Turning The World Upside Down Series

In contrast to Thessalonica, Berea was off the beaten path, where members of the aristocracy lived, kind of like a retirement village for wealthy military, political and educational leaders. Once again, the team immediately headed to the synagogue to preach the gospel. Verse 11 tells us these “Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” The word “noble” means, “refined and open minded.”

There were two traits which made them stand out as noble.

• They eagerly received the Word. The word “eagerness” has the idea of enthusiastic readiness, and “received” refers to “accepting an offer by taking it to oneself.” They listened with rapt attention and absorbed the truth. This eager acceptance is illustrated in Psalm 119:18: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” They were living out Isaiah 34:16: “Seek and read from the book of the LORD.”

• They examined the Scriptures daily. The Bereans were eager to receive the Word, but they also examined the evidence. The word “examine” refers to “discerning, testing, scrutinizing, and sifting.” This word was used of a judicial investigation done for a trial. They were committed to get to the core of what was being said to determine whether it was true.

This was a daily discipline for them, not just something they did occasionally. I like how one paraphrase puts it: “They searched the Scriptures day by day to check up on Paul and Silas’ statements to see if they were really so.” They took the Scriptures so seriously so they wouldn’t be misled. They put Psalm 1:1-2 into practice: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night.”

Because the Bereans believed in the sufficiency of Scripture, they immersed themselves in God’s inspired Word, studying the Scripture scrolls daily. They were careful and cautious about what they believed. Scripture alone was their sole arbiter of what was true, and what was false. To say the Scriptures are sufficient means the Bible is all we need to equip us for a life of faith and service. Scripture is sufficient because the Bible is the only inspired, inerrant, and final authority. The sufficiency of Scripture also means Scripture itself is sufficient to interpret Scripture.

Incidentally, Paul wrote follow-up letters to many of the churches he started to correct error. For example, last week we learned what happened in Philippi and later Paul wrote the Book of Philippians to the church in Philippi. In the first part of Acts 17, we were introduced to what happened in Thessalonica and later he wrote 1 and 2 Thessalonians to them. Interestingly, you won’t find 1 and 2 Bereans in your Bible! Perhaps that’s because the Bereans were so focused on the sufficiency of Scripture there was nothing for Paul to correct.