Acts 16:29

Act_16:29-34

Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling.

The Philippian jailer

I. The state of his mind before conversion.

1. He was a careless sinner. This appears not so much from his official acts; for the guilt of persecution rested on the people and magistrates: but from his conduct as depicted in Act_16:26, in which we have the picture of a worldly, careless, godless man, driven to desperation by an unexpected temporal calamity. He had no fear of God, since he was more afraid of them that could kill the body, etc.; he had no care for his soul, since he was ready to peril its salvation; he was utterly reckless about eternity, since to escape present misery he was about to rush unsummoned into the presence of his Judge. The idea of suicide could not have occurred to any man unless he were utterly careless alike to God and His everlasting prospects.

2. But a change was wrought before conversion; from being a careless he becomes a convinced sinner. This preliminary change consisted in strong convictions of conscience and lively apprehensions of danger; and these, although suddenly produced, were profound and sincere (Act_16:29). Here is a great change from apathy to concern, from recklessness to anxious inquiry. This conviction may be accounted for by what he had seen and heard; the confession of the slave girl; the conduct of the apostles; the earthquake; Pauls exhortation.

3. But while a marked change had been wrought, it was not conversion. Conviction, while it precedes conversion, is not always followed by it. He had remorse, but remorse is not repentance; he had fear; but fear is not faith; he had an apprehension of danger, but danger may be apprehended while the method of deliverance is unknown. These convictions were useful as preparatory means; they were hopeful symptoms; but they may be, and often are, stifled, resisted, and overcome. That he was not converted is evident from his question, which implies that as yet he was ignorant of the ground of a sinners hope, and that he was disposed to look to something that he might himself do, rather than what might be Divinely done for him.

II. The means by which his conversion was effected. It matters little by what circumstances a sinner is first awakened to inquire; whether by the earthquake, or the still small voice. But while the circumstances are various the means are the same in all--the truth as it is in Jesus, the full and free gospel of the grace of God. The jailer was not converted by the earthquake, on the contrary, the effect of that was suicidal terror; but what the miraculous event could not do was done by the gospel. He was directed to look out of himself to Christ, to relinquish all hope of salvation by works, and to work it by faith. The exhortation implies--

1. That he should believe the truth concerning Christ--which is involved in the names given him.

(1) Jesus--i.e., Saviour.

(2) Christ, the Lords anointed.

(3) Lord.

2. That believing the truth concerning Christ, he should place his own personal trust and reliance in Christ alone as One able to save to the uttermost. The gospel thus proposed was--

(1) A suitable means, as prescribing a remedy in all respects adapted to the evils he felt or feared.

(2) Sufficient, as containing everything to instruct, encourage, or persuade.

III. The nature of the change. His conversion properly consisted in believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Until he believed he was unconverted; but as soon as he believed he became a converted man. The production of pure faith is not a mere change of opinion, but a radical and thorough renovation attested by certain fruits.

1. He thirsted for more instruction (Act_16:32).

2. He was concerned for the souls of his family.

3. His faith wrought by love.

4. He had peace and joy in believing.

5. He made an open profession of his faith.

Conclusion: Learn--

1. That men in their unconverted state are often careless, and destitute of all fear of God and concern for their souls.

2. While they are thus careless God is often pleased to make use of some solemn and awakening dispensation to arouse and alarm them.

3. Sometimes the trials and disappointments of sinners only serve to exasperate their natural enmity, as was the case with the jailer, or attempted suicide.

4. Convictions are only useful when they produce an earnest spirit of thoughtfulness and inquiry.

5. Conviction only ends in conversion when a true sense of sin is combined with an apprehension of Gods mercy in Christ. (J. Buchanan, D. D.)

The Philippian jailer

I. The awakening of the jailer. The first circumstance that appears powerfully to have affected his mind was, great temporal calamity threatening his immediate ruin and death, Great and sudden and heavy afflictions are often sent by the providence of God that He may bring men to recollection and prayer. There were many things here, all concurring, which powerfully affected the jailers mind. But these were only outward circumstances; and it was only by the special grace of God that they were made serviceable to his soul. Many people suffer huge afflictions, but never think of God in them; and so their afflictions come to no blessed issue. It was not, indeed, till after the jailer had come to himself that he thinks about his soul, and sees the hand of God in the surrounding circumstances. In the day of Gods conviction men are thankful for help from those whom they had reviled: and in the great day of all, when the door of repentance shall be forever closed, the persecutors of the true Church of Jesus shall fall down before them, and be as ashes under the soles of their feet.

II. The consequences of his awakening, in his earnest inquiry. Let me point out to you what it is to be saved.

1. To be delivered from all our sins.

2. To be delivered from all the penalty of all these evil acts.

3. To be placed in a capacity to overcome them.

4. To be saved from the practice of sin, as well as from the condemnation of it.

5. To be delivered from the devil.

6. To be delivered from the world.

7. To be saved from the curse of the Almighty.

8. To be delivered from hell.

But to be saved is far more than this: it is to be brought from sin to holiness, from the curse to the blessing, from death to life, from unquietness to peace, from Satan to God.

III. The answer given to this inquiring, awakening man. They call away his attention at once from himself to Christ, to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He entered into a new life from that very hour. And now, observe, the jailer has found Jesus; and his terror is turned into joy. As the blessed fruits of his believing, his heart is filled with joy and love to the brethren; and he attended, with swift obedience, to the Lords laws, and entered, by baptism, upon his Christian course. Conclusion: In the narrative observe--

1. A remarkable instance of free and rich mercy to a desperate sinner reduced to the last extremity.

2. An instructive instance of the mysteriousness of Gods ways in the accomplishment of His purposes of mercy.

3. That the salvation of God is as free as it is vast.

4. The simplicity of the gospel.

5. That all the children of God are not awakened in the same way.

6. A picture of the world.

This earth is a prison; the persons in it are condemned to die--yea, a thousand are led forth to execution daily. And though the unconverted man may not draw a sword to plunge it into his own heart, the sword of Divine vengeance is unsheathed against him, and may pierce him at any moment. And whereas, while Paul and Silas were praising God for redemption, the earthquake shook the prison, and the fetters fell off the prisoners, we see, as it were, a picture of the blessings of the gospel, whereby the prisoner leaps to loose his chains, and those who are enabled to believe are emancipated from the bondage of sin, and brought to the glorious liberty of the children of God. (T. Snow, A. M.)

The conversion of the jailer

I. The initiative stages to conversion.

1. A terrible sense of danger. The earthquake, and the strange, sublime conduct of the prisoners, roused his guilty conscience.

2. An earnest spirit of inquiry. What must I do, etc.

3. A readiness to do whatever is required.

II. The exclusive means of conversion. Faith in Christ is indispensable to produce this moral change.

1. A change of character requires a change in beliefs. We are controlled and moulded by motives: motives are beliefs.

2. The new beliefs necessary to produce this change must be directed to Christ. Christ alone gives us--

(1) The true ideal of character.

(2) The true way of reaching it.

(3) The true aids to enable us to do so.

