Thessalonica - Acts 17:1-4

There seems to be a pattern that missionaries leave when they are asked to, or when it’s indicated that they are not welcome in that particular town. This is true now just as it was true anciently, and is in keeping with the gospel principle of free agency. And while this practice is only broken when commanded of God to do so, such as Alma in Ammonihah or Jonah in Ninevah, it is a relatively uncommon occurrence. So when  Paul, Silas, Timothy and company leave Philippi, it’s not out of character for them because the city leaders asked them to leave. But it seems that they left the city in good hands with Lydia and the jailer to take care of the new members.

They leave Philippi and “passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures.” Again, we see that Paul’s method was to go to the Jews of the city first and we can also see that he used the scriptures to teach them about Jesus. We’ve seen Paul do this before when he was in Antioch in Pisidia with Barnabas in chapter 13 beginning at verse 14.
If Jesus really was the Messiah that they were all waiting for, then of course the scriptures would have described in great detail prophecies concerning him. It is with these recorded prophecies in the scriptures that Paul teaches the people about Christ. The IM comments, “Paul referred to scriptural passages to declare, or to provide proof, that Jesus was the Messiah.” Likewise, we can use the scriptures to not only teach and testify of Christ, but first to grow a testimony of him, and our continued study strengthens our knowledge, understanding, and belief in Christ and his gospel.
There was some acceptance of the gospel message among the Jews and they “consorted with Paul and Silas” but the larger acceptance came from “the devout Greeks, a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.” Again, “devout” means gentiles who have accepted Judaism but are not considered converts. So these Greek men and chief women had once before already accepted Judaism as the truth, so when Paul introduces Judaism 2.0, they accept it because their hearts were already opened to the truth earlier.