NO NT

Suppose that you had no New Testament Scriptures. How would that affect your ability to share the Good News? What difference would it make in your daily devotions? What Scriptures would you have quoted on your refrigerator?

What Scriptures were the Bereans reading as they first checked to see if what Paul and Silas were saying were true, and then, as many of them believed? The Body of Christ had no New Testament Scriptures for many centuries. Some of them had access to some of the letters various leaders had written to certain groups of them. On days, the work they did of advancing the Kingdom’s influence in the earth seems better than what we are managing today. What’s our problem?

Then they traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As usual, Paul went to them, and on three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and showing that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead, and saying: “This is the Messiah, Jesus, whom I am proclaiming to you.” Then some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including a great number of God-fearing Greeks, as well as a number of the leading women.

But the Jews became jealous, and when they had brought together some scoundrels from the marketplace and formed a mob, they set the city in an uproar. Attacking Jason’s house, they searched for them to bring them out to the public assembly. When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too, and Jason has received them as guests! They are all acting contrary to Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king—Jesus!” The Jews stirred up the crowd and the city officials who heard these things. So taking a security bond from Jason and the others, they released them.

As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Beroea. On arrival, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. The people here were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, since they welcomed the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Consequently, many of them believed, including a number of the prominent Greek women as well as men.

(Acts 17:1-1 Holman Christian Standard Bible ©®)