III. The glorious issue of conversion. Thou shalt be saved. What is salvation? It is not in any sense a physical change, nor merely an intellectual change, nor necessarily a local change. It is a moral revolution. It is the soul rising from sensualism to spirituality, from selfishness to benevolence, from the world to God. This conversion--

1. Will ensure the salvation of our own souls. Thou shalt, etc.

2. Will lead to the salvation of others. And thy house--not, of course, that his belief would save his family independently of theirs; but that it would prompt him to use such efforts as would, under God, lead his family to a saving faith. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

A man in two conditions

I. What kind of man before conversion? The jailer a remarkable instance of the power of Gods grace. He was a stern Roman disciplinarian. He respected authority. He was probably an old soldier, who for good service in the past was rewarded with this post. This was creditable to him. We must be faithful in our daily work. I grant there is a little harshness in the execution of his orders; he was not commanded to thrust, but to keep them safely, and he tried his best to do so. He goes to bed. He is asleep. An earthquake comes. Not alarmed about his wife and family. His one business was, under the seal of the Roman Emperor, to look after the prison doors. Would that all Christians were as faithful to their office as this unenlightened man. He finds the door open. He fears disgrace. He cannot combat the charge of neglected duty. He would have killed himself. He was a man sternly upright. I am always glad when such men are saved. They are not always saved. They stand high in public esteem, and are apt to forget their Master in heaven. The jailer was a man of few words. What must I do to be saved? Men of this kind are often cold. It is hard to warm their hearts. He was a man of action and decision, he says to this man, Go, and he goeth; he is prompt himself.

II. What occasioned his conversion? He had received some instruction before, he had heard the testimony of the girl, and possibly the words of Paul. They did not impress him. He slept afterwards, he was not made to tremble because the prisoners had escaped; this fear had been banished by Paul. What then, the miracle, that the doors were opened, and yet that none had escaped! What gladness filled his soul! No blame possible. He was brought near to the unseen world by the danger he had escaped; and as the light shone around he saw his past life, and the Eternal Spirit unveiled that life and made him to see the evil of it. Then his conversion grew out of the further instruction of the apostle. Plain teaching and a simple heart to receive it make quick work of the matter. Let us thank God for any circumstances which secure the conversion of a soul. Do not complain because the earthquake is not in the conversion; no matter how accomplished, or through whom.

III. What sort of a convert he made.

1. He was a believing convert. He believed without delay or doubt. He was told to believe, and he did. Who will not believe what the experience of thousands promises to be true?

2. He was an humble convert. He fell down at the feet of the apostle. He waited upon them in his house. A convinced soul does not want the highest seat in the synagogue. If good people dispute at all, let it be for a place at the feet of Christ.

3. He was a ready convert. Hearing--believing--fellowship--all in the midnight hour. When we know what Christ would have us do, any moment of delay is sin.

4. He was a practical convert. He washed their stripes. He set food before them. Not easy to get up a feast in the middle of the night, He fetched them the best. He is the right sort of a convert who wants to be doing something for Christ; he can soon find something to do.

5. He was a joyful convert.

6. He was an influential convert. All in his house were converted.

7. He was a sensible convert. He still kept on in his position, he did not give up keeping the gaol. Who so fit to be a jailer as a man who knows the Lord and will be humane? We like those who are converted to keep to their business and to make money for the cause of Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 16:29-30. Then he, &c. — The jailer, greatly terrified by the earthquake, and astonished at Paul’s discovering his purpose to kill himself; called for a light — Greek, φωτα, lights, implying, it seems, that on this alarm several of his attendants came with torches, and were present at the inquiry which immediately followed; and sprang in — With a violent and impetuous motion, into the inner prison, and, in the presence of his domestics, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas — Begging them, doubtless, to forgive the injuries he had been obliged to do them; for he was now convinced that they were, what the possessed damsel called them, even the servants of the most high God, who showed to men the way of salvation. And then, in the most respectful manner, brought them out — From the inner prison, in which they were confined; and said, Sirs — Κυριοι, a style this in which he did not address them the day before; what must I do to be saved? — From the guilt I feel, and the vengeance I fear; probably referring to the testimony of the Pythoness, which had been so often and so publicly repeated. God, however, undoubtedly then set his sins in array before him, and convinced him, in the clearest and strongest manner, that the wrath of God abode upon him. Added to this, probably, “a vast multitude of ideas rushed into his mind at once. He saw by the earthquake the power and displeasure of God; and, together with this, the sweetness and joy of Paul and Silas in their bonds, their willing continuance in prison, when they might easily have escaped, and their generous solicitude for the life of one who had used them so ill, were all circumstances fit to strike powerfully on a mind so passionate as his seems to have been, and might all do their part toward convincing him that these men were indeed divine messengers, and that the divine displeasure was falling on the city, and particularly on himself, for persecuting them. Perhaps some kind and pious words, which Paul and Silas, who took all opportunities of doing good, might have uttered while he was fastening their feet in the stocks, might throw further light on his mind, when recollected amidst such extremity of danger; and, no doubt, the Spirit of God added conviction and energy to all.” — Doddridge.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chapter 12

ST. PAUL IN MACEDONIA.

Act_16:29-31; Act_17:1-2; Act_17:10

TROAS was at this time the termination of St. Pauls Asiatic travels. He had passed diagonally right through Asia Minor, following the great Roman roads which determined his line of march. From Troas he proceeded to Philippi, and for exactly the same reason. All the great roads formed under the emperors down to the time of Constantine the Great led to Rome. When the seat of empire was moved to Constantinople, all the Asiatic roads converged upon that city; but in St. Pauls day Rome was the worlds centre of attraction, and thither the highways all tended. This fact explains St. Pauls movements. The Egnatian road was one of the great channels of communication established for State purposes by Rome, and this road ran from Neapolis, where St. Paul landed, through Philippi on to Dyrrachium, a port on the Adriatic, whence the traveller took ship to Brundusium, the modern Brindisi, and thence reached Rome. What a striking commentary we find in this simple fact upon the words of St. Paul Gal_4:4 : "When the fulness of the time came God sent forth His Son." Roman dominion involved much suffering and war and bloodshed, but it secured the network of communication, the internal peace, and the steady, regular government which now covered Europe as well as Asia, and thus for the first time in the worlds history rendered the diffusion of the Gospel possible, as St. Pauls example here shows. The voyage from Troas to Neapolis was taken by the Apostle after the usual fashion of the time. Neapolis was the port of Philippi, whence it is distant some eight miles. Travellers from the East to Rome always landed there, and then took the Egnatian Road which started from Neapolis. If they were official persons they could use the public postal service, post-houses being established at a distance of six miles from one another, where relays of horses were kept at the public expense, to carry persons travelling on the imperial service. Paul and Silas, Timothy and Luke, must, however, have travelled on foot along the Egnatian Road from Neapolis to Philippi, which was their first objective point, according to St. Pauls usual policy, of attacking large and important centres of population, and then leaving the sacred leaven to work out into the surrounding mass of paganism. Philippi amply rewarded the wisdom of his plan, and the Philippian Church became noted for its zeal, its faith, its activity, among the Churches which owed their origin to the Apostle, as we learn from the Epistles addressed to the Corinthians and to the Philippians themselves a short time after the foundation of the Philippian Church.

