Bereans Believed and Investigated with all Eagerness
10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now 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. 12 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.
Acts 17:10–12 Read More
When Paul went to Berea, some of the people received the word with eagerness. Then something happened that we don’t usually associate with faith and belief. They examined the Scriptures daily to see if the words of Paul were true. These people that believed, and then investigated and learned about what they believed were referred to as “more noble than those in Thessalonica” for this very reason.
2 Things We Can Learn from the Questioning Bereans
1. They examined out of their belief.
The Berean people didn’t examine the scriptures and then become convinced of what Paul told them. They believed him, however convincing his speeches, preaching, miracles, whatever he did. Then once they believed, they examined the scriptures to strengthen what they believed. They asked questions and found answers with humility of learners instead of the arrogance of a skeptical investigator.
2. They eagerly kept growing
It says that they examined the Scriptures daily. They didn’t just here Paul, look up whatever prophet he quoted, and then go back to whatever they had planned that week. In Berea they took the good news seriously and were excited to learn more about it as often as they could. The diversity of the church there and the growing rate of it all became side-effects of them daily digging into and discussing the scriptures.
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