What is the test of nobleness? Good listening is one trait. The hearer makes the preacher. Expectation becomes inspiration. To good listening was added patient examination. The model congregation is a congregation well provided with Bibles; that looks from the sermon to the text; from the text to the sermon; from the text to the context; and that binds the speaking man to keep within the sacred brief which God has given to him. That would be a congregation that would compel sublime preaching! You have lost your status as hearers! Where are your Bibles? The preacher could quote fifty things that are not in the Bible, and if he quoted them in old English, he could make many people believe that they really were in the Bible. If we would be noble in the estimation of Heaven, we must acquaint ourselves deeply and accurately with Heavens own Word. One thing would follow from the Biblical examination--we should destroy the priest. The priest is a magician who lives upon the credulity of the simple. How is his influence to be broken? By the Bible; by the people knowing the Bible.

5. There is a logical term in the twelfth verse--Therefore. That is the true rationalism. Why did you believe? Because the speaker fascinated me; because he laid a spell upon my imagination. You will one day escape from those poor chains--they are not chains of iron, they are little bands of straw. Why did you believe? Because it was shown to me by the Living Word that this is the only conclusion that can be established. You will stand like a rock amid troubled waves! (J. Parker, D. D.)

The Thessalonians and the Bereans

We have here--

1. Points of resemblance.

(1) The mode of the preaching, and

(2) its two-fold result: some believed the things that were spoken, and some believed not.

2. Points of contrast; a difference in their way of hearing and in their manner of inquiring into truth. It is deeply interesting to be able thus to individualise some of Pauls congregations. We all know that there are such differences now. There are varieties of character and locality. Between one country and another, between one part of one country and another part, there are many noticeable differences, the result of many various and long-working influences. Often the ministry has to be blamed or praised for them. A place in which a faithful pastor has long been at work bears the impress of his hand for the next generation or two. And the absence of such a ministry will leave an opposite stamp. Who that reads the Epistles of St. Paul could for one moment confuse or interchange the spiritual characteristics of the churches of Corinth, of Philippi, of Galatia, of Thessalonica? Take that of--

I. Thessalonica. Berea was more noble, because it received the Word frankly, and searched the Scriptures. Thessalonica was less noble in this respect. But there were those even in Thessalonica who had all the nobleness of Berea. Look at St. Pauls Epistles to them. Observe--

1. How St. Paul had treated them.

(1) Like a father, we exhorted and comforted and charged you, as a father does his children; and like a mother also, we were gentle among you, even as a nursing mother cherisheth her own children. What a picture of the true pastor! not a lord over Gods heritage, not one having dominion over their faith, but a helper of their joy.

(2) Ye remember our labour and travail; for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable to any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. If we, by changes of times, and by Gods overruling goodness, are exempted from the necessity of working for our bread, let us take heed that that toil saved from the one be given to the other.

2. His teaching. First of all, it was a gospel, a message of comfort and joy to fallen man. It told him that his sins are forgiven. But it did not leave him even there. What is it to me to be told that God forgives, if you cannot add that God will give me His Holy Spirit to live in me and to work in me effectually? In the strength of this he was not afraid to preach to them of duty. This is the will of God, even your sanctification; and if it is His will that we should be holy, certainly He will give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. But St. Paul knew that, if you would inspirit a man for duty, you must inspire a man with hope. Therefore he fixed their eyes upon an Advent of the Lord and Saviour in which blessed and holy is he who shall have part.

3. The rapidity of the work of God there. A few weeks at the very utmost must have comprised it, and yet what a work was already wrought (1Th_1:3-10). It is our own fault if the gospel works in any of us slowly or indecisively. A few short weeks are enough, in Gods hand, for a complete transformation of the heart and life. Yet let us not lose the force of that solemn admonition, that he who thinketh he standeth must always take heed lest he fall. Scarcely had St. Paul left Thessalonica than he sends back Timotheus to see lest by any means the tempter had tempted them, and so his labour should be in vain. We are still in an enemys country, however armed; in the region of death, however full of life. Even from our Lord Himself, after His great temptation, the devil departed but for a season: let us take heed lest confidence breed presumption, presumption sin, and sin death!

II. Berea.

1. In speaking of Thessalonica, we have spoken of the Church gathered out of the world. The nobleness of the Bereans was shown not in their way of acting upon a gospel already believed, but in their way of trying the credentials of a gospel first heard. They did not refuse the gospel because it contradicted their previous opinions; neither did they, in an excess of credulity, receive it because it was presented to them. They listened to it with the readiness of a candid spirit, and they daily examined their Scriptures to see whether its language and theirs were the same. Many therefore of them believed.

2. If our teaching were carried back by you to your Bible; if, when we urge upon you any particular duty, or any side of the truth, you would readily examine your Scriptures to see whether what you have heard has Gods sanction to it or no, how interesting would become the work of hearing and the work of teaching! You would feel that you were engaged in a pursuit of truth; that it was not a question of pleasure or interest, but a question of right and wrong, of life and death; you would come hither not to criticise, but to learn, and you would go hence not to discuss, but to digest. And we on our part should feel that we were aiding you in settling the most momentous questions, and that out of such inquiries would spring forth a full-flowing stream of satisfaction, strength, and peace. The word denotes the examination of a witness, or the trial of a challenged life. Let us thus put the Word of God upon its trial. Let us not treat it as a dead, unmeaning, monotonous thing, to be carried in the hand, read at church, or suffered on the table; but rather as a living person, to be questioned, to be listened to and judged. So treated, the Bible will become to us a voice, not a page only. So treated, we shall at last be able to say, Thy Word is tried to the uttermost, and Thy servant loveth it. (Dean Vaughan.)

The reception of the gospel at Berea

I. The conduct of the bereans in reference to the preached word. Note--

1. A spirit of earnest inquiry after religious truth. The gospel offered them no secular advantages (Act_14:22; 2Ti_3:2). In the total absence, therefore, of all worldly attractions, what could induce them to receive the Word with all readiness of mind but a deeply serious concern about religious truth? The origin of this state of mind may probably be referred to that spiritual influence which went forth a little before this period--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

2. A remarkable superiority to the power of prejudice. They did not refuse to listen to these strangers, although they were either unknown, or had been preceded by unfavourable rumours (Act_17:6-7).

3. An exercise of cautious investigation before they proceeded to make up their minds. The Bereans received the Word in a widely different manner to those in Mat_13:5; Mat_13:20-21, and, there is reason to believe, abode in it with far greater stability.

4. As the result of the whole, note--their professed faith in the gospel, and their union with the Church. The Church thus founded appears to have been numerous: at Thessalonica some believed, at Berea many. And where the good precedent of the Bereans has been followed, a solid work of God has been perpetuated; but where people have rushed into religious profession under the influence of novelty or angry sectarianism, the consequence has too often been the erection of an airy castle, soon scattered to all the winds of heaven. It farther appears, that many of the Berean believers were highly respectable in their station and circumstances; literally, persons of figure, and the addition of such to the Church is a very desirable occurrence; for, to say nothing of subordinate and extrinsic advantages, their piety, found in connection with knowledge and refinement, is likely to be instrumental of great good in giving a tone to the whole community.

II. The just distinction which attaches to them in consequence of their conduct. In Lukes opinion they possessed nobler souls, or had a more generous nature than the people of Thessalonica. Possibly the term may advert to the genealogical pride so deeply rooted amongst the Jews (Joh_8:31-33). This nobleness of mind is strikingly apparent.

1. In the candour with which they received the Word with all readiness of mind. Candour is that quality of mind which leads us not exclusively to look upon our own things, but also on the things of others. How many advantages may we have lost, and to how many inconveniences may we have been subjected, in consequence of blindly yielding to the suggestions of prejudice!

2. In the reasonableness of their proceedings on hearing the gospel. The course they pursued was equally removed from the extremes of a hasty adoption of the new system, and a prejudiced closing of their understandings against evidence, The preaching of Paul and Silas related to the Messiah, and the conformity of their announcements with the Scriptures of the prophets was the great subject in the investigation of which the Bereans employed their nobler powers. Yet it is to be feared that the great mass of modern hearers never properly bend the energies of their minds to the clear apprehension of Christian truth, or the just appreciation of scriptural evidence.

3. In the noble resolution which they conceived and executed on having made up their minds on the great subject of Christianity. They formed themselves into a Christian Church under the direction of Paul and Silas, and resolved to encounter all the evils then connected with profession of faith in Christ. (T. Galland, M. A.)

The Bereans

are types of those--

I. Whose kinds are open to receive new truths. To the Berean Jews Pauls propositions were as novel and naturally unpalatable as they were to the Thessalonians, but they did not refuse to examine them. Such openness of mind is equally removed from the ignorant bigotry that assumes acquaintance with all truth, and the vacillating uncertainty which is always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, and consequently is tossed about with every wind of doctrine.

II. Who are in no haste to conclude that what is new is true. The Bereans did not rashly and impulsively embrace Pauls teaching; they carefully considered it--prepared to accept or reject it, according as it stood the test of examination.

III. Who try all human teaching by the declarations of Gods word. Lessons:

1. Doctrines are not to be rejected merely because they are unpalatable. Gods Word must be unpalatable to sinful hearts, just as sunlight is to diseased eyes.

2. In studying Scripture we must carefully guard against prepossessions and prejudices.

3. We must steadily reject the idea that we have learned all that the Scriptures teach. It is possible to pass an object ten thousand times without really seeing it. God has yet more light to break forth from His Holy Word.

4. A diligent and candid study of the Scriptures will lead to faith in Jesus as the Christ. (R. A. Bertram.)

The noble Bereans

I. The high honour by which the Bereans are distinguished. This distinction is to be valued because of--

1. The source whence it proceeds.

2. The great dignity it implies.

II. The reason why this dignity is assigned to them.

1. Their conduct.

(1) Their favourable impression as to the gospel.

(2) Their diligent inquiry into its truth.

(3) Their truly rational faith.

2. The principles which this conduct involved.

(1) Gods Word is the only standard of faith.

(2) We should not reject truth whoever might proclaim it.

(3) The truth when discovered is to be professed.

