**Thwack Thwack Thwack**
I have to admit I am slow sometimes. Not the brightest bulb in the bunch, a couple of fries short of a Happy Meal, elevator doesn't go to the top floor, etc. etc. I had something fall into place yesterday during Sunday School that I had never connected before and it had everything to do with the TNIV (Today's New International Version). Now I am not a big proponent of all of the TNIV but I do find the majority of it to be quite refreshing at times even when compared to the NIV. Well, there was a passage in Acts 17 that always puzzled me. In the NIV it reads:
10As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
I was always puzzled why all of the Bereans were so interested in the Scriptures when the Thessalonians couldn't care less about them. I had been struggling with this for a LONG TIME, but just accepted the fact that I should be more Berean than Thessalonian. Well, the TNIV adds a word into this passage that made me go "ooooooohhhhh, I get it":
10As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12Many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
That word, Jews, made the whole passage much more comprehendable. Now I would no longer have to struggle with the differences between the Berean and Thessalonian Gentiles and why one would be examining the Scriptures more dillegently than the other. Now I know there are numerous clues in the passage that point to the fact that these were Jews who were examining the Scriptures (like the words "went to the Jewish synagogue" in verse 10b a mere 8 words away) but I just couldn't get it.
I must be heck to live with.
10As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
I was always puzzled why all of the Bereans were so interested in the Scriptures when the Thessalonians couldn't care less about them. I had been struggling with this for a LONG TIME, but just accepted the fact that I should be more Berean than Thessalonian. Well, the TNIV adds a word into this passage that made me go "ooooooohhhhh, I get it":
10As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12Many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
That word, Jews, made the whole passage much more comprehendable. Now I would no longer have to struggle with the differences between the Berean and Thessalonian Gentiles and why one would be examining the Scriptures more dillegently than the other. Now I know there are numerous clues in the passage that point to the fact that these were Jews who were examining the Scriptures (like the words "went to the Jewish synagogue" in verse 10b a mere 8 words away) but I just couldn't get it.
I must be heck to live with.
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