Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Acts 17:1-9, Another king in Thessalonica
Paul argues from the Scriptures in the synagogue at Thessalonica that the Messiah had to suffer and rise. Some believe; opponents raise a mob, drag Jason before the city officials and accuse the believers of defying Caesar by proclaiming another king.
Acts 17:1-9, in every translation this tool compares.
In Thessalonica Paul spends three Sabbaths in the synagogue arguing from Scripture that the Messiah was meant to suffer and rise, and that Jesus is that Messiah. Some Jews and many God-fearing Greeks, including prominent women, are convinced. Jealous opponents hire troublemakers, raid Jason's house where the missionaries stayed, and drag Jason before the city rulers, charging that these agitators defy Caesar by naming a rival king. The officials make Jason post bond and release him.
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Thessalonica, some sixty-eight miles from Philippi along the Via Egnatia (the Zondervan atlas), was a free city with some self-rule, the seat of Macedonia's governor and not a Roman colony (Keener and his notes; Wright). Accusers had to bring the accused to court themselves (Keener and his notes). The city's officials were politarchs, a title critics once called Luke's mistake because no Greek author uses it; an inscription from an arch in Thessalonica opens with it, and many inscriptions now attest it, mostly in Macedonia (the Zondervan Bible dictionary; Keener and his notes). The city's devotion to the emperor showed in its imperial temple and coins, and speaking of another king was treason (Keener and his notes); Wright adds that northern Greece had seen Rome's civil wars fought out, so a rival king was no idle fear, and the CSB Study Bible notes the same charge against Jesus in Luke 23:2. As host, Jason was held responsible for his guests and had to post bond, a light penalty (Keener and his notes). Wright links Paul's sympathy in 1 Thessalonians 2:14 for what the church suffered from its neighbors to this ordeal.
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Acts 17:1, 17:5, 17:6, 17:7 and 17:9
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Acts 17:1, 17:5, 17:6, 17:7 and 17:9
- CSB Study Bible, note on Acts 17:7
- N. T. Wright, Paul: A Biography, ch. 7, Into Europe
- N. T. Wright, Acts for Everyone, Part Two, comment on Acts 17:1-9
- J. D. Douglas and Merrill C. Tenney, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entries archaeology (New Testament) and city authorities, city officials
- Carl G. Rasmussen, Zondervan Atlas of the Bible, The Journeys of Paul, Paul's Second Missionary Journey