Application:

1. See wherein true dignity consists.

2. The means of acquiring solid faith. (Evangelical Preacher.)

Berean nobility

There is a heraldry in the kingdom of God. Our Kings throne is encircled by a high-born nobility. In the Scriptures you will find the record of their deeds and the patent of their rank. If we could obtain a view of this earth from the heavens the mountains would not be very high, nor the valleys very deep. The same law rules in the spiritual sphere. When anyone obtains, spiritually, a great elevation, the differences of social condition almost disappear. All are low until grace raise them up. But distinctions there are, notwithstanding. Some are slaves, and some are free; some are rich in grace, while others are poor. The Bereans were noble, high born. Two things go to constitute nobility--first the sovereigns choice in its origin; second, the actual birthright of each noble in successive generations. It is the same in the heavenly kingdom. Abraham was of plebeian blood, and received the patent of his nobility in the specific promise of the King Eternal, and large possessions were bestowed upon him for the support of his dignity. At a later period, when the Kings Son was sojourning in this province, He called other plebeians, fishermen, etc., and conferred upon them the patent of nobility. In Rome they call Peter a prince: the title is not amiss, although they apply it falsely. Further, each noble is born to his title and estate. Nicodemus, though a son of Abraham by his first birth, must himself be born again ere he could enjoy the privileges of a peer. Two characteristic features of Berean nobility are recorded in order that we may be able to distinguish between the genuine and the spurious.

I. Their hearts were receptive. In this matter the Bereans were favourably distinguished from the Thessalonians. The distinction is similar to that which the parable makes between the good ground and the wayside. As more depends on the condition of the soil than on the skill of the sower, so more depends on a receptive spirit in the hearers than on the peculiar ability of the preacher.

II. They exercised their private judgment. This short, simple intimation puts to shame the sophistry with which Rome has for ages striven to conceal the Word of God from the people. For this noble act the Romish hierarchy has persecuted even unto death. The term searched indicates that they pored over the page; and after having read a sentence, returned to traverse the lines again, in order that the track of the sense might be more deeply graven on their minds. They avoided the two extremes of easy credulity and hard unbelief. It is a general law of human nature that what comes lightly goes lightly. What we gain by a hard struggle we retain with a firmer grasp, whether it be our fortune or our faith. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

Berean nobility

I. The deportment of these noble Bereans. They manifested--

1. A laudable spirit of inquiry in reference to the truths of religion. All inquiry is not laudable; we may be busybodies in other mens matters, but inquiry is laudable here. Human investigation is extended to every other subject; why should it be excluded from this?

2. A peculiar deference to the authority of the sacred writings; they were convinced of the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, and it was in them they expected to find the principles of true religion.

3. A candid and ingenuous temper: readiness of mind. They did not examine the Scriptures for the purpose of finding objections against the doctrines of the apostles, or to establish their own previous opinions, but for the purpose of ascertaining whether those things were so.

II. The reasons we should imitate this noble deportment.

1. We are endowed with powers and capabilities of engaging in this important investigation.

2. The Scriptures are addressed to all men; all men are commanded to read and examine them. Search the Scriptures, said our Lord. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, said the apostle.

3. All men are deeply concerned in the important truths which the Scriptures contain--as men, as sinners, as inhabitants of this world, as heirs of immortality.

III. The advantages which will result from an imitation of this noble deportment.

1. We shall obtain accurate information respecting the doctrines of revealed truth.

2. We shall derive strong consolation under the difficulties and afflictions of life.

3. We shall receive ample instruction as to the performance of all personal, social, and religious duties. If you ask in what way should we examine the sacred writings, in order that we may obtain these advantages, I reply, examine them with impartiality, with humility, with self-application, and with prayer. It is greatly to be regretted that any portion of the Christian Church should ever have interdicted the use of the Holy Scriptures, and for this purpose have prohibited their translation into the vernacular tongue. But we have not so learned Christ. Go, imitate the example of the noble Bereans--search the Scriptures. (G. Collinson.)

Spiritual nobility

Nobility is a grand word, but does not always represent a noble thing. It is often applied to physical prowess and ancestral lineage; but the word in such applications is more or less degraded. There is a mental and moral nobility. The latter is the greatest of all; it is Godlike. The Bereans--

I. Rendered a candid attention to new doctrines. They did not allow prejudice to seal their ears and close their souls; they were prepared to listen. This conduct is--

1. Ever befitting. As there must always be to the highest finite intelligences universes of truth of which they know nothing, it becomes even a seraph to be docile. How much more man, who knows so little, and that little so imperfectly!

2. Very rare. Somehow or other men for the most part grow up with preconceptions that close the soul to all that does not blend with them. Their preformed ideas they treat as absolute truths, and recoil with a jealousy from all that is new. Nothing is more repugnant to these men than a teaching pulpit.

II. Gave a proper examination to new doctrines. They were not mere passive listeners, receiving impressions which led to no effort, and which passed away in the hour. They examined--

1. Independently. They searched the Scriptures for themselves. They were not swayed by the authority of others, nor did they accept the statement of the apostles on their own credit. There is much talk about the right of private judgment; we want more of the duty. Men are blockheads in theology, and priest ridden in religion, because they search not the Scriptures for themselves.

2. Perseveringly, daily. So vast the area and so deep the mines of Scripture, that you can know but little of it by a glance or two. Desultory, occasional and unsystematic efforts will be useless. You must be at it daily--walk some new field, scale some new mountain, penetrate some new depth daily.

III. Yielded to the evidence of new doctrines: believed. They bowed to the force of evidence. It is childish to believe without evidence. It is wicked to resist evidence. It is noble to surrender to its force. Their faith was--

1. Intelligent. It came as the result of investigation. It was not a blind prejudice, a traditional idea; it was a living conviction. This is the faith that is wanted, the only faith of any worth.

2. General: Many believed. Influential women and men not a few. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The nobility of the Bereans

In this account of the conduct and conversion of the Bereans we are struck with--

I. The willing permission they gave to the apostles to declare their errand. For we must remember how different were their circumstances from those in which we ever have been, or can possibly be found. They were Jews, who had never, until this moment when Paul and Silas entered their synagogue, heard of any other system than the law of Moses. They were men in whose minds the avenues of conviction lay open; they were willing to give a hearing to the arguments of reason. Scarcely any sacrifice is so costly to flesh and blood to make, as that of long-established and deeply-rooted prejudice. But the Berean Jews were prepared to make even this surrender. But their respect was shown to the commission of the apostles, not to their persons only. Is not the subject of the gospel of supreme importance? With how many has the gospel had no better fate than those unhappy persons find whose lot it is to wait upon some proud patron or dilatory judge, who has promised to grant an audience, but has never yet done it, and still promises, and still postpones?

II. As they allowed the apostles to declare their errand, so we find that they gave a glad reception to the message itself. An ingenuous spirit opens the fairest door to the entrance of truth. Candour opened their ears to what Paul and Silas had to urge; and by that opening conviction entered. Such were the earliest disciples, and as such they are described: they that gladly received the Word. A spirit this, differing altogether from that of Herod, who heard the Word gladly, having a curiosity to know what kind of matters it treated about, but having no desire to enlarge his acquaintance with it, when he found that it laid the axe to the root of his sins; but a gladness, going the whole length of the gospel itself, the glad receiving, as well as hearing of it. Who amongst us desires to know whether we are inheritors of this Berean readiness of mind towards the gospel of God? We are so, if we yield ourselves to the fair influence of truth.

III. There is yet one more point of excellence in the conduct of the Bereans: they seriously examined the claims of the gospel. The doctrine of Christ fears not a scrutiny. And now, after this review of the conduct of the Bereans, shall we hesitate to award to them the title given in our text, These were more noble than those in Thessalonica? True nobility, then, is not the spurious expansiveness of infidelity, but the reverence of Scripture as the test of truth. (R. Eden, M. A.)

Searching the Scriptures

Let us mark--

I. The attention shown by the Bereans to the ministry of St. Paul.

1. They received the Word with all readiness of mind, which argued a simple teachable disposition. Hence their attention was prompt, cordial, and submissive. They felt their helplessness and were willing to be led. The mind of the hearer was as soil prepared for the word of the preacher. Doubtless St. Paul adduced his favourite themes--Jesus and the resurrection. Paul might state many things which would be new to the Bereans, opposed to their sentiments and ordinary habits and pursuits; but such was their docility that they were cheerfully contented to be hearers, not teachers.

2. Ought not this to be the disposition of modern hearers? But is not rather the ministry of the gospel usually attended with little or no readiness of mind to receive it? We preach the fall of man, but who feel themselves to be fallen? We declare the nature and the consequence of sin, but who feels its exceeding sinfulness, and flees from the wrath to come? We publish glad tidings, but who hath believed our report? And why is this? Because our hearers have so little readiness of mind to receive it. The hearts of the generality are either as soft as water, or as hard as rock. If you dip your finger into water an impression will easily be made; the moment you withdraw your finger the impression vanishes. You may, too, pour water upon a rock, but it all runs off; it never penetrates and fructifies the stone.

3. Now it is this disposition which we wish to correct. As the preaching of the Word is a weighty and important charge, so surely does the hearing of it involve a very solemn responsibility. People too commonly imagine the delivery of a sermon to be a matter of course. Judge your own selves. Do as these noble-minded persons did: hear impartially, teachably; with readiness to receive; for your edification in the faith of Christ, for eternity; as those who must one day account to the Master of our Assemblies for the means of instruction so graciously vouchsafed.

II. The conduct they were induced to adopt.

1. They searched the Scriptures daily, etc. The Scriptures which the Bereans possessed were merely the Old Testament. From that, however, they had learned that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpents head; that God would raise up unto them a Prophet that should, like Moses, promulgate a new dispensation of grace and mercy; that in His love and in His pity He would redeem them, and reign as King of Zion, etc., etc. These things the Bereans knew, and therefore they searched the Scriptures to see how far the statements of St. Paul accorded with the Word of God. Nor did they indolently do so: so cautious were they about receiving what they heard, and so desirous that whatever they received should be strictly analogous to the truth, that they searched the Scriptures daily. Using, with lowliness and sincerity, the only infallible means of information, the promise was fulfilled to them--The meek will He guide in judgment, the meek will He teach His way. So true it is, They that will do the will of God shall know of the doctrine, etc.

2. Now here I cannot but say, Go ye and do likewise. Here is an example of earnest and devout inquiry worthy of our closest imitation. We can boast no extraordinary inspiration, and therefore we may err. Bring, then, what you hear from us to your Bible. In addition to the Old Testament you have the New. When we insist on the necessity of repentance, look and see if He in whose name we speak requires it. When we tell you that Christ is all in all--a sinners justification and salvation--take not our word for it: search the Scriptures. Do not so reluctantly, as though it were a labour, but diligently, and that daily, and as if your everlasting all depended on your right apprehension and belief of the truth. If you received a letter from a dear friend, would it lie long unopened by you? Say not, We have no time. Have you no time to read other books? Remember, that alone is truth which will endure a Scriptural test. It is Scripture, too, that will try our principles and conduct in the judgment of the great day. The words which I have spoken, the same shall judge you. (W. Mudge, B. A.)

