NL 242: Church in Thessalonica

image: “Panagia Chalkeon church in Thessaloniki (1028 AD)” Konstantinos Stampoulis (el:User:Geraki) / CC BY-SA (source)

image: “Panagia Chalkeon church in Thessaloniki (1028 AD)” Konstantinos Stampoulis (el:User:Geraki) / CC BY-SA (source)

Acts 17:1-9

(supplemental reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10)

Acts 17:1-9

Initial Thoughts

  • The pattern of this pairing - the story in Acts of the start of the Church in Thessalonica, with the greeting in Paul’s letter - will be repeated next week with Corinth.

  • This is a small part of the story, and feels truncated. Consider going to at least verse 12. If you go all the way to 15, you will get an idea of how much they were traveling. 

Bible Study

  • Paul and Silas following a pattern. They go to the synagogue first and engage in the Scriptures.

    • “Demonstrated that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead.” Then declared, “Jesus is the Christ.”

    • First engage in Scripture and their expectations of what the Messiah was supposed to be. Then filled in that role with Jesus.

  • This message was received by Greek God-worshipers. Not Greek-God worshipers. In other words, this was not someone who worshiped Greek gods. This was a Greek person who worshiped Yahweh. In other words, Paul’s message connected more deeply with Gentiles who were already intrigued by the Jewish God, laws, and customs. A Greek God-worshiper.

    • Those rooted deeply in the Jewish tradition had trouble seeing accepting Paul’s message. Those were interested in God, but not entrenched in Jewish custom, were the first converts.

    • Look at the divisions within Christianity today and there seems to be similar conflicts going on

    • What is our analogous situation? Within Christian community, it is often the deeply conservative Christians who I (Robb) have the most trouble with. It is the spiritual but not religious who I can sometimes reach. 

  • Two different responses

    • Violence motivated by jealousy

      • Social pressure applied to Jason to stop “disturbing the peace.”

      • NRSV feels better “"These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also.”

      • Charges of “They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus.”

        • These charges aren’t wrong.

        • “The trumped-up charges … have more than a grain of truth in them. Even though the disciples are not the political threat the people and the authorities fear, the Empire is not secure with those Christians on the loose, Christian who teach, ‘that there is another King, Jesus.’” (Will Wllimon, Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: Acts, p. 141).

    • Acceptance and risk-taking hospitality.

      • Jason risked social and physical well-being by accepting them into his home.

Thoughts and Questions

  • Does your gospel make enemies? Perhaps in these trying times it feels more important to be pastoral, bring good and encouraging news, but what about our prophetic voice? “These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also.” Who might say that to your Church?

  • Paul engaged the community with the Scriptures first. Went back to the Hebrew Bible and tried to alter their perception and expectations. How does this inform our evangelism today? Can we go back to Scriptures first? Probably not. Most people don’t care about the Scriptures. But can we alter people’s perceptions and expectations - not about the role of the Messiah, but of the nature of what it means to be Christian.

  • What does risk-taking hospitality look like? What will it look like in the coming weeks and months? How can we, at the same time, turn the world upside-down with our message and save people with risk-taking hospitality.

    • Not about gathering in defiance of shelter orders

    • Proclaiming that there is another king, not named economy.

    • Reveal that following Christ is not what the dominant culture thinks it is, i.e. judgmentalism, willful ignorance to science, appeasing Empire.

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Initial Thoughts

  • Read 2:1-4, this part of the letter may well be referring to the events that took place in Acts 17

  • Thessalonians

    • Great resource: Enter the Bible

    • Letters are written with understood context and issues- think of your church newsletter - the underlying issues must be reconstructed from what we know of the context and what is implied in the letters

    • Thessalonica was on Paul’s journey from Galatia (modern Turkey) and Asia (Also in modern Turkey) through Macedonia (Philippi) down to Corinth

    • Thesselonica

      • founded in 316 BCE, named for Alexander the Great’s sister, Thessalonikki.

      • Cultic and commercial center (not on a scale of Athens or Alexandria, but still important) - was on the major highway across Macedonia linking Rome with Eastern provinces

      • Benefited from the “Pax Romana”- erected a statue to Augustus and welcomed in an “Augustan Era”

      • Tension between the pax Romana and Augustus as the supreme benefactor and Jesus as the true way, peace and savior

    • Apocalyptic

      • Theme within many of Paul’s letters

      • Culminating “now, but not yet” eschatology - now: what God has done in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection; not yet: parousia and the coming Kingdom of God

      • Apocalyptic theology is a challenge to the existing order and status quo

  • 1 Thessalonians

    • Paul formed the Church in Thessalonica shortly after Philippi where is was “shamefully treated”

    • Gentile congregation - While Acts 17 says Paul stopped at the synagogue-there is no archeological or historical evidence that there was a synagogue on Thessalonians (Abraham Smith, NIB, p.682)

      • Opposition to the countercultural apocalypticism and glorification of Christ

      • Stability of congregation - not built on an established faith community

Bible Study

  • Two sections

    • vv.1-5 - greeting

    • vv. 6-10 - beginning of apocalyptic treatise

  • vv.1-5 - Greeting

    • Thanksgiving for work in faith, effort in love and perseverance in hope

    • What do we give thanks for?

      • money in the coffers and butts in the pews?

      • Pax Americana or an abiding peace?

    • When was the last time you gave thanks for the ministry of another church in your area?

    • Works of Faith, Labor of Love and steadfast in hope- what do these mean and how do they guide our ministry? (cf. 1 Cor 13:13)

  • vv.6-10

    • Accepted a message from the Holy Spirit in spite of great suffering: following Jesus does not preclude or exempt us from suffering but often calls us into suffering

  • Turning Serving and Waiting (Nathan Eddy)

    • Turning (repenting) from false idols or things that distract us

    • Serving one another and God- doing justice loving kindness and walking humbly with God

    • Waiting actively for the Kingdom of God.

Thoughts and Questions

  • What do we give thanks for?

    • money in the coffers and butts in the pews?

    • Pax Americana or an abiding peace?

  • When was the last time you gave thanks for the ministry of another church in your area?

  • When was the last time your church suffered for the sake of the Holy Spirit? Do you mourn that or celebrate it? (not suffering for suffering’s sake, but doing the work of the Spirit, even when it requires great cost)

Year 2Eric FistlerActs, 1 ThessaloniansComment