Prove It Yourself
These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
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After Paul’s vision of a man from Macedonia pleading, “Come over to Macedonia and help us” (Acts 16:9), Paul and his companions began their memorable journey into Europe. After being jailed in Philippi and escaping from a riot in Thessalonica, they came to Berea.
Not much is said about Berea, but what is said is a tribute to the people who heard Paul. The King James Version uses the word “noble” where the New King James has “fair-minded.” The nobility was probably not of birth, but of character. Adam Clarke says, “It was a maxim among the Jews that ‘none was of a noble spirit who did not employ himself in the study of the law.’”
The Jews who heard Paul in the synagogue were ready to listen and prove what they heard to themselves. They didn’t allow preconceived ideas of what the Bible says to keep them from examining what it really says.
As the New Living Translation puts it, “They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.”
God is pleased when we search the Scriptures and make sure what we believe is what He is revealing to us from the Holy Bible.
For more about the importance of the Bible, see “Why Study the Bible?”
