Last week we ended with Paul and Silas being sent away by night from Thessalonica to Berea in Chapter 17 verse 10. We pick up this week with them arriving in Berea and as was Paul’s custom went directly to the Synagogue of the Jews.

Acts Lesson 27 Study Questions

1.    The Bereans heard the teaching of the most famous apostle and theologian of the early church, and the human author of at least 13 New Testament books. Yet, they _________ the Scriptures when Paul taught, to see if his teaching was truly Biblical. They would not accept Paul’s teaching without ________ for themselves, so they could know if these things were so.

2.    Therefore, many of them believed: Paul had nothing to fear by the diligent __________ of the Scriptures by the Bereans. If they were really seeking God and His Word, they would find out that what Paul was preaching was _____. 

3.    The Jews from Thessalonica: They were not satisfied to force Paul out of only their ____ city. They even followed Paul to Berea to ________ his work there also.

4.    The idea behind given over to idols (kateidolos) is really ______ idols, or swamped by idols. Paul saw the beauty of Athens, having the best that Greek sculptors and architects could offer; but all that beauty did not ______ God, so it did not impress him at all.

5.    Then certain Epicurean… philosophers encountered him: The Epicureans pursued __________ as the chief purpose in life, and valued most of all the pleasure of a peaceful life, free from pain, disturbing passions and superstitious fears (including the fear of death). They did not ______ the existence of gods, but believed that they had nothing to do with man.

6.    For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or hear some strange new thing: It was the ________ of Paul’s message that earned him the invitation to the Areopagus. These ancient Greeks loved a constant and always __________ stream of news and information.

7.    I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD: Paul understood that in their extensive pantheon, the Greeks had an UNKNOWN GOD, who covered any ____ that may have been neglected. Paul wanted to reveal the ________ of the UNKNOWN GOD.

8.    In explaining God to them, Paul started at the beginning: God is the _______, and we are His creatures. “This view of the world is very different from either the Epicurean emphasis on a _______ combination of atoms or the virtual pantheism of the Stoics.” 

9.    And He has made from one blood every nation of men: Paul told them we are all __________ from Adam through Noah, and that there is one God who created us all and to whom we all are __________. 

10.    He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man who He has ordained: Now, for the first time in his message to the Athenians, Paul referred to ______. His first mention of Jesus presented Jesus as a righteous _______.

11.    Some criticize Paul’s sermon in Athens because there is no detailed reference to the ______ or specific quotes from the Old Testament. Some think Paul ___________ his message for an intellectual audience, and therefore there were few conversions.

12.    Yet Paul’s sermon here was eminently Biblical. “Like the biblical revelation itself, his argument begins with God the _______ of all and ends with God the ______ of all…The speech as it stands admirably summarizes an introductory lesson in Christianity for cultured pagans.” (Bruce)