But the Jews having been stirred up to jealousy, and taken to [themselves] certain wicked men of the lowest rabble, and having got a crowd together, set the city in confusion; and having beset the house of Jason sought to bring them out to the people;
Paul's preaching in Thessalonica had won a wide response. This verse shows the backlash: envy, a mob off the streets, a city in uproar, and a raid on the house of a man named Jason.
The trouble did not start with the rabble. It started with people who knew the Scriptures and would not bend to them.
The success of the gospel always tends to rouse bitter opposition. That is true nowhere more than among the Jews. They felt keenly the bitter spite that is natural to people overwhelmed by their own Scriptures — Scriptures they could not explain, yet would not bow to.
Envy has done this before, and worse.
Envy led to the first murder, when Cain killed his brother. And envy led to the greatest murder, when the Jews crucified their Messiah. If men moved by envy will commit murder, we need not be surprised that respectable Jews stooped to use base, worthless men to carry out their ends.
To stop the preaching, men who professed the fear of God recruited the godless. Kelly points out what that alliance exposed.
Here we see the usual lack of common honesty that marks the religious attackers of the truth. The Jews professed the fear of God. Yet out of jealousy they did not hesitate to form a party with wicked men of the lowest sort against the gospel. Godless pagans were good enough allies against the truth of their own Messiah. Worldly desires would not let them recognise Him in Jesus, who suffered and then rose. God was in none of their thoughts.
The same pattern appears elsewhere in Acts. There the opposition came from the top of society, not the bottom.
Just as in the days of the apostles, "wicked men of the rabble" and "devout and honourable women" found one point on which they could agree. These two classes were far apart, socially and morally. Yet both utterly rejected the word of God and those who faithfully preached it. (Compare Acts 13:50 with Acts 17:5.) So we always find that men who differ in almost everything else agree in their determined opposition to the Bible.
The mob did not pick a random address. Jason had taken the missionaries in, and that hospitality made him the target.
The unbelieving Jews, moved with envy, got hold of wicked men of the lowest sort and gathered a crowd. They set the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason. Jason was one of the believers and a relative of Paul (see Rom. 16:21). Paul must have been staying with this relative, so they tried to bring him and his companions out.
New believers in the city had also gone public with their faith. That came at a price.
They proved their faith was real by identifying themselves in public with the Lord's servants. We read that they "joined Paul and Silas." They did not keep their faith to themselves. They did not try to escape reproach by staying secret disciples. They believed in Jesus, and boldly confessed their faith. The result was that they had at once to face persecution.
The mob was not only after Jason. They wanted the preachers brought out before the city.
Jason, Paul's host, was the special object of their hostility. They surrounded his house. They wanted to bring the Lord's servants out before the people — that is, the regular assembly of the city.
The plan collapsed at the one point the plotters could not control. Luke never says how.
Jealousy was aroused. Unbelieving Jews worked on the rabble — "vile fellows," as an older translation puts it — to make an uproar. The Jews would not eat with such people. Yet they had no qualms about calling in their help to stop the movement if they could. In this they partly succeeded, and they searched for Paul and Silas in the house of Jason, but in vain. They could not find them. The Lord watched over His servants, and on this occasion sheltered them in some way the historian does not explain.
- Envy starts it. The riot began with men overwhelmed by their own Scriptures, who would not bow to them. The gospel's success roused their spite.
- Envy borrows. Men who would not eat with the rabble gladly joined its cause. That is the usual lack of honesty in religious attacks on the truth.
- Envy targets a door. Jason, Paul's host and relative, took the blow aimed at Paul. Sheltering the preachers made him the accused.
- Envy costs converts. The new believers joined Paul and Silas in public instead of staying secret disciples. Persecution came at once.
- Envy fails. The search of the house came up empty. The Lord sheltered His servants in a way Scripture does not describe.
and not having found them, dragged Jason and certain brethren before the politarchs, crying out, These [men] that have set the world in tumult, are come here also,
Jealousy over Paul's preaching in Thessalonica boiled over into a riot. The mob could not find the preachers, so it seized Jason, the man who had housed them, and shouted a charge that has echoed ever since.
The men who raised the cry claimed to fear God. Their choice of allies gave them away:
Here we see the usual lack of common honesty which marks the religious opponents of the truth. The Jews claimed to fear God. Yet jealousy drove them to join forces with wicked men of the lowest sort against the gospel. Depraved pagans were good enough allies against the truth of their own Messiah. Worldly desires would not let them recognise Him in Jesus, who suffered and then rose again. God was in none of their thoughts. Their degradation showed in the company they kept to gather a crowd and set the city in uproar.
