Lydia and the Jailer
By Timothy Glover
Lydia
Other examples of conversions are found in Acts 16. First, we read of Lydia who was one of the women who met on the river banks on the Sabbath to worship. What amazes me about many of these conversions is that very often they are upright, devout, or worshipers of God as was Lydia. It reminds me of the possibility that being religious and God-fearing does not guarantee that I am living as God would have me to live.
The text says that Lydia heard Paul preach. The examples of Cornelius and Lydia show that when honest and sincere people learn more about what God requires of them, they are willing to obey without delay. Both had not heard the truth and thus lacked the opportunity to obey. But, once this new-found knowledge was acquired, they did not hesitate to express their submission to heaven’s will. When she gave heed to that preaching and was baptized.
The Jailer
Paul and Silas were put in prison while in Philippi when suddenly, the prison doors swung open and their chains fell to the floor. When the jailor awoke, he was about to take his life, assuming that the prisoners had fled. Paul cried out, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.” Trembling he called for a light and fell before Paul and Silas asking, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul answered, “Believe on the Lord, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (v. 31). Luke adds that they spoke unto him the word of the Lord. Such preaching was necessary (Rom. 10:17) in order to have faith. The jailor, being a heathen, was not acquainted with the true God as many of the Jews to whom Paul preached like the 3,000 in Acts 2. These were told to repent and be baptized. They obviously already believed. It would then be pointless to tell them to do what they already had done. Compare Paul himself who asked, “What will you have me to do?” He was a penitent believer.
Consequently, we was not told to believe or repent. Therefore, he was told to “arise, and be baptized and wash away they sins....”
But, there is more. As soon as verse 32 ends with Paul preaching the word, verse 33 follows it with, “...he was baptized, he and all his, immediately.” Believing on the Lord was not all of the answer to his question. The other words spoken by Paul in verse 32 are not recorded but they result in the jailor’s baptism the same hour of the night.
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