Mid-way through their second missionary journey, Paul and Silas left Phillipi where they had been jailed for the Gospel, and went on to Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-10a). The interchange of Paul [Silas is assumed] and the local people is a study in missionary strategy and fortunately 1 and 2 Thessalonians also provides more background material. This short piece will examine if Paul was a failure in finding common ground due to the commotion that was caused there, and eventually being ousted from the city.
What is common ground?
‘Common ground’ could be defined as trying to find motifs and items in a local culture that might permit one to build bridges–or things in common— to the Gospel message. Just how far to build the bridge, and from what direction is the open question. Thus the approach ranges from those who affirm philosophical commonness of Christianity and other religions, to those who affirm that Christians can have only common ‘conversation opportunities’ with other fellow humans. Frequently the common ground approach tries to anticipate barriers to the Gospel and find creative ways to address them. Again, just how creative, is the open question. In this case, Paul would have to anticipate that Graeco-Roman culture called the Christian message a novelty and ‘michevous superstition’ and that Christians were ‘atheists’, as well as Jews who saw Christians as followers of a charlatan who said he was God.
The audience at Thessalonica
Paul’s audience in this case was Jews and Gentiles, with the former entrenched in Judaism, although the text refers to some Greeks who had an appreciation for Judaism and thus they were called ‘devout.’ For them, the law was the way to save themselves. The Greeks meanwhile were immersed in their local religions which rallied around the figure of the Emperor who even bore the name ‘SOTER’ or Savior. Thus we have Paul coming as an ambassador of Jesus Christ to a situation of two religious groups content to furnish their own saviors.
The use of reason
Paul, the former rabbi and terrorizer of Christians made the synagogue his first stop. Likely he delivered a similar message as at the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch (ch. 13) where he systematically used the Hebrew Testament to bring his audience to an accurate knowledge of Jesus. He could do this because the Old Testament, contrary to any other religious text, can actually lead people to Jesus. Thus we read that by having a discourse or reasoning [the Gk verb is used 9x in the book of Acts and always implies a verbal means to give a detailed account of something]from the Scriptures he clearly demonstrated that it was a divine necessity [i.e. the word ‘must] that Jesus the Messiah had to suffer and be resurrected because it was due–as Peter had said–to “the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23).
The text says that he made his clear presentation by “explaining and giving evidence” (NASB), (v.3) which clearly shows that he did this methodically, thoroughly, and acted as a witness of who Jesus was, and what he did and taught. Paul is following exactly in the footsteps of Jesus who also clearly expounded the Scriptures on the Emmaus road (Lk 24:25-27, 44-46) and likewise “opened their eyes.” Additionally, the introductory words that Paul entered the synagogue “as was his custom” hearken back to Luke’s words (Lk 4:16) about Jesus going to the synagogue “on the Sabbath day…as was his custom.” What Paul was not doing, however, was “incarnating the gospel”–a term much in vogue today. He knew that Incarnation was for Jesus alone. Yet, in following Jesus, Paul encountered persecution at virtually every stop on his tour, and thus showed himself to be walking in the footsteps of his Master.
The offense of the gospel
To the Jews in his audience, the very thought of a dying and suffering Messiah (cf. Acts 24:46) or a prophet who is a failure was offensive. To the Greeks, Paul did not come across as much of a rhetoritician with wise sayings. To them resurrections were good fairy-tale parts of miracle-story resuscitations, but their ideas did not perm