Acts 17:6

they drew Jason The word is expressive of considerable violence. Better, " dragged." It is used of Saul (Acts 8:3) "haling" men and women, and committing them to prison.

certain brethren We see therefore that in these three weeks a congregation or church had been formed.

the rulers of the city The title πολιτάρχης is found nowhere in literature but in this chapter. But an inscription connected with this very city of Thessalonica has been preserved on an arch which spans a street of the modern city. It contains some names which occur as the names of St Paul's converts, Sosipater, Gaius, Secundus, but the inscription is probably not earlier than the time of Vespasian (see Boeckh, Inscr. 2, p. 52, n. 1967). There the title of the magistrates is given in this precise form; a striking confirmation of the truthfulness of the account before us.

the world Lit. "the inhabited earth." A phrase used in later Greek to signify the whole Roman Empire, which then embraced a very large portion of the known world (cp. Luke 2:1). It speaks much for the spread of Christianity and its powerful influence, that words like these should come from the lips of enemies.