The wording was not new. Jesus faced the same charge before Pilate, and Paul faced it at Philippi:
This is an old accusation, and one which always comes from the wrong side. Pontius Pilate could find no fault in Jesus. Even so, the priests and the rulers insisted all the more: "He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place" (Luke 23:5). What do they say against Paul and Silas at Philippi? "These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city" (Acts 16:20). And at Thessalonica? "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also" (Acts 17:6).
The rioters meant the phrase as an insult. Their own words showed how far the message had spread:
At Philippi the riot began with money-making Gentiles who had been disappointed. At Thessalonica unbelieving Jews were behind even worse opposition and disorder. They branded Paul and Silas as "these men who have turned the world upside down." Without meaning to, they paid tribute to the mighty power of the gospel, preached with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. They might oppose it, but they could not stop its advance.
Commentators differ on this. Some take the charge as a fair description of what the gospel does:
The gospel still has the character it had when Paul preached it: it turned "the world upside down." Nothing was to stand before it. Nothing could be allowed alongside it. Judaism, pagan religion, and all the rest — it overturned them all. It pressed the claims of God on each person. It did more than teach truth about God. It showed its hearers where they stood before God. The gospel comes and says, "You are lost"; and it does turn the world upside down. It is a new thing for people to be told, You are all wrong.
Others call it a false charge. They mark out what the preaching did unsettle:
In Thessalonica people misrepresented him. They imagined he was turning "the world upside down" and "acting against the decrees of Caesar" (Acts 17:6-7). Neither claim was true. The gospel leaves the world-system untouched. But it calls individual people out of the world, and turns them right side up, according to God.
The men accused of overturning the world had no money and no powerful backers. One writer asks why the church ever lost that:
Those were blessed days. The church had no powerful backers and no wealth of its own. Its leading preacher had to say, "I have no silver and gold." Yet the church carried on all its work in simple faith in the name of Jesus, and in the awareness of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Why was such a state of things ever allowed to pass away? In those days penniless men "turned the world upside down," and their own enemies said so.
Paul and Silas were not found, so the man who had opened his home faced the rulers instead:
The Jews bring Jason before the rulers and charge him with sheltering Paul and Silas in his home. The rulers were troubled. But they were not as cruel and unjust as the rulers at Philippi, who had Paul and Silas beaten. They only take security from Jason and the others and release them.
- Jealousy. The uproar came from people who claimed to fear God. They teamed up with the worst men in the city to fight the message.
- Borrowed charge. Enemies said "He stirs up the people" about Jesus before Pilate, and about Paul at Philippi. The accusation always comes from the same side.
- Hidden tribute. The rioters called the preachers world-upsetters. Without meaning to, they proved what the gospel was doing in the Spirit's power.
- Personal reach. Commentators differ on whether the charge was fair. Some say the gospel does overturn everything, because it tells each person they are lost. Others say it leaves the world-system untouched and turns people right side up, one by one.
- Costly witness. Penniless men with no backers shook whole cities. Those who housed them, like Jason, carried the risk.
whom Jason has received; and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying, that there is another king, Jesus.
The riot at Thessalonica ended before the city rulers. Jason and some believers stood accused of sheltering men who defied Caesar by naming a rival king. The mob framed the charge as treason. Yet their words are a fair summary of what Paul had been preaching in the synagogue.
The charge sounded serious. But one writer points out that the gospel reaches every level of society while leaving civil government untouched:
That the preachers of divine grace "turned the world upside down" was natural to say, and became a standing reproach, however untrue. Yet it is understandable, because the gospel reaches among high and low, and separates people from the world by a divine bond to Christ in heaven. But for that very reason it does not interfere with the authority of the world. On the contrary, it commands every soul to be subject to that authority as God's ordinance here below.
Another writer notes how the accusers changed their politics to suit the moment:
It was even a threat to the authority and claims of Caesar. How loyal to the Imperial dynasty the Jews could become! At home, they wanted to shake off Roman rule. Abroad, when it suited their purpose, they played the part of Rome's fearless champions.
The words were malicious. But Paul had given a large place to the kingdom of God and to the return of the One who is to reign:
No doubt the insinuation was unfounded and malicious. But it had a show of evidence in the prominence given to the kingdom of God in which Jesus was to come. For He had gone, among other purposes, to receive that kingdom and to return. It is ill-willed folly to claim that this expectation stands against the rights of Caesar. Still, it is plain that the teaching was very far from modern doctrine, which no one could misread that way.