Searching the Scriptures

I. Why?

1. Because it contains the statutes and judgments of God (Deu_4:14).

2. It is the Word of God (Jer_36:6).

3. Christ taught out of it (Luk_24:27).

4. It testifies of Christ (Joh_20:3 l).

5. If rightly studied it will lead to salvation (Jam_1:21).

6. It is profitable both for doctrine and practice (2Ti_3:16).

7. Christ enjoins its study (Joh_5:39).

8. Without a knowledge of it we go astray (Mat_22:29; Act_13:27).

II. How?

1. Thinking of it continually (Deu_6:7).

2. Receiving it as the Word of God, not of man (1Th_2:13).

3. Receiving it with meekness (Jam_1:21).

4. Meditating upon it in the night watches (Psa_119:148).

5. Hiding it in the heart (Psa_119:11).

6. Making it the standard of teaching (1Pe_4:11).

7. With prayer that its truths may be understood (Psa_119:12; Psa_119:18).

8. Teaching it to the children (2Ti_3:15). (S. S. Times.)

Searching the Scriptures

You interpret the Scriptures in one way, said Mary to Knox, and the Pope and the cardinals in another; whom shall I believe, and who shall be judge? You shall believe, replied Knox, God who speaketh plainly in His Word; and further than the Word teacheth you, you shall believe neither the one nor the other--neither the Pope nor the Reformers, neither the Papists nor the Protestants. The Word of God is plain in itself; if there be any obscurity in one place, the Holy Ghost, who is never contrary to Himself, explains it more clearly in other places, so that there can remain no doubt but unto such as are obstinately ignorant. (Stewarts Collections.)

Delight in the Scriptures

I use the Scriptures not as an arsenal to be resorted to only for arms and weapons, but as a matchless temple, where I delight to contemplate the beauty, the symmetry, and the magnificence of the structure, and to increase my awe and excite my devotion to the Deity there preached and adored. (Hon. R. Boyle.)

Searching the Scriptures as a chart

There is a ship at sea. A heavy fog has come on: there is nothing to be seen all round about; the very stars are shut out of view, and no longer serve to guide the vessels course; and as the man at the masthead hoarsely cries out, Breakers ahead! and the crew furl the sails, and the helmsman turns the wheel, what is the captain about, old sailor as he is, now poring over his charts, and now glancing at the compass, and now loudly giving his orders? What can he mean by looking so often and so eagerly at that map-looking thing of his? That is his chart by which his course is guided; and he is searching it to find where he is, and how he may steer his ship in safety, to keep clear of a rock here, and a shallow there, and make a good passage through the channel, and save his crew and his cargo, and at length gain the harbour. So says the Great Teacher, Search the Scriptures. (J. H. Wilson.)

Searching She Scriptures, Love the motive for

A blind girl had been in the habit of reading her Bible by means of raised letters such as are prepared for the use of the blind; but after a while, by working in a factory, the tips of her fingers became so calloused that she could no more by her hands read the precious promises. She cut off the tips of her fingers that her touch might be more sensitive; but still she failed with her hands to read the raised letters. In her sorrow she took the Bible and said, Farewell, my dear Bible. You have been the joy of my heart! Then she pressed the open page to her lips and kissed it, and as she did so she felt with her mouth the letters, The Gospel according to St. Mark. Thank God! she said; if I cannot read the Bible with my fingers, I can read it with my lips. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)

Delving for the treasures of the Word

The Bible is a book which requires working into, in order to get out of it that which is most precious and profound. Some Christians do not know anything like what the Bible is really worth, because they are not willing to work hard enough to find out. When they read it, it is in such a prayerless, lifeless sort of a way that they receive but very little benefit from it. Perhaps this is true of the great majority of Christians. Very likely if all of the most precious truths lay on the mere surface of the Bible, and could be as easily picked up as one does the common pebbles which lie about the streets, there are many who would possess more than they now do. But then would the great and precious gems of Divine truth seem so precious if they could be had with so little effort? We think not. If gold were lying on the surface of the earth as plentifully as the stones do in many places, and could be gathered as easily, its value would not be so highly esteemed as it is, nor would it be regarded as so precious. We see Gods wisdom in putting many of His richest and brightest gems of truth and promise down into the depths of His Word, so that, if we would get hold of them, we must work our way down into the profound recesses of the vast reservoirs of inspired thought and revelation. A certain writer says: It is only when our energies are roused and our attention awake when we are acquiring, or correcting, or improving, our knowledge--that knowledge makes the requisite impression upon us. God has not made Scripture like a garden, where the fruits are ripe, and the flowers bloom, and all things are fully exposed to our view; but like a field, where we have the ground, and seed of all precious things, and where nothing can be brought to view without our industry--nor then, without the dews of heavenly grace. If you would increase the value of the Bible to you, work in its depths! Equip your energy by Gods Spirit, and make a profitable task of delving for the pearly treasures of the Word!

Stored up gold in the Scriptures

When I was in California an old Scotchman brought me a piece of quartz in which was imbedded a small piece of gold, saying, Mr. Scott, I would like you to see how our heavenly Father stores up the gold for our use. There it was sparkling in the midst of a bit of useless rock. (J. Scott.)

Searching Bible reading

There is a great deal of listless, careless reading. Coleridge divided readers into four classes. The first class he compares to an hour glass, their reading being as the sand; it runs in and runs out, and leaves not a vestige behind. A second class resembles a sponge, which imbibes everything, and returns it in nearly the same state. A third class is like a jelly bag, which allows all that is pure to pass away, and retains only the refuse and the dregs. The fourth class, like the slave of Golconda, east aside all that is worthless, preserving only the pure gems. Or perhaps we might compare this fourth class to the gold pan, used for retaining the pure metal, while the refuse is washed out. The only profitable reading of Gods Word is a searching reading. The word translated search is emphatic and intense, and literally means to look carefully, as a wild animal searches the sands to find the footsteps of a stray cub. The Bible is full of hidden treasures, to be sought as the merchant man sought goodly pearls. They are not revealed to indifferent and superficial readers. (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)

The Bible invaluable

Do you love to turn the pages of old books? None can be found that are older than the earliest books of our Bible. Do you find special delights in history? Here are records than which none are more ancient, more trustworthy, or more important. Are you fond of biography? Here are the lives of Moses, the lawgiver and leader of the Hebrew race; of David the shepherd boy, poet and king; and of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God. Is poetry, to you, a feast of beauty, an intoxicant of the emotions? Here are sublimest songs and sweetest consolations; the oldest of all poems, the epic that recites the fidelity of Job in unprecedented trials; the seraphic psalms of David; and the lofty imagery and panoramic prophecies of the unsurpassed Isaiah. Yet idle people tell us the Old Testament is dry! Is the ocean dry? Is the sunlight black? Is ambrosia bitter to the taste? Then is the Bible an unattractive book. Shallow sceptics may scoff at it; but the profoundest scholars know its worth. For many years John Quincy Adams, by reading one hour each morning, read the whole Bible once a year. He said that in whatever light he viewed it, whether with reference to revelation, to history, or to morality, it was to him an invaluable and inexhaustible mine of knowledge and virtue. Daniel Webster said that from the time when, at his mothers feet or on his fathers knee, he first learned to lisp verses from the sacred writings, they had been his daily study and vigilant contemplation--and that if there was anything in his style or thoughts to be commended, the credit was due to his kind parents, who instilled into his minds an early love of the Scriptures. Sir William Jones declared it to be his opinion that the Bible contains more true sensibility, more exquisite beauty, more pure morality, more important history, and finer strains of poetry and eloquence than can be collected from all other books, in whatever language they may be written. Rousseau confessed that the majesty of the Scriptures astonished him, and that the holiness of the Evangelists spoke to his heart. Paul said, The Scriptures are able to make men wise unto salvation. In proof of the professions of no other book or collection of books can testimony so abundant, so clear, and so weighty be adduced. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)

Practice in the study of the Scriptures

Have set times, from which you will allow nothing to divert you, for reading and prayer. Always keep a promise in mind, and try to find a new one each day--not in a book made to hand, with a promise for every day in the year (a sort of crutch such a book is for those who expect to remain spiritual cripples), but in your own reading. We know a person who can find flowers enough in the woods every time she goes out to make a beautiful bouquet; and she does this when most would see nothing but leaves. Practice will enable you to learn the art of finding a flower of promise in every chapter. (Christian Age.)

The Bible lit up

A little while ago I was in the noble cathedral at Cologne. Going in the early morning, I saw the eastern windows lit up by the sun. Far away in the great church the other windows were all obscure and dusky. We strolled in about noonday, and then these windows in the depths were lit up with ruby, purple, gold--prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs. And then, when the sun was going down, we looked in to find that the great western window was magnificently kindled, like a window that opened into heaven. As the hours of the day went on, first one window was illuminated, then another, until in the end there was not a painted pane but had added some splendour to the temple. It is a great deal like treat with your Bible. There is many a dark page in the Bible today, but in the process of the suns they are lit up one after another. Successive generations will find in that Book the specific doctrine that is necessary to them, their complexities, their perplexities, their interests, their perils. Chrysostom, Bernard, Luther, Wesley, found in the Bible the truth for their day, and the great original preachers of today are giving to that Book interpretations that are necessary to our enlightenment and discipline, and before the world finishes there will not be a dark passage left. (W. L. Watkinson.)

The right of private judgment in religion

The primitive preachers considered their hearers as capable of judging of the truth of what they heard. They not only taught the truth, but exhibited evidence to support what they taught, and encouraged their hearers to examine this evidence. This conduct of the Bereans was agreeable to common sense, and sanctioned by Divine authority. Let us consider--

I. What it is to exercise the right of private judgment. It is the right which every man has of seeing with his own eyes, hearing with his own ears, and of exercising his own reason. But this implies--

1. A right to hear what may be said upon the subject. The Bereans had a right to hear the apostles reasons in favour of Christianity before they received it or rejected it. We have a right to collect evidence upon any subject, from any who are able to give us information about it. And the more information men can collect, the better they are prepared to judge correctly.

