And these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, receiving the word with all readiness of mind, daily searching the scriptures if these things were so.
After the jealousy and uproar at Thessalonica, Paul and Silas came to Berea and went straight into another synagogue. There they met a very different response. What exactly made these hearers "noble," and can anyone copy it?
The verse compares two cities that heard the same two preachers. The difference lay in how each city received 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.
So who exactly does the verse praise? Not a church. These were synagogue hearers who had not yet believed:
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."
"Readiness" cost these hearers something. What they had to give up was their standing as a privileged nation:
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.
One writer turns this on the reader, with a warning about the opposite fault:
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 verse does not only say they searched. It says they searched daily:
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.
Notice who they tested. Not some unknown teacher — the apostle Paul:
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!
Bowing to the word and testing the word are not rivals. Together they led many to believe:
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.
- Noble — The word describes people in a synagogue who had not yet believed. God commends this state of mind before anyone believes.
- Ready — Nobility starts with a mind ready to drop pride, prejudice and long-held ideas when God's word says otherwise.
- Searching — Readiness alone is not nobility. They checked what they heard against the only authority that can settle anything.
- Daily — The commendation hangs on one word of perseverance. One day of diligence is easy. Day after day is the real test.
- Therefore — Ready hearing plus daily searching ended in faith. No surer or better way exists — even when an apostle is the one speaking.
Therefore many from among them believed, and of Grecian women of the upper classes and men not a few.
At Berea, Paul found a synagogue full of people willing to check his message against the Scriptures. Verse 12 is what came of that checking. Faith broke out, and it did not stop with the Jews.
The verse opens with a link back to the daily searching of verse 11. One writer draws out how demanding that searching was, and what it earned:
They verified what they heard based on the only true authority, the word of God. They searched the Scriptures. This was not a casual read, nor was it occasional. It was daily searching; diligent and constant seeking of the mind of God in His word. They did not have the luxury of online Bibles or Bible apps. They had to work through scrolls of handwritten text. But their zeal brought them a great reward: "Many of them therefore believed" (verse 12).
These hearers needed no miracles. One writer explains why:
With disciples such as these, miracles are not needed and would rather distract than help. The Word is itself the greatest of miracles. It is the voice of the Living God. That voice has sounded on through the ages, never silent, wherever there was an ear to hear. So the readiness to receive the gospel ripens into faith in these Bereans, as they search the Scriptures with vigorous determination, day by day.
They measured the preaching against the written word. One writer says no way of hearing is better:
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 preaching agreed with the written word. Many of them therefore believed. There is no way so sure or good.
Verse 11 calls the Bereans "more noble." More noble than whom? Verse 12 helps settle it:
The context makes it clear that "these" and "those" refer to two groups of Jews — those in Berea and those in Thessalonica. 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 is clear: their faith in the gospel followed their searching of the Scriptures. "Many of them therefore believed."
The verse names two more groups beyond the Jews:
Here again women of prominence are mentioned (Greeks) and men also, not a few. In this case, as in Thessalonica, though the work began in the synagogue, it was by no means confined to Jews. The Spirit of God has not thought it necessary to tell us, however, how the work progressed in Berea later.
For those Greek converts, believing meant a break with the whole shape of the life they had been living:
It was surely a deliverance beyond words. It freed them from degrading immorality and from empty myths. It turned them from a life of selfishness to serve the one and only true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven.
Two words of praise stand side by side here. One is for the searchers. One is for the women who believed:
Where there is uprightness of heart, and a true valuing of the Scripture, divine blessing will come. God does His work by His word received into the heart. God calls the Jews who searched the Scriptures "noble," and the women who believed were "honourable."
- Therefore — The verse hangs on one connecting word. Faith at Berea came after the daily searching, not instead of it.
- Tested — They weighed Paul's preaching against the written word. No way of hearing is surer or better.
- Proof — Faith followed the searching. So the people called "more noble" in verse 11 were not yet believers when Paul arrived.
- Reach — The work started in the synagogue. It did not stay there. Greek women of rank and Greek men believed too.
- Honour — God calls the searchers noble and the women honourable. His praise rests on hearts that value His word.