Sir, What Must I Do To Be Saved? - Acts 16

²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. ²⁷ The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

Paul and Silas have been beaten and/or flogged.  Their backs have many stripes on them.  I doubt they got medical attention following that before they were put into prison.  Yet they are praying and singing hymns, they are worshipping God! 

I heard a testimony recently and the person spoke of many difficult life events following the impact of her dying husband and Hurricane Michael that had all happened in the last two years.  Yet in that testimony I was struck by how often she praised God and declared that He had never left them but was there with them through it all. 

Paul and Silas are worshipping in difficult circumstances.  But because of this, a man gets saved.  The prison guard knew he would bear the responsibility of all the prisoners having escaped.  Remember that Herod had everyone who was guarding Peter killed for his escape.  When you are putting the sword to your chest and about to die, you start to think about eternity.

²⁹ The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰ He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

I imagine that the jailer had heard some of the prayers and some of the singing.  Now, his life is spared because Paul and Silas have not escaped, but have remained.  He wants to have what they’ve got.  If only men and women would humble themselves and ask what this jailor asked!  This would be a different country, there would be different families, different priorities, different morals.

What a reward it must have been to Paul and Silas to see God’s salvation after they had been beaten and are jailed.  Their suffering is not in vain.  God creates beauty in disgusting places.  God brings life in the midst of pain and suffering, even in death. 

³¹ They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” ³² Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. ³³ At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. ³⁴ The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

The jailer takes them to his house and washes their wounds.  They all believe in Jesus and are saved.  They learn the gospel message and are filled with joy.  Just a paragraph earlier, Paul and Silas are being beaten and thrown in jail, now a family is saved and filled with joy.  These are two completely different scenes.  The only difference is what happened in the middle.  Paul and Silas sitting in a prison praying and singing hymns.  They worshipped God and God changed the circumstances. 

We should be aware that worship to God is important.  It can change not just our own life, but the lives of people around us.  Here, a whole family is changed for all eternity because God honored their worship.

³⁵ When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.” ³⁶ The jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.”

³⁷ But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”

Paul was essentially a lawyer.  He had been so well trained in the Jewish law and then how to function within the Roman law that he was very likely much more educated on how to maneuver inside these than any typical person.  The magistrates likely realized that what they had done was illegal.  Romans had a legal society and courts.  They had been charged and beaten outside of that system. 

Paul wants a public recognition of their innocence.  He likely does this to protect the new believers in Philippi who would not be recognizing the Roman gods and some of their customs any longer.

³⁸ The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. ³⁹ They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. ⁴⁰ After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left.

Paul gets his affirmation.  The city leaders are “alarmed”.  I feel like Luke is using minimal language to express their concern here.  They can be sent to jail themselves for sending a Roman citizen through punishment with no legal cause.  They realize that they are in jeopardy if Paul and Silas choose to undertake a legal effort.  So they request for them to leave.  While they were politically motivated to have them beaten and jailed to keep peace in the town, now they are politically motivated to separate themselves from the event all together.