ris3n's Apologetics Codex
Acts 17.3
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Passage

Acts 17.3

Book: Acts · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV
  1. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: 2. and Paul, as his custom was, went in unto them, and for three sabbath days reasoned with them from the scriptures,

3. opening and alleging that it behooved the Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom, said he, I proclaim unto you, is the Christ.

  1. And some of them were persuaded, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. 5. But the Jews, being moved with jealousy, took unto them certain vile fellows of the rabble, and gathering a crowd, set the city on an uproar; and assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them forth to the people. (Acts 17:1-5, ASV)
WEB
  1. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2. Paul, as was his custom, went in to them, and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

3. explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”

  1. Some of them were persuaded, and joined Paul and Silas, of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and not a few of the chief women. 5. But the unpersuaded Jews took along some wicked men from the marketplace, and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people. (Acts 17:1-5, WEB)
KJV
  1. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: 2. And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,

3. Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. whom: or, whom, said he, I preach

  1. And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. 5. But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. (Acts 17:1-5, KJV)
YLT
  1. And having passed through Amphipolis, and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was the synagogue of the Jews, 2. and according to the custom of Paul, he went in unto them, and for three sabbaths he was reasoning with them from the Writings,

3. opening and alleging, 'That the Christ it behoved to suffer, and to rise again out of the dead, and that this is the Christ, Jesus whom I proclaim to you.'

  1. And certain of them did believe, and attached themselves to Paul and to Silas, also of the worshipping Greeks a great multitude, of the principal women also not a few. 5. And the unbelieving Jews, having been moved with envy, and having taken to them of the loungers certain evil men, and having made a crowd, were setting the city in an uproar; having assailed also the house of Jason, they were seeking them to bring [them] to the populace, (Acts 17:1-5, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: the narrator of Acts, traditionally Luke, who mid-sentence gives Paul's own words: "whom, said he, I proclaim unto you"
  • Audience: Theophilus (Acts 1:1) and the reader; within the scene, Jews and God-fearing Greeks in the synagogue
  • Location: the synagogue at Thessalonica, capital of the Roman province of Macedonia, reached by way of Amphipolis and Apollonia (17:1)
  • Time period: c. AD 50, on Paul's second missionary journey, shortly before his eighteen months in Corinth (Acts 18:11)

Theological reading

"Opening and alleging that it behooved the Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom, said he, I proclaim unto you, is the Christ." The verse states the content of Paul's three sabbaths of argument (17:2) in one sentence.

What the Messiah had to do. "It behooved" (Strong's G1163, dei) is a word of necessity. The suffering and the rising were not accidents that Christians later explained away; they were what the Scriptures required of the Christ (G5547, the anointed one). Jesus had said the same: "Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory?" (Luke 24:26).

Who he is. The second clause turns from the role to the person: "this Jesus... is the Christ." Luke switches into direct speech, "whom, said he, I proclaim unto you" (the ASV and KJV margin mark the shift), so the reader hears Paul's own claim. "Proclaim" (G2605) is the verb Paul will use again at Athens: "What therefore ye worship in ignorance, this I set forth unto you" (17:23). The same identification marks Paul's preaching from the start, "proving that this is the Christ" at Damascus (9:22), and later at Corinth, "testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ" (18:5).

The method. "Opening" (G1272) is the word for Jesus opening the Scriptures to the disciples (Luke 24:32, 45), and "alleging" (G3908) is setting something before others, laying out evidence. The proclamation rests on an argument from texts the audience accepts, combined with a claim about public events: a death and a resurrection. That combination, Scripture fulfilled in history, is the core of the apostolic case.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.