‹ Back

Acts 17:2-3 "And Paul went in[to the synagogue at Thessalonica], as was his custom, and for three weeks he argued 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.'"

 

For anyone to accept that Jesus is the Christ, they first have to know who "the Christ" is, or was promised to be. And who knew that at the time Paul was preaching? The Jews, which is why Paul goes to them first, explaining and trying to get them to understand by appealing to what they knew of the Anointed One. But others were listening to Paul as well, and he wanted to reach them, too. They would not have been able to fully understood "the Christ" without hearing of Him from the Jews.

 

Paul is preaching in a synagogue, mainly to Jews, but also to others who had an interest in the Jewish faith. It was his custom to go to the synagogues and preach there first, engaging the Jews directly, and relying on their knowledge of the Christ, the Anointed One, to lead them to believe that Jesus is He. But there also were many Greeks and other interested people in the synagogues, and there is no better learning experience for those who do not fully know of "the Christ" than to hear those who do discussing and debating the topic (which is one reason we should not be afraid to speak of Him openly today).

 

Luke says that "some" of the Jews were persuaded by Paul, but that "a great many of the devout Greeks" were convinced (Acts 17:4). The Jews knew the prophecies, they knew about the promised Christ, but because of their long history of thinking about this and layering on their own interpretations, it was often more difficult for them to accept the actual Christ when He came  ("This carpenter's son from Nazareth can't be the Messiah!"). But those without that history, who had come to be interested in the Jewish faith but were not steeped in or wedded to developed theories, were much more open to seeing that Jesus did in fact fit everything that the Christ was supposed to be.

 

Without Scripture, without the Jewish faith, and without the Jews themselves, we would not be able to recognize Jesus, the Jew, as the Christ. Paul went to the Jews first, because the Messiah was promised to them first. Some accepted, but perhaps more importantly, the debate and discussion among them taught others to recognize the Christ. Paul's simple statement, "This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ" is only understandable to them, and to us, because of the Jews.