This is the innocent verse that has caused so much controversy because it is often misused and misapplied by both preachers and laymen alike. So many Christian parents cling to this verse and treat it like a promise that because of their faith, their unsaved children will come to know the Lord. But, is that why the verse is in the Bible? Is it there so we can receive comfort from it? May we treat this verse as “a word from the Lord” for us today?

Let’s examine this verse within the context of the historical narrative, and perhaps those questions will be answered.

1. A Little Background

The book of Acts is a book of history; it is a record of the beginnings of the Church. We call it “The Acts of the Apostles,” but really, it’s the acts of the risen Lord in the first members of the fledgling Church. The book of Acts is not a book of proverbs, even though it contains some. It is not a book or promises, even though there are some promises in it. It is not a parable, nor is it a book of prophecies. Acts is simply Luke’s carefully recorded history of the events, as the happened, shortly after the death and resurrection of our Lord. In fact, from Luke’s pen we read these words:

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.—Acts 1:1, 2

The Gospel of Luke is the “former book,” and in it Luke gives us the reason for both his gospel and the book of Acts:

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.—Luke 1:1—4

So, now we know why Luke wrote what he wrote: he wanted his friend to have an accurate record of the life and times of Jesus Christ. Apparently there were other records, we know there were three other gospels, for example. But for some reason, Luke thought it very important to commit to paper the history of Jesus; what He said and what He did.

2. Setting the scene for trouble

The story of the Philippian jailer really begins some time earlier, back in the opening verses of chapter 16. We learn that this trip of Paul and his friends was what we have come to refer to as “Paul’s Second Missionary Journey.” In verse 6, we read an interesting sentence:

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.—Acts 16:6

Paul’s missionary travels involved a lot of strategic planning, but also a reliance on the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This is an excellent example of man and God working in co-operation with each other. There is never an excuse to plunge into any kind of endeavor for the Lord without adequate preparation and planning, yet at the same time, there must be room left for the Holy Spirit’s leading.

Eventually Paul and his group arrived in a place called Philippi. It is interesting to note that Luke spends more time discussing the trip to Philippi than he does any other city on this trip or the next trip, despite the fact that they were not there very long. Richard Longnecker in his commentary on Acts mentions that the famous “we” sections in 16:10—17 and 20:5—15 strongly suggest that Luke played some part in the founding and growth of the church at Philippi.

On the Sabbath day, Paul and his friends went to find a place of prayer. According to Jewish law, a congregation in those days was made up of ten men. When ten male leaders of their individual households met regularly for prayers, a synagogue was established. Failing this, a place of prayer could be set up outside, under the open skies. This seems to have been the case at Philippi, since our intrepid missionaries walked outside the city in search of a place of prayer. Providentially, they found a group of women gathered by a river, including a woman named Lydia. She is spoken of as being a “God-fearer” (sebomene ton theon), that is, she likely learned about Yahweh at her own synagogue in her hometown. Longnecker surmises she was a widow or simply unmarried.

At any rate, these women listened to Paul and friends as they shared the Gospel, and Lydia believed and was baptized, as were the members of her household, right then and there. From this one incident, then, the church at Philippi began. This must have been a special congregation to Paul, for as we read his letter to the Philippians, we see that he has an affection in his words we don’t read in his other letters.

After having visited with Lydia’s family, our friends continue on their search for a place of prayer. The Greek construction of this verse suggests it happened on the same day, “when we were going” is in the present tense. At this time, a slave girl met them. They were likely in town at this point, probably in a marketplace. She is described by Luke “having a spirit,” but in the Greek she is actually possessed by the “Python spirit,” (pneuma pythona). The python guarded the entrance to the temple of Apollo, and in that culture, the spirit of the python spoke through certain people. In fact, it was believed that this spirit actually resided in the person’s belly. This girl was genuinely possessed by a spirit and was employed by certain men who used here powers of divination to make a good living. She followed the missionaries around for some days screaming at the top of lungs, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”—verse 17b. While this may be considered as “free advertising” for Paul and his friends, it was causing problems and it was not helpful at all. Here we see that even demons recognize the true character of children of God. Of course, this compulsive shouting did more damage than good; likely she was receiving more attention that was Paul. In response, Paul ordered the demon to leave her body, which it did.

From this incident, we learn a few things—

• Paul would have nothing to do with her because, as she recognized God was with him, so he discerned evil was empowering her. To be seen associating with such a person would have seriously hinder Paul’s effectiveness in his work.
• She proclaimed the “truth” for monetary gain, while Paul did not.
• She was deluded and in bondage to a spirit that, while it spoke the truth, was a spirit of lies and falsehood, and she needed to be set free from that.

We may assume she became a believer in Christ as she was now of no value to her employers. This often happens when Christ comes into a person’s life: they change from the inside out and their old ways of life and old associations change. She likely became of the small church at Lydia’s house.

3. The trouble begins

That one incident is what caused Paul and Silas to be tossed into prison. In effect, they were being punished for doing the right thing. This is no longer part of the “we” section, meaning Luke was not involved in the imprisonment. It appears as though both Luke and Timothy got away. We may wonder why, but it could be the simple fact that Paul and Silas were the leaders of this missionary party and therefore were held responsible.

The real charge against these men was not that they deprived a man of his income, but rather that they were “advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to practice.”—verse 21. In other words, Paul and Silas had confronted Roman culture, and the people were thrown into an uproar because they perceived their way of life was being threatened.

