Acts 17:1-9 - Paul and Silas Preach in Thessalonica

Summary

Paul and Silas visit Thessalonica, where they encounter opposition to their preaching.

Analysis

This passage describes Paul and Silas visiting Thessalonica for the first time. However, 1 Thessalonians offers differing details when it recalls the beginning of a Christian fellowship in Thessalonica. Acts describes the Christian missionaries persuading and facing hostility from Jewish audiences in the city, while 1 Thessalonians remembers Paul, Silas (Silvanus), and Timothy working with Gentile audiences. The "devout Greeks" that Acts mentions in 17:4 are Gentiles who attend the Jewish synagogue. Such people would not have been considered to have "turned to God from idols" (1 Thessalonians 1:9).

This passage, when compared to 1 Thessalonians, offers an example of how the story about Paul told in Acts often differs from the stories that Paul tells about himself in his letters.