We learn the shape of Paul's synagogue teaching from the mouths of his opponents:
Paul first claimed that Jesus is the Messiah. Second, he asserts that this Jesus, the Messiah, was also King. We gather this from the challenge of his accusers.
The mob meant "another king" as a warning. Read next to Micah's promise, it is a description:
Do we not see divine greatness and shepherd care in one blessed Person? He can be none other than the One our verse calls "another king, one Jesus." "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah… from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days" (Micah 5:2). He, the Eternal One, is the Ruler of His people!
Christians soon learned what kind of rule this is:
People soon understood this about Christians: they had "another king, one Jesus." His sovereignty meant freedom in obedience — the sweetest possible absolute rule of a perfect and divine love.
The mob attacked Jason for what he did, not for what he said. He had taken the preachers into his home.
Paul's host, Jason, was the special object of their hostility. They surrounded his house. They wanted to bring the Lord's servants out in front of the people — the public assembly of the city.
The court let him go on bail, but the pressure on the young believers did not stop:
They only take security from Jason and the others and release them… We know from Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians that the assembly left there suffered serious persecution after this. Though so young in the faith, they kept up an exemplary witness to Christ and the gospel without Paul and Silas to encourage them.
The hope of that kingdom does its work in the present.
With His kingdom and glory before us, we can gladly bear present shame and suffering. Our whole way of life is lifted by it.
- The accusation. The charge of defying Caesar was false. The gospel binds people to Christ in heaven, and it tells every soul to submit to governing authority.
- The accusers. Those who pressed Rome's cause here resented Rome at home — loyalty used as a weapon, not held as a conviction.
- The truth inside it. The slander preserves Paul's message. Jesus is the Messiah, and this Messiah is King, gone to receive a kingdom and to return.
- The King. "Another king, one Jesus" is the eternal Ruler promised at Bethlehem. His sovereignty means freedom in obedience under a perfect and divine love.
- The cost and the comfort. Jason paid for opening his house, and the young assembly kept its witness under persecution. A King and kingdom in view lift the life that bears present shame.
And they troubled the crowd and the politarchs when they heard these things.
The mob could not find Paul and Silas, so they hauled Jason before the city rulers of Thessalonica. Their charge was that these men preach another king, Jesus — but did it hold any truth?
Luke calls these officials politarchs — an unusual title. One commentator takes it as a mark of the historian's precision, not a slip.
Not finding them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers before the city rulers. That is a distinctive title for the local authorities. It confirms Luke's accuracy all the more, because the term appears in no known remains of Greek antiquity. But an inscription still survives on the marble arch of the western gate of Saloniki. It proves that this was the title of the Thessalonian magistrates, and that there were seven of them.
These accusers were not defending Rome. They wanted one thing only.
The outcry of the attackers in verses 6 and 7 teaches us much, at least in its second half. It was natural to say that the preachers of divine grace "turned the world upside down." That became a standing reproach, however untrue... But we cannot look for truth in a foolish cry raised by envious Jews and idle loafers among the Gentiles. They only wanted an appearance convincing enough to arouse the fears of the magistrates, and so drive away the chief heralds of the truth.
Notice how these same accusers behaved at home.
How loyal to the imperial dynasty the Jews could become! At home they wanted to shake off the Roman yoke; abroad, when it suited their purpose, they played the part of Rome's brave champions. These accusations, once made, troubled the crowd and the rulers. The politarchs could not ignore them.
There was a reason such talk sounded believable. The same writer explains it, and then shows where the charge collapses.
Yet it is understandable. The gospel reaches both high and low, and it separates people from the world by a divine bond to Christ in heaven. But for that very reason it does not interfere with the authority of the world. On the contrary, it commands every soul to obey that authority, which God has set in place here below. It ties the hearts of believers, simply and completely, to the rejected One, now glorified in heaven.
Another writer traces the tactic back to the Pharisees:
As to their accusation against Paul and Silas, they claim the two were breaking Caesar's decrees. Not that the accusers had any regard for Caesar. They used the same contemptible tactics the Pharisees had used in accusing the Lord Jesus. Their only specific charge is that these men say there is another king, Jesus.
The charge was false. Yet something in Paul's preaching gave it the look of evidence.
The insinuation was groundless and malicious, without doubt. But it had a show of evidence in the prominence given to the kingdom of God in which Jesus was to come... Paul and his companions kept the constant expectation of Christ's coming reign before the believers. This was no secret for insiders. It was a powerful hope that shaped conduct as well as doctrine, and they pressed it from first to last through the whole Christian life. The opening chapter of the first letter shows that it marked the Thessalonian converts from their very starting point. They turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Being shaken did not make these rulers reckless.
