Jim McDonald

When Paul began his second journey, his companion in travel was Silas. Together they traveled to Lystra and Derbe when Timothy joined their company. From there they traveled to Troas where a fourth brother joined with them: Luke, the beloved physician. The Holy Spirit had forbidden them to travel to the right or to the left, and in Troas Paul saw in a vision a man from Macedonian saying, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.” From this they concluded that the Lord wished them to preach in that province and so they sailed from Troas to Philippi, a major city there.

There was no synagogue in Philippi, but Paul had heard of a “place of prayer” at a riverside where Jewish believers met on the Sabbath. Paul and his companions joined the group and spoke to the women who had gathered there. One of those women, named Lydia, heard the preachers and the Lord “opened her heart to give heed to the things which Paul spoke,” and both she and her household were baptized. She insisted that the preachers abide in her home while they were there preaching, which they did.

As Paul traveled about in the city, going to the place of prayer, a young servant woman who had a “spirit of divination” followed them saying, “These men are servants of the most High God who proclaim unto you the way of salvation.” After being followed for days by this young woman, Paul turned and told the possessing spirit to come out of her. It did, but the loss of the spirit meant a loss of income to the owners of the woman. They then disturbed the city saying that the preachers, being Jews, “do exceedingly trouble our city and set forth customs which it is not lawful us to receive, or to observe, being Romans” (Acts 16:20). No apparent effort was made on the part of the authorities to question Paul and Silas, but they “tore their garments from off them and beat them with rods” (Acts 16:22). Then they threw them in prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. The jailer put them into the inner prison and secured them in stocks.

Paul and Silas counted it a blessing to “suffer dishonor for the name” and that night they sang praises and prayed to God. The other prisoners were listening, but the jailer was asleep. At midnight a great earthquake occurred. It shook the foundation of the prison, caused the doors to the prison to open, and released the bonds which held the prisoners. The jailer woke up, appraised the circumstances, and supposing that all the prisoners had escaped, drew his sword to take his life. Paul cried out and said, “Do thyself no harm. We are all here.” The jailer called for a light and burst in where Paul and Silas were; falling down before them, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Paul responded, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house” (Acts 16:27-31). Paul and Silas preached “the word of the Lord” to the jailer and his household. The jailer “took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was baptized, he and all his, immediately” (Acts 16:33).

The record continued: “And he brought them up into his house, and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, with all his house, having believed in God” (Acts 16:34). In v. 31 the jailer had been told, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house.” Now, in v. 34 the same record said that the jailer and his house “rejoiced greatly, having believed in God.” What occurred between verses 31 and 34?

Notice that Paul preached “the word of the Lord” to the jailer and his household. That was necessary because Paul told them that to be saved they had believe on the Lord Jesus. In order to believe on Jesus, they had to first hear about Him. However, at this time they knew very little about Jesus. To remedy that situation, it was necessary that Jesus be preached to them. Some years after this Paul wrote a letter to the Romans and said, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in him they have not believed and how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?” (Romans 10:13-15) concluding by saying, “So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). And so it was with the jailer — their faith came after they had heard the Word of God.

But, there was something that occurred before the record says that the jailer “believed.” It is said that the jailer took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. What is the significance of this action? The shows that the jailer realized he was wrong to have beaten these men without learning what they had actually done. Now he knew and he was sorry for what he had done that day. By washing their stripes, he attempted to do what he could to correct his wrong. Jesus said, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). Jesus told His apostles, “… and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). On Pentecost, hearers of the Word were stricken in their hearts when they heard Peter say they had crucified the Son of God. In their anguish they plead, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter’s response: “Repent ye and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins …” (Acts 2:37-38). Who will affirm that sinners can be saved who do not repent? All recognize and acknowledge the necessity of repentance. Repentance on the part of the sinner, is a part of his “believing.”

There was one other thing the jailer and his house did before it is said that they “had believed in God” — they were baptized. The same Lord who commanded men to believe to saved, commanded men to repent to be saved, and commanded men to be baptized to be saved (Mark 16:15-16). Both repentance and baptism are part of one’s faith. If one believes in Christ, he will repent because God has told him he must be. And if one believes in Christ, he will also be baptized because God has told him he must be.

The jailer had believed the words which Paul, directed by the Holy Spirit, said to him. He was born of the spirit just as Jesus told Nicodemus he must be. The jailer had been baptized, thus he was “born of the water” which Jesus also had said he must be (John 3:3, 5). Having been born of the water and of the spirit, the jailer was a new creature. He had been born again. Because he had been born again, the jailer had been converted to Jesus Christ.