Acts 16:16-24
I’ve always wondered at Paul and Silas allowing themselves to be beaten, when (as we will learn tomorrow) they were Roman citizens and should have been tried before a judge and jury before being punished. I feel like I would have claimed my Roman citizenship immediately. But maybe it happened all too quickly and they were set upon by vigilante justice.
And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. (vv. 23-24) These verses are ESV translation; the NASB translates “to keep them safely” as “to guard them securely”. That seems a better translation, since the jailer seems to have been more concerned with security than safety. He put them in the INNER prison, a much more secure location than the “entry-way” cells, and he put their feet in the stocks. All that seems excessive for two men who hadn’t even been formally tried! But then again, it makes their release that much more powerful! But again, I’m getting ahead of today’s reading.
Verse 18 has a small item, And this she kept doing for many days. The slave girl had been crying out to Paul and Silas as they were on their way to the place of prayer – every day!! That is, the slave girl “kept doing” her crying out “for many days”. I find myself impressed at Paul’s and Silas’ dedication to evangelism. With Lydia and her household already converted, Paul and Silas must have seen an opportunity for more converts. And even if no one new showed up, they could still share more with Lydia and her household, increasing their faith. This evangelistic ministry was a daily activity for them. So what about us?
I find that I want to keep encouraging all of you, all of us, to keep speaking out. It’s really not that difficult. Today I took a trailer load of trash to our county-wide dump station building in Nicholasville. Two truck-trailer loads were already dumping and I was next in line. Two days earlier I had gone to the same dump station and had to unload my trailer by myself. (Normally men from the detention center are there to help.) So after waiting a few minutes, I decided to offer my help to one of the people offloading their trash. The man was quick to grant permission for me to help. After working opposite the trailer from him for seven or eight minutes and exchanging a few pleasantries I asked him, “Are you part of a local church?” It was an easy question to ask and there would be a yes-or-no answer – and hopefully a follow-up conversation to either answer. He said, “Yes, we attend Southland Christian Church.” I could tell that we both rejoiced at our shared faith! We parted ways with warm expressions of that shared faith – by the both of us. Bottom line – it was an easy question to ask. We can do this!!
Slava Bohu!
Wonderful sharing, and encouragement for us all!
I had not realized that Silas, like Paul, was a Jerusalem Jew and a Roman citizen. I wonder if there were others, and how they had become Roman citizens!! Not by their mothers or by serving in the Roman army…