always be ready…

Your terrified jailer wants saving… how would you help him?

Issues around the meaning, message and method of salvation – and especially the direct questions of how one can be saved – is a major theme of the book of Acts. This question shapes much of Luke’s narrative, so how we understand and apply the teaching from Acts today will govern much of our mission and ministry.

The direct question in Acts 16:30, comes from the Philippian jailer and is addressed to Paul and Silas. However, the context of this question belongs to the wider setting of the ministry in, and around, the Roman colony of Philippi, beginning at Acts 16:12. Before we look specifically at the question of verse 30, let’s look at the wider context.

Paul and Silas are involved in a faithful and effective new ministry around Philippi. Their ministry is ‘born’ when Paul recognizes and obeys the guidance of the Holy Spirit (16:6). In consequence, he obeys the ‘Macedonian’ vision he had earlier received (16:9-10). As the apostle and his companions arrive in Philippi, they seek out on the Sabbath a Jewish synagogue community. This is their normal mission practice. However, the Roman colony of Philippi (following the example of Rome, under the authority of Emperor Claudius) has, in a climate of anti-Semitic fervour, only recently expelled its sizeable Jewish population. No synagogue, therefore, can be found – probably because the Jewish population lacks the ‘minyan’, the quorum of ten Jewish males required for public worship. Only a few Jewish women and perhaps some God-fearing Gentile women have gathered by the banks of the Gangites River. Often Jewish communities would meet by a river and synagogues were often built close to rivers, so the running water could be used for ritual washing. Maybe the gathering of this small, and perhaps deeply saddened and traumatized group (a remnant from the wider exiled community), by the banks of the Gangites would have stirred folk memories of an earlier exile and earlier gatherings by the rivers of Babylon where their ancestors sat and where they wept when remembering Zion (Psalm 137:1).

The absence of a Jewish synagogue community must have been a setback for Paul, yet he does not despise small beginnings and he speaks to the few women who have gathered. In fact the focus on ministering to women and the elevated status of women within the emerging Church community is a key characteristic of Luke’s writings. There is something intriguingly ‘modern’ about Paul’s approach! The initial mission work in Philippi focuses on two women; firstly, on Lydia and then, immediately following this, on the unnamed slave girl. Lydia accepts – and believes – the Gospel message and responds by being baptized and by offering hospitality. Interestingly, these three steps (believing, baptism and service) are echoed in the Jailer’s response later in this section.

Economic Asset!

Following this, Paul and his companions encounter the slave girl who is a prized economic asset to her owners via her demonic activity. She recognizes the truth of Paul’s ministry as she shouts; “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” Eventually, Paul commands the demonic force within the girl to leave her, and she is wonderfully set free. One of the consequences of this is that the girl’s owners lose their economic asset and they soon turn violently against Paul and Silas.

Note the subtlety and cleverness of the owners, as they bring charges against Paul and Silas. Firstly, they conceal the real reasons for their anger and make no mention of the slave girl. Secondly, they appeal to anti-Semitism, stating that “These men are Jews”. And thirdly, they play up their Roman status by speaking of “us Romans”. The charges they bring are somewhat vague. The crowd nevertheless soon joins in with this attack and Paul and Silas are stripped, flogged and thrown into jail. Note that there is no indication of any trial, nor opportunity for Paul and Silas to prepare a defense, and there appears to be no due legal process. In one sense this should not surprise us, for in any society where anti-Semitism goes unchecked (as it clearly had done in Philippi with the expulsion of Jewish people) justice will soon flee. Sadly, we can see this pattern throughout history, so we must oppose anti-Semitism today from wherever it flows – be this from elements of the politically motivated hard left, from the fascist right, from secular uniformity, from an Islamic narrative, or from ‘Christian’ replacement theology.

Paul and Silas are quickly thrown into prison and the jailer is mentioned for the first time in verse 23. He seems a brutal man as he chains Paul and Silas into the stocks (which clearly was not necessary) and makes no attempt to care for the wounds of these new prisoners. Following this, we have the witness of prayer and praise led by Paul and Silas (16:25). Their worship is truly inspiring and challenging when one considers what Paul and Silas have just experienced. A number of Biblical commentators have focused on this powerful witness. G Campbell Morgan insightfully states: “I think that Paul would probably have had to sing solos, had I been Silas!”

As Paul and Silas continue to praise God a violent earthquake shakes the prison, cell doors fly open and the prisoners’ chains are broken. At this point the jailer wakes up (presumably he had not heard Paul and Silas praising God) and, seeing the jail doors open, assumes the prisoners have escaped, so prepares to kill himself (16:27). Suicide seems the only option left for him as often it was the rule at that time that, if prisoners escaped, the jailer responsible was required to forfeit his own life. Herod’s execution of the sentries (Acts 12:19) gives support to this understanding.

Paul shouts out that the prisoners have not escaped and tells the jailer not to harm himself. In consequence, the jailer asks the key question; “What must I do to be saved?” Where did this question come from and what does the jailer mean by it? Possibly the question of being saved and the message of salvation had been stirred up in the jailer because he had heard, at some point, the shouting of the slave girl (16:17)

I’m in a fix – Help!

I don’t think at this moment the jailer is asking a neat theological question such as ‘how do I become a Christian?’ or ‘what must I do to enter heaven?’ More likely he is literally asking how he can be saved from the situation he is in, following the earthquake. Paul and Silas begin by ministering to the jailer where he is at. They clearly state the central truth that the jailer must believe (trust) in Jesus.

From this first step they went on to teach and speak with him more about the ‘word of the Lord’ (verses 31-32). There is some level of on-going teaching from verse 32 and during this time I am sure Paul and Silas begin to unpack more about the meaning of salvation. They take the jailer from his immediate crisis point to a place where he can make a full initial response to the Gospel message – a response which begins for the jailer – and for each one of us – with believing in Jesus.

A full response to Jesus’ atoning death and glorious resurrection involves genuine repentance and faith. This belief needs to be marked, and celebrated, by baptism and from this point we seek to live a Holy life (Hebrews 12:14) open to, and empowered by, the Holy Spirit.

In the text we can see these steps within the response of the jailer (which has the same elements within it as in the case of Lydia). He believes, he is baptized and he begins to live out his inner faith by outward actions, namely by washing their wounds (16:33) and preparing a meal for them. Through all of this the jailer and his household experience the joy (16:34) which flows from the gift of salvation. Some of the early Church Fathers add a commentary to the text, namely that the water first used by the Jailer to wash the wounds of Paul and Silas was the very same water used by Paul and Silas to baptize the jailer! Perhaps it was!

Clearly there’s a lot more we can explore and reflect upon from this text and from the missionary work of Paul and Silas, but let us at least embrace these six values for today’s mission:

• The desire always to recognize and obey the leading of the Holy Spirit.
• The willingness to embrace small beginnings.
• The determination to find truly Biblical models of ministry – male and female.
• The strength and maturity to continue to praise God despite the challenges and difficulties we may face.
• The ability to present the Gospel clearly and concisely.
• The wisdom in meeting people where they are and in helping them to reach the place where they can make a full initial response to Jesus.

These values ought to be evident in our own lives and within our own Church communities. Hopefully, they have also been evident throughout the 209-year history of The Church’s Ministry among Jewish People, and where they may have been missing, may the LORD forgive us and restore us.