No Small Parts - The Philippian Jailer
February 28, 2021 Sunday Evening Study

Have you ever been profoundly impacted by someone’s behavior? How about somebody’s personality. Let me give you an example - I had a teacher in high school named Mr. Clay - he was my world history teacher. He was very much what you would call a stereotypical hippie - early 50’s, torn jeans, flowered shirts, long hair with a very 70’s style mustache, walked around barefoot and rode his bike to work. He was very liberal, and we disagreed on many fundamental points.

But here was the thing about Mr. Clay - he was the most likeable person you would ever meet. He was kind, and he had a gentleness about him. He genuinely cared for his students, and you knew when he spoke with you that he really, actually cared. He was passionate about teaching, and he had a spirit that infected everyone. He was the kind of teacher where, you could miss a homework assignment, and he would give you full credit anyway because he was “sure you had a very good reason and that you would work extra hard next time.” As a result you would feel bad - like you were ripping him off or something. Even the poorest students wanted to make Mr. Clay happy.

Even in the halls fights would break up just because he came around the corner and the meanest scariest gang banging thugs did not want Mr. Clay to them fighting, because he would be disappointed. Many of us can say in many ways that we are better people just for having spent time within his sphere of influence.

Do you know anyone like this? Someone who can so deeply impact you that it can cause you to begin to experience the world differently? This is what I imagine it must have been like to be around the apostle Paul, much like it would have been around Jesus. Besides the truth of the Gospel and Holy Spirit, Paul had a charisma - an influence that drew people to him and lent weight to his words.

Please open your Bibles to Acts chapter 16. We are going to look at a story that we actually just studied the last time we met for A2J. Let me give you a little bit of context. We pick up where we left off last week where Paul, Timothy, Silas and Luke have seen Lydia converted and stayed at her home. Now, they are still in Philippi and are preaching and teaching wherever they have the opportunity to do so, and they attract this woman who is demon possessed. She is a very successful fortune teller, and she starts following the men around shouting “These men are slaves of the most high God!” She does this constantly for several days, until Paul has had enough, and he commands the demon to flee the girl. As soon as she is healed she goes back to her masters who are pretty upset that she cannot earn them money as a fortune teller anymore, so they grab Paul and Silas and drag them through town to the magistrates, stirring up a mob along the way. Read Passage Acts 16:22-34.

Almost before they realized what was happening, the two apostles found themselves arraigned before the bar of Roman justice. The plain fact was that Paul released a girl from the evil spirit. It was no crime under Roman law to exorcise a demon or to heal a mentally sick person. They had, in fact, done nothing of which they could justly be accused before the court. The real charge was that of preaching and making converts to an illegal religion. It should be noticed that Judaism was a tolerated religion, not illegal, and Christianity at this early time was considered by Rome as the same thing as Judaism. We know immediately that this imprisonment is in violation of Rome’s own law.

Roman prisons had three compartments. One was called "Communiora" which had light and fresh air. The second was called "Interiora". This was shut off by strong iron bars and locks. Paul and Silas were in the "Tullainium" which is a dungeon where people were placed to die. This was top security - likely because the jailer knew the circumstances of this illegal seizure. Their feet were placed in stocks which were a heavy piece of wood with holes similar to the mediaeval British stocks into which the prisoner's feet were placed and stretched in such a way as to cause constant agonizing pain. 

Despite all this pain Paul and Silas praised God and prayed! Their spirits soared above their circumstances and surroundings. Their voices rose upon the night air in that prison, "and the prisoners were listening to them". They had a charisma that could not be ignored - worshipping in spite of their circumstances.

Little is known about the identity of the jailer by the Scriptures. Many Bible scholars believe that the Jailer was a retired veteran Roman soldier. The city of Philippi was a major city that had been chartered as a "Roman Colonial City". Old soldiers sought retirement in these cities. The position of Jailer was most suitable for a veteran who had commanded in combat and proved his ability with men and a fit soldier would have been the likely choice of the Roman officials. More likely, this was an appointed position.

An earthquake was no new thing to him. But when this professional look took in the fact that the entire prison’s system of restraint has effectively failed, his attitude underwent a quick change. Open doors meant escaped prisoners and Rome had only one treatment for jailers who lost their prisoners - death. The reason for the escape was of no interest to the superior powers. This jailer knew better than to expect mercy and he determined to anticipate the inevitable. He drew his sword with the intention of ending his life by his own hand. Paul must have seen the impulsive action and cried out at once to save the man: "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here".

It is not clear why the other prisoners did not take advantage of the opportunity to escape. It may have been fear of the earthquake; it may have been the impression produced by singing of the Apostles and some superstitious idea that perhaps they would be safer in the company of these who evidently had the gods on their side. There is not much doubt that the jailer quickly connected the inexplicable releasing of the prisoners' bonds and the earthquake which had effected that release with some greater power than that of Nature. He felt that this was no ordinary earthquake. The earthquake symbolized the divine shake of the true faith. The experience of the earthquake opened the jailer’s eyes to see his personal need of salvation. The jailer received not only a physical shock but a spiritual and emotional one, a shock in his conscience. He was brought to the point where the foundations of his life, like those of the prison he guarded, were shaken by God. 

The importance of the story of this jailer is in the question he asks - the most important question any man or woman can ever ask - “What must I do to be saved?” What did the jailer mean by this question? As a heathen Roman, he no doubt had been exposed to Greek/Roman mythology his entire life. Christianity had been introduced into Macedonia only days earlier when Paul arrived in Philippi. So it is unlikely that he possessed more than a cursory understanding of the Christian notion of salvation from sin. But events occurred in those days leading up to his conversion that may account for the jailer’s question. “Believe in the Lord Jesus” was simply a broad, sweeping statement intended to redirect the jailer’s then-present religious attachment to the pagan gods of Greek/Roman mythology toward the true object of belief—Christ. It was a way to reorient the jailer’s thinking in the direction of Jesus, as contrasted with his own pagan notions.

In a swift revulsion of feeling he abandoned the whole of his Roman arrogance and prostrated himself before Paul and Silas. Very often God uses such circumstances to speak to our hearts and to awaken us to the realization that we need to be saved. This man was seeking salvation and the answer Paul and Silas gave was clear and direct. The jailer believed and in that moment he became a new man in Christ. His life was transformed. His first act was to wash and tend the wounds of the prisoners, whom he had cruelly mistreated and who had repaid him by telling him God’s great plan of salvation.

As we look at the conversion of the jailer we will see how he was also required to be baptized to signify his conversion. Paul’s and Silas’ "stripes" were the wounds that he had previously inflicted upon them when they were mercilessly whipped and imprisoned earlier. Bathing their wounds was a demonstration of the fact he was sorrowful for what he had done to them, and did what he could to make it right. Repentance involves more than simply sorrow. Biblical repentance is an important part of the conversion process. It was appropriate that the jailer repented of his callowness and demonstrated this to Paul and Silas before he was baptized. This act of contrition was as much symbolic of his new life in Christ as his subsequent baptism.

Although the jailer is the subject of our study tonight, I myself am more impressed by Paul and Silas. I find it amazing that I can relate to this jailer - seeing Paul and Silas in this state and hearing them praise God in the modest of their circumstances simply could not be ignored, and their faith and devotion changed the life of the most unlikely person, while also impacting the lives of who knows how many prisoners who experienced the same event. Think of how bizarre it is that the gospel was shared from prisoner to jailer - how unlikely of a scenario is that?

Let’s pray.