The rulers were troubled along with the people. Yet they were wiser than those of Philippi, for they took security from Jason and let them go.
But the quiet did not last for the new believers left behind.
But the world was hostile... Persecution soon fell heavily on the young converts, as the letter shows.
- Trouble manufactured. The mob wanted just enough show of rebellion to scare the magistrates and drive the preachers out.
- Trouble misdirected. The gospel does not interfere with civil authority. It tells every soul to obey it, while binding the heart to a Christ in heaven.
- Trouble half-earned. The charge was malicious. Yet Paul had preached a coming King, and that hope marked these converts from day one.
- Trouble contained. A surviving inscription confirms Luke's title for these seven officials. Unlike the rulers at Philippi, they took security from Jason and let them go.
- Trouble inherited. The bail money ended the hearing, not the hostility. Persecution soon fell hard on the young believers left in the city.
And having taken security of Jason and the rest, they let them go.
Verse 9 ends the riot at Thessalonica with a bond, not a beating. Three questions follow: what was this "security", why did the rulers go so easy, and what did the bond cost the young church left behind?
The word behind "security" is a legal term. One commentator calls it bail, and notes the exact wording Luke chose:
The world was hostile. Yet at that point the rulers did nothing more than take bail from Jason and the rest and let them go, since they had not found the preachers. [Footnote:] Luke does not use the older Greek technical term for bail. He uses a phrase that matches the Latin legal term satisdatio — giving sufficient security.
So Jason went free under a money pledge. The men the crowd wanted were never in custody at all.
Set beside the last city Paul had visited, the rulers here come off well:
The Jews dragged Jason and some other believers before the city rulers. They accused them of teaching things against Caesar's authority, and of saying that there was another king, Jesus. But the rulers, though troubled along with the people, were wiser than those of Philippi. They took security from Jason and let them go. Paul and his companions, the main accused, were not there, so they were not found. The believers saw the door shut against the work for the moment, and sent Paul and Silas to Berea, a nearby city.
The bond closed the case. It also closed the work in that city for now, so the believers sent the preachers on.
One writer answers the cry that stirred the court, and names what the accusers were really after:
That the preachers of divine grace "turned the world upside down" was natural to say, and became a standing reproach, however untrue... But for that very reason the gospel does not interfere with the authority of the world. Instead it tells every person to submit to that authority, because God has set it up here on earth. It simply but fully binds the heart of those who believe to the One the world rejected, now glorified in heaven... They only sought an appearance strong enough to arouse the fears of the magistrates, and so drive away the chief heralds of the truth.
So the bond rested on a pretext. The rulers were calming a fear, not punishing a crime.
Paul and Silas escaped the hearing entirely. Jason paid. And the pressure did not stop when the court adjourned:
The Jews bring Jason before the rulers and charge him with sheltering Paul and Silas in his home. The rulers were troubled, but they were not as harsh and unjust as the rulers of Philippi, who had Paul and Silas beaten. They only take security from Jason and the others and release them. The Lord had seen fit that the persecutors should not find Paul and Silas... We know from Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians that the church left in Thessalonica suffered serious persecution after this. Yet though they were so young in the faith, they kept up an exemplary witness to Christ and the gospel without Paul and Silas there to encourage them.
A church still new in the faith held its witness while its host stood under bond and its teachers were gone.
Something kept Paul from going back to Thessalonica. One writer names it, and names the God who overruled it:
This passage shows plainly that God allows Satan to harass and hinder the servants of the Lord. Yet set the story beside the history recorded in Acts, and it is very clear that God knows well how to overrule Satan's hindering work for good. Satan hindered Paul from returning to Thessalonica just then, but God led him to Corinth — and He had many people in that city!
The closed door in one city became an open one in another.
- Security. The word is a legal one: bail, a money guarantee. It was the mildest ruling the court could reach, since the men it wanted were never found.
- Restraint. The crowd troubled the magistrates, yet they acted more wisely than the rulers at Philippi. They released the accused instead of beating them.
- Pretext. The accusers raised the charge of another king only to alarm the court. The gospel tells every person to submit to the rulers of this world, and binds the heart to Christ in heaven.
- Cost. The price fell on Jason and the believers there. They suffered on after Paul left, and still held an exemplary witness while new in the faith.
- Overruled. The shut door sent Paul on to Berea. Satan's hindering was real, but God turned it toward Corinth, where He had many people.