You ready? I am. Let's go!
Acts 16 (Read it here)
We're about to follow Paul on his second missionary journey with Silas, which totaled about 2,800 miles, twice as long as the first journey in Acts 13-14. Just for perspective, this journey is longer than a trip from the coast of NC to Los Angeles! If you would like to have an idea of what this journey looked like on a map, check that out here. You may want to refer back to this map later, as well. If not, the cities I mention may be useless information to you.
I still find it quite amazing that Paul chose to go back to Lystra where he was nearly stoned to death but he had good reason to do so. There was a young, emerging and respected leader named Timothy that Paul wanted to mentor (the books of 1 & 2 Timothy are letters that Paul wrote during this mentorship, by the way).
Luke mentions that Timothy is circumcised before joining Paul and Silas on their journey. (v. 3) Since Timothy's father was Greek, he had not been circumcised but Paul didn't want that to be an issue of contention with any Jew that they might come across. Also, I bet you his mom didn't mind her son getting circumcised, either, even though Timothy was probably in his early 20s at the time.
Even so, its kind of ironic that after Timothy's circumcision, they go town to town telling all the Jews and Gentiles that circumcision was no longer a requirement. (v. 4) Don't forget the four new requirements were being instituted, too (no eating of food, meat or blood offered to idols and avoiding fornication and prostitution).
The churches outside Jerusalem continued to grow daily! (v. 5) How many churches can say they grow daily...or even weekly?
Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke must have been in constant prayer because they felt led by the Spirit not to stop in the province of Asia (v. 6, not to be confused with modern-day Asia, this land today is Turkey). They make their way to the northeast border of modern-day Turkey coming considerably closer to Byzantium or what is known now as Instabul, the capital city. However, they again felt it was not in God's best interest to preach there at that time. (v. 7)
At the seaport of Troas, Paul had a vision that a man in Macedonia in northern Greece needed his help. (vs. 8-9) God had definitely led them to the right place because Troas would be the place to catch a ship across the Aegean Sea to Greece. (The use of the word we in verse 10 is how we can assume that Luke, the writer of Acts was actually present with Paul, Silas and Timothy.)
The next day they landed in Neapolis, in the northeast portion of the province of Macedonia. (v. 11)
Are you following along with the map?
They came to the Roman colony of Philippi (v. 12), which would be the first time that the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached in Europe. There was no synagogue to meet at, mind you, so they went to a popular meeting place for prayer hoping to catch a crowd to preach to. (v. 13) They sat down with some women and one in particular, Lydia, who was a God-fearer (remember, this is a person who follows God as He was revealed in the Old Testament but not Jesus) and told her about Jesus. (v. 14)
She accepted Jesus that day and baptized there at the riverbank! (v. 15)
The next time they went down to the riverbank they met a slave girl who made a lot of money for her masters as a fortune teller. She must have been a little off because Luke calls her demon-possessed. (v. 16) She followed Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke everywhere they went and shouted (in what may have seemed ironically helpful, but then again, would you want a demon-possessed girl as your spokesperson?), “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.” (v. 17)
This happened continuously day after day. Paul finally got fed up with it and commanded the demon to come out of her in Jesus' name. And it did! (v. 18)
The girl's owners were ticked. Her ability to tell fortunes was what made her valuable to them. So they brought Paul and Silas (they did most of the teaching; Timothy was being mentored and Luke probably filled the role of an assistant/historian) to the local authorities. (v. 19) These men, like so many others before, began to exaggerate and stretch the truth. They also try to manipulate the authorities into arresting them now by saying that they were being taught to disobey the Roman government. (vs. 20-21)
Nothing is said about exactly where Timothy and Luke are at this point. We don't even know if they were present during this accusation.
The accusers must have been saying these things in public because mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas. (v. 22) They were to be beaten with wooden rods, probably very similar to caning which is still practiced in southeast Asia, and thrown into prison. (v. 23) They were held in the lowest cell underground (the dungeon) and they were put into the stocks. (v. 24, which probably looked similar to this)
To my complete amazement, even though they were no doubt beaten to a bloody pulp, Paul and Silas were still ministering to the inmates and worshiping God by praying and singing songs to God! (v. 25)
Then...
God...
shows up!
An earthquake shook the prison so hard that every door flew open and every chain fell off every prisoner! (v. 26) The woke up to see all the doors open and he immediately knew that he would be put to death for this, so he drew his sword to do the duty himself. (v. 27) But Paul stopped him and told him that they were still there. (v. 28)
The jailer knew exactly what Paul and Silas were being held for, so he ran down to the dungeon and threw himself at their feet and asked “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (vs. 29-30)
Their response was simple, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household." (v. 31)
Pause. Wait a minute!
Did they really just say that if he believed in Jesus that his family automatically would be saved, too? Does that mean that if one person in a household accepts Jesus then all the others are lopped in by God no matter what they actually believe? How does that work?
Yes and no.
Yes, they did mean what they said, "you will be saved, along with everyone in your household." In the culture that we're reading into, the man of the household had the supreme authority to lead his family as he saw fit. In other words, if the man of the house became a Christ-follower, inevitably, his family would follow suit because they loved and trusted the father of the home.
I say no because in my questioning I used the term automatically and the phrase no matter what they believe. It is the man's responsibility during this time-period, and still is in today's society (or the woman's, if she's a single mother) in my opinion, to instruct his family about morality, Jesus and the love of God. Paul and Silas were correctly assuming that this jailer had the authority to lead his family spiritually. Was it an automatic process? No. Would the views of the family change? Yes.
Press play.
It is easy to miss that the jailer has Paul and Silas meet his entire family IN HIS HOME! (v. 32) Can you imagine a jailer having convicted criminals in his house and the conflict of interest that would cause? Yet, the jailer cared for their wounds and then Paul and Silas baptized every single member of his family! (v. 33) They celebrated by sharing a meal together. (v. 34)
The jailer brought them back to the prison just in time for the city officials to release them. (v. 35) But Paul refused to just leave. They were beaten before even given a trial! That is not how Roman citizens should be treated. (v. 37; Philippi, like most places, was under Roman rule at this time) Apparently, the authorities thought Paul and Silas were Jewish. The officials could've faced really stiff punishment for their actions if Paul were to report them to Rome.
Paul demanded a face-to-face apology from the city officials and the officials did just that. (v. 39) After this Paul and Silas returned back to Lydia's home where they met up with believers before leaving town. (v. 40)
Come back to see where they go next and what happens in Acts 17!
Questions
1.) Jesus never traveled more than 200 miles from his birthplace but his followers now are all over the world, from the Americas to China and everywhere else in between. How much of an influence do you think missionaries play in spreading the gospel of Jesus? Have you ever thought about doing missionary work in another country? Why or why not?
2.) Paul and Silas are beaten and thrown into prison for preaching the gospel, yet that night they are heard by the inmates praying and singing songs to God! How do you think you would have responded to if you were the one in the stocks in prison after being beaten? In other words, are you still thankful to God even though terrible things happen to you? Why or why not?
3.) The jailer immediately shares the good news with his family by having Paul and Silas over at his house! Are you able to blur the lines when it comes to something like this? For instance, if you were told it were illegal to pray in school or in a public place, would you silence your faith or what? In the jailer's case, what would've happened if he would've followed the rules?
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