“Acts 16:29-40”

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

“And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them out, he said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household. Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, ‘Release those men.’ And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, ‘The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now and go in peace.’ But Paul said to them, ‘They have beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.’ The policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept begging them to leave the city. They went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed."

---End of Scripture verses---

The conversion of the Philippian jailer will forever be one of my favorite Bible stories. In these very few verses we see the full force of the Gospel’s power demonstrated in a snapshot of one man’s life. At one point this man was about to snuff out his own life by thrusting his sword through himself, and just moments later he was a baptized believer and rejoicing in the fact that he was saved and heaven bound. What could take a person from the precipice of suicide and eternal damnation and place him safely upon life’s solid ground and standing at heaven’s doorstep? In a word: JESUS! When the jailer saw the prison doors standing open he was certain that all of his prisoners had escaped. Instead of enduring the torcher of awaiting his own execution for his negligence, he decided to just kill himself and spare himself the agony.

Paul yelled to the man from within his prison cell, “Do yourself no harm” (verse 28). They had no intentions of getting away. The other prisoners were no doubt too shaken up from the earthquake to make a break for it, and Paul and Silas were not interested in escaping. They were both God’s free men while being confined in man’s prison, and they wanted to help people escape from the prison of sin and spiritual sickness. Even though they suffered great injury while trying to spread of the Good News of Jesus, all they wanted to do was help the people who wished to do them harm. They were just following the great example of their good Master. Friends, Jesus is the way, and the truth and the life (John 14:6). We can only find eternal life, and the answers to the problems of our life, when we humbly come to him in trusting, obedient faith. He is the only way to the Father in heaven, and the way He lived His life is the only way that we should pattern our own lives after. Love Him. Trust Him. Obey Him. When others treat you poorly for living like Him, forgive them, be kind to them and help them to see the better way.

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (verse 30). It is interesting that when people asked the Apostles the same question in Acts 2:37, Peter answered: “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…” (Acts 2:38) And yet Paul’s response to this question by the Philippian Jailer was, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved…” (verse 30). Why the difference? Why did one apostle say “Repent and be baptized,” and another say, “Believe in the Lord Jesus”? The answer to that question is simple. The crowd gathered around the Apostles in Acts chapter 2 had just heard a lengthy sermon about Jesus and they already believed in Him. They wanted to know what else they needed to do to be saved, so Peter told them what was required—repentance and baptism. On the other hand, the jailer in Philippi had not heard of Jesus as of yet, so Paul had to start from square one with him. After Paul and Silas “spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house” (verse 32), as you would expect, “immediately he was baptized, he and all his household” (verse 33). So you see, there is really no difference between the teaching of the various Apostles, and there is no difference in the ways that people are forgiven and saved. All people must believe in Jesus, repent of their sins and be baptized for forgiveness in order to be saved.  It was appropriately stated by divine inspiration that the jailer and his family “believed in God” only after having obeyed the command to be baptized (verse 34). Then there was every reason to have “rejoiced greatly,” because they had their sins forgiven and were added to the body of Christ.

Please read Acts 17:1-9 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

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