2. A right to examine every subject for ourselves. Though many things may have been said and written upon any religious doctrine, yet we have a right to reason upon it, and to search the Scriptures to see whether it be there revealed or not. When we come to think seriously upon a subject which others have treated, we may find good reasons to differ from them. They may have overlooked, and we may have found the real truth in the case.

3. The right of forming our opinions according to the best light we can obtain. We have no more right to judge without evidence than we have to judge contrary to evidence. We have no right to keep ourselves in doubt when we have sufficient evidence to come to a decision. Prove all things, i.e., examine all things; and after examination, decide what is right.

II. Men ought to exercise it is forming their religious sentiments.

1. God has made men capable of judging for themselves in matters of religion. He has made them wiser than the beasts. He has endued them with the highest powers of reason and conscience, by which they are capable of judging what is right and wrong, true and false. As they are capable of judging for themselves, so it is their duty. Their capacity creates their obligation. As they are rational creatures, they are bound to act rationally. This, indeed, is the only power which they have no right ever to resign. They may, when necessary, give up their property or liberty; but they may never give up their right of forming their own religious sentiments, and of serving God according to the dictates of their conscience. They have no right to let their own depraved hearts, or the false reasonings of others, warp their understanding, and obscure the real evidence of Divine truth.

2. God has given men not only the proper powers, but the proper means of forming their religious sentiments. The Bible contains sufficient information in regard to all the doctrines and duties of religion. The Scriptures are level to everyones capacity, so that wayfaring men though fools cannot err therein, unless by prejudice, partiality, or blindness of heart. And since men have this ample source of information in their hands, they cannot, without great impropriety and danger, neglect to search the Scriptures.

3. God has appointed none to judge for any man in respect to his religious opinions. It is true God has appointed teachers, but not judges; and after all they have done to exhibit and support the truth, the hearers are to judge for themselves whether those things they have heard be the truth. The Pope and all his hierarchy are usurpers, whose pretensions to infallibility are to be treated with disdain, as vile impositions. Christian churches have a right to form their own creeds and exercise their own discipline, independently of any superior ecclesiastical power on earth.

4. God has forbidden men to take their religious sentiments from others upon trust. His direction to His ancient people was to the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them. And we are commanded to prove all things, and to hold fast that which is good. And Paul tells the Galatians to reject any false doctrines, though brought to them by men or angels.

5. Every man must feel the effects of his own religious opinions, and consequently ought to exercise his own judgment in forming them. This is a matter of too much consequence to put out of his own hands. We must give an account of our faith as well as of our conduct.

III. Improvement. If it be the duty of men to exercise their private judgment in the manner that has been mentioned, then--

1. They may always know what they ought to believe and practise. God never places mankind in a situation in which they cannot know and do their duty; for then they would not be moral agents, nor proper subjects of moral government. Though God does not require a heathen to search the Scriptures to know his duty, yet he is morally obliged to consult his reason and conscience to learn his duty, and to act agreeably to the dictates of these intellectual powers, which he knows he ought to obey. It is absurd for Christians, who have the Bible in their hands, to plead in excuse for believing and doing wrong that they could not know what to believe, or what to do; for they always may have evidence which makes it their duty to believe or not to believe, and to act or not to act.

2. They may not only know that they have acted right in forming their religious sentiments, but know that they have formed them according to truth. Many imagine because men may err in forming their religious sentiments that they never can know whether they have formed them right in any case whatever. But they have no right to draw this consequence from human fallibility; for though men may judge wrong in some cases, yet they may judge right in others. Paul first formed a wrong opinion of Christ, and verily thought it was a true opinion; but after he had formed another and true opinion of Christ, he knew that his present opinion was right, and his former opinion was wrong.

3. It may be greatly abused. Under the pretext of this right, men may take the liberty of judging very erroneously, unreasonably, and wickedly, as did the Jews at Thessalonica, under the influence of tradition, education, and prejudice. Wherever the gospel has been preached it has been opposed, rejected, or perverted by hearers, under the pretext of the right of private judgment. But though the right of private judgment has been, and still is so extensively and grossly abused, it is far better to tolerate it than to restrain it by any other means than those which are rational and spiritual.

4. We may easily see how those who judge for themselves on religious subjects, and with the same degree of light before them, may judge very differently. One may pay more attention to the arguments on one side of the question, and another may pay more attention to the arguments on the opposite side; or one may wish to find the truth in the case, and another, for some sinister motive, may wish not to find it. (N. Emmons, D. D.)

Stages of a true use of Scripture

I. Willing reception, as opposed to frivolous contempt (verse 11).

II. Diligent searching, as opposed to blind imitation (verse 11). Living faith, as opposed to dead knowledge (verse 12). (K. Gerok.)

Docility of temper in relation to the truth

The self-evidencing power of Christian truth depends on the moral condition of the man. A flash of lightning reveals nothing to him whose eyes are closed. Two classes of people, both Jews, hear the same gospel, from the same lips, under the same circumstances; and they reach opposite results. For every kind of truth a special capacity is needed. The eye sees only what it brings with it the power of seeing. We shall see how this faculty was trained in the Bereans. Note--

I. The teaching, the recognition of which the writer commends.

1. The Word is more fully expounded in verse 3. The Messiah of ancient promise had come. The great photographic shadows thrown forward upon the sensitive page of prophecy had taken substance. This was a position which he only would take who was sure of his ground; for it was an arraignment of the verdict of both the Jewish and Roman tribunals. This Jesus is neither a blasphemer nor a seditious intriguer, but the Son, and the Sent of God. And not only so. If this Jesus were the Messiah, then the death knell of their national, religious preeminence had been sounded. The sceptre shall not depart … until Shiloh come--then it was to depart. And then, in his insistence on the mission of Christ, the apostle drew two conclusions, both of which warred against the prejudices of his hearers--the one against the creed of the Jew, who believed his race exclusively the people of God, and the other against the pride of the Greek, to whom the doctrine of the Cross was an intolerable offence.

2. Having taken up his main position, the apostle proceeds to establish it by an appeal to the highest authority. He reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.

(1) There were prophecies announcing the coming, character, and work of the Messiah. To Him gave all the prophets witness.

(2) There were supernatural occurrences in the birth and ministry of Christ, each connecting His appearance and Person with these prophetic foreshadowings--particularly the resurrection. But he is not satisfied with demonstrating the historical validity of this latter fact. If Christ be not raised ye are yet in your sins. It requires for its doctrinal antecedent a sacrificial death, which postulates a Divine Person.

II. The spirit in which this teaching was received. They received the Word with all readiness of mind. Here is--

1. The docility of temper which belongs to a right conception of the truth. They were in that balanced equipoise of mind which, equally removed from listless indifference and haughty presumption, left them at liberty to listen to the apostles reasoning, to think dispassionately on it, and to draw their own conclusions. They did not surrender their honest convictions at the bidding of any man, however important his message or high his authority. That is a poor faith which neither asks nor requires a reason for its believing; and it is an equally poor scepticism which contents itself with thoughtlessly denying. The Thessalonian Jews rejected the Word, because they refused to examine its evidences. The Bereans more wisely received the Word, and then examined its evidences. The open eye went in quest of the teaching light. And as the healthy body through its myriad open pores drinks in the air and sunshine, and turns them into a ministry of life, so did the ingenuous candour of these Bereans. The one question was, What is the truth? not What do we wish to be true?

2. The course of inquiry marks--

(1) Their fearless honesty. They were not afraid to examine either their old opinions or the new. The great question was whether Pauls statements were founded on fact and accessible to the ordinary methods of moral conviction. To test this question they searched the Scriptures to which the apostle had appealed as justifying the departure he had sought to establish between Judaism and Christianity. They searched them, not the apostles argument, but the great spring and reason of all that he had affirmed. They searched with keen, inquisitive eye, looking beneath, and over, and all around. The question was too grave for delay, too personal to be honestly evaded. They were bound to face the crisis. So they searched the Scriptures.

(2) Their manly independence of spirit. The child has safeguard from perplexity in its ignorance. Where it does not know, it as careless to inquire. With no sense of danger there is no fear. But the man must interrogate. To know the truth and to build upon it, whether it throw up a basement of rock or open into abysses of despair, that is the only satisfaction for a man.

(3) Their rationality. The argument for Christianity, if it be true, must be in its facts. The reason for the hope that is in us implies a reasonableness of the evidences without us. The realism of Christianity asks to be examined with the keenest critical research, whether as to its documents, authorship, spirit, or effects.

(4) Their reverence. They went directly to the Scriptures. The problem was outside the schools: why then go to these? It was a supernatural question; why then go to nature? If I want to map out a diagram of the stars, I do not go to geology.

3. What followed on this procedure.

(1) Note the logical consequence. Therefore many of them believed. Faith waiting on the light of evidence is met by the evidence of light, and following that is led into the liberty of truth. If any man will do His will, he shall know, etc. Obedience is the spirit in which to seek, knowledge its after product. The old philosophy sought first to construct a science of nature, and then to bend nature to its science, and it failed. Now, we begin with what is known and advance to the unknown, and end with a science of things. It is just so in dealing with the secrets of revelation. A childlike docility, putting the mind into sympathy with the truth, will get into fellowship with God. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord; but a self-constructed scheme of interpretation, which assumes the negative of revelation, or makes its teachings follow its own sceptical preconceptions, is sure to flounder into confusion and hopeless doubt. To the man whose senses are all that, Omnipotence itself is a waste of power. Now what the telescope does for our knowledge of the stars, revelation does for our knowledge of God; it manifests what before was unknown, and in both cases the value of the instrument is in its use. If a man will reverently use the one as he does the other, he shall know. If he will not, he cannot know the things of God, for they are spiritually discerned.

(2) The word therefore is a marked one. There was, first, a clear presentation of the truth to the mind; then the actual contact of the mind with the truth, and reflection upon it. There was a readiness to surrender old convictions to the authority of evidence, and then the light came: they believed. And this belief was not a solitary or a miraculous act; it was an ordinary result. It was something more than a vague conviction, a mere sentiment of wonder. The foundation of their religious beliefs had been torn away; but they were no longer adrift on a sea of doubt. They believed; and faith is trust, calmness, certainty. It is the eye of the soul looking through and with the eye of reason, and resting on the reality of things. And this effect will, in all ordinary cases, be produced wherever the same process of inquiry is pursued.

(3) Besides this satisfying conviction that comes from conscious experience of the power of truth, there are the facts without.

