Sunday School Lessons: Acts 17

Lesson 21
Acts 17
Second Missionary Journey (con't): Thessalonica, Berea, Athens

Read vs. 1-3  Amphipolis was also called “Nine Ways" because the city and its walls were round.  It was a hub of an important Roman highway, with many roads meeting there.  The Roman Army used this road, as did all travelers and tradesmen.  Apollonia was another Roman town on the way to Thessalonica.  Thessalonica was a seaport because of three prominent rivers that joined the sea at that place.

Again we see Paul going first to the synagogue and he was there three Sabbath days.  When is the Jewish Sabbath?  So how long had the missionaries been there?

So for three Sabbaths, Paul had been there preaching.  What was his message?

He reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”

He was preaching the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, specifically the necessity of His death and resurrection.  He uses the Old Testament Scriptures to tell them that Jesus is “the Christ.”  What does the phrase “the Christ” mean?  Why was this an important idea for the Jewish listeners?  Why is the message of the resurrection important to us?

Read vs. 4-5  Some of them believed.  Some of them did not. Some of them got angry and plotted against them and stirred up trouble.  We’ve seen this before.  But some of the Gentiles believed and some of the most important women, too,

Read vs. 6-9

6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7 and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” 8 And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. 9 And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

Apparently, the missionaries were staying at the house of Jason, like they had stayed at Lydia’s house in Philippi.  When the angry mob couldn’t lay hands Paul and the rest of the missionaries, they went after Jason.  What charge did they bring against Jason?  How does that relate to the sermon that Paul had preached regarding “the Christ?”

Read vs.10-12
10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 12 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.

Leaving Thessalonica, they traveled by night to Berea.  Paul went straight to the synagogue and preached to the Jews.  What do you think he preached about?  Why?  How did the people respond?  The people of Berea have given us an important example.  We must check what we have heard to see if it lines up with the Scripture.  It is hard to know where to look for information in the Bible if you don’t know it well.  False teachers could tell you anything and you wouldn’t know if it was true or false if you never read the Scriptures and took the time and effort to learn what is in them and where to find things.  This is why it is essential for every Christian to learn to read and study the Bible!

Read vs. 13-14. As we’ve seen before, when the Jews heard that Paul was preaching in Berea and people were believing the Gospel, they came to Berea to stir up trouble.  Immediately, the believers in Berea sent Paul on to Athens.  Silas and Timothy stayed behind.

Read vs. 15-16.  Athens was the most important cultural center of the world at that time.  Art, architecture, politics, philosophy, logic, education—all these topics were discussed and developed in Athens.  But it was also a city full of idols of all kinds.  While Paul waited for Silas and Timothy to join him, he had time to see the idolatry of the people of the city of Athens.

Read vs. 17-21
 

So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

Paul was there at the marketplace everyday, talking to everyone and anyone who was there!  He spoke with Epicurean and Stoic philosophers.  Epicureans believed that the way to control your body was to do whatever you wanted—satisfy yourself!  The Stoics believed the opposite.  They believed that one should have their bodies under control.  The Epicureans believed, “Eat, drink and be merry” while the Stoics denied themselves pleasure and lived meager lives.  Both groups came to listen and questioned him.  Paul preached the resurrected Christ.  Verse 21 helps us understand something about the Athenians.  They liked to talk about new ideas.   They were always discussing the next newest idea and went from one thing to another.

Read Paul’s sermon in vs.22-31:

22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for
“‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said,“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’  
29 Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Beginning with the altar they had made to the unknown God, Paul begins to tell them about the God that they do not know.
What are some of the things he tells them?  Let’s look at it verse by verse and see what he is telling them. (make a list)
(Help them to recognize that Paul was declaring to them that God is the Creator, the Redeemer and will be the Judge of all.  He tells them that all would be judged by a man appointed by God and that God proved who that was by raising him from the dead! Again, we see the importance of the resurrection in Paul’s teaching and preaching.)
When they got to the matter of the resurrection of the dead, that’s when some mocked, but others wanted to hear more.

That is always the way it is when the Gospel is preached; some will believe, some will not.  Some will ask questions, some will mock and make fun.  Some will get angry.  But the Word will always accomplish what God has intended!

Next week we'll be worshipping with our sister church in Grayslake.  On May 11th we will continue with  Chapter 18.

*These lessons are written for use with elementary aged students.  You can find lessons for previous chapters here.