Bible Strands
Acts 19:8
Then Paul went into the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul addresses a Jewish synagogue audience immediately after baptizing twelve disciples. His public teaching continues for three months until some listeners stubbornly reject his message and force him to relocate to a daily lecture hall.
The words — ἐπαρρησιάζομαι (eparrēsiazeto) literally means he was speaking boldly or with open, unreserved declaration. The text explicitly notes this sustained public argument lasted for three months (μῆνας) before the venue changed.
The thread — This sequence of synagogue proclamation and prolonged teaching mirrors his early Damascus mission (Acts 9:20) and his later Roman house arrest (Acts 28:23). The persistent focus on the kingdom of God aligns with the post-resurrection appearances recorded in Acts 1:3.
Why it lands — The text reports that Paul maintained a fixed teaching schedule until opposition necessitated a tactical shift, not a change in message. It requires a reader to observe that sustained public proclamation operates on a timeline measured in months, not immediate results.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.
Cross-references
- Acts 1:3 After His suffering, He presented Himself to them with many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a span of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
- Acts 28:23 So they set a day to meet with Paul, and many people came to the place he was staying. He expounded to them from morning to evening, testifying about the kingdom of God and persuading them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets.
- Acts 9:20 Saul promptly began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, declaring, “He is the Son of God.”
- Jude 1:3 Beloved, although I made every effort to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints.
- Acts 13:14 And from Perga, they traveled inland to Pisidian Antioch, where they entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and sat down.
- Acts 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “It was necessary to speak the word of God to you first. But since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.
- Acts 14:1 At Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue, where they spoke so well that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed.
- Acts 17:1 When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.
- Acts 17:17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace with those he met each day.
- Acts 18:4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks alike.