AP

Studies in Acts

Grace Comes to a Philippian Jailer (Acts 16:19-28)

Verses 19-21 At the same moment that the slave girl was delivered from her evil spirit, she had also lost her ability as a clairvoyant. For her owners this meant an end to their rich source of income. They were enraged with Paul and Silas. They dragged them to the market, where not only was commerce being conducted, but where also the city council met and rendered judgement. It was no use complaining to the triumvirate about a slave girl losing her ability as a clairvoyant. For that reason, they came up with an accusation that the city administrators would have to take very seriously: “These men are disturbing the public order in our city. They are Jews!” It is likely that they were making clever use of the wave of anti-Semitism that was spreading across the Roman Empire. Perhaps they knew that emperor Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome (Acts 18:2).

Although the Jews had received the freedom to confess only one God (religio licita), they were not for that reason allowed to disrupt the Roman social order and impose their Jewish morality on Roman citizens. By expelling the demon, Paul had disrupted the master-slave relationship, and in so doing, had infringed upon the authority- and loyalty-relationships in Roman society. For that reason, Paul and Silas were being accused of a crime against the state: “They are Jews, propagating a religious lifestyle that we as Romans may not adopt or follow.”

Paul and Silas would not be the last ones against whom such an accusation would be brought. The events in Philippi constitute an example of what was around the corner for many Christians in the Roman empire. Innumerable Christians have come to hear the same accusation that Paul and Silas heard in Philippi: “These people are disturbing the social order!”

Verses 22-24 Meanwhile in the marketplace, a crowd had come together, people who were supporting the accusers with their ceaseless shouting. Without further investigation, the praetors commanded that Paul and Silas be stripped naked and beaten. This was such a severe punishment that for centuries the law had forbidden this form of punishment for Roman citizens. Apparently, Paul and Silas received no opportunity to appeal to their Roman citizenship. The Romans were unfamiliar with the Jewish rule of “forty-minus-one”; nobody kept count (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:24-25). After they had been beaten terribly, they were thrown into the jail, more dead than alive. The jailer got orders to guard them closely, so he brought them to the cell at the heart of the prison. Was he afraid of someone who could expel a spirit? For good measure, he fastened their feet in the stocks.

Verses 25-26 When in 1 Thessalonians 2:2, Paul recites this terrible experience with horror, he mentions that they “had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi.” They must have suffered terrible pain throughout that night. Nonetheless, they were joyful, for they knew the word of the Master: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).

Paul and Silas were in this situation. They were beaten black and blue. Their backs had been torn open, their hands bound, their feet locked in stocks. Every movement increased their pain. Sleep was impossible. Nevertheless, they did not surrender to self-pity and complaining, but around midnight they prayed with hymns that they sang joyfully to the glory of God (Luke 6:22-23; Acts 5:41). In this way, the apostle put into practice what he would later write to the church in Philippi: “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4; cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Just as he learned to know from his own experience, the comfort that he would put into words so strikingly in Romans 8.

Luke does not tell us what they sang, but throughout every century God’s suffering people have sung the beloved psalms. Perhaps on that night they sang Psalm 42: “By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life” (v. 8). The tone with which they sang would have been the same as that of the Hallel psalms (Psalms 113-118) that the Jews sang on special occasions (Matthew 26:30) and that Paul and Silas no doubt knew by heart. This is how both evangelists, with their whipped bodies, confessed their faith in the living God before their pagan fellow prisoners. In so doing they comforted and encouraged many believers coming after them.

The Lord validated their preaching in song with a new and mighty sign with which he confirmed the apostolic preaching. Suddenly they felt a severe earthquake. Immediately all the doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose from the walls. We get the impression that this happened while Paul and Silas were singing God’s praise. For the Creator of heaven and earth it was easy to make the ground in Macedonia tremble to set two of his servants free.

Verses 27-28 The jailer had also been shaken awake by the earthquake. When he saw that the prison doors were standing open, he thought that all the prisoners had escaped, and figured that he would be condemned to death because of that (see Matthew 28:11-15 and Acts 12:6). If that were to happen, he preferred to commit suicide. In a panic he drew his sword and was about to take his own life. But Paul cried out: “Do not harm yourself, for we are all still here!” Two miracles had happened: the prisoners were set free, but none of them had escaped! Two of those whom he had tortured even more by fastening their feet in the stocks had even expended effort on behalf of the life of their guard!

Questions:

What vested interests does the gospel challenge in 21^st Century society? How should Christians respond to the inevitable push-back?

What do these events warn us about the role of ‘the mob’ in public life?

Are majority opinions right, simply because they are held by the majority? How are Christians to act if they are in the minority?

Why are the Psalms neglected today?

– Alida Sewell