Luke devoted more space to Paul's evangelizing in Philippi than he did to the apostle's activities in any other city on the second and third journeys even though Paul was there only briefly. It was the first European city in which Paul preached the gospel.
16:11-12 Travelling by sea from Troas the apostolic band made its way to the island of Samothrace. From there they sailed to Neapolis (modern Cavalla), the port of Philippi in Macedonia, a journey of 125 miles. Philippi was 10 miles northwest inland. This town, previously called Crenides (lit. Fountains), also received its newer name of Philippi from Philip of Macedon. It stood at the eastern end of another major Roman highway that connected the Adriatic and Aegean Seas, the Via Egnatia (Egnatian Road).
"After Mark Antony and Octavian defeated Brutus and Cassius, the assassins of Julius Caesar, near Philippi in 42 A.D., the city was made into a Roman colony. This gave it special privileges (e.g, [sic] fewer taxes) but more importantly it became like a transplanted' Rome . . . The primary purpose of colonies was military, for the Roman leaders felt it wise to have Roman citizens and sympathizers settled in strategic locations. So Octavian (who became Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor, in 27 B.C.) settled more colonists (primarily former soldiers) at Philippi after his defeat of Antony at Actium, on Greece's west coast, in 31 B.C."650
"Philippi's importance during the NT period . . . resulted from its agriculture, its strategic commercial location on both sea and land routes, its still functioning gold mines, and its status as a Roman colony. In addition, it had a famous school of medicine with graduates throughout the then-known world."651
Luke's mention of Philippi's status as a Roman colony is unusual; he did not identify Roman colonies as such elsewhere.652Perhaps he did so here because of the events that followed in Philippi that we can understand more easily with this status in mind. Another possibility is that he did so because of his personal interest in this town. He spent considerable time there. Some scholars conjecture that Philippi was Luke's hometown or the town in which he lived before joining Paul's party.653A Roman colony was a city that the imperial government had granted special privileges for having rendered some special service to the empire. All its free citizens enjoyed the rights of Roman citizens. Living in such a colony was similar to being in Rome away from Rome (cf. Phil. 3:20).
16:13 Normally Paul went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, but evidently there was not a synagogue in Philippi. This suggests that there were probably very few Jews there since it only took 10 Jewish men to establish a synagogue.654Lacking a synagogue worshippers of Yahweh met beside the Gangites River one and one-half miles west of town to pray together and to do what the Jews did in a normal synagogue service.655It was customary for Jews and Gentile God-fearers (sebomene ton theon, "worshipper of God,"v. 14; 13:43; 18:7) to meet in the open air by a river or the sea when a synagogue was not available.656Evidently no men were there the day Paul found the place. (Prayer meetings haven't changed much over the years.) Nonetheless Paul preached the gospel to the women assembled.
"I wonder whether that prayer meeting had anything to do with Paul coming over to Europe and the vision of the man of Macedonia!"657
16:14-15 At least one of the women was a lady who was in Philippi on business. She trusted Christ. Thyatira, her home town in the province of Asia, was a city famous for its purple dye and cloth (cf. Rev. 2:18-29). It had not been the right time for Paul to evangelize Asia (v. 6), but God brought a woman who lived there to him in Macedonia. Her name, Lydia, may have some connection with the fact that her hometown stood in an area that was formerly part of the old kingdom of Lydia.658Luke again emphasized God's initiative in opening her heart to the gospel (v. 14, cf. 2 Cor. 4:4) and the hearts of those in her household (cf. v. 33; 11:14). Her "household"included servants as well as her family (cf. 10:24, 44; 16:31; 18:8; Rom. 16:10-11; 1 Cor. 1:16). Water baptism is in view (v. 15). It followed her conversion immediately (cf. v. 33; 8:36; et al.).
She offered her large home to Paul and his companions as their headquarters while they remained in Philippi. This was a common practice in the Roman world, especially among Christians, since public housing facilities were few and unpleasant (cf. Rom. 12:13; 1 Pet. 4:9).
"Young people sometimes hear a fervent missionary from a distant field tell of the need of young men and young women for work in Africa or China or in some other country. They say, I must answer the call.' They arrange to leave everything here and go out to the mission field, only to find that nobody wants them. And they say, Isn't that queer? They were pleading that we come, and instead of wanting us they are ready, in some instances, to kill us.' Was the missionary wrong? Did he give a false impression of conditions? Not at all! The heathen do not realize their need often until the preaching of the true God gives them a sense of their real condition, but it is that need, nevertheless, which calls for someone to help."659
16:16 Luke probably recorded the conversion of three very different individuals in Philippi to illustrate the appeal and power of the gospel. The demon-possessed "slave-girl"(cf. Rhoda, 12:13) who met the missionaries on their way to the prayer meeting (v. 13) was a tool of her masters who used her to make money through fortune-telling. The demon (Gr. pneuma pythona) within her knew of Paul and announced through her who he was and what he was doing (cf. Mark 1:24; 3:11; 5:7; Luke 4:34; 8:28).