Now let us look at the circumstances under which that foundation was laid. To understand them we must go back upon the course of history. Philippi was a city built by King Philip, the father of Alexander the Great. After the conquest of Macedonia by the Romans, it became famous as the scene of the great battle between Brutus and Cassius on the one hand, and Mark Antony and Augustus on the other, which decided the fate of the empire and influenced the course of the worlds history as few other battles have done. At the time of St. Pauls visit the memory of that battle was fresh, and the outward and visible signs thereof were to be seen on every side, as indeed some of them are still to be seen, the triumphal arches, for instance, erected in memory of the victory and the mound or rampart of earth raised by Brutus to hinder the advance of the opposing forces. But these things had for the holy travellers a very slight interest, as their hearts were set upon a mightier conflict and a nobler war far than any ever before waged upon earths surface. There is no mention made in the sacred narrative of the memories connected with the place, and yet St. Luke, as an honest writer setting down facts of which he had formed an important part, lets slip some expressions which involve and throw us back upon the history of the place for an, explanation, showing how impossible it is to grasp the full force and meaning of the sacred writers unless we strive to read the Bible with the eyes of the people who lived at the time and for whom it was written. St. Luke calls Philippi "a city of Macedonia, the first of the district, a colony." Now this means that in that time it was situated in the Roman province of Macedonia, that it was either the capital of the division of Macedonia, in which it was situated, Macedonia being subdivided into four distinct divisions which were kept perfectly separate, or else that it was the first city the traveller met upon entering Macedonia from Asia, and further that it was a Roman colony, and thus possessed peculiar privileges. When we read in the Bible of colonies we must not understand the word in our modern sense. Colonies were then simply transcripts of the original city whence they had come. Roman colonies were miniatures or copies of Rome itself transplanted into the provinces, and ruling as such amid the conquered races where they were placed. They served a twofold purpose. They acted as garrisons to restrain the turbulence of the neighbouring tribes; and if we study Roman geography carefully we shall find that they were always placed in neighbourhoods where their military importance is plainly manifest; and further still, they were used as convenient places to locate the veteran soldiers of Italy who had served their time, where they were rewarded with grants of land, and were utilising at the same time the skill and experience in military matters which they had gained, for the general benefit of the State.

Augustus made Philippi into a colony, erecting a triumphal arch to celebrate his victory over Brutus, and placing there a large settlement of his veterans who secured for him this important outpost. The colonies which were thus dispersed along the military frontier, as we should put it in modern language, were specially privileged. All the settlers were Roman citizens, and the government of the colony was like that of the mother city itself, in the hands of two magistrates, called in Greek Strategoi, or in Latin Praetors, who ruled according to the laws of the Twelve Tables and after Roman methods, though perhaps all the neighbouring cities were still using their ancient laws and customs handed down from times long prior to the Roman Conquest. The details given us by St. Luke are in the strictest accordance in all these respects with the facts which we know independently concerning the history and political status of Philippi.

St. Paul and his companions arrived in Philippi in the early part of the week. He was by this time a thoroughly experienced traveller. Five years later, when writing his Second Epistle to Corinth, he tells us that he had been already three times shipwrecked; so that, unless peculiarly unfortunate, he must have already made extended and repeated sea voyages, though up to the present we have only heard of the journeys from Antioch to Cyprus, from Cyprus to Perga, and from Attalia back to Antioch. A two days voyage across the fresh and rolling waters of the Mediterranean, followed by a steep climb over the mountain Pangaeus which intervenes between Philippi and its port Neapolis, made, however, a rest of a day or two very acceptable to the Apostle and his friends. St. Paul never expected too much from his own body, or from the bodies of his companions; and though he knew the work of a worlds salvation was pressing, yet he could take and enjoy a well-earned holiday from time to time. There was nothing in St. Paul of that eternal fussiness which we at times see in people of strong imaginations but weak self-control, who, realising the awful amount of woe and wickedness in the world, can never be at rest even for a little. The men of God remained quiet therefore {Act_16:12-13} till the Sabbath Day, when, after their usual custom, they sought out in the early morning the Jewish place of worship, where St. Paul always first proclaimed the gospel. The Jewish colony resident at Philippi must have been a very small one. The Rabbinical rule was that where ten wise men existed there a synagogue might be established. There cannot therefore have been ten learned, respectable, and substantial Jews in Philippi competent to act as a local sanhedrin or court. Where, however, the Jews could not establish a synagogue, they did not live without any external expression of religion. They knew how easily neglect of public worship is followed by practical atheism, as we often see. Men may say indeed that God can be realised, and can be worshipped anywhere, - a very great truth and a very precious one for those who are unavoidably cut off from the public worship of the Most High; but a truth which has no application to those who wilfully cut themselves off from that worship which has the covenanted promise of His presence. It is not a good sign for the young men of this generation that so many of them utterly neglect public worship; for as surely as men act so, then present neglect will be followed by a total forgetfulness of the Eternal, and by a disregard of the laws which He has established amongst men. The Jews at Philippi did not follow this example; when they could not establish a synagogue they set apart an oratory or Place of Prayer, whither they resorted on the Sabbath Day to honour the God of their fathers, and to keep alive in their childrens hearts the memory of His laws and doings.

The original name of Philippi was Crenides, or Place of Streams. Beside one of these streams the Jews had placed their oratory, and there St. Paul preached his first sermon in Europe and gained Lydia, his first European convert, a Jewess by blood, a woman of Thyatira in Asia Minor by birth, of Philippi in Macedonia by residence, and a dyer in purple by trade. The congregation of women assembled at that oratory must have been a very small one. When Philippi did not afford a sufficient Jewish population for the erection of a synagogue such as was found among the smaller towns of Asia Minor, and such as we shall in the course of the present tour find to have existed at towns and cities of no great size in Greece and Macedonia, then we may be sure that the female population, who assembled that Sabbath morning to pray and listen to the Scriptures, must have been a small one. But St. Paul and his companions had learned already one great secret of the true evangelists life. They never despised a congregation because of its smallness. I have read somewhere in the writings of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva, a remark bearing on this point. De Sales was an extreme Roman Catholic, and his mind was injured and his mental views perverted in many respects by the peculiar training he thus received. But still he was in many respects a very saintly man, and his writings embody much that is good for every one. In one of his letters which I have read he deals with this very point, and speaks of the importance of small congregations, first, because they have no tendency to feed the preachers pride, but rather help to keep him humble; and secondly, because some of the most effective and fruitful sermons have been preached to extremely small congregations, two or three persons at most, some one of whom has afterwards turned out to be a most vigorous soldier of the Cross of Christ. The most effective sermon perhaps that ever was preached was that delivered to Saul of Tarsus when to him alone came the voice, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" And here again, in the Philippian Oratory, the congregation was but a small one, yet the Apostle despised it not. He and his companions bent all their powers to the work, threw their whole hearts into it, and as the result the Lord rewarded their earnest, thorough, faithful service as He rewards such service in every department of lifes action. The Lord opened the heart of Lydia so that she attended to the apostolic teaching, and she and all her household when duly instructed became baptised disciples of Jesus of Nazareth.

