Acts 17:10–11

Paul and his companions were the ones chiefly wanted, but they were not found there. The believers saw that the door was shut against the work for the moment, so they sent Paul and Silas to Berea, a nearby city.

The Lord had seen fit that their persecutors did not find Paul and Silas. The believers, however, thought it unwise for the two men to stay any longer, so they sent them away by night to avoid further trouble. We know from Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians that the church left behind in Thessalonica suffered serious persecution after this. Yet, young in the faith as they were, they kept up an outstanding witness to Christ and the gospel without Paul and Silas there to encourage them (1 Thess. 1).

"Always forward" was the great apostle's motto. He obeyed the Lord's instruction: "When they persecute you in this city, flee to another" (Matt. 10:23). So Paul and Silas left for Berea, now called Verria, or Kara Verria. It lay in another division of Macedonia — Macedonia Tertia — and so under a different government.

Everyone knows that it is easy to be a martyr in theory, and that those who are martyrs in theory are seldom martyrs in practice… Faith never teaches anyone to go looking for danger and trouble. It teaches us to walk the path of Christ in peace and thankfulness. The Lord has not called His servants to leave that path. Some of us may have been struck by this: the Lord told them that when they were persecuted in one city, they should flee to another. That is not chasing martyrdom. It is the very opposite.

It is a blessing to notice the tireless zeal of the Lord's servants. They had only just escaped the hatred stirred up by the Jews at Thessalonica. Yet the moment they reached Berea, we see them walking boldly into the synagogue. There they met a readiness of heart in searching the Scriptures that showed greater simplicity and real nobility of soul.

There they found a delightful change from Thessalonica. Instead of being met with bigotry and persecution, they found in the frequenters of the synagogue a readiness to hear the Word of God.

Nothing is more wonderful than the way God often chooses to carry out His purposes… To human eyes it might look as if the enemies of the gospel had blocked the work by putting a stop to Paul's labours. But once again they only helped to spread the good news in other regions. Happy is the servant who has no will of his own and sees the Lord's hand in all his changing circumstances.

He felt there was something lacking in their faith, and he wanted to supply it (1 Thess. 3:10), because his work among them had been cut short. The hostility of the Jews had forced him out in a hurry (Acts 17:10). This, with many other reasons, gave him a special concern for them.

Not put off by what they had already been through, they looked for the Jews in that city and went into the synagogue. Here the people who attended gave them a better reception. They were not ready to receive the Word just on the authority of two strangers. So they searched the Scriptures daily, and proved that the new teaching was correct. Thessalonica had shown jealousy and uproar. Berea showed a readiness to weigh matters and fairness in listening.

The context makes it clear that "these" and "those" refer to two groups of Jews. We read that Paul and Silas "went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica" (verses 10 and 11)... It could not have been a comparison of one set of Christians with another. At the time, there were no Christians in Berea. Verse 12 makes it very clear. Their faith in the gospel came after their searching of the Scriptures: "Therefore many of them believed."

As Jews they were used to exclusive national privileges. The Gentiles were "far" from God but the Jews, at least outwardly, were near. But the gospel shows Jews and Gentiles on an equal footing: both are lost and in need of a Saviour. To accept this, a Jew would need to set aside national pride and privilege and bow to God's thoughts... This willingness to set aside prejudices, preconceived ideas, long cherished thoughts, and so on, in favour of God's word is a mark of true nobility.

We want him to "search the Scriptures" with an unbiased mind. We do not want him to form his convictions in the darkness of misrepresentation and prejudice. We want him to form them in the pure and holy light that Scripture sheds around him. And we lovingly urge him to watch against the tendency to think people are wrong just because their position differs from his own.

The Bereans won special commendation not simply for searching the Scriptures, but because they did so daily. It is easy to be diligent for one day. To be diligent day after day calls for perseverance. Daily is a hard and testing word... One great effort, or one heroic sacrifice, is easier by comparison. To keep following Christ day after day, without fuss, is the real test. It is not the man who starts well who wins the race, but the man who keeps going.

Paul then carries the gospel to Berea, and Scripture tells us the Bereans were more noble than those in Thessalonica. And why? Because they held that the Scriptures (then the Old Testament) were the only balance God had given to test everything by. So they were "examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so." Yes — and God commended them for testing even the ministry of an inspired apostle by the Scriptures. Oh that people would do the same in our day!

Here they met such readiness of heart in searching the Scriptures that it showed a greater simplicity and real nobility of soul. To bow to the word, and to receive it as God's word — which it truly is — is the truest condition of divine blessing. Yet they still examined Scripture daily, to see whether the things preached agreed with the things written. Therefore many from among them believed. There is no way so sure or good.