"The Python was a mythical serpent or dragon that guarded the temple and oracle of Apollo, located on the southern slope of Mount Parnassus to the north of the Gulf of Corinth. It was supposed to have lived at the foot of Mount Parnassus and to have eventually been killed by Apollo (cf. Strabo Geography9.3.12). Later the word pythoncame to mean a demon-possessed person through whom the Python spoke--even a ventriloquist was thought to have such a spirit living in his or her belly (cf. Plutarch De Defectu Oraculorum9.414)."660
16:17-18 This girl's screaming recalls the behavior of the demon-possessed people whom Jesus encountered. The title "Most High God"would have had meaning for Greeks, Romans, and Jews. All of these groups had some interest in a (not "the") way of salvation. The Greeks called Zeus the "Most High God."661Consequently the girl's crying out would have aroused the interest of Greeks as well as Jews. Paul proceeded to take advantage of this situation. She seems to have appointed herself the apostles' herald announcing them wherever they went. Paul did not want her to continue doing this, however. Her presence and public relations work implied that the missionaries were allies of the demon that people knew indwelt her (cf. Mark 1:24-25). Jesus working through Paul cast the demon out (Mark 9:14-29; Luke 4:33-35; 6:18; 7:21; Acts 8:9-24; 13:16-12; 19:13-20). Luke did not record whether this girl became a Christian, though she probably did. His interest lay in what happened as a result of this incident.
Verse 18 raises a question about Paul's motivation in exorcising this demon. The text says that he became annoyed after the girl had accompanied the missionaries for many days. Why did he not cast the demon out immediately because he felt compassion for the girl? We can only conclude that God did not lead him to cast the demon out sooner because He used this witness to bring people to Himself. Undoubtedly Paul felt compassion for her since there is plenty of evidence elsewhere that Paul was a compassionate person. It was evidently the continued irritation that this girl created in Paul that God finally used to lead Paul to cast the demon out of her.
16:19-21 Clearly the actions of the girl's masters against Paul and Silas, whom the people perceived as Jews, were prejudicial. They wanted to get even for causing them financial loss (cf. 19:24-27). The market place was the agora.
"Often, if not always, the greatest obstacle to the crusade of Christ is the selfishness of men."662
Two magistrates (praetors) governed each Roman colony.663Recently the Emperor Claudius had expelled the Jews from Rome (18:2). Consequently anti-Semitism was running especially high throughout the empire and in Philippi, which had an unusually large military population. It was contrary to Roman law for local people to try to change the religion of Roman citizens, of which there were many in Philippi. The girl's masters assumed that Paul and Silas were proselytizing for Judaism since the customs Paul proclaimed included worship of Jesus, a Jew, rather than the emperor.
"The accusation against Paul and Silas in 16:20-21 is one of a series. In Acts 16-19 we find four scenes that feature accusations against Christians, and these accusations are parts of similar sequences of events. The sequence contains three basic elements: (1) Christians are forcefully brought before officials or a public assembly. (2) They are accused, and this accusation is highlighted by direct quotation. (3) We are told the result of this attempt to curb the Christian mission."664
16:22 The crowd got behind the missionaries' accusers. The charges against them seemed so clear the magistrates evidently did not even investigate them but proceeded to beat and imprison Paul and Silas (cf. 2 Cor. 11:23, 25).665Lictors (police) would have done the beating (cf. v. 35).
16:23-24 The jailer treated his prisoners as dangerous criminals. His treatment may have reflected his own attitude more than the seriousness of their alleged crimes.
"Jailers commonly were retired army veterans, who could be expected to follow orders and use their military skills as required."666
"He was no mere turn-key, but the governor of the prison,--probably of the rank of a centurion, like Cornelius at Caesarea, of whose history there is much to remind us here."667
"If Lydia came from the top end of the social scale and the slave girl from the bottom, the Roman gaoler was one of the sturdy middle class who made up the Roman civil service; and so in these three the whole gamut of society was complete."668
16:25-26 We can see that Paul and Silas were full of the Spirit by the way they reacted to the pain that resulted from their beating and from being locked in stocks (cf. Ps. 42:8). The other prisoners undoubtedly wondered who these men were and how they could rejoice. Perhaps some of them became Christians and members of the Philippian church. If so, Paul's exhortations to rejoice in the Lord always in his epistle to the Philippians would have reminded them of his example on this occasion. Again God miraculously freed His servants (cf. 5:18-20; 12:3-11).