This was an important incident in the history of the Philippian Church, and was attended by far-reaching results. Lydia herself, like so many others of Gods most eminent saints, disappears at once and for ever from the scene. But her conversion was a fruitful one. St. Paul and his friends continued quietly but regularly working and teaching at the oratory. Lydia would seem to have been a widow, and must have been a woman of some position in the little community; for she was able to entertain the Apostle and his company as soon as she embraced the faith and felt its exceeding preciousness. When inviting them, too, she uses the language of a woman independent of all other control. "If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there," are words with the tone of one who as a widow owned no superior, and whose will was law within her own household; as well as the language of a woman who felt that the gospel she had embraced demanded and deserved the consecration to its service of all her worldly possessions. Previously to this conversion St. Paul had lived in hired lodgings, but now he moved to Lydias residence, abiding there, and thence regularly worshipping at the Jewish oratory. The presence of these Jewish strangers soon attracted attention. Their teaching too got noised abroad, exaggerated doubtless and distorted after the manner of popular reports. And the crowd were ready to be suspicious of all Eastern foreigners. The settlers in the colony of Philippi belonged to the rural population of Italy, who, after the manner of countrified folk of every generation, were a good way behind, for good or ill, their city brethren. The excavations made at Philippi have brought to light the fact that the colonists there were worshippers of the primitive Italian rustic gods, specially of the god Silvanus, eschewing the fashionable Greek deities, Jupiter, Juno, Venus, Diana, Apollo, and such like. A temple of Silvanus was erected at Philippi for the hardy Italian veterans, and numerous inscriptions have been found and have been duly described by the French Mission in Macedonia to which we have already referred, telling of the building of the temple and of the persons who contributed towards it. These simple Western soldiers were easily prejudiced against the Eastern strangers by reports spread concerning their doctrines, and specially concerning the Jewish King, of whose kingdom they were the heralds. Political considerations were at once raised. We can scarcely now realise the suspicions which must have been roused against the early preachers of Christianity by the very language they used. Their sacramental language concerning the body and blood of Christ, the language of Christian love and union which they used, designating themselves brethren and sisters, caused for more than two centuries the dissemination of the most frightful rumours concerning the horrible nature of Christian love-feasts. They were accused of cannibalism and of the most degraded and immoral practices; and when we take up the Apologists of the second century, Justin Martyr and such like, we shall find that the efforts of these men are largely directed to the refutation of such dreadful charges. And as it was in morals so was it too in politics. The sacred and religious language of the Christians caused them to be suspected of designs hostile to the Roman Government. The apostles preached about a King who ruled the kingdom of God. Now the Romans abhorred the very name and title of king, which they associated with the cruel acts of the early tyrants who reigned in the times of Romes fabulous antiquity. The hostility to the title was so great that, though the Roman people endured a despotism worse and more crushing at the hands of the Caesars, they never would allow them to assume the title of kings, but simply called them emperors, imperators or commanders of the army, a name which to their ears connoted nothing savouring of the kingly office, though for moderns the title of emperor expresses the kingly office and much more. The colonists in Philippi, being Italians, would feel these prejudices in their full force. Easterns indeed would have had no objection to the title of king, as we see from the cry raised by the mob of Jerusalem when they cried in reference to Christs claim, "We have no king but Caesar." But the rough and rude Roman veterans, when they heard vague reports of St. Pauls teaching to the Jews who met at the oratory by the river-side, quite naturally mistook the nature of his doctrine, and thought that he was simply a political agitator organising a revolt against imperial authority. An incident which then occurred fanned the sleeping embers into a flame. There was a female slave the property of some crafty men who by her means traded on the simplicity of the colonists. She was possessed with a spirit of divination. What the nature of this spirit was we have not the means of now determining. Some would resolve it into mere epilepsy, but such an explanation is not consistent with St. Pauls action and words. He addressed the spirit, "I charge thee in the name of Jesus Christ to Come out of her." And the spirit, we are told, came out that very hour. The simple fact is that psychology is at the best a very obscure science, and the mysteries of the soul a very puzzling region, even under the Christian dispensation and surrounded by the spiritual blessings of the kingdom of God. But paganism was the kingdom of Satan, where he ruled with a power and freedom he no longer enjoys, and we can form no conception of the frightful disturbances Satanic agency may have raised amid the dark places of the human spirit. Without attempting explanations therefore, which must be insufficient, I am content to accept the statement of the sacred writer, who was an eye-witness of the cure, that the spirit of divination, the spirit of Python, as the original puts it, yielded obedience to the invocation of the sacred Name which is above every name, leaving the damsels inner nature once more calm and at union within itself. This was the signal for a riot. The slave-owners recognised that their hopes of gain had fled. They were not willing to confess that these despised Jews possessed a power transcending far that which dwelt in the human instrument who had served their covetous purposes. They may have heard, it may be, of the tumults excited about this same time by the Jews at Rome and of their expulsion from the capital by the decree of the Emperor, so the owners of the slave-girl and the mob of the city dragged the Apostles before the local Duumvirs and accused them of like disturbances: "These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, and set forth customs which it is not lawful for us to receive or to observe, being Romans." The accusation was sufficient. No proof was demanded, no time for protest allowed. The magistrates with their own hands dragged the clothes off the backs of the Apostles, and they were flogged at once by the lictors or sergeants, as our translation calls them, in attendance upon the Duumvirs, who then despatched their victims to the common prison. Here a question may be raised, Why did not St. Paul save himself by protesting that he was a Roman citizen, as he did subsequently at Jerusalem when he was about to be similarly treated? Several explanations occur. The colonists were Italians and spoke Latin. St. Paul spoke Hebrew and Greek, and though he may have known Latin too, his Latin may not have been understood by these rough Roman soldiers: The mob again was excited, and when a mob gets excited it is but very little its members attend to an unfortunate prisoners words. We know too, not only from St. Pauls own words, but from the testimony of Cicero himself, in his celebrated oration against Verres, that in remote districts this claim was often disregarded, even when urged by Italians, and much more when made by despised Jews. St. Paul tells us in 2Co_11:25, that he received three Roman floggings notwithstanding his Roman citizenship, and though the Philippian magistrates were afraid when they heard next day of the illegal violence of which they had been guilty, the mob, who could not be held accountable, probably took right good care that St. Pauls protest never reached the official ears to which it was addressed. These considerations sufficiently account for the omission of any notice of a protest on the Apostles part. He simply had not the opportunity, and then when the tumultuous scene was over Paul and Silas were hurried off to the common dungeon, where they were secured in the stocks and thrust into the innermost prison as notorious and scandalous offenders.

No ill-treatment could, however, destroy that secret source of joy and peace which St. Paul possessed in his loved Masters conscious presence. "I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christs sake," is his own triumphant expression when looking back a few years later over the way by which the Lord had led him, and therefore at midnight the astonished prisoners heard the inner dungeon ringing with unwonted songs of praise raised by the Jewish strangers. An earthquake, too, lent its terrors to the strange scene, shaking the prison to its foundations and loosing the staples to which the prisoners chains were fastened. The jailer, roused from sleep, and seeing the prison doors opened wide, would have committed suicide were it not for Pauls restraining and authoritative voice; and then the astonished official, who must have heard the strange rumours to which the words of the demoniac alluded-"These men are the servants of the Most High God, which proclaim unto you the way of salvation"-rushed into the presence of the Apostles, crying out in words which have ever since been famous, "Sirs, what must I do to be Saved?" to which the equally famous answer was given, " Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house." The jailor then took the Apostles, bathed their bruised bodies, set food before them, gathered his household to listen to the glad tidings, which they received so rapidly and grasped so thoroughly that they were at once baptised and enabled to rejoice with that deep spiritual joy which an experimental knowledge of God always confers. The jailor, feeling for the first time in his life the peace which passeth all understanding, realised the truth which St. Augustine afterwards embodied in the immortal words: "Thou, O God, hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee."

