Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends on this Friday,
As you watch news headlines does it trouble you how easily disgruntled people can become a violent mob which can be very destructive and cause chaos in almost any city of the world? That is not a new phenomenon. Just as the apostle Paul was finishing his first letter to his Christian friends in Thessalonica, Paul found himself the focus of an out-of-control mob in Corinth!
Dr. Luke gives us the report in Acts 18:12-17…“The Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment. They charged, ‘This man is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.” May I point out two interesting things?
First, this ‘place of judgment’ was a special place in Corinth called “the Bema”. A place where Roman officials sat in judgment, as they ruled in matters of Roman law, as accusers and the accused stood before them. Paul was fascinated by this place and years later in his letter to the Corinthian Christians Paul made reference to this Corinthian ‘Bema’ when calling Christians to understand there will be a future day of judgment with Jesus Christ as the ultimate Judge. Paul wrote: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, (Bema) so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (2 Cor. 5:10) We’ll look more closely at this very interesting, future event when we work our way through Paul’s letters to the Corinthians.
The other significant thing about Paul being hauled before “The Bema”, is the charge this out-of-control mob of Jews made against Paul. “They charged, ‘This man is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.” Gallio was the Roman proconsul of that region called Achaia in about 50ad, so Gallio was the Judge at the Bema as Paul was brought to judgment that day. (Acts 18:12-17)
As Gallio listened to the charge against Paul he quickly discerned the Jews were agitated because of Paul’s THEOLOGY introducing Jesus Christ as Savior of the world; and that God’s salvation is by God’s grace not by being in alignment with their Jewish laws. Gallio therefore dismissed the crowd and their charges as being irrelevant to Roman law and immediately the crowd became unruly, turning on the Synagogue leader, as Gallio turned them away from ‘the Bema’.
Interesting to me is that Paul had just written about such behavior in his letter to the Thessalonian Christians: “Warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone.” (1 Thess. 5:14,15) Do you see the contrast between what Paul was personally experiencing in Corinth, with this out-of-control mob hauling Paul before the Bema; and the honorable behavior Paul calls the Thessalonian Christians to live? Pause. Look around where you live my friends. Are there recognizable differences between the behavior of those people who claim Jesus as their Savior, and the general public of your town? Do those differences draw people to consider Jesus, or turn people away from Jesus?
Perhaps it was Paul’s experience with this angry, out of control mob of Jews, which motivated Paul, as led by the Holy Spirit, to conclude his letter to the Thessalonians with these words: “I charge you before the Lord Jesus to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.” (1 Thess. 5:27,28) I presume this letter was ONE scroll, written at least in part, in Paul’s own hand. Then, this one copy was entrusted to someone to take & read it to ALL the Christians in Thessalonica.
Paul does not tell us WHO he trusted to be the courier with this precious scroll, but I imagine it may have been Timothy or Silas? We know Paul had sent Timothy there not long before and it was Timothy’s report which had been the primary motivation for Paul to write this scroll. (1 Thess. 3:1-6) Of course eventually many copies were made of this scroll and it was preserved as precious for centuries so that you and I can have it in our Bible today, impacting our lives as the Holy Spirit leads us to understand it, nearly 2000 years later.
Whoever Paul selected to take this scroll and return north to Thessalonica, he promised Paul he’d come right back with a report of how the Thessalonian Christians received and responded to Paul’s letter. Acts 18:18 tells us Paul remained in Corinth, continuing his work of sharing Jesus’ story with those who had never heard of Jesus, as well as teaching what the Holy Spirit had taught Paul, with the wide variety of these first-generation Christians, in crazy Corinth.
Evidently Paul’s courier did not remain long in Thessalonica. Long enough, however, to read Paul’s letter several times to gatherings of these Thessalonian Christians and those interested in Jesus in Thessalonica, as well as gain an accurate perspective of how the Gospel was affecting the city Thessalonica. Then Paul’s courier evidently returned to Corinth, giving Paul a second assessment of the church of Jesus in Thessalonica. Sadly, it was this disturbing report which motivated Paul to again take up his stylus and write a second letter to the Christians in Thessalonica.
Paul’s second letter we also have in our New Testament, and it is even shorter than the first, only 3 brief chapters, we call it ‘Second Thessalonians’. Again, Paul begins by identifying that Silas and Timothy are with him in Corinth and they join him in sending this second letter to Thessalonica. It appears Paul’s reference in his first letter to the soon return of the Lord Jesus (1 Thess. 4:13-18) resulted in such excitement that many Thessalonians Christians had actually quit their jobs and were watching the sky and waiting for Jesus’ return at any moment! Have you noticed that sometimes people overreact to unsettling news and take things to an extreme? That was happening in Thessalonica.
Therefore, Paul’s focus of his brief second letter is to put things into perspective and help the Christians to know more about Jesus’ future returns. Yes I said returns, plural, for there will be at least TWO future returns of Jesus to planet earth. Did you know that? Tomorrow we’ll look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 and Paul’s amazing information about these returns of Jesus. For today, what would you say are the significant truths of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians? And how are those truths impacting how you are living your life today, in 2026, wherever you are in the world?
The lessons learned notes will again be helpful to you at the link below and this brand-new worship song by ‘Sovereign Grace’ will propel you into a weekend with Jesus. I’ll see you here on Monday, my friends!
Today’s Scripture: Acts 18:12-17.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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