Acts 17:1-14

Paul's Ministry in Europe and Then In Ephesus (17:1-19:20).

Ministry in Europe (17:1-18:22).

Fruitful Ministry in Thessalonica and Berea (17:1-14).

Having been requested to leave Philippi, Paul and his party took the Roman Road, the Via Egnatia, out of Philippi, a road which went through Amphipolis, the capital city of the region, and Apollonia, before it came to Thessalonica, a city with a population of roughly 200,000. It would seem that the reason that he stopped at neither of these cities for any length of time was because he discovered that there was no synagogue there, and possibly even no recognised Jewish meeting place. Finally he arrived at Thessalonica, roughly one hundred miles from Philippi, where on discovering that there was a synagogue he remained.

Indirect confirmation of the accuracy of Luke's narrative in this regard comes out in that we have no Pauline ‘letter to the Amphipolisians' or ‘letter to the Appollonians' but we do have letters to the Philippians and the Thessalonians.

However, being cityfolk in a busy port, and tied up with their own affairs the Thessalonians had to be ‘reasoned with'. This contrasts with the Bereans who lived in a more leisurely way and found time to look into the Scriptures in order to discover the truth of what Paul had said (Acts 17:11). They lived in a smaller city on a by-road off the Via Egnatia.

The alteration from ‘we' to ‘they', although not being conclusive, (the ‘they' could simply have been a natural continuation of how the Philippian narrative ended) suggests that Luke remained in Philippi. What tends more to confirm this is that the ‘we' narratives recommence when Paul arrives back in Philippi (Acts 20:5). The suggestion that Luke lived in Philippi must, however, be seen as doubtful, otherwise Paul would have stayed with him, but he may have been connected with the medical school, and he may well have lived elsewhere in Macedonia.

It is in fact noticeable that the ‘we' narratives tend not to occur on missionary journeys, (although we must note that Luke was very much involved in the spiritual activity at Philippi), but rather on voyages and periods of continuous travel. His subsequent presence with the party may thus partly have resulted from the fact that he wanted to visit the destinations which Paul had in mind (Caesarea, Jerusalem), possibly partly with a view to building up accurate information about the past for his writings. He was, however, present at the briefing meeting in his own right (Acts 21:18). Thus he was more than just a fellow-traveller. So he may well have remained to minister in Philippi. Whatever the case it is certain that he later remained steadfast and loyal to Paul at the time of his deepest need when no one knew what might happen next (Acts 27:1 to Acts 28:16; 2 Timothy 4:11; Colossians 4:14; Philemon 1:24).

When reading these narratives we must always be aware of what lies beneath the surface, the continuing expansion of ‘the word', which is brought out by constant reference to it, and by the special references such as Acts 19:20. But Luke is describing the vivid events make up the total picture, and sometimes we therefore read them and gain a first impression of failure, as though a work began and was blown away. But a careful reading soon brings out that even while these things are going on, much time passes, churches are being successfully established and taught, fellow-workers are left to continue ministering to churches, and what the opposition does is merely to ensure that the Good News continues to spread. In Acts 8:1 Paul had been the persecutor, ensuring that the word spread, now others were the persecutors of Paul, but again it ensured that the word spread. The word continues to grow mightily and prevail (Acts 19:20).