(a) There are the Jews--a standing witness of the fulfilment of prophetic Scripture.

(b) The existence, history, and standing of the Christian Church.

(c) The Christ of Christianity--the miracle of miracles.

Conclusion:

1. The fitness of the gospel to deal with dissimilar classes of men. Jews, Greeks, honourable men and women.

2. The great impediment in the way of any mans salvation is not in the gospel, nor in the ministration of the gospel, but in the indifference or pride with which men deal with its transcendent statements. (John Burton.)

Ignorance of the Scriptures the cause of infidelity

The most prominent and invariable cause of infidelity is found in the fact that men will not investigate the Scriptures. Many infidels have confessed that they had never carefully read the New Testament. Thomas Paine confessed that he wrote the first part of the Age of Reason without having a Bible at hand, and without its being possible to procure one where he then was (in Paris). I had, says he, neither Bible nor Testament to refer to, though I was writing against both; nor could I procure any. (A. Barnes, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Third Church in Europe—Berea, Act_17:10-14.

10. Paul and Silas—Timothy, as the youngest and least obnoxious, seems to have briefly remained at Thessalonica; but he soon reappears and remains at Berea, Act_17:14.

Berea—Paul forsakes the Egnatian Road, retiring southwest-ward and seaward to the beautiful village of Berea, about forty-two miles distant, named from its abundance of water streams. It is still a fine town of eighteen or twenty thousand inhabitants under Turkish rule. He finds a Jewish synagogue, and, what he had never found before, save at the single town of Lystra, a body of Jews who would examine the ward of God to see if it predicted the Jesus-Messiah.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL REMARKS

Act_17:10. Bœrea.—Presently Pheria, south-west of Thessalonica, and fifty-one miles distant.

Act_17:12. Many of them believed.—Codex Bezœ adds, “And some disbelieved.” The adjective Greek qualifies men as well as women.

Act_17:13. They came thither also and stirred up the people should be they came, stirring up and troubling (“and troubling” being inserted in accordance with the best authorities) the people there also.

Act_17:14. As it were to the sea.—ὡς with ἐπί may signify intention, actual or pretended (Winer’s Grammar of the New Testament Diction, p. 640), and some (Grotius, Bongel, Olshausen) suppose, in accordance with this reading, that Paul’s companions only made a feint of sending him off by sea, while in reality they conducted him off by the overland route to Athens—a distance of 251 Roman miles; but the oldest codices (א A B E) read ἕως as far as to the sea, and this avoids even the suggestion of pretending to go one way and taking another.

Act_17:15. A commandment unto Silas and Timothy that they should come to him with all speed.—According to Act_18:5 they came from Macedonia to him in Corinth; according to 1 Thessalonians 3 :1 Timothy was sent back from Athens to Macedonia. The statements are not inconsistent. Silas and Timothy may have followed Paul at once to Athens, (so Ramsay) from which Timothy may have been recommissioned to the Thessalonians, and Silas to some other church in Macedonia, both again returning to him in Corinth.

HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Act_17:10-15

Paul and Silas among the Berœans; or, Another Good Work interrupted

I. The Berœan Jews commended.—

1. Their noble disposition. Though Berœa, now Karra-Verria, to which secluded town the three missionaries repaired on quitting the Macedonian capital, lay only forty-five miles towards the south, yet the character of its Jewish colony compared favourably with that of the larger city. Indeed, the members of its synagogue were “less obstinate, less sophisticated,” than any Paul had elsewhere found. Their minds were less contracted by prejudice, and their hearts less inspired by malice. Ready to receive the word the moment it was proved to be true, they likewise showed themselves to be profoundly interested in what the apostle preached. “The nobler conduct of the Berœan Jews consisted in their freedom from that jealousy, which made the Jews in Thessalonica and many other places, enraged when the offer of salvation was made as freely to others as to themselves” (Ramsay, St. Paul, etc., p. 232).

2. Their ingenuous conduct. Instead of angrily rejecting what was submitted to their judgment, they dealt with it as upright and honest men.

(1) They accorded it a candid hearing, which is more than many nominal Christians do; they shut it not out from their understandings by preliminary prejudice against or indifference towards it, as is the habit of many moderns, but frankly and openly allowed it to fill their minds in such a way that at least they accurately comprehended its import.

(2) They searched the Scriptures daily whether the doctrines propounded by Paul could be found therein, or were by fair and legitimate argument deducible therefrom. Instead of sitting in judgment on Paul’s preaching, and determining incredibility by à priori considerations suggested by the natural reason, they humbly and respectfully accepted the Old Testament Scriptures as the ultimate court of appeal. If Paul’s ideas concerning Jesus Christ could be sustained before this tribunal then all controversy concerning them was at an end; if they could not, just as decidedly and promptly must they be rejected. It was a clear and a fair issue which was thus raised. Probably Paul had the Berœans in his mind when he afterwards exhorted the Thessalonians to “prove all things and hold fast that which is good” (1Th_5:21).

(3) They in large numbers believed, their example being followed by not a few Greek women and men, both of honourable estate—i.e., belonging to the first families in the town. Sopater of Berœa (Act_20:4), it may be presumed, was at this time won for Christianity. In all respects the Berœans afforded a worthy pattern for gospel hearers.

II. The Thessalonian Jews discommended.—

1. Their persons distinguished. The parties referred to are expressly stated to have been the unbelieving Jews, who had stirred up the Thessalonian populace against Paul and Silas (Act_17:5), and to whom, through some secret channel, intelligence had been conveyed of the extraordinary success of these evangelists at Berœa.

2. Their motive specified. This was, on the one hand, to hinder the progress of the gospel which they had learnt was being preached with acceptance among the Berœans, and on the other hand to “overwhelm the apostate from the law of Moses” (Lewin). Their proper ancestors were the Pharisees of Christ’s day, who would neither enter into the kingdom of heaven themselves, nor suffer those who were entering to go in (Mat_23:13), and who ultimately crucified the Prince of Life and Lord of Glory.

3. Their behaviour described. Having come to Berœa they stirred up and troubled the people there as at Thessalonica (Act_17:8), by circulating the same calumnies and organising the same lewd fellows of the baser sort against the missionaries. Their hatred of both Paul and his gospel unsleepingly pursued him henceforth from city to city.

4. Their success recorded. Not directly, but indirectly, by the circumstance narrated that Paul’s friends deemed it prudent to hasten his departure from the city, as the brethren in Thessalonica had counselled his withdrawal from that city (Act_17:10), and as formerly other friends had hurried him from Jerusalem (Act_9:30). He had been anxious to return to his converts in Thessalonica (1Th_2:18), but Satan in the person of these persecuting Jews from Thessalonica had hindered. The path of providence for him lay southwards to Athens. Immediately therefore the brethren conveyed him as far as the seaport of Dium, sixteen miles from Berœa, and shipped him for the Greek metropolis. Some of them even accompanied him all the way to the Achaian capital, because Silas and Timotheus were left behind in Berœa to continue the work which he had so auspiciously begun, to preach the gospel and to organise the Church, while he, the apostle, owing either to his weak eyesight or to some other bodily infirmity, was not fit to travel alone.

Learn.—

1. The duty of hearing the gospel with an open mind.

2. The propriety of proving all things and holding fast that which is good.

3. The suitability of the gospel for persons of the highest estate.

4. The inveterate hostility of the carnal heart against what is good.

5. The fickleness of crowds.

6. The wisdom of attempting to preserve useful lives.

7. The dependence of most men upon the services of others.

HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS

Act_17:11. True Nobility of Mind. Evinced in three things.

I. Readiness to receive the word.

II. Diligence in searching the Scriptures.

III. Faith in the person of Jesus of whom the word speaks.

Act_17:11. The Elements of a Truly Noble Spirit.—

1. Attention to religion. It is the highest kind of truth and the grandest object of pursuit.

2. Candour in religious inquiry. Prejudices are bars to fair dealing. Idols. Cobwebs.

3. The exercise of the right of private judgment. It is mean to surrender this right to a Pope or a priest. It is not less mean to surrender it to great thinkers and great dreamers.

4. Deference to the authority of Scripture. Man never occupies a more noble position than when, like a little child, he submits his own feeble faculties to the guidance of the oracles of Him that cannot lie. It is not worship of the Book, but of the infallible Author of the Book.—G. Brooks.

Searching the Scriptures.

I. A blessed right.—

1. Conferred by God.

2. Due to man.

3. Not to be withheld by either State or Church.

II. A holy duty.—

1. Commanded by God.

2. To be faithfully performed.

3. Not to be neglected without sin.

III. An inestimable privilege.—Considering,

1. Whose word the scriptures is.

2. The benefit resulting therefrom.

3. The unworthiness of its recipients.

IV. A rare art.—To be practised—

1. Daily.

2. With intelligence.

3. In faith.

4. Diligently.

5. With prayer.

Act_17:11-12. The Noble Berœans.

I. Heard the gospel.—

1. With devout attention.

2. With impartial candour.

3. With careful investigation.

II. Experienced its effects.—

1. They believed its statements.

2. They enjoyed its privileges.

3. They obeyed its precepts.

III. Exhibited their own nobility.—

1. Adopted a noble conduct.

2. Displayed a noble spirit.

3. Presented a noble example.

Docility of Temper in Relation to the Truth.

I. The teaching, the recognition of which the writer commends.—

1. The “word,” more fully expounded in the opening verses of the chapter, contained two propositions—viz.,

(1) that the Messiah, when He appeared in accordance with the Scriptures, was to appear as a suffering Messiah; and

(2) that the Jesus whose history and crucifixion Paul was then recounting, was, in fact, that Messiah. This a position which he only would take, who was sure of his ground, and who felt that he could make it good by the most indubitable proofs.

2. The truth of this word the apostle established by an appeal to the highest authority—viz., the Scriptures, “the Old Testament documents in whose inspiration he and his Jewish hearers equally believed.” “By a careful comparison of your inspired Scriptures with the veritable facts of which our whole nation is cognisant,” he practically said, “we have found, beyond all doubtful disputation, that all that was foreshown, typified, and promised, concerning the Messiah of our ancient hope, has met its fulfilment in the person and history of this Jesus whom I preach unto you.”

II. The spirit in which this teaching was received.—“With all readiness of mind.” Here is—

1. The docility of temper which belongs to the right reception of truth. “The Berœans were in that balanced equipoise of mind which, equally removed from a listless indifference on the one hand and a self-complete and haughty presumption on the other, left them at liberty to listen with attention to the apostle’s reasoning, to think dispassionately on it, and, finally, to draw logically their own conclusions from it.