Let us look for a little at the question of the jailer and the answer of the Apostle. They are words very often used, and very often misused. The jailer, when he rushed into St. Pauls presence crying out "What must I do to be saved?" was certainly not the type of a conscience-stricken sinner, convinced of his own sin and spiritual danger, as men sometimes regard him. He was simply in a state of fright and astonishment. He had heard that these Jewish prisoners committed to him were preaching about some salvation which they had to offer. The earthquake seemed to him the expression of some deitys wrath at their harsh treatment, and so in his terror he desires to know what he must do to be saved from this wrath. His words were notable, but they were not Christian words, for he had yet much to learn of the nature of sin and the nature of the salvation from it which the Apostles were preaching. The Philippian jailor was a specimen of those who are saved violently and by fear. Terror forced him into communion with the Apostles, broke down the barriers which hindered the approach of the Word, and then the power of the Holy Ghost, working through St. Paul, effected the remainder, opening his eyes to the true character of salvation and his own profound need of it. St. Pauls words have been misunderstood. I have heard them addressed to a Christian congregation and explained as meaning that the jailor had nothing to do but just realise Christ Jesus as his Saviour, whereupon he was perfect and complete so far as the spiritual life was concerned; and then they were applied to the congregation present as teaching that, as it was with the jailor, so was it with all Christians; they have simply to believe as he did, and then they have nothing more to do-a kind of teaching which infallibly produces antinomian results. Such an explanation ignores the fact that there is a great difference between the jailor, who was not a Christian in any sense and knew nothing about Christ when he flung himself at St. Pauls feet, and a Christian congregation, who know about Christ and believe in Him. But this explanation is still more erroneous. It misrepresents what St. Paul meant and what his hearers understood him to mean. What did any ordinary Jew or any ordinary pagan with whom St. Paul came in contact understand him to mean when he said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved"? They first had to ask him who Jesus Christ was, whence He had come, what He had taught, what were the obligations of His religion. St. Paul had to open out to them the nature of sin and salvation, and to explain the obligation and blessing of the sacrament of baptism as well as the necessity of bodily holiness and purity. The initial sacrament of baptism must have held a foremost place in that midnight colloquy or conference concerning Christian truth. St. Paul was not the man to perform a rite of which his converts understood nothing, and to which they could attach no meaning. "Believe on the Lord Jesus" involved repentance and contrition and submission to Christian truth, and these things involved the exposition of Christian truth, history, doctrines, and duties.

This text, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved," is often quoted in one-sided and narrow teaching to show that man has nothing to do to be saved. Of course in one sense this is perfectly true. We can do nothing meritoriously towards salvation; from first to last our salvation is all of Gods free grace; but then, viewing the matter from the human side, we have much to do to be saved. We have to repent, to seek God for ourselves, to realise Christ and His laws in our life, to seek after that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. There were two different types of men who at different times addressed practically the same inquiry to the Apostles. They were both outside the Church, and they were both seekers blindly after God. The Jews on the day of Pentecost said, "Brethren, what shall we do?" and Peter replied, "Repent ye, and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, unto the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Such was apostolic teaching to the Jews of Jerusalem. The jailor demanded, "What must I do to be saved?" and St. Paul replied, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved." Such was apostolic teaching to an ignorant pagan at Philippi; more concise than the Jerusalem answer, but meaning the same thing, and involving precisely the same doctrines in the hands of such a great master of the spiritual life as was the Apostle of the Gentiles.

The remainder of the story is soon told. When the morning came there came quiet reflection with it as far as the magistrates were concerned. They became conscious of their illegal conduct, and they sent their lictors to order the release of the Apostles. St. Paul now stood upon his rights. His protest had been disregarded by the mob. He now claimed his rights as a Roman citizen. "They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned men, that are Romans, and have cast us into prison; and do they now cast us out privily? Nay, verily; but let them come themselves and bring us out." These are St. Pauls words, and they are brave, and at the same time wise words. They were brave words because it took a strong man to send back such an answer to magistrates who had treated him so outrageously only the day before. They were wise words, for they give us an apostles interpretation of our Lords language in the Sermon upon the Mount concerning the nonresistance of evil, and shows us that in St. Pauls estimation Christs law did not bind a man to tolerate foul injustice. Such toleration, in fact, is very wrong if it can be helped; because it is simply an encouragement to the wicked doers to treat others in the same scandalous manner. Toleration of outrage and injustice is unfair and uncharitable towards others, if they can be lawfully redressed or at least apologised for. It is a Christian mans duty to bring public evil-doers and tyrants, instruments of unrighteousness like these Duumvirs of Philippi, to their senses, not for his own sake, but in order that he may prevent the exercise of similar cruelties against he weaker brethren. We may be sure that the spirited action of St. Paul, compelling these provincial magnates to humble themselves before the despised strangers, must have had a very wholesome effect in restraining them from similar violence during the rest of their term of office.

Such was St. Pauls stay at Philippi. It lasted a considerable time, and made its mark, as a flourishing Church was established there, to which he addressed an Epistle when he lay the first time a captive at Rome. This Epistle naturally forms a most interesting commentary on the notices of the Philippian visit in the Acts of the Apostles, a point which is worked out at large in Bishop Lightfoots Commentary on Philippians and in Paleys "Horae Paulinae." The careful student of Holy Writ will find that St. Pauls letter and St. Lukes narrative when compared illuminate one another in a wondrous manner. We cannot afford space to draw out this comparison in detail, and it is the less necessary to do so as Dr. Lightfoots writings are so generally accessible. Let us, however, notice one point in this Epistle to the Philippians, which was written about the same time (a few months previously, in fact) as the Acts of the Apostles. It corroborates the Acts as to the circumstances under which the Church of Philippi was founded. St. Paul in the Epistle refers again and again to the persecutions and afflictions of the Philippian Church, and implies that he was a fellow-sufferer with them. St. Paul dwells on this in the beginning of the Epistle in words whose force cannot be understood unless we grasp this fact. In the sixth verse of the first chapter he expresses himself as "Confident of this very thing, that He which began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ: even as it is right for me to be thus minded on behalf of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as, both in my bonds and in the defence and confirmation, of the gospel, ye all are partakers with me of grace." St. Paul speaks of the Philippians as personally acquainted with chains and sufferings and prison-houses for Christs sake, and regards these things as a proof of Gods grace vouchsafed not only to the Apostle, but also to the Philippians; for St. Paul was living at that high level when he could view bonds and trials and persecutions as marks of the Divine love. In the twenty-eighth verse of the same chapter he exhorts them to be in no wise "affrighted by the adversaries," and in the next two describes them as persons to whom "it hath been granted in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer in His behalf: having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me," words which can only refer to the violence and afflictions which they witnessed as practised against himself, and which they were now themselves suffering in turn. While to complete St. Pauls references we notice that in an Epistle written some five years later than his first visit to Philippi he expressly refers to the persecutions which the Philippian Church in common with all the Macedonian Churches seems to have suffered from the Very beginning. In 2Co_8:1-2, he writes: "Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God which hath been given in the Churches of Macedonia; how that in much proof of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality." Now all these passages put together confirm for us what the Acts expressly affirms, that from the very outset of their Christian career the Philippian Church had endured the greatest trials, and experienced a fellowship in the Apostles sufferings. And surely we may see in the character of the Philippian Epistle something eminently characteristic of this experience! It has been remarked that the Philippian Epistle is the only Epistle addressed to a Church in which there is no trace of blame or reproof. Temptation and trial and chastisement had there worked their appointed purpose. The Philippian Church had been baptised in blood, and grounded in afflictions, and purified by the cleansing fires of persecution, and consequently the tried Church gathered itself closer to its Divine Lord, and was perfected above all others in His likeness, and profited above all others in the Divine life.

