Atos 17

Atos 17

Spurgeon - I would rather lay my soul asoak (soaking) in half a dozen verses [of the Bible] all day than rinse my hand in several chapters. Joseph Parker wrote, “What is the model congregation? A congregation well provided with Bibles... a congregation that has the text before it, and that looks from the sermon to the text; from the text to the sermon; from the text to the context; and that binds the speaking man to keep within the sacred brief which God has given to him.” (The Jack Andrews Expository Studies – Understanding Acts) I like the ESV Study Bible note - By commending this activity, Luke encourages this searching of the Scriptures as a pattern for all believers and also gives support to the doctrine of the clarity of Scripture (See doctrine of Clarity of the Scripture), the idea that the Bible can be understood rightly, not only by scholars but also by ordinary people who read it eagerly and diligently, with conscious dependence on God for help. Dwight Hillis said "Be our theories of inspiration what they may, this book deals with the deepest things in man’s heart and life. Ruskin and Carlyle tell us that they owe more to it, in the way of refinement and culture, than to all the other books, plus all the influence of colleges and universities . . . Read all other books, philosophy, poetry, history, fiction; but if you would refine the judgment, fertilize the reason, wing the imagination, attain unto the finest womanhood or the sturdiest manhood, read this book, reverently and prayerfully, until its truths have dissolved like iron into the blood. . . . The book Daniel Webster placed under his pillow when dying is the book all should carry in the hand while living." Zeisler: Why is it helpful to observe that Paul reasoned from the Scriptures? This is telling us something about the power of the Bible. I have been in settings where the Bible is used to bludgeon, where it is shouted, where its message is intended to descend on people like a heavy weight in order to bring about some kind of change in their behavior, regardless of whether they understood it, believed anything different, or knew any more than they had known before. I have also been in settings that are mostly about an emotional stirring, where language is used in a way that bring tears to everyone’s eyes. But once people leave, they can’t remember what was said, and nothing has been learned. What Paul was doing in this synagogue reminds us that the Bible’s power is ultimately the power to persuade us, to open our minds to understand what we didn’t understand before. We become aware of truth in such a way that truth itself changes us. Paul reasoned, talked with people, listened to questions, and answered objections, expecting that the God of the Bible would take the words of the Bible and change people’s interior life by them. The Scriptures (1124) (graphe from grapho = to write; English = graphite - the lead in a pencil!) means first a writing or thing written, a document. The majority of the NT uses refer to the Old Testament writings, in a general sense of the whole collection when the plural (Scriptures) is used and other times of a particular passage when the singular is used (the Scripture) and is used in such a way that quoting Scripture is understood to be the same as quoting God! The Bereans did not run to their favorite commentary to check out Paul but to God's OT writings. Daily - The implication is that Paul must have expounded the Scriptures daily...he was a man on a mission...souls to save...a Kingdom to be built. Likewise the Bereans were in the Scriptures daily, not weekly. They were not like so many today who take a cursory look at the Book of books and go on their merry way. No, they were serious about the Word of God and set a standard that all of us should seek to emulate. Every church should be filled with Bereans! Is yours? Rich Cathers - The last distinguishing characteristic of the Bereans was that they didn’t get into the Word just once a week, but EVERY day! We’ve often seen the parallel between staying in the Word on a daily basis, and how God fed the Israelites with manna in the wilderness. When the people complained about their lack of food, God gave a frost each morning that would leave a crusty thing the people called manna. Every morning the people had to get up early and collect their days’ worth of manna. If they tried to gather more than one days’ worth, it would turn to worms. You can’t survive off of yesterday’s manna. If they got up too late, the manna would have melted and disappeared. Get up early and spend time with God.