Knowing God's Word #3

Chapter 3: Reading vs. Studying

We explored Acts 17:10-12 on our spiritual journey this week, particularly verse 11: "Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."

The Greek word for "noble," eugenes, appears only four times in the New Testament: Acts 17:11; 24:3; 26:25; and 1 Corinthians 1:26.

But the English word "noble" is also found in some translations of Philippians 4:8 -- "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, . . ."

So we pulled out the Greek New Testament and the Strong's Concordance (with a lot of laughing) and found this Greek word is actually "venerable" or "honorable."

To get the most out of Acts 17:11, we also looked up "received," "readiness," and "searched." From our study of the Greek definitions, we know that the Bereans were highly esteemed people who deliberately accepted Paul's message with mental eagerness and scrutinized the Scriptures to find out the Truth for themselves.

May we be as deliberate, as eager, and as discerning in our own studies.