After the terrible experience of Philippi Paul and Silas passed on to other towns of the same province of Macedonia. The Apostle, however, when quitting Philippi to do the same evangelistic work, breaking up the ground in other towns after the manner of a pioneer, did not leave the Church of Philippi devoid of wisest pastoral care. It is most likely, as Dr. Lightfoot points out in the Introduction to his Commentary on Philippians, that St. Luke was left behind to consolidate the work which had been thus begun by such a noble company. Then Paul and Silas and Timotheus proceeded to Thessalonica, one hundred miles west, the capital of the province, where the proconsul resided, and where was a considerable Jewish population, as we see, not only from the fact that a synagogue is expressly said to have existed there, but also because the Jews were able to excite the city pagan mob against the Apostles and drag them before the local magistrates. St. Paul at Philippi had for the first time experienced a purely pagan persecution. He had indeed previously suffered at the hands of the heathen at Lystra, but they were urged on by the Jews. At Philippi he gained his first glimpse of that long vista of purely Gentile persecution through which the Church had to pass till Christianity seated itself in the person of Constantine on the throne of the Caesars. But as soon as he got to Thessalonica he again experienced the undying hostility of his Jewish fellow-country-men using for their wicked purposes the baser portion of the city rabble. St. Paul remained three weeks in Thessalonica teaching privately and publicly the gospel message, without experiencing any Jewish opposition. It is an interesting fact that to this day St. Pauls visit to Thessalonica is remembered, and in one of the local mosques, which was formerly the Church of Sancta Sophia, a marble pulpit is shown, said to have been the very one occupied by the Apostle, while in the surrounding plains trees and groves are pointed out as marking spots where he tarried for a time. The Jews were at last, however, roused to opposition, possibly because of St. Pauls success among the Gentiles, who received his doctrines with such avidity that there believed "of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few." In Thessalonica, as elsewhere, the spirit of religions selfishness, desiring to have gospel promises and a Messiah all to themselves, was the ruin of the Jewish people. The Jews therefore, assisted by the pagans, assaulted the residence of Jason, with whom St. Paul and his friends were staying. They missed the Apostles themselves, but they seized Jason and some of the apostolic band, or at least some of their converts whom they found in Jasons house, and brought them before the town magistrates, who, acting under the eye of the resident proconsul, did not lend themselves to any irregular proceedings like the Philippian praetors. A charge of treason was formally brought against the prisoners: "These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another King, one Jesus"; in the words of which charge we get a glimpse of the leading topic upon which the Apostles insisted. Jesus Christ, the crucified, risen, glorified King and Head of His people, was the great subject of St. Pauls teaching as it struck the heathen. The Thessalonian magistrates acted very fairly. They. entered the charge, which was a serious one m the eye of Roman law. Bail was then taken for the accused and they were set free. The Apostles, however, escaped arrest, and the local brethren determined that they should incur no danger; so while the accused remained to stand their trial, Paul and Silas and Timotheus were despatched to Beroea, where they were for a time welcomed, and free discussion permitted in the synagogue concerning the truths taught by the Evangelists. After a time, however, tidings having reached Thessalonica, agents were despatched to Beroea, who stirring up the Jewish residents, St. Paul was despatched in charge of some trusty messengers, who guided the steps of the hunted servant of God to the city of Athens. We see the physical infirmities of St. Paul, the difficulties he had to contend with, hinted at in the fourteenth and fifteenth verses of the seventeenth chapter. "Then immediately the brethren sent forth Paul," and "They that conducted Paul brought him to Athens," words which give us a glimpse of his fearfully defective eyesight. His enemies might be pressing upon him and danger might be imminent, but he could make no unaided effort to save himself. He depended upon the kindly help of others that he might escape his untiring foes and find his way to a place of safety.

Thus ended St. Pauls first visit to Thessalonica so far as the Acts of the Apostles is concerned; but we have interesting light thrown upon it from an Epistle which St. Paul himself wrote to the Thessalonians soon after his departure from amongst them. A comparison of First Thessalonians with the text of the Acts will furnish the careful student with much information concerning the circumstances of that notable visit, just as we have seen that the text of the Philippian Epistle throws light upon his doings at Philippi. The Thessalonian Epistles are more helpful even than the Philippians in this respect, because they were written only a few months after St. Pauls visit to Thessalonica, while years elapsed, eight or ten at least, before the Philippian Epistle was indited. First Thessalonians shows us, for instance, that St. Pauls visit to Thessalonica lasted a considerable time. In the Acts we read of his discussing in the synagogue three Sabbath days, and then it would appear as if the riot was raised which drove him to Beroea and Athens. The impression left on our minds by St. Lukes narrative is that St. Pauls labours were almost entirely concentrated upon the Jews in Thessalonica, and that he bestowed very little attention indeed upon the pagans. The Epistle corrects this impression. When we read the first chapter of First Thessalonians we see that it was almost altogether a Church of converted idolaters, not of converted Jews. St. Paul speaks of the Thessalonians as having turned from idols to serve the living God; he refers to the instructions on various points like the resurrection, the ascension, the second coming of Christ, which he had imparted, and describes their faith and works as celebrated throughout all Macedonia and Achaia. A large and flourishing church like that, composed of former pagans, could not have been founded in the course of three weeks, during which time St. Pauls attention was principally bestowed on the Jewish residents. Then too, when we turn to Php_4:16, we find that St. Paul stayed long enough in Thessalonica to receive no less than two remittances of money from the brethren at Philippi to sustain himself and his brethren. His whole attention too was not bestowed upon mission work; he spent his days and nights in manual labour. In the ninth verse of the second chapter of First Thessalonians he reminds them of the fact that he supported himself in their city, "For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached unto you the Gospel of God." When we realise these things we shall feel that the Apostle must have spent at least a couple of months in Thessalonica. It was perhaps his tremendous success among the heathen which so stirred up the passions of the town mob as enabled the Jews to instigate them to raise the riot, they themselves keeping all the while in the background. St. Paul, in First Thessalonians, describes the riots raised against the Christians as being the immediate work of the pagans: "Ye, brethren, became imitators of the Churches of God which are in Judaea in Christ Jesus. For ye also suffered the same things of your own countrymen as they did of the Jews"; a statement which is quite consistent with the theory that the persecution was originally inspired by the Jews. But we cannot further pursue this interesting line of inquiry which has been thoroughly worked out by Mr. Lewin in vol. 2 Ch 11, by Conybeare and Howson in ch. 9, and by Archdeacon Farrar, as well as by Dr. Salmon in his "Introduction to the New Testament," ch. 20. The careful student will find in all these works most interesting light reflected back upon the Acts from the apostolic letters, and will see how thoroughly the Epistles, which were much the earlier documents, confirm the independent account of St. Luke, writing at a subsequent period.

Before we terminate this chapter we desire to call attention to one other point where the investigations of modern travel have helped to illustrate the genuineness of the Acts of the Apostles. It has been the contention of the rationalistic party that the Acts was a composition of the second century, worked up by a clever forger out of the materials at his command. There are various lines of proof by which this theory can be refuted, but none appeal so forcibly to ordinary men as the minute accuracy which marks it when describing the towns of Asia Minor and Macedonia. Macedonia is a notable case. We have already pointed out how the Acts gives their proper title to the magistrates of Philippi and recognises its peculiar constitution as a colony. Thessalonica forms an interesting contrast to Philippi. Thessalonica was a free city like Antioch in Syria, Tarsus, and Athens, and therefore, though the residence of the proconsul who ruled the province of Macedonia, was governed by its own ancient magistrates and its own ancient laws without any interference on the part of the proconsul. St. Luke makes a marked distinction between Philippi and Thessalonica. At Philippi the Apostles were brought before the praetors, at Thessalonica they were brought before the politarchs, a title strange to classical antiquity, but which has been found upon a triumphal arch which existed till a few years ago across the main street of the modern city of Thessalonica. That arch has now disappeared; but the fragments containing the inscription were fortunately preserved and have been now placed in the British Museum, where they form a precious relic proving the genuineness of the sacred narrative.

