Every time I read through the book of Acts, I’m inspired by the story of the Berean Jews and their nobility. Especially with the Thessalonian and Philippian riots as a backdrop. 

Paul and a few others had brought the Word of God to Philippi with a riot and a flogging as their reward. They moved on to Thessalonica. Here, they found a synagogue. Perhaps they had brushed off the Philippian experience as only to be expected from gentile heathens, but here, they had Jews to contend with. People who knew the scriptures and were ostensibly in submission to them. 

Envy Instead Of Nobility

What they found, though, were Jews who were not necessarily interested in being subject to  certain portions of the Word of God as they related to Jesus—His death, resurrection and Messianic ministry. They ran into the same problem Jesus had run into with certain factions in Jerusalem—envy. The leaders of the synagogue were concerned about their own status and felt threatened by Paul’s ministry. They were jealous and formed a mob to set the city in an uproar. 

Driven from here, by the rage of the mob, Paul and his assistants moved on to Berea. Here they once more—despite their bad experience at Thessalonica—obeyed the command to take the Gospel to the Jews first and then to the gentiles. 

Thus they reasoned with the Berean Jews with the following results:

The Nobility Of Humility

Acts 17:11-12  ¹¹ Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. ¹² Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. – ESV 

Here we see nobility on display. How does it manifest itself? Receiving the Word of God with eagerness, openness and objectivity. Paul brought them a Messianic teaching that was contrary to the popular Jewish view at the time. He brought them a suffering, sacrificial Messiah, while most Jews only recognized a conquering Messiah. We see today, that the Messiah appears twice—once in each respective role. But that was an entirely new concept to most Jews at the time.

With their conventional wisdom challenged, the Bereans were not offended, but instead, searched the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Apparently they found that Scripture matched what Paul was telling them, because it says many believed.

Where Is Our Nobility Level?

What parts of the Bible challenge our conventional wisdom? Are we willing to search the Scriptures eagerly and change our minds accordingly? This is a Biblical definition of nobility. No need for aristocratic ancestors. No need to be right all the time. All that’s needed is a little humility and openness for us to acquire the same nobility the Bereans possessed. 

And the good news is, it’s never too late to start. Maybe we’ve started off the same way the Thessalonians did—but if we see our character flaw, we can simply repent and humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and open up to His Word. God sees that and calls it nobility.