2. The fearless honesty and manly independence of spirit which ought to mark inquirers after the truth. “The great question with which the Berœans charged themselves was, whether those things were true as the apostle put them, whether they were founded on fact, and were therefore accessible to the ordinary methods of moral conviction. It was not whether they were agreeable or in harmony with their preconceptions, or with their beliefs and customs; whether they were ably reasoned by the apostle or ill; but whether they were true.”

III. The result which followed on this procedure—“Therefore many of them believed.” This result was—

1. The logical consequence of the antecedent procedure. “Faith, waiting on the light of evidence, is met by the evidence of light, and following that, is led into the liberty of truth; as it always will be in the things of God. “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God.” Will to do first; know afterwards. Obedience is the spirit in which to seek. Knowledge its after product.

2. The outcome of a mental process in which several things were combined. “There was, in the case of these Berœans, first of all a clear presentation of the truth to the mind; there was then the actual personal contact of the mind, of the individual thought of the hearer, with the truth, and a process of reflection upon it. There was a readiness to surrender all old convictions to the authority of evidence, at whatever cost of personal state or attainment, and following directly in the course of this ingenuousness of intent and act, the light came, and they believed.”

Learn.—

1. The fitness of the gospel to deal with dissimilar classes of men.

2. The great impediment in the way of a man’s salvation—which is not in the gospel or in the ministration of the gospel, but in the indifference of the human heart to religion.—John Burton.

Act_17:13. Stirring up the Multitudes.

I. Of a true sort.—

1. By the gospel.

2. Of noble minds.

3. To the exercise of faith.

4. For the warfare of the Spirit.

II. Of a false sort.—

1. By wicked men.

2. Of lewd fellows.

3. To resist the truth.

4. For the persecution of the saints.

Act_17:14. Silas and Timothy in Berœa.—“The question naturally occurs, Why did Paul go on from Berœa alone, leaving Silas and Timothy behind, and yet send orders immediately on reaching Athens that they were to join him with all speed? There seems at first sight some inconsistency here. But again comparison between Acts and Thessalonians solves the difficulty: Paul was eager ‘once and again’ to return to Thessalonica, and was waiting for news that the impediment placed in his way was removed. Silas and Timothy remained to receive the news (perhaps about the attitude of the new magistrates) and to bring it on to Paul. But they could not bring it on to him until they received his message from Athens.”—Ramsay, St. Paul, etc., p. 234.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

17:10-12 In light of the strong opposition in Thessalonica, the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea, located about fifty miles (80.5 km) west of Thessalonica. There the missionaries had a better reception than in Thessalonica. Many Jews came to faith, as well as many of the prominent Greek women and men. The Bereans were exemplary in their attitude, for they were open-minded and eager to learn, good listeners, diligent Bible students, and thoughtful people. Their resulting faith had a strong foundation.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Act 17:10. Ἐξέπεμψαν) They sent him forth from Thessalonica, and sent him to Berea.—ἀπῄεσαν) went away into the synagogue, boldly braving a new danger.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act_17:10-12. Διὰ τ. νυκτ.] As in Act_16:9.

Beroea, a city in the third district of Macedonia, Liv. xvi. 30, to the south-west of Thessalonica. See Forbiger, Geogr. III. p. 1061. Now Verria.

ἀπῄεσαν] ἄπειμι, so frequent in Greek writers, only here in the N.T. Comp. 4Ma_7:8; 2Ma_12:1. They separated, after their arrival, from their companions, and went away to the synagogue.

εὐγενέστεροι] of a nobler character; Plat. Def. p. 413 B, Polit. p. 310 A; Soph. Aj. 475; 4Ma_6:5; 4Ma_9:27. Theophyl. after Chrys.: ἐπιεικέστεροι. An arbitrary limitation; tolerance is comprehended in the general nobleness of disposition.

τῶν ἐν Θεσσαλ.] than the Jews in Thessalonica.

τὸ καθʼ ἡμέραν] daily. Comp. Luk_11:3; Luk_19:47; Bernhardy, p. 329.

ἀνακρίνοντες τὰς γρ.] searching the Scriptures (Joh_5:39), namely, to prove: εἰ ἔχοι ταῦτα (which Paul and Silas stated) οὕτως (as they taught). Character verae religionis, quod se dijudicari patitur, Bengel.

εὐσχημ.] see on Act_13:50.

The Hellenic women and men are to be considered partly as proselytes of the gate who had heard the preaching of Christ in the synagogue, and partly as actual Gentiles who were gained in private conversations. Comp. on Act_11:20.

Ἐλληνίδων] construed with γυναικῶν, but also to be referred to ἀνδρῶν. See Matthaei, § 441.

That the church of Beroea soon withered again, is quite as arbitrarily assumed by Baumgarten, as that it was the only one founded by Paul to which no letter of the apostle has come down to us. How many churches may Paul have founded of which we know nothing whatever!

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 17:10 . εὐθέως … ἐξέπεμ .: there was need of immediate action, either in obedience to the direct charge of the magistrates that Paul should not come again to Thessalonica, or from danger of a revival of the tumult. That St. Paul left Thessalonica with grief and pain is evident from 1Th 2:17-20 , but he felt that the separation was necessary at least for a time. But still he looked back upon Thessalonica and his work with an ungrudging affection, and his converts were his glory and joy. In the opening words of his First Epistle, Act 1:7 ( cf. 2Th 1:4 , 2Co 8:1 ), he speaks in a way which not only implies that his own work extended further in and from Thessalonica than the Acts alone enables us to learn, but that the furtherance of the Gospel was due to the Thessalonians themselves. See McGiffert, p. 255, on St. Paul’s quiet hand-to-hand work at Thessalonica. For it was not only in the synagogue that St. Paul laboured, as in the message of the Gospel was formal and official, but amongst them who were working like himself for their daily bread, 1Th 2:9 , 2Th 3:8 , see Ramsay’s note, Church in the Roman Empire , p. 85, on St. Paul’s work at Thessalonica. The phrase “night and day,” 1Th 2:9 , need not imply, as the Speaker’s Commentary , that Paul had only the Sundays for preaching, because his other days were so fully occupied; but the phrase means that he started work before dawn, and thus was able to devote some of the later part of the day to preaching. On the striking parallel between the characteristics of the Thessalonians of St. Paul’s Epistles and the Acts and the characteristics which were marked by St. Jerome in his day, see Speaker’s Commentary , iii., 701. Βέροιαν (or Βέρροια ): in the district of Macedonia called Emathia, Ptol., iii., 12, originally perhaps Pherœa, from Pheres, its founder (see Wetstein): about fifty miles southwest of Thessalonica. It was smaller and less important than the latter, but still possessing a considerable population and commerce, owing to its natural advantages, now Verria or Kara Feria , see B.D. 2 and Hastings’ B.D., Renan, St. Paul , p. 162, and C. and H., small edition, p. 261. According to the Itineraries, two roads led from Thessalonica to Berœa, Wetstein quotes a curious passage from Cicero, In Pisonem , xxvi., which may possibly indicate that Paul and Silas went to Berœa on account of its comparative seclusion (so Alford, Farrar, Felten): Cicero calls it “oppidum devium”. εἰς τὴν συν . The Jewish population was at least considerable enough to have a synagogue, and thither Paul, according to his custom, went first. ἀπῄεσαν : only here in N.T., cf. 2Ma 12:1 , 4Ma 4:8 ; here it may imply that on their arrival Paul and Silas left their escort, and went into the synagogue.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is indeed the wisdom of the Spirit, which always setteth the glory of God before itself as a mark whereunto it directeth itself, and never swerveth from it.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night--for it would have been as useless as rash to attempt any further preaching at that time, and the conviction of this probably made his friends the more willing to pledge themselves against any present continuance of missionary effort.

unto Berea--fifty or sixty miles southwest of Thessalonica; a town even still of considerable population and importance.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. Sent away Paul and Silas by night] Fearing some farther machinations of the Jews and their associates.

Berea] This was another city of Macedonia, on the same gulf with Thessalonica; and not far from Pella, the birth place of Alexander the Great.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. They sent them out to Berea. Hereby it appeareth that Paul’s labor brought forth fruit in a small time; for though the brethren send forth him and Silas, yet they adjoin themselves as voluntary companions to their danger and cross by this duty. But the constancy of Paul is incredible, because, having had such experience of their stubbornness and malice of his nation, he doth never cease to try whether he can bring any to Christ, namely, seeing he knew that he was bound both to Jews and Gentiles, no injury of men could lead him away from his calling. So all the servants of Christ must so wrestle with the malice of the world, that they shake not off Christ’s yoke with what injuries soever they be provoked.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(10) Sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea.—Timotheus apparently remained behind, partly to help the Thessalonian converts under their present trials, partly to be able to bring word to St. Paul as to their condition. At Berœa Paul and Silas were alone. The city lay to the south of Thessalonica, not far from Pella, on the banks of the Astræus, and still retains its name in the modern Kara Feria, or Verria. It has now a population of 20,000. Here also there was a Jewish population, but the city was a far less important place commercially than Thessalonica.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10–15. Paul and Silas sent away to Berea. Noble character of the Bereans. The Jews from Thessalonica follow after Paul, and by reason of their enmity he is conducted to Athens

10. sent away Paul and Silas] The after-conduct of the Thessalonian Jews shews that they were resolved to bring the missionaries into danger, therefore their friends sent them secretly away.

Berea] Still the journey is south-west. The old name of Berœa may be recognized in the modern Verria.

synagogue of the Jews] See above, Act_17:2.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the brethren,.... The believers in Thessalonica, the young converts there, who were full of love and affection to their spiritual fathers:

immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea; another city in Macedonia: and so it is placed by Pliny (l) in the north part of it; and, according to Ptolomy (m) it was, in that part of Macedonia called Emathia, and was not far from Pella, the native place of Alexander the great. It is now called Veria; some say it was called Berea from Beraea, daughter of Beres, son of Macedo, by whom it is said to have been built; others from Pheron; and some think it has some agreement with the Syriac word Barja and Baraitha; since what is called Berytus, is Beroe with others: there was besides this another Beraea, a city of Syria, which Josephus (n) speaks of; and is mentioned by Pliny (o) along with Hierapolis and Chalcis, and very likely is the same that is spoken of in:

"But the King of kings moved Antiochus' mind against this wicked wretch, and Lysias informed the king that this man was the cause of all mischief, so that the king commanded to bring him unto Berea, and to put him to death, as the manner is in that place.'' (2 Maccabees 13:4)

Hither the brethren sent Paul and Silas, when it was night and dark, and they could pass unobserved, in order to preserve them from the fury of the mob.

