We continue the story in Acts 17, this week, of Paul and Silas in Thessalonica. The modern name of that city today is Salonica, Greece. In Thessalonica, they went into the Jewish synagogue and reasoned with them from the Scriptures. Paul explained and proved from the Old Testament Scriptures that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead to fulfill the prophecies.
Scripture explains Scripture. If the explanations of Scripture do not agree with what the Scriptures say, they should not be received. A major rule of understanding is that one must take all that God’s word says on any subject that is relevant to the point--keeping it in context, not adding to what God says, not leaving out anything that He has said, not changing anything or allowing it to contradict what is said in other places in God’s word. God’s word teaches this in Psalm 119:160, 139:17l; Deuteronomy 4:2; Galatians 1:8, 9. These are the ABC’s of understanding Scripture.
The failure of not taking all that God says and the doing of any of those things forbidden shows that the one attempting to explain the matter does not understand it properly, and that their explanation should be rejected. If people understood this it would rid the world of a host of denominational, inter-denominational and independent Churches. Honest truth seekers study for themselves, comparing what they hear with what the Scriptures say, rejecting things that contradict.
Paul proved that Jesus was the One who had fulfilled the prophetic Scriptures and so, was the Christ: the Messiah that God had promised. Some of the Jews were persuaded along with a great multitude of the devout Greek proselytes. This made the unbelieving Jews envious and they so stirred up an evil crowd and the rulers of the city that the brethren had to send Paul and Silas away by night (vs. 10).
That those who were persuaded are called “brethren” shows that they were persuaded not just to believe, but also to obey the Gospel and become Christians. This means that they heard the Gospel of salvation, believed the facts and truths of the Gospel, and obeyed its commands for their salvation. Yes, dear reader, there are facts and truths that one must believe in order to be saved. It is not just a matter of saying the so-called “sinner’s prayer” and asking Jesus into your heart. And yes, dear reader, there are commands of the Gospel that one must obey also in order to be saved. Notwithstanding the belief and teaching of many, repeating the “sinner’s prayer” is not one of them.
But Satan had so hindered the preaching of Paul and Silas that they could not remain. Satan continues to this day hindering the preaching of the true Gospel of Christ and forcing those who refuse to preach anything else or compromise the truth to be driven to other places, seeking those who love the truth.
What is truth? Pilate asked. In our age, we have skeptics and doubters saying that there is no such thing as absolute truth. But they expect all to believe that that is an absolute truth. Many say we have no way of knowing, short of heaven, whether one has the truth or not--and so who can say what is right? God can. Jesus said, “Your word is truth.” Did Jesus bring the truth concerning salvation, the church, worship and Christian living to the world? Why not then, learn what Jesus said, for His message was God’s message.
Further, 2 Thessalonians 2:10 shows that one who does not know the truth cannot be saved, and that those who do not love the truth will not be saved. If one knows the truth and loves the truth, he or she will believe the truth and obey the truth--and be saved.