"This was the first sacred concert ever held in Europe . . .
"The world is watching Christians, and when they see Christians shaken by circumstances as they themselves, they conclude that after all there is very little to Christianity; but when they find Christians rising above circumstances and glorying in the Lord even in deepest trial, then even the unsaved realize the Christian has something in knowing Christ to which they are strangers."669
16:27-28 "In Roman law a guard who allowed his prisoner to escape was liable to the same penalty the prisoner would have suffered (Code of Justinian9.4.4)."670
This jailer was about to commit suicide and so avoid the shame of a public execution. He was certain his prisoners had escaped. God had restrained the other prisoners from escaping somehow, possibly out of fear or out of respect for Paul and Silas.
". . . were the other prisoners as terrified as the jailer at what they believed to be the magical power of two Jewish sorcerers which could bring about an earthquake? This might account for their failure to try to escape."671
Whatever the other prisoners may have thought, Luke's emphasis was on the love that Paul and Silas demonstrated for the jailer by remaining in prison when they could have escaped. It was primarily this love, I think, that won the jailer over.
16:29-30 Paul and Silas' love for him, in contrast to the hatred they had received from the magistrates, the police, and the jailer, transformed the jailer's attitude. Apparently the jailer had heard the gospel from Paul and Silas previously, or had at least heard what they were preaching (cf. v. 17), but had hardened his heart against it (v. 24). Now, because of his brush with death, he humbled himself and asked how he could be saved. Another possibility is that the jailer was only wanting deliverance from his physical danger.
". . . if these were the jailer's exact words they probably meant: How can I be saved from the consequences of having ill-treated two obviously powerful magicians?' Paul uses the question as an opening for his Gospel message (verse 31)."672
16:31 This verse raises the question of lordship salvation most clearly in Acts. Must a person make Jesus the Lord (Master) of his or her life to become a Christian?
Most evangelicals believe that to become a Christian one need only trust in the person and finished work of Jesus Christ. It is not necessary to submit to Him completely as personal Master to be saved.673Some contend that the sinner must also yield his life completely to Jesus as Master as well as Savior to be saved.674
Those who hold the lordship view insist on the necessity of acknowledging Jesus as Master of one's life in the act of receiving Him as Savior. According to them these are not two separate sequential acts nor successive steps but one act of faith. A few expressions of the lordship salvation view are these.
"The astonishing idea is current in some circles today that we can enjoy the benefits of Christ's salvation without accepting the challenge of His sovereign Lordship."675
"In most instances the modern evangelist' assures his congregation that allany sinner has to do in order to escape Hell and make sure of Heaven is to receive Christ as his personal Savior.' But such teaching is utterly misleading. No one can receive Christ as His Savior while he rejects Him as Lord. Therefore, those who have not bowed to Christ's sceptre and enthroned Him in their hearts and lives, and yet imagine that they are trusting Him as Savior, are deceived."676
"Where there is no clear knowledge, and hence no realistic recognition of the real claims that Christ makes, there can be no repentance, and therefore no salvation."677
"When we teach (whether it is Matthew, or Romans, or any other book in the New Testament--even in comparison to the Old Testament), we teach that when a person comes to Christ, he receives Him as Savior and Lord, and that genuine salvation demands a commitment to the lordship of Christ."678
"Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven' means Unless you who call yourselves Christians, who profess to be justified by faith alone and therefore confess that you have nothing whatever to contribute to your own justification--unless you nevertheless conduct yourselves in a way which is utterly superior to the conduct of the very best people, who are hoping to save themselves by their works, you will not enter God's kingdom. You are not really Christians.'"679
There are many excellent evangelical scholars and expositors who believe it is not necessary to commit one's life to Jesus fully when one trusts in Him as Savior to experience salvation. Some of their statements follow.
"The importance of this question cannot be overestimated in relation to both salvation and sanctification. The message of faith only and the message of faith plus commitment of life cannot both be the gospel; therefore, one of them is false and comes under the curse of perverting the gospel or preaching another gospel (Gal. 1:6-9)."680
"The Christian's liberty to do precisely as he chooses is as limitless and perfect as any other aspect of grace."681
"A faithful reading of the entire Book of Acts fails to reveal a single passage where people are found to acknowledge Jesus Christ as their personal Lord in order to be saved."682
"If discipleship is tantamount to salvation, then one must continue in the Word in order to be saved, for John 8:31 says, If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed.' Continuance is absolutely demanded for discipleship. If discipleship and salvation are the same, then continuance is demanded for salvation. Yet the New Testament clearly teaches that salvation is by faith and it is a gift (Eph. 2:8-9). You have eternal life at the point of faith (John 3:36). Continuance is not a requirement for salvation."683
"It is an interpretative mistake of the first magnitude to confuse the terms of discipleship with the offer of eternal life as a free gift. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely' (Rev. 22:17), is clearly an unconditional benefaction. If anyone comes to me and does not . . . he cannot be my disciple' clearly expresses a relationship which is fully conditional. Not to recognize this simple distinction is to invite confusion and error at the most fundamental level."684
". . . I am not a lordship salvation person. I preach the importance of dedication to Jesus Christ. I talk about the works that follow faith. But I believe eternal life is a gift and that I receive it not by anything I do, or am, or promise to become. I take the gift that God offers."685
When people trusted Jesus Christ in Acts, what did Luke record they believed about Him?