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

16:29-30 Paul and Silas had impressed the jailer with their cheerful faith (16:25), their composure in crisis, and their concern for his well-being (16:28). Whatever the jailer’s previous understanding of Paul’s message, God touched his heart, and he cried out for divine help.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Act 16:29. Φῶτα, lights) Plural: that the whole prison might be lighted up.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act_16:29-30. Φῶτα] Lights, i.e. lamps (Xen. Hell. v. 1. 8; Lucian. Conviv. 15; Plut. Ant. 26), several, in order to light up and strictly search everything.

ἔντρομος γενόμ. προσέπ.] He now saw in Paul and Silas no longer criminals, but the favourites and confidants of the gods; the majesty which had been maltreated inspired him with terror and respectful submission.

ἵνα σωθῶ] in order that I may obtain salvation. He means the σωτηρία, which Paul and Silas had announced; for what he had heard of them, that they made known ὁδὸν σωτηρίας (Act_16:17), was now established in his conviction as truth. This lively conviction longs to have part in the salvation, and his sincere longing desires to fulfil that by which this participation is conditioned. Morus, Stolz, Rosenmüller render it: in order that I may escape the punishment of the gods on account of your harsh treatment. But, if Luke desired to have σωθῶ and σωθήσῃ (Act_16:31) understood in different senses, he must have appended to σωθῶ a more precise definition; for the meaning thus assigned to it suggests itself the less naturally, as the jailor, who had only acted as an instrument under higher direction (comp. Chrysost.), could not reasonably apprehend any vengeance of the gods.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 16:29 . φῶτα : “lights,” R.V., plural, and only in plural in later Greek, cf. 1Ma 12:29 , of fires in a military encampment; “the prisoners’ chains were loosed, and worse chains were loosed from himself; he called for a light, but the true heat was lighted in his own heart” Chrys., Hom. , xxxvi. εἰσεπήδησε , cf. Act 14:14 , ἐκπ ., both verbs only in Luke in N.T. In LXX, cf. Amo 5:19 , Sus., Act 16:26 , especially the latter, found also in classical Greek. ἔντρομος γεν ., see above. προσέπεσε : he may have known of the words of the maiden, Act 16:17 , and recognised their truth in the earthquake, and in the calmness and demeanour of Paul; hence too his question.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then he called for a light, and sprang in . . . and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out and said--How graphic this rapid succession of minute details, evidently from the parties themselves, the prisoners and the jailer, who would talk over every feature of the scene once and again, in which the hand of the Lord had been so marvellously seen.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 29. He called for a light] That he might see how things stood, and whether the words of Paul were true; for on this his personal safety depended.

Came trembling] Terrified by the earthquake, and feeling the danger to which his own life was exposed.

Fell down before Paul and Silas] The persons whom a few hours before he, according to his office, treated with so much asperity, if not cruelty, as some have supposed; though, by the way, it does not appear that he exceeded his orders in his treatment of the apostles.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

29. Being astonished, he fell down. This keeper was no less brought under with fear to show obedience to God than with the miracle prepared. Hereby it appeareth what a good thing it is for men to be thrown down from their pride, that they may learn to submit themselves to God. He was hardened in his superstitions; therefore, he might with a lofty stomach have despised whatsoever Paul and Silas should have said, whom he had reproachfully thrust into the innermost part of the prison. Now, fear maketh him apt to be taught and gentle. Therefore, so often as the Lord shall strike us or cast us down, let us know that this is done that we may be brought in [to] order from our too much haughtiness.

But it is a wonder that he was not reproved for falling down at their feet. For why did Paul wink at that which (as Luke recordeth) Peter would not suffer in Cornelius? (Acts 10:26.) I answer, that Paul doth therefore bear with the keeper, because he knoweth that he was not moved with superstition, but with fear of God’s judgment so to humble himself. It was a kind of worship common enough; but chiefly among the Romans it was a solemn thing when they would humbly crave any thing, or crave pardon, they fell down at their knees to whom they put their supplication. Therefore, there was no cause why Paul should be displeased with a man whom he saw simply humbled of God. For if there had been any thing committed contrary to the glory of God, he had not forgotten that zeal which he showed before among the men of Lycaonia. Therefore, by his silence, we gather that in this kind of worship there was nothing contrary to godliness or the glory of God.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(29) Then he called for a light.—More accurately, ‘for lights. As St. Luke does not use, as in Act_20:8, the word for “lamps,” it is probable that the lights were torches, and that the gaoler, with one in his hand, leapt into the darkness of the subterranean dungeon.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

29. Then he called for a light] The Greek has “lights.” He would summon all the help he could, and wish to make his inspection as speedy as possible.

and came trembling] Lit. and being terror-stricken. He connected all that had occurred with the two prisoners Paul and Silas, and as they were not fled away, a change of feeling came over him, and he at once judged them to be more than other men. So his attitude becomes one of supplication and worship.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then he called for a light,.... Or "lights"; he ordered his servants to bring in some candles; the Syriac version renders it, "he lighted a light for himself"; and the Ethiopic version, "he brought a light": whilst he was under the influence of Satan, and going about a work of darkness, namely, to destroy himself, he was in no concern for a light; but when he was delivered from the temptation and snare, he calls for light:

and sprang in; leaped in at once, in all haste, into the inner prison:

and came trembling; not as before, because of the prisoners and their escape; nor merely or so much on account of the earthquake, though the terror of that might not be as yet over; but chiefly through the horror of his conscience, and the dreadful sense he had of himself as a sinner, and of his lost state and condition by nature; the law had entered into his conscience, and had worked wrath there; the Spirit of God had convinced him of his sin and misery, and there was a fearful looking for of fiery indignation in him:

and fell down before Paul and Silas; not in a way of religious adoration, for they would never have admitted that; but in token of civil respect unto them, and of his great veneration for them, as was the manner of the eastern people; the Syriac version renders it, "he fell down at their feet", and so in Velesius's readings; at those feet, which he had before made fast in the stocks: a strange change and sudden alteration this! what is it that almighty power and efficacious grace cannot do?

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,

Ver. 29. And sprang in] As John the Evangelist with like speed sprang out of the bath, when Cerinthus the heretic came into it, lest some evil, for his sake, should befall him. from heaven. (εξηλατο του βαλανειου, Eus.)

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then he called for a light - Greek: lights, in the plural. Probably several torches were brought by his attendants.

And came trembling - Alarmed at the earthquake; amazed that the prisoners were still there; confounded at the calmness of Paul and Silas and overwhelmed at the proof of the presence of God. Compare Jer 5:22, “Fear ye not me, saith the Lord? will ye not tremble at my presence? etc.”

And fell down - This was an act of profound reverence. See the notes on Mat 2:11. It is evident that he regarded them as the favorites of God, and was con strained to recognize them as religious teachers.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He called for a light, or lights, which prisons are not usually without.

Came trembling: what a sudden and great change can God make! he comes trembling to those feet which he had put into the stocks so lately.

Fell down before Paul and Silas; by which he would give a civil respect unto them, it being an ordinary rite amongst the Eastern nations (as endless examples in Scripture witness) to pay their respects; and from them it spread itself into Greece: which respect Paul and Silas do not refuse, because it was barely civil, and did show the humility aud brokenness of the jailer’s heart. Yet Peter would not accept of the like from Cornelius, Act 10:25,26, because it was more than a bare civil respect which Cornelius would have given him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

29. Called for a light—More truly, called for lights, plural. He must have already had light sufficient to have learned the state of things. He now calls upon the servants to bring lights to restore the prison to order while he proceeds to bring the apostles from their inner cell.

Sprang in—Into the cell, where Paul and Silas were.