• Wetstein wrote, “The Romans would indeed allow foreigners to worship their own gods, but not unless it was done secretly, so that the worship of foreign gods would not interfere with the allowed worship of the Romans.”
• Servius wrote, “Care was taken among the Athenians and the Romans that no one should introduce new religions. It was on this account that Socrates and condemned and the Chaldeans and the Jews were banished from the city.”
• Cicero said, “No person shall have any separate gods, or new ones; nor shall he privately worship any strange gods unless they be publicly allowed.

All this explains why Paul and Silas were treated the way they were. These servants of God were taken in chains, stripped naked and beaten mercilessly. They were thrown into the “inner cell” and bound in the stocks. Likely, there were forced to lie down on the cold, damp floor, on their backs, with their feet securely bound sandwiched between two pieces of wood and their wrists manacled over their heads. All this right after they were beaten, and bruised, sliced open with sores all over their bodies. This reminds us of the words in Hebrews 11—

Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them.—Hebrews 11:35b—38a

Is it worthy of me and you, I wonder?

4. The response

Given this situation, what would you do? Cry and moan? Yell out for deliverance? Pray for God to get you out that situation? Paul and Silas prayed and praised their God! Only God could have made this happen. It is totally against human nature. But the grace of God and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so moved these two men, they had to rejoice in God. One wonders what the other prisoners thought about this! What a strange thing, indeed, to hear coming from the inner cell of a prison. We can learn a few things this—

• Christians have true happiness within them. Our joy is not dependent on our circumstances. In fact, external circumstances cannot rob a believer of his joy, or his happiness or his peace.
• The enemies of our souls cannot destroy our joy and cannot come between God and us. Albert Barnes observed, they may incarcerate out bodies, but they cannot bind our spirits. They may exclude us from earthly comforts, but they cannot shut us out from the presence of God.
• We can see the inestimable worth of a relationship with Christ. No matter what our lot in life is, our Christ is with us. He upholds us by day or by night; He inspires our souls to have confidence in Him; He puts a song of praise in our hearts and worship on our lips.

Only God can make this happen.

5. The Results

First, while Paul and Silas were singing, an earthquake suddenly shook the prison, opened its doors, and loosened the chains of all the prisoners. While some critics of the Bible point out this story bears resemblance to folk tales of miraculous deliverance, and therefore conclude that this segment of Acts is nothing more than a legend, the fact that the details are so striking leads other to say that story is just another example of God delivering His people. Consider these remarkable points—

• A supernatural earthquake resulted in the doors opening and the shackles falling off, but the building still stands!
• Even though all the prisoners were now free, not one of them escaped!

And that was very fortunate for the jailer, because under Roman law, had just one prisoner escaped, the jailer would have forfeited his life and his family punished. Again, we see the amazing providence of God at work, not only in our heroes hearts, but also the hearts of all those other prisoners. The singing of praises, the earthquake, the loosening of the chains all have worked together for two purposes, both resulting in God being glorified: (1) the vindication and freeing of Paul and Silas, and (2) the conversion of the jailer and his family.

The second result is the jailer’s remarkable conversion. He rightly feared for his life and, believing them to be some sort of angels perhaps, fell before them. Undoubtedly, he heard about the demon-possessed slave girl; he heard her shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High, who are telling you the way to be saved!” And now what just happened to him served to confirm her words about Paul and Silas. This reminds us of what the Roman soldier said about Jesus, as He hung on the Cross—

And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”—Mark 15:39

And so the jailer asked Paul how to be saved. This is a most remarkable question, for it showed that he knew he had a deep spiritual need, and this question was all it took for Paul and Silas to jump in with both feet. They shared with him the good news about Jesus Christ.

What Paul and Silas gave the Philippian jailer was the exact same Christ-centered gospel that had been proclaimed since the opening chapters of Acts: Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved—you and your household. In other words, there is no other way to be saved for anybody—neither you or your family—than to believe upon Christ.

A closer look at what happened

But, was simple belief all it took? Let’s delve a little closer and read what happened next. Because all this was so new to this man, Paul and Silas actually preached to him the “word of the Lord” (ton logon tou kuriou). Read carefully verse 32—

Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.

His family was with him, and they heard the preaching of the Word and it was the preaching of the Word that drew them to Christ, NOT simply the belief of the jailer, the head of the house. Your unsaved loved ones will not come to know Christ either on the basis of your salvation or on the strength of your faith. People come to Christ because (1) somebody is praying for them, (2) the Holy Spirit is drawing them, and (3) they hear the Word of God. Conversion does not happen in a vacuum.

This is the problem when people claim that the Lord has “given them” this verse as a promise. It was never a promise to anybody, not even to the jailer. To him it was a statement of fact: If you believe, you will be saved. If your family believes, they will be saved. That is the sense of what Paul told the jailer.

Conclusion

There is a definite theme in Acts 16. It starts with the conversion of Lydia and her family, who would form the nucleus of the new church in town. It continues with the deliverance and salvation of the demon-possessed woman, who would become the first outside member of the embryonic church at Philippi. And it continues with the salvation of the Philippian jailer and his family, who no doubt would also join the growing church.

In each instance, it was the power of the Word of God that wrought the miracle of salvation. There is no shortcut in the work of God. You may pray for somebody, you may believe with all your heart, but at some point, somebody has to do something in order for salvation to come. Somebody has to share the Gospel with the lost person. The lost person must reach out for help.