AP

Studies in Acts

The Drama Continues! (Acts 16:29-40)

Acts 16:29-30 After he had asked for lights, the shocked jailer ran into the prison and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. In this split second he had seen in the earthquake a divine demonstration that these prisoners had been wrongly arrested and mistreated. These men were not criminals, but divine witnesses whom he ought to honour by bending his knees! He then brought Paul and Silas inside, and with the most respectful form of address, he asked: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Was he afraid that their God would take revenge upon him? Or had he known what the slave girl had been crying out: “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they are showing you the way to be saved,” and was he asking like a typical pagan what he had to do for that? After all, his idol gods constantly demanded performance. Grace was unheard of.

Verses 31-32 The answer of Paul and Silas was as clear as crystal, and since that time, has functioned as one of the most striking summaries of the gospel, one that has encouraged countless hearts. The jailer needed to “do” nothing to be saved. “Believe [place your trust] in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household” (John 6:29; Romans 10:9). Not one word about becoming a Jew, about circumcision and living according to the Law, but only believe in the Lord Jesus.

That same night, Paul and Silas with their pain-ridden bodies preached the gospel to the jailer, his household, and their fellow prisoners. If they placed their trust in the Lord Jesus, they all could be saved eternally. Even though both evangelists would have talked only for about an hour, they could nonetheless have told them quite a lot about what God had proclaimed and done through the Lord Jesus. While Paul and Silas were talking, an even greater miracle occurred than the opening of the prison: the jailer and his household came to faith! They repented from their idol gods and turned to the God of Israel and to his crucified and risen Son. This happened in the space of a few hours! The Holy Spirit was working there very powerfully.

Verses 33-34 The faith of the jailer immediately led to deeds of kindness (cf. James 2:14-17). Pagan cruelty gave way to Christian compassion. On the same night, he took Paul and Silas home with him. There he cleaned up their wounds, and then he was baptized. So he washed them from their wounds, but he himself was also washed, from his sins. Together with his wife and children (if he had any children) and the possible slaves that belonged to his “house,” he received the sign and seal of his incorporation into the Christian church.

In the Roman world, most sects and religious groups were exclusively for a select company of those who were initiated. Women, children, and slaves were automatically excluded. But just as he had done with Lydia, here the apostle acted according to the generous covenant right that the LORD had instituted with Abraham. If the jailer as the head of his “house” came to faith, the Lord would immediately lay his hand graciously upon that entire “house”: on his wife and children, indeed, even on his slaves and their possible children.

Still in the dead of night, the jailer took Paul and Silas, who had not eaten for a long time, and set a meal before his honoured guests. Paul and Silas no longer harboured any objections against non-kosher food. With the joy of his first love, the jailer rejoiced that he with his entire household had come to faith in God. For the first time in his life, he knew him as the living Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who loves people and forgives their sins and promises eternal life.

Verses 35-37 The superstitious Romans viewed an earthquake as a sign that the gods were angered. Would the city rulers have thought in this context of the foreigners who had been mistreated the previous day at their command and without any kind of trial? When day dawned, the praetors sent the ministers of justice (literally, “rod carriers”) to the jailer to issue the command: “Set the men free!” Were the praetors thinking that these Jews would now have learned their lesson? Paul and Silas had first been arrested and mistreated without any judicial investigation and trial, and now they were being set free with the same arbitrariness.

The jailer himself was relieved, of course, as he brought the message of the praetors to Paul: “We must set you free. You may leave. Go in peace!” But Paul did not simply go along with that. As he had already shown often, he was surely prepared to suffer injustice for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not want Christians to sue each other in court before the worldly judge. In such a case, he wrote: “Why not rather suffer wrong?” (1 Cor.6:7). But in saying this, he was not arguing that governments and judges may ease up when it comes to maintaining justice and law. All of Scripture testified: “The LORD loves justice” (Psalm 37:28). A righteous verdict is a blessing for a land (Proverbs 29:4), which believers may use with confidence if necessary. The apostle himself did so several times (Acts 22:25; 25:11). Only when God withholds from us the permissible means for obtaining justice does the duty arise for us to suffer injustice.

According to Paul, things had not yet reached that point. The city council had committed a serious breach of the law by unlawfully beating someone who was a Roman citizen. But more important than his personal honour was for Paul the honour of the young church in Philippi. If he had let this grave injustice run its course, or amicably let it go, then after his departure people could have asked mockingly: “Was not the founder of this sect flogged as someone who had disturbed the public order, and after spending a night behind bars, was he not expelled from the city? Does the company of his followers also consist of such agitators?” This could have unleashed new incidents after his departure (on this, see Philippians 1:27-30), and could have brought reproach upon the preaching of the gospel.

Verses 38-40 When the praetorian guard brought this fact of Roman citizenship to the praetors, terror seized them. A Roman citizen was never allowed to be beaten (cf. Acts 22:25), even less locked up without a trial. They had committed a judicial crime! In so doing, it was not these arrested men, but they themselves who had endangered the public order in the city (cf. 16:20). The higher authorities could well charge them with a capital crime! (cf. 22:29).

Therefore, they quickly made the best they could out of a botched job. They went in person to the prison. After they had Paul and Silas led out – in front of a crowd? – with the requisite respect, they politely besought them to leave the city, apparently to prevent further unrest. In this way, by means of this official rehabilitation, not only the apostles but also the newly converted believers were cleared of any politically dangerous slander. Later, Paul could visit Philippi once more unhindered (Acts 20:6).

Luke would have reported this last activity of the magistrates to His Excellency Theophilus with satisfaction. For one of the characteristics of both of his books was the goal of persuading this highly positioned Roman of the truth that Christians are not disturbers of the peace, but loyal citizens, whom he as a high official could confidently join.

The evangelists were prepared to honour the request of the magistrates to leave the city, but they did not hurry. It was not an ignominious flight. Moreover, the weak physical condition of Paul and Silas would also have played a role here (what an advantage it was to have Dr. Luke with them!). They first went to the house of Lydia. Her dwelling had become the meeting place of the church, for there they encountered brothers. It appears that a number of people had come to faith. The young house church had also endured distressing hours during the riot and the arrest of the apostles, also with a view to its own future. For suffering on account of your religion had already for centuries been a familiar phenomenon to the Jews, but for these former pagans it was something unfamiliar! Therefore, the apostle did not leave the city before he had encouraged them (cf. Acts 14:22; Philippians 1:27-30). Surely, he also encouraged them by relating that the Lord had brought the jailer and his household to faith on the previous night.

Questions:

How are we to endure persecution? What form is persecution likely to take today? How is it different in Western countries as compared with non-Western countries?

The Bible pays great attention to families and households, yet in our society the family is under attack. Why?

Paul knew when to stand on his rights of citizenship. As Christians, when is it right to stand on our rights?

– Alida Sewell