Thursday, June 14: Thessaloniki

We begin the day visiting the key sites in the city of Thessalonica. When Paul and his missionary team first arrived, they entered into the capital city of Macedonia with a population of around 200,000, including a large Jewish population. Paul first visits the synagogue where for three successive Sabbath days he is invited to preach. Luke tells us that “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’” (Acts 17:2-3). The verb “reasoned” is used in Judaism to describe the act of biblical interpretation. Paul read the great narrative of God’s redemptive plan in Scripture. He understood that the center of the biblical story was the death and resurrection of the Messiah. He gloriously announces that Jesus is the promised Messiah and that all who turn to him in faith find forgiveness and new life. A number of people are persuaded, including Jews, God-fearing Greeks, and several prominent women (Acts 17:4).

Despite this positive response, some of Paul’s kinsmen become zealous for their ancestral traditions (Acts 17:5; cf. Gal. 1:14). They gather a crowd from the market place. They rush to the house of Jason, who had become a believer in Christ, to search for Paul and Silas. They drag them before the city officials with the charge: “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus” (Acts 17:6-7). The charge of inciting rebellion is a serious one, which could be tried as a capital crime. Despite the intensity of the conflict, Jesus establishes his church in Thessalonica.

Paul later writes two letters, which we know as 1-2 Thessalonians, to encourage these new believers in Christ. Paul opens with thanksgiving to God for “your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 1:3). This is the first occurrence of the triad of virtues: faith, love, and hope that Paul uses to summarize the Christian life. Faith in Jesus Christ defines the community, love is the outward expression of faith in action, and hope is the future orientation of believers in anticipation of Christ’s glorious return. Paul graciously applies Israel’s language of election (being “chosen”) to the entire believing community (1 Thess. 1:4), indicating that Jews and Gentiles are one in Christ. By the power of the Spirit, the Thessalonian believers “became imitators of us and of the Lord,” so that they have become an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia (1 Thess. 1:6-7). They have “turned to God from idols,” now serving the living and true God (1 Thess. 1:9). Their new life together anticipates the return of “his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thess. 1:10).

Paul’s letter continues with a moving description of authentic gospel ministry (1 Thess. 2-3). Paul and his co-workers appealed to them without impure motives, greed, or vainglory (1 Thess. 2:3-6). He recalls that they “were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children” (1 Thess. 2:7). They were affectionate, ready to share not only the gospel of God, but also their own lives. They worked hard to support themselves and not burden the growing community. Paul also compares their ministry to a father’s care, saying, “Like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory” (1 Thess. 2:11-12). Though suddenly torn away, the missionaries longed to see the believers at Thessalonica and further instruct them in their new faith in Christ (1 Thess. 2:17; 3:10). Until that day, they pray that “the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints” (1 Thess. 3:12-13).

1 Thessalonians ends with a series of exhortations on living for Christ. Believers are urged “to walk and to please God” (1 Thess. 4:1). The will of God is for their holiness (1 Thess. 4:3). Paul applies God’s command in the Old Testament, “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy” (Lev. 19:2), to the new covenant community. Their new relationship with a holy God means abstaining from sexual immorality and passionate lust, in contrast with the nations who do not know God (1 Thess. 4:3-5; cf. Lev. 18). Their new relationships with one another should be characterized by brotherly love, revealing that they have been taught by God (1 Thess. 4:9; cf. Isa. 54:13).

Finally, Paul instructs the Thessalonians about the certainty of Christian hope in Christ’s return. Apparently, some members of the new community had recently died. Paul instructs the church not to grieve as those without hope (1 Thess. 4:13). He reassures them that Jesus died and rose again and that he will bring with him those who have fallen asleep when he returns. The Lord will descend from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then, those who are still alive will join them in the clouds of divine glory to greet their returning Lord (1 Thess. 4:14-17). The imagery depicts the arrival of a great dignitary to a city. Loyal inhabitants would rush out in advance to meet him and then accompany him into the city. Believers are to encourage one another with this hope. They are to conduct themselves in faith, love, and hope, knowing they are not destined for wrath but for salvation (1 Thess. 5:5-9). The letter ends with a series of imperatives and with the prayer that “the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23).

In Thessalonica, we will visit Saint George’s Basilica, built over the synagogue where Paul preached. We will also see the Roman forum and the Old City walls. We will stop at the Arch of Galerius that rises over the Via Egnatia to celebrate his triumph over the Persians in AD 304. Galerius was one of the last Roman emperors to persecute the church. The church of Saint Demetrius is built to commemorate those who died for their faith in the last wave of persecution before Constantine’s conversion and the Edict of Milan in AD 313. We will continue our day by driving to Vergina to see the remarkable Macedonian tombs of Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great.

We will end the day at Delphi, the religious center of the ancient Greek world. We will walk the Sacred Way to the Athenian Treasury, the Theater, and the Temple of Apollo where the renowned oracle once spoke. We will also visit the archaeological museum to see the Gallio inscription, which provides our only external fixed point in the chronology of Paul’s life. The inscription records a proclamation of the Roman emperor Claudius in AD 52 that mentions Gallio as proconsul during this year. This confirms the precise date that Paul was in Corinth because he appeared before Gallio in the city (Acts 18:12-17).

Key sites: Thessaloniki and Vergina and Delphi

Key Scripture Reference:

Acts 17; 1-2 Thessalonians

Key Readings:

Peter Walker, In the Steps of Paul, chapter 7

David Palmer, CASKET EMPTY: God’s Plan of Redemption through History New Testament Study Guide, Teaching part 2