Acts 17:1
Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:
After leaving Philippi, Paul and Silas traveled on to Thessalonica. This was the first visit of the gospel messengers to that city. There the synagogue of the Jews gave them the privilege and opportunity to address large congregations, a large concourse of people.
Their appearance still bore evidence of their recent shameful treatment at Philippi and required an explanation of what they had endured. They gave that explanation without exalting themselves, magnifying instead the grace of God that had wrought their deliverance. They had no time to dwell on their own afflictions, because they were burdened with the message of Christ and deeply in earnest in His work, with the chief concern to proclaim Christ and carry that work forward.
There Paul appealed to Old Testament prophecies to prove that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. Those prophecies foretold Christ's birth, sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension, and the voice speaking through the patriarchs and prophets from the days of Adam was Christ's own voice. Their preaching had good effect, with some accepting the truth. Those converts remained true to God in the midst of trial and adversity in faith and charity. The good news about them cheered Paul during his sojourn in Corinth after Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, so that longing to visit them in person but unable to do so, he wrote to them.