Acts 17:15

ACTS—NOTE ON Acts 17:15 a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible. Luke does not give many details here about the travels of Silas and Timothy. Paul gives more information in 1 Thessalonians 3:1, and Luke gives more details at Acts 18:1, Acts 18:5. These passages reveal the following sequence: (1) Paul traveled to Athens, leaving Silas and Timothy in Berea (Acts 17:14). (2) Paul summoned Silas and Timothy to join him in Athens (v. Acts 17:15). (3) Silas and Timothy joined Paul in Athens (v. Acts 17:16; 1 Thessalonians 3:1). (4) Paul became concerned for the churches he had just founded in Macedonia (in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea), so he sent Timothy to Thessalonica to find out how that church was doing under persecution (1 Thessalonians 3:1). At the same time he must have sent Silas somewhere else in Macedonia, perhaps to Philippi and Berea (Acts 18:5). Paul was willing to be left at Athens “alone” (1 Thessalonians 3:1). (5) Paul “left Athens and went to Corinth” (Acts 18:1). (6) Silas and Timothy joined Paul again in Corinth, bringing good news from the churches of Macedonia (Acts 18:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:6). (7) From Corinth, Paul wrote his two letters to the church at Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1; both of these letters come from “Paul, Silvanus [Silas], and Timothy”).