Trembling—The jailer at once recognises that God has testified for these men as his own ministers and messengers by the terrible shaking he has given the prison. He recognises his own guilt in being the instrument of the magistrates in violating the sacredness of their persons. He fell down before Paul and Silas, not worshipping them as gods, but, like the pythoness, recognising them as the showers of the way of salvation, salvation, namely, from divine justice.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he called for lights for then he called for a light, A.V. (fwta is the accusative plural, though not a very common form; fwv is often used in the sense of "a lamp," or, as we say, "a light"); trembling for fear for came trembling and, A.V.

Vers. 29, 30. A remarkable conversion.

he called for a light," etc. The significance of the jailor"s case, as a Roman, and almost instantaneously converted, as illustrating the comparative religious freedom of a Roman colony, the openness of the Gentile mind to impression, the yearning of the heart after a true religion prevailing at that time in the better class of people.

I AWAKENED ANXIETY.

1. A realization of personal dangers and need.

2. A forsaking of all other refuges.

3. An appeal for help to those who, by their confidence and peace, showed that they had a better hope.

II SINGLE-MINDED INQUIRY.

1. Different from mere curiosity or speculation.

2. Ready humbly to wait for brotherly sympathy and direction.

3. Casting the will as well as the mind on the truth. "What must I do?

III RISING FAITH.

1. Salvation possible, therefore sought after.

2. Self-surrender at the feet of the messenger, as expressing desire for the message.

3. Doubtless "the way of salvation," of which the city bad heard, was something definitely before his mind as something to be found. Why is not such earnestness universal? R.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The conversion of the jailer:

v. 29. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,

v. 30. and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

v. 31. And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy house.

v. 32. And they spake unto him the Word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.

v. 33. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.

v. 34. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.

In the excess of his first terror, the keeper of the prison had not even thought of a torch, being concerned only about the prevention of any escape on the part of the prisoners. But now he called to the guards to provide lights, and rushed into the inner prison, and in a state of the greatest emotion and terror, from anguish of conscience and the fear of the supernatural, fell down before Paul and Silas. He probably remembered now that Paul, who had called to him, had been preaching salvation in the name of Jesus, and he assumed that there must be some connection between the rocking of the earth and the calm assurance of the apostle. The jailer therefore led Paul and Barnabas outside and asked them what he must do to be saved, the most important question which a man may possibly think of in his whole life. And this question of troubled and terrified souls must always be met with the answer as here: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy house. Paul and Silas did not accept the title "lords," but pointed the inquirer to the one true Lord and Master over all, in whom alone there is salvation. Faith in Jesus Christ delivers from death, hell, wrath, and judgment, and brings eternal salvation. Having given the jailer the great central thought and doctrine of the entire Christian religion, the missionaries now explained the way of salvation more fully, telling him and proclaiming to him the Word of the Lord, together with all those that belonged to his household, children and servants, freedmen and slaves. It was a brief, but comprehensive instruction preceding baptism. And so deeply was the man’s heart moved by the events of the night and by the voice of God in these events that he took the two prisoners in that same hour of the night,—for he could not wait to fulfill this necessary duty till morning, -and washed off their stripes, both to remove the clotted blood and to ease the smarting of the blows. And Paul and Silas, in turn, gave to both the jailer and all the members of his household a washing to remove all the stains on their souls, by baptizing them all without delay. This Sacrament assured to the poor, harrowed man the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, which he needed so greatly on account of the feeling of guilt and damnableness which had come upon him with the realization of his sin. Now the jailer took both Paul and Silas into his house as honored guests; the table was set for them and a meal served altogether unlike that which they had gotten in prison. And the jailer rejoiced greatly, with intense, exulting gladness, in which all the members of his household joined him, that faith in God had been worked in their hearts. The fact that the Lord works faith in the heart of any person, and also makes him willing to give evidence of such faith in deeds of kindness and brotherly love, is a source of continual rejoicing to every Christian.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As if the gaoler had said, "Sirs, now I see and acknowledge that the doctrine taught by you is the truth of the eternal God; and he hath by this miraculous earthquake testified to me, that you are his true and faithful servants: tell me therefore, I beseech you, what I must do to attain salvation?" They answer, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, &c. That is, "If you and your family receive the doctrine of Jesus Christ, and regulate your lives according to it, you shall be saved.

Here note, 1. That scorners and persecutors will become tremblers, when once God hath touched their hearts, and wounded their consciences with remorse for sin. The gaoler here came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas; trembling under a sense of his guiltiness, and falling down upon his knees to ask them forgiveness.

Note, 2. That trembling sinners are always inquisitive, yea, very inquisitive, persons. An awakened conscience will put a man upon enquiry, upon great and much enquiry, what he should do.

Note, 3. That the chief thing which the trembling soul enquires after, is the business of salvation: What shall I do to be saved?

Note, 4. That trembling sinners, and troubled souls, must be directed to Jesus Christ, and to faith in him, as the only way to obtain salvation by him, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

29, 30. As soon as he could collect his senses, he recollected that the calm speaker who had called to him had been preaching salvation in the name of the God of Israel; and he immediately perceived that the earthquake, the miraculous opening of the doors, and the unlocking of chains and handcuffs were connected with him and his companion. In an instant he recognizes the divine authority, and, glancing into the black eternity from which he had suddenly been rescued, his own salvation, rather than the safety of his prisoners, at once absorbs his thoughts. (29) " Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas; (30) and led them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? " That he asked this question proves that he had some conception of the salvation of which Paul had been preaching; and that he trembled, and fell at their feet, shows that he was overwhelmed with a sense of danger, and painfully anxious to escape from it. At sunset, when coldly thrusting the bleeding apostles into the dungeon, he cared but little for this question. In the midst of life and health, when all goes well with us, we may thrust this awful question from us; but when we come within an inch of death, like the jailer at midnight, hanging over the point of his own sword, it rushes in upon the soul like a lava torrent, and burns out all other thoughts.

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

called for lights

The reason why the jailer needed light can be made explicit. AT: "called for someone to bring light so he could see who was still in the prison" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

for lights

The word "lights" stands for something that makes light. AT: "for torches" or "for lamps" (See: Metonymy)

rushed in

"quickly entered the jail"

fell down before Paul and Silas

The jailer humbled himself by bowing down at the feet of Paul and Silas. (See: Symbolic Action)

brought them out

"led them outside the jail"

what must I do to be saved

This can be stated in active form. AT: "what must I do for God to save me from my sins" (See: Active or Passive)

you will be saved

This can be stated in active form. AT: "God will save you" or "God will save you from your sins" (See: Active or Passive)

your house

Here "house" stands for the people who live in the house. AT: "all the members of your household" or "your family" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

tremble

Paul

Silas

lord

save

believe

Jesus

house

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

29. αἰτήσας δὲ φῶτα, and having called for lights. He would summon all the help he could, and would wish to make an inspection of his charge as speedily as possible.

ἔντρομος γενόμενος, being terror-stricken. For the word see above, Act 7:32. It is also found in LXX. Dan 10:11; Wis 17:9; 1Ma 13:2 ἔντρομος καὶ ἔμφοβος; and in Psa 17:8, Pss. 76:18 of the earth in an earthquake, ἐσαλεύθη καὶ ἔντρομος ἐγενήθη ἡ γῆ. The jailor connected all that had occurred with the two prisoners Paul and Silas, and as they were not fled away, a change of feeling came over him, and he at once judged them to be more than other men. Hence his attitude becomes one of supplication and worship.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

29. φῶτα] Not as E.V., ‘a light,’ but lights, neut. plur.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A light [φωτα] . Rev., more correctly, lights. Several lamps, in order to search everywhere.

Sprang in. See on ran in, ch. 14 14.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.