"In Acts 2, 10, and 16--passages that present the most material about salvation in the Book of Acts--what one confessed was that Jesus was the Lord in that He was the divine Mediator of salvation with the total capacity and authority to forgive sins and judge men. He is the Lord over salvation because they have turned away from themselves or their own merit to the ascended Lord. He is the divine Dispenser of salvation."686
Other New Testament passages corroborate this testimony (2:38-39; 3:19-26; 4:12; 8:12, 35; 10:43; 13:38-39; John 20:28; Rom. 10:9-13; 1 Cor. 12:3; 2 Cor. 4:5; James 1:1; 2:1; 1 Pet. 3:15; 2 Pet. 3:18; Jude 4, 21, 25; Rev. 19:16).687Submitting to Jesus' total lordship is the responsibility of all people, but not even all Christians do it (Rom. 6:12-14; 12:1-2). It is therefore not biblical, and it is unrealistic, to make it a condition for salvation.688
"In many places in the Acts it is impossible to distinguish whether Lordstands for Jehovah or the Christ: see Introd. p. lxxii."689
The Philippian jailer now believed that Jesus had the power to protect and deliver His own. He saw Him as the One with adequate power and authority to save. Note that he had previously appealed to Paul and Silas as "Sirs"(lit. "Lords,"Gr. kyrioi, v. 30). Now Paul clarified that there was only one Lord (kyrion) that he needed to believe in, namely Jesus.
"The word Lord' in the phrase, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,' is no different than a modern equivalent such as, put confidence in President Reagan.' The term President' is his title. It indicates his position and his ability to follow through on promises. In a similar fashion, the term Lord,' when applied to Jesus Christ, indicates His position as God and thus His ability to save us and grant us eternal life."690
Paul did not mean that the jailer's whole household would be saved simply because the jailer believed. Other members of the jailer's household believed and were saved as he believed and was saved (cf. v. 15; 8:36). Personal salvation always depends on personal belief (John 3:16; et al.).
Note also in this verse, as in the rest of Scripture, that faith logically precedes regeneration, not the other way around.
"Paul and Silas did not say to the Philippian jailer, Be saved, and you will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ'! They said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved'!"691
16:32 Paul went on to explain the gospel more fully. The only condition for salvation was trust in Jesus Christ. As elsewhere, references to household members trusting Christ presuppose the ability to do so. Those who were old enough and capable enough to believe did so.
16:33-34 The jailer proceeded to wash Paul and Silas' wounds. Then they washed him with the water of baptism. He did not have to keep his prisoners under lock and key, only to deliver them at the required time. He believed they would not try to escape, so he brought them into his house and treated them as loved brothers rather than as law breakers.
"The conversion of the jailer is not just one more of the many conversions in Acts but the conversion of a member of the oppressive system that is punishing Paul and Silas."692
16:35-36 The policemen (Roman lictors) returned to the jailer the next morning with orders to release Paul and Silas.693Evidently the magistrates only intended to teach them a lesson for disturbing the peace, not incarcerate them permanently.
16:37 The Roman government guaranteed its citizens a public trial and freedom from degrading punishment such as beatings.694Paul was now able to use his citizenship to advantage. He may have tried unsuccessfully to communicate his citizenship earlier during his arrest, or he may have waited for the right moment to do so. His claim here resulted not only in his own protection from mistreatment but in the authorities looking on his fellow believers with favor rather than abusing them. Paul demanded what he did for the progress of the gospel, not for personal glory or revenge (cf. Phil. 1:18).
16:38-39 Roman officials charged with mistreating Roman citizens faced the danger of discipline by their superiors. These magistrates meekly appealed to Paul and Silas not to file a complaint. They also wanted them to leave Philippi because popular opinion was still hostile to them due to Paul's healing the slave-girl. Furthermore the local magistrates did not want to have to protect Paul's party of foreigners from irate local residents.
16:40 Paul did not leave Philippi immediately. First, he encouraged the Christians. This group formed the nucleus of the church in Philippi that forever after was a source of joy to Paul and a source of encouragement to other believers (cf. Phil. 1:3; 4:10-16).