Who coming thither; to Berea; that is, Paul and Silas:

went into the synagogue of the Jews; which was in that city; not being at all daunted or discouraged with what they had met with at Thessalonica.

(l) Nat. Hist. l. 4. c. 10. (m) Geograph. l. 3. c. 13. (n) Antiqu. l. 12. c. 8. sect. 7. (o) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 23, 26.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.

Ver. 10. Went into the synagogue] As he had done before at Thessalonica, and had sped so ill. Heroic spirits are no wit dismayed with difficulties; but rather whetted on thereby to more diligence in duty. And the servant of the Lord must not despond or desist, but be apt to teach, "patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if peradventure God will at any time give them repentance," &c., 2Ti 2:24-25.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas - Compare Act 9:25. They did this for their safety. Yet this was not done until the gospel had taken deep root in Thessalonica. Having preached there, and laid the foundation of a church; having thus accomplished the purpose for which they went there, they prepared to leave the city.

Unto Berea - This was a city of Macedonia, near Mount Cithanes. “Bercea is on the eastern slope of the Olympian range, and commands an extensive view of the plain which is watered by the Haliacmon and Axius. It has many natural advantages, and is now considered one of the most agreeable towns in Rumili. Plane trees spread a grateful shade over its gardens. Streams of water are in every street. Its ancient name is said to have been derived from the abundance of its waters; and the name still survives in the modern Verria, or Kara-Verria. It is situated o the left of the Haliacmon, about 5 miles from the point where that river breaks through an immense rocky ravine from the mountains to the plain. A few insignificant ruins of the Greek and Roman periods may yet be noticed. It still boasts of 18,000 or 20,000 inhabitants, and is placed in the second rank of the cities of European Turkey” - Life and Epistles of Paul.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Synagogue. In flying from the face of persecution in due season, St. Paul imitated the instruction and example of his master. When his labours are unsuccessful in one place, he renews them in another, and wherever he is, his object is always the same, to announce the truth to the Jews first, then to the Gentiles. (Denis the Carthusian)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Berea; a city of Macedonia, not far from Pella and Thessalonica.

Went into the synagogue of the Jews; they went still first unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel; in which Paul’s invincible love, which he speaks of, Rom 9:2,3, does manifestly appear. The Jews had every where endeavoured his destruction; he still requites them (what he may) in promoting their salvation.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Beraea for Berea, A.V.; when they were come for coming, A.V. Beraea. In the third division of Macedonia, about sixty miles from Thessalonica; its modern name is Verria. Went into the synagogue. No amount of ill usage from the Jews could weaken St. Paul"s love for "his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh"; (Rom_9:3) and no amount of danger or suffering could check his zeal in preaching the gospel of Christ.

Vers. 10-14. The duty of individual research.

This interesting and cheering episode teaches us one lesson in particular; but there are three suggestions we may gain preliminarily.

1. That the Christian pilgrim (and workman) may hope that shadow will soon be succeeded by sunshine; that the tumult of Thessalonica will soon be followed by the reverent inquiry of Beraea.

2. That he must expect sunshine to pass, before long, into shadow; the fruit-gathering of Beraea to yield to the flight to Athens (vers. 12-14).

3. That true nobility is in excellency of character: "These were more noble" (ver. 11). The word signifies (derivatively) those of noble birth, and it is here applied to those who had chosen the honorable course and were doing the estimable thing. This is the true, the real nobility. That which is adventitious, dependent on birth and blood, is only circumstantial, is liable to be dishonored by the chances and changes of time, is of no account with God. That which is based on character and born of wise choice, pure feeling, estimable action, is real, human, unalterable, of Divine origin, and enjoying the Divine approval. But the particular lesson of our text is

THE DUTY OF INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH. The Beraeans are commended in the sacred narrative as "more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness," etc. (ver. 11). Their excellency was in their readiness to receive and investigate, to study and search for themselves whether the new teaching was or was not in accordance with the will of God. Whence we infer:

1. That blind opposition to all new doctrine is a sin as well as a mistake. It may be that men who propound views different from those that we have held come to us from God and offer us that which is in the Scriptures, though we have not yet discovered it there. There are more things in that living Word than the wisest man has ever seen yet. Unqualified resistance of doctrine which is different from "that which we have received to hold" may be the rejection of God"s own truth; in that case it is both injurious and wrong.

2. That it is the duty of every Christian man to test all new doctrine by the teaching of the Divine Word. We are to search the Scriptures whether these things are so or not. There is no excuse for declining to do this; for

(1) God has placed his Word well within reach of us all. It is in a small compass; it is printed in our own language (no book so lends itself to translation and is so widely translated); it can be obtained for a small sum.

(2) He has so formed us and so written it that it is level to our understanding; he has given us the necessary mental faculties to comprehend it, and he has made the substance of it so simple, plain, appreciable, that the wayfaring man may rejoice in it. It is not the recondite, abstruse, mystical utterance which some disclosures are.

(3) He is ready to grant us his own Divine aid in mastering and applying it. For what can we ask the help of his Holy Spirit more confidently than for the study of his own Word? When is he more certain to fulfill his promise (Luk_11:13) than when we ask for his enlightening influence as we "search the Scriptures"? (Joh_5:39) It is not only our right but our ditty to listen to all and to try all; (1Jn_4:1) to "judge for ourselves what is right". (Luk_12:57) It is God"s plain will concerning us that we should all bring what we hoar to the standard of his own revealed will in his Word. To do this effectually, we must study that Word

(a) diligently,

(b) intelligently,

(c) devoutly. C.

Vers. 10-15. Nobility of soul at Beraea.

Beraea stands out as a bright oasis in the dreary landscape of persecution. When Paul and Silas enter the synagogue, they find themselves in a new atmosphere. They find "men of nobler soul" then the dishonest cavilers and intriguers of Philippi and of Thessalonica. What were the elements of this nobility of soul?

I WILLING AND UNPREJUDICED RECEPTION OF NOVEL VIEWS, This spontaneous receptiveness springs only from the rooted love of truth. Let us not forget how startling and how shocking was the story of a crucified Messiah to Jewish prejudice; it may help us to appreciate the candor of these men.

II INDEPENDENT INQUIRY. They did not carry on a battle of notions with notions; they went to the sources, they studied the documents and facts. Let Protestants learn a lesson, and be true to themselves. In our time people are only beginning to understand the Scriptures in the new light thrown by history upon them. The study of the Bible is a right, a duty, and a profound science. Hasty generalizations and fixed opinions must give way before larger light.

III TRUE FAITH AND FREE INQUIRY GO HAND-IN-HAND. It is only the profound believer who can afford to doubt. The faith which condemns inquiry, or stops it at a certain point, or is afraid of" going too far," is a blind faith. On the other hand, the "free-thinking," which owns no religions impulse, is never deep nor sound thinking. The sincere spirit of inquiry, as seen in the noblest scientific men, is closely allied to the true evangelical temper. What we all need is a living love in all our studies, as opposed to a dead and notional knowledge. The enthusiasm for truth is a noble form of faith; and each who pursues it for himself will enjoy a measure of its rewards. We must try the grounds of faith as we try the metal of coins, and with the greater attention, in that more is at stake. No resting upon the ipsi dixit even of an apostle satisfied the Beraeans, nor ought it to satisfy us. J.

Vers. 10-15. Beraea.

The different state of mind among the Jews. The unbelief and opposition of men overruled by God to the fulfillment of his purposes. The footsteps of the apostolic messengers quickened. The sudden stride of the message from Beraea to Athens scarcely likely to have been taken by Paul without an impulse in the circumstances driving him forward. Yet, as so much depended on the one man"s work, as no one else so fitted to lay the foundations of Christianity in Greece, he must be lifted above the level of his own thoughts and plans. The whole passage illustrates the union of providence and grace. R.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Preaching in Berea:

v. 10. And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, who, coming thither, went into the synagogue of the Jews.

v. 11. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so.

v. 12. Therefore many of them believed; also of honorable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.

v. 13. But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the Word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also and stirred up the people.

v. 14. and then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go, as it were, to the sea; but Silas and Timotheus abode there still.

If Paul and Silas had continued their work in Thessalonica after the events of that day, they would not only have risked personal violence to themselves, but would also have caused Jason and the other disciples to forfeit their bond. And so they suffered it that the brethren quickly, that very night, sent them off to Berea, a small city in a mountainous district, almost fifty miles southwest of Thessalonica. The reception of the Gospel in this city differed very radically from that which had been accorded to it in the metropolis of the province; for when the apostles arrived there, they went in, they betook themselves to the synagogue of the Jews, the Jewish population being strong enough to support such an institution. And here the people, both Jews and Greeks, were more generous of mind than in Thessalonica; they were not possessed of the strife and envy of the Thessalonian Jews, they entertained nobler sentiments, they made use of greater tact and fairness. This fact they showed not only by their cheerful, unconditional willingness to accept the Word which Paul brought, but also by the earnestness and zeal with which they carefully searched the Scriptures every day, comparing prophecy and fulfillment and satisfying their own minds that the doctrine, as represented by Paul, agreed with the revelation of God. As a result of this conscientious examination, under the Lord’s guidance, many of them came to faith in Jesus the Savior, together with a considerable number of prominent Greeks, both women and men. Note: The fault which must be deplored more than any other in our days is the refusal of unbelievers and critics to examine the claims of the Gospel patiently and candidly. Their ignorance, therefore, will not be accepted as an excuse, but will prove all the more damaging in their final condemnation. And for those that profess to be disciples of Christ it affords the greatest joy to search the Scriptures and find the manifold evidences of God’s truth and power.

