Proceeding south and west along the Via Egnatia, Paul and Silas travel thirty miles to Amphipolis, the capital of the first district of Macedonia; a further twenty-seven miles to Apollonia; and finally thirty-five miles to Thessalonica, the capital of both the second district and the whole province. Though he may want to distance himself from Philippi in Macedonia's first district, Paul is also making a strategic choice by targeting Thessalonica. This city was uniquely situated to serve as a center for the spread of the gospel to the whole Balkan peninsula (see Rom 15:19; 1 Thess 1:7-8). A seaport on the Thermaic Gulf, Thessalonica linked sea and land routes to the rich agricultural plain of the interior of Macedonia. So today, missions strategists rightly target world-class cities and key cultural groups so that the gospel, once taking root there, may naturally spread to whole peoples and whole nations.

Instead of recounting a speech, Luke describes Paul's pattern of verbal witness through a series of clauses (Acts 17:3). They form a rhetorical syllogism, a pattern of persuasion familiar to any first-century schoolboy (Kurz 1980). By deductive logic, Paul propounds major and minor premises, using irrefutable proofs (tekmerioi: evidence from authoritative texts and witnesses; compare Acts 1:3). Taken together, these premises lead by necessary logic to the conclusion, the speaker's goal in persuasion. The witness pattern is

Major Premise: The characteristics of the Christ (Messiah) are that he must suffer and rise from the dead (17:3a).

Minor Premise: Jesus modeled these characteristics in his death and resurrection (Kurz [1980:179] believes this premise is referred to in the clause I am proclaiming to you, 17:3b).

Conclusion: This Jesus . . . is the Christ (17:3b).

What stands out here is the role of the Old Testament and the interconnected nature of argumentation and proclamation in the process of persuasion. It was a matter of explaining (dianoigo; Lk 24:32, 45-46) and proving [from the Scriptures] the major premise (the Greek word order permits us to take this phrase with these verbs instead of with reasoned, as the NIV). Proving (paratithemi) was "demonstrating by setting evidence side by side"—God's authoritative Word (such as Ps 2; 16; 110; Is 53) next to the premise that it was the divine plan that the Christ must suffer and rise from the dead (compare Lk 9:22, 44; 17:25; 18:31-33; 24:26, 46; Acts 2:31; 3:18; 13:27-29). Paul's argumentation aimed to overcome Jewish preconceptions about the Messiah as a victorious king with an eternal reign who neither suffers nor rises from the dead.

The proof for the minor premise comes in the form of proclamation (katangello, the solemn declaration of a completed happening; 16:21; 17:13, 23; Schniewind 1964:71). With boldness Paul bears witness to the historical events of Jesus' life, death and resurrection.

Witness must always be pursued in this way. There is a time for dialogue, a time to deal carefully with the questions and doubts of those who hear our witness. But there must also be proclamation. The gospel is, after all, good news from God about what he has done in Christ, not the distillation of the best of human religious reflection.

A few Jews, possibly Jason (17:7) and Aristarchus (20:4) among them, a large number of God-fearing Greeks (there is not a redundancy here separating the men into two groups, pagans and God-fearers; contrast Stott 1990:272; compare Acts 13:43) and not a few prominent women (compare 13:50; 17:12) were persuaded. By the power of the Spirit Paul's reasoning has helped them understand the situation for themselves. As a result, they are able to make a free decision, in this case to embrace Jesus as their suffering and risen Messiah (Kemmler 1975:133; compare 26:28). And they immediately changed identities and joined (literally, "their lot was cast with," implying divine saving choice; compare 13:48) Paul and Silas as brothers and sisters in the kingdom of King Jesus the Christ.