Acts 17:3, commentary and pictures

Paul reasoned in the synagogue at Thessalonica for three successive Sabbaths out of the Scriptures, from Moses and the prophets, about the life, death and resurrection of Christ, and some Jews, a great multitude of devout Greeks, and chief women believed. To open and allege was to open the Messianic prophecies and set forth their agreement with the life of Jesus, giving inspired proof that Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified is the promised Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, whose suffering, death, resurrection and ascension were foretold. Prophecy made it necessary that Christ must suffer and rise again from the dead, so His death and resurrection were not a defeat or an unforeseen failure but the fulfillment of what was written, which the disciples understood only after He rose. Those prophecies showed the promised Christ coming in humility and poverty, to be struck, mocked, despised, rejected, slain, and to suffer reproach and humiliation, with which the Jewish expectation of the Messiah did not accord. The same proof calls for wisdom in presenting truth, dwelling first on Old Testament prophecies of Christ, His mission and His work and leading minds along step by step before opening that Jesus of Nazareth is the true Messiah who suffered and rose, lest beginning with the most objectionable point stir up prejudice and close ears.

Paul's Reasoning at Thessalonica

At Thessalonica Paul reasoned in the synagogue for three Sabbath days, three successive Sabbaths, out of the Scriptures, from Moses and the prophets, about the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. After this reasoning some of the Jews believed, and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and of the chief women not a few. To open and allege meant to open the Messianic prophecies and allege their agreement with the life and teachings of Jesus. It was to give inspired proof of His mission, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension, and to prove clearly that Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, is the promised Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, whose birth, sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension the Scriptures foretold.

The same proof of Jesus and the resurrection was carried to the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers and to all on Mars' Hill. In this way every class was met, from men of renown to heathen idolaters, with evidences of Christianity that are not of human invention but come from God. Those evidences bear divinity's stamp and heaven's origin, which no earthly power can quench. Christ was presented as the key unlocking the Old Testament, whose voice had spoken through the prophets and patriarchs from the days of Adam.

The passover cannot be explained without Christ, and the brazen serpent lifted up in the wilderness symbolized Jesus lifted up on the cross. All Jewish religious services and ceremonies are valueless if the Saviour represented in them is rejected. The Messiah proclaimed is not one whose work is to destroy the old dispensation, but one who came to develop the Jewish economy in accordance with the truth. He showed the importance of honoring the law of God and gave due honor to the ceremonial law, which Christ Himself instituted in the whole Jewish sacrificial economy, while alongside preaching to Jews in their own place of worship he preached to Gentiles before their own temples in the very presence of their gods as part of combining home and foreign missions.

Christ's Suffering Foretold by Prophecy

The verse teaches that prophecy foretold the necessity that Christ must suffer and rise again from the dead, and that Jesus is the Christ, which the disciples understood only after Jesus rose from the dead. His death and resurrection were not a defeat or an unforeseen failure, but the fulfillment of prophecy. The prophecies Paul reasoned from describe the promised Christ coming in humility and poverty, being struck, mocked, despised, rejected, and slain, and suffering reproach and humiliation at the hands of people. With this the Jewish expectation of the Messiah did not accord.

At Christ's first advent the disciples did not perceive this. When Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem they believed He was about to ascend the throne of David and deliver Israel and free Israel, honoring Him with high hopes, with outer garments spread in the path, palm branches, and glad acclaim to the Son of David. In this they were accomplishing God's purpose in fulfilling prophecy. Yet a few days later they watched His agonizing death and laid Him in the tomb, with their expectations realized in not a single particular and their hopes dying with Jesus. Only after their Lord came forth triumphant from the grave could they perceive that all had been foretold.

Their bitter disappointment over a misunderstood fulfillment parallels the disappointment of Miller and his associates. In connection with proving that the suffering Messiah is the Christ, Paul also taught that Christ would come again in power and glory to establish His kingdom on earth and rule over all nations.

Wisdom in Presenting Truth

Saul's reasoning from the Scriptures began in the synagogues immediately after receiving sight and being baptized. After his conversion a divine light shone upon the prophecies concerning Jesus, and with his prior knowledge of the Scriptures now opened and the Spirit of God resting upon him he presented the truth clearly, forcibly, and boldly. He corrected perversions of the Scriptures and confounded opposing Jews with powerful influence. Many were convinced by his own testimony of hunting believers unto death and then learning on the Damascus road from Jesus Himself that He is the Son of God. He carried hearers down through the prophecies to the time of Christ's first advent to show that what was written about His sufferings, death, and resurrection was fulfilled in Jesus.

His habit when laboring for Jewish people was to dwell upon the prophecies and bring minds down step by step, and only after some time to open the subject of Christ as the true Messiah proved from prophecy to have suffered and risen. He did not begin by telling them they must believe in Jesus of Nazareth, which would stir up prejudice and make enemies. He began with Old Testament prophecies testifying of Christ, His mission, and His work, leading them along step by step. He showed the importance of honoring the law of God and gave due honor to the ceremonial law, showing that Christ Himself instituted the whole Jewish sacrificial economy. Only after establishing this clear understanding did he bring them to the first advent of Christ and show that in the crucified Jesus every specification of prophecy was fulfilled. With Gentiles his order was reversed, exalting Christ first and then showing the binding claims of the law, always shaping the message to the hearers so as not to raise prejudice.

Great wisdom must be used in evangelistic work when truth comes directly in opposition to the opinions and practices of the people. Subjects must not be gone through too rapidly, and the most objectionable features of faith must not be brought forward too early. Less objectionable truths that do not involve so great a cross should be kept before minds day after day and even weeks to gain confidence as men who understand the Scriptures with clear, forcible arguments. Hearers are to be carried step by step through important events in the prophecies and the practical teachings of Christ, and only then are testing truths such as the Sabbath and immortality to be publicly introduced. Advancing those questions too soon closes ears that careful, faithful, apt, and wise labor could have kept open and carried along.