But this pleasant and profitable relationship in Berea was soon disturbed. The news of Paul’s activity came to the attention of the Thessalonian Jews that had created the uproar in that city. The fact that Paul was proclaiming the Word of God in Berea was evidently a crime of the first magnitude in their estimation, just as it is in the eyes of many enemies of the Gospel today. They therefore made a special trip to Berea in order to agitate the crowds, to create uproar and disturbance. Down to the present day, as recent events have shown, this method seems to enjoy great favor with such as would stamp out the pure preaching of the Gospel. Before the riots, however, were actually incited, before any serious outbreaks of mob-rule took place, the brethren, the members of the little congregation that had been formed, quickly sent Paul off on his journey to the sea. It was against him that the attacks were chiefly directed, and he must be spared for further work in the Lord’s vineyard. It was some consolation to Paul, then, to have Silas and Timothy remain in Berea and do further work in establishing the young congregation.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observe here, 1. The pious and prudential care which the brethern took of the holy apostles, and the means which they used for their preservation: They presently sent them away unto Berea. The devil seeks nothing so industriously as the lives of the ministers of the gospel; (they making the greatest opposition to him and his kingdom;) but God finds out ways and means for their preservation, to reserve them for further work and future service: The apostles came by night unto Berea.

Observe, 2. St. Paul makes again the Jews’ synagogue his preaching place here at Berea, as he had done before at Thessalonica, ver. 2 and did afterwards at Athens, ver. 17.

O how close did the apostle keep to his commission, to preach Jesus Christ first to the Jews, and to wait upon them with the repeated tender of the gospel, till they put it far from them, and judged themselves unworthy of eternal life, before he turned to the Gentiles.

Observe, 3. The honourable character which the Holy Ghost here gives of these Bereans: They were more noble than those of Thessalonica; that is, of a more ingenuous, mild, and pliable temper of mind; they were not so possessed with prejudice and obstinacy against the gospel; they did not meet it with rage, but thought it worthy their search and serious enquiry; for which they are styled more noble.

Thence learn, That to be of a teachable temper, and tractable towards the gospel of Jesus Christ, is the best sort of gentility and nobleness. The Bereans were better bred, and better descended than the Thessalonians, yet not by civil human dignity, but by spiritual and divine dignation; God gave them this preparation of their heart, and made them differ from their neighbours: These were more noble than those of Thessalonica.

Observe, 4. What it is these Bereans are so highly commended for; namely, for searching the scriptures.

Where note, 1. That the scriptures then were in the vulgar tongue.

2. That as they were in their own tongue, so the laity had them in their own hands.

3. That the common people did read them, and heard them read, searched, and examined them; and yet were so far from censure and blame, that they met with commendation for it from God himself.

From the whole note, That a diligent reading of, and daily searching into, the holy scriptures, is a duty incumbent upon all those in whose hands the scriptures are or may be found. These Christians at Berea searching the scriptures, were a noble pattern for all succeeding Christians to imitate and follow.

Observe, lastly, How the inveterate malice of the unbelieving Jews at Thessalonica pursues the apostles as far as Berea, ver. 13. When the Jews at Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people.

As Christ sends his ministers, so the devil sends his messengers from place to place; and as the ministers of Christ are never weary of his service for the good of souls, so persecutors are restless, they will compass sea and land to harass and drive the faithful ambassadors of Christ from city to city, and if it were in their power, to banish them out of the world.

Lord! help all thy faithful ministers to execute this piece of holy revenge upon Satan, that we may be even with him for all his malice and spite against us. O let us endeavour to do all the possible service, and the utmost good we can, wherever we come.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10-13. Now leaving Timothy at Thessalonica to continue the meeting, Paul, Silas and Luke continue their journey southward, fifty-seven miles to Berea, also a prominent city, where there is a synagogue of the Jews. Paul invariably began his labors in the Jewish synagogues, always succeeding in the conversion of some of the members to the Christhood of Jesus, and thus dividing the church unless, by the grace of God, he succeeded in capturing it all, as in case of the large synagogue at Berea and the small one at Philippi. They have a glorious time at Berea, where the church unanimously fall in with Paul, receiving with delight his powerful preaching and irresistible prophetical proofs of the Christhood of Jesus. We hear a universal hue and cry against the holiness people for dividing the churches. That has been the case in all ages and will continue till Satan is cast out and the millennium ushers in. Jesus said: “I came not to send peace on earth, but division.” When Satan has a church [and he has many], there is no chance to save the people without separating them from the devil, and thus creating division. The hackneyed clamor, “no division,” just simply means for the devil to have them all. When we can do like Paul at Berea and Philippi, — get all to receive our Christ in conversion and sanctification, — then of course there is no division; but if we can not save all, let us do our best and save some, not letting the devil have all to avoid division, but rescuing every one we can. A wealthy Methodist congregation in a Southern city, early in the holiness movement, having erected a very costly church edifice, secured your humble servant to hold the first protracted meeting in it, having arranged with Sam Jones to immediately precede me with a number of lectures for the financial relief of the building. Brother Jones finished his work one evening and I began the next. Before the departure of Brother Jones, the official magnates wait on him, interviewing him with reference to the coming evangelist. “Brother Jones, tell us what you know about that man Godbey? Is he not one of those holiness fellows? We are awfully afraid he will split the church.” Brother Jones responds, “Brethren, if you have any idea he can split it, by all means have him come, stand by him and help him. Surely, the only hope for this old dead church is to split a piece off of it and take it to heaven; otherwise the devil will get it all. My great fear is that it is too far gone already, the devil’s gum-log, and Godbey can’t split it.” “The devil is the god of this world” (2Co 4:4), with all of its fallen churches. Precisely as the apostles went about splitting the fallen Jewish churches; Luther, the Catholic churches; and Wesley, the Episcopal churches, so have the true preachers of the gospel in all ages been enabled, by the grace of God, to divide savable souls from the dead, worldly churches, get them saved and take them to heaven. It is only Satan’s dead-beats that produce no divisions. The only hope of the world consists in plucking people out of the devil’s black grip, whether in the wicked rabble or the fallen churches, thus producing divisions, separating them from the devil to God, and taking them to heaven. Though Paul got the whole Jewish church at Berea, leaving none for the devil to stir up a row, yet he sent them from Thessalonica to run them away from Berea.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. Such was the state of feeling in the city that Paul and Silas saw no prospect of accomplishing good by further efforts, while the attempt would have been hazardous to the lives of brethren. (10) " Then the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night, to Berea; who, when they arrived, went into the synagogue of the Jews. "

This city lies about sixty miles south-west of Thessalonica. It contains, at the present day, a population of fifteen or twenty thousand, and was, doubtless, still more populous then. Here again the apostles find a synagogue, and make it the starting point of their labors.

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10–12. Sent away Paul and Silas by night. By night so as to leave without a fresh disturbance. Unto Berea. Howson places Berea sixty, Hackett forty-five, miles west of Thessalonica. The first states that it now has 18,000 population, and is called Verria.

Many of them believed. This would be the natural result. As elsewhere, the converts were Jews and devout Greeks, both men and women. Honourable. Of high rank.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

General Information:

Paul and Silas travel on to the town of Berea.

the brothers

The word "brothers" here refers to men and women believers. AT: "the believers" (See: When Masculine Words Include Women)

Now

The word "now" is used here to mark a break in the main story line. Here Luke tells background information about the people in Berea and how they were willing to listen to Paul and examine what he said. (See: Background Information)

these people were more noble

These "well-born" people were willing to think more objectively about new ideas than other people. AT: "more open minded" or "more willing to listen"

received the word

Here "word" refers to a teaching. AT: "listened to the teaching" (See: Metonymy)

with all readiness of mind

These Bereans were prepared to examine earnestly Paul's teachings about the scripture.

examining the scriptures daily

"carefully reading and evaluating the scriptures every day"

these things were so

"the things Paul said were true"

translationWords

brother

Paul

Silas

Berea

synagogue

Jew

Thessalonica

word

mind

word of God

Greek

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

10–15. PAUL AND SILAS SENT AWAY TO BERŒA. NOBLE CHARACTER OF THE BERŒANS. THE JEWS FROM THESSALONICA FOLLOW AFTER PAUL, AND BY REASON OF THEIR ENMITY HE IS CONDUCTED TO ATHENS

10. διὰ νυκτός, by night. The preposition refers to the time within (during) which the action took place.

ἐξέπεμψαν τόν τε Παῦλον καὶ τὸν Σίλαν, they sent away Paul and Silas. The after-conduct of the Thessalonian Jews (see Act 17:13) shews that they were determined to bring danger on the missionaries. Feeling that this was so, their friends got them out of the way.

εἰς Βέροιαν, unto Berœa. Still the journey is south-west. The old name of Berœa may be recognised in the modern Verria.

εἰς τὴν συναγωγήν, into the synagogue. See above on Act 17:2.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10.] It does not follow, because Timotheus is not mentioned here, that therefore he did not accompany, or at all events follow, Paul and Silas to Berœa. He has never been mentioned since he joined Paul’s company at Lystra. The very intermitted and occasional notices of Paul’s companions in this journey should be a caution against rash hypotheses. The general character of the narrative seems to be, that where Paul, or Paul and Silas, are alone or principally concerned, all mention of the rest is suspended, and sometimes so completely as to make it appear as if they were absent: then, at some turn of events they appear again, having in some cases been really present all the time. I believe Timotheus to have been with them at Thessalonica the first time, because it does not seem probable that Paul would have sent to them one to confirm and exhort them concerning their faith (1Th 3:2) who had not known them before, especially as he then had Silas with him. And this is confirmed by both the Epistles to the Thessalonians, which are from Paul, Silvanus, and Timotheus. From these Epistles we learn that, during his residence among them, Paul worked with his own hands (1Th 2:9; 2Th 3:8) to maintain himself: and from Php 4:15, Php 4:16, that the Philippians sent supplies more than once towards his maintenance. Both these facts, especially the last, seeing that the distance from Philippi was 100 Roman miles, make it very improbable that his stay was so short as from three to four weeks: nor is this implied in the text: much time may have elapsed while the πλῆθος πολύ of ver. 4 were joining Paul and Silas. See further in Prolegg. to 1 Thess., Vol. III. § ii. 2 ff.

Βέροιαν] According to the Antonine Itinerary 61, according to the Peutinger Table 57 Roman miles (S.W.) from Thessalonica.

Berœa was not far from Pella, in Macedonia Tertia, Liv. xlv. 30, at the foot of Mt. Bermius. It was afterwards called Irenopolis, and now Kara Feria, or Verria, and is a city of the second rank in European Turkey, containing from 15,000 to 20,000 souls. (Winer, Realw. C. and H. i. 399 f.) Wetstein quotes a remarkable illustration from Cicero in Pisonem, c. 26:—‘Thessalonicam omnibus inscientibus noctuque venisti, qui cum concentum plorantium et tempestatem querelarum ferre non posses, in oppidum devium Berœam profugisti.’

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.