Study #53: Paul and Silas were imprisoned by the Roman authorities in Philippi over a false charge (Acts 16:16

Study #53: Paul and Silas were imprisoned by the Roman authorities in Philippi over a false charge (Acts 16:16 - 40)

Acts, Chapter 2.2: The Gentiles and Jews of Greece violently opposed the efforts of Paul and Silas to plant churches (15:36 - 18:22)

§Unique Introduction: The missionary ministry of Paul is transformed with a new partner, Silas, and a new helper, Timothy (15:36 - 16:5)

¶Opposite Paul and Barnabas go their separate ways because of a disagreement over John Mark (15:36 - 41)

¶Opposite Paul, Silas, and Timothy delivered the decrees of the assembly at Jerusalem to the new Gentile assemblies (16:1 - 5)

§Complement Body: Paul and his missionary team were imprisoned in Philippi and barely escaped a riot in Thessalonica (16:6 - 17:34)

¶Unique The Holy Spirit opened a door to establish a new assembly in Philippi of Greece (16:6 - 15)

¶Complement Paul and Silas were imprisoned by the Roman authorities in Philippi over a false charge (16:16 - 40)

¶Complement The Jews of Thessalonica disrupted the church-planting efforts of Paul and Silas in Thessalonica with a riot (17:1 - 9)

¶Opposite Many of the noble Jews of Berea believed in Christ (17:10 - 15)

¶Opposite Few of the pagan Greeks of Athens believed in Christ (17:16 - 34)

§Complement Conclusion: The Lord opened a door for Paul in Corinth; and another in Ephesus, on his way home to Antioch (18:1 - 22)

¶Complement The Lord blessed Paul’s missionary efforts in the Greek city of Corinth for eighteen months (18:1 - 11)

¶Complement Paul returned to the assembly at Antioch after stopping at a synagogue in Ephesus (18:12 - 22)

We continue our study of Acts Chapter 2.2 with the second paragraph of the Body Section.

¶Complement Paul and Silas were imprisoned by the Roman authorities in Philippi over a false charge (16:16 - 40)

Unique And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain girl having a soothsaying demon met us, who brought her masters much gain by fortune-telling. The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, “These men are the servants of the most high God, who show to us the way of salvation!” And she did this many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the Name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And he came out the same hour.

Complement And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace to the rulers; and they brought them to the magistrates, saying, “These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive; neither to observe, being Romans.” And the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely; who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

Complement And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises to God; and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bands were loosed. And the warden of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm: for we are all here!” Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out, and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; and you shall be saved, and your household.” And they spoke to him the Word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and he was immediately baptized, he and all his family. And when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his household.

Opposite And when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, “Let those men go.” And the warden of the prison told this saying to Paul, “The magistrates have sent to let you go; now therefore depart, and go in peace.” But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out secretly? No indeed, but let them come themselves and bring us out.”

Opposite And the sergeants told these words to the magistrates; and they were afraid, when they heard that they were Romans. And they came and pleaded with them, and brought them out, and asked them to leave the city. And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.

Comments: The Golden Ratio design of this paragraph is rather obvious.

Unique Paul cast a demon out of a fortune-teller

Complement Paul and Silas were cast into prison and beaten with whips

Complement Paul and Silas led the warden of the prison and his family to Christ

Opposite The magistrates sent a message that Paul and Silas could leave, but Paul refused

Opposite The magistrates came and begged Paul to leave, so Paul and Silas departed The Golden Ratio design is one unique, two complements, and two opposites: UCC-OO.

Now there are many things in this paragraph to discuss.

1) Paul cast out a demon, saying, ““I command you in the Name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And he came out the same hour.”

Now there are many preachers who claim that casting out demons is not for today; but there are no scriptures in the writings of the Apostles or in the Gospels that tell us we cannot do this, the same as the Apostle Paul.

What kind of preacher would teach something that actually helps Satan and that makes us defenseless against the devil, if we follow his teaching? I would not trust any preacher who would try to make me defenseless against Satan! And neither should you.

I have cast out demons many times over 39 years being a Christian; and Satan flees when I take authority over him and command him to leave in the Name of Jesus Christ. It works, because I am a child of the King of kings and Lord of lords; and Satan and his demons must obey when I command them to leave in the Name of Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.

If you are a born again Christian, walking in obedience to the Word of God and are filled with his Holy Spirit, then you can do the same: man, woman, boy, or girl: you are a child of the King. Never forget that.

Now if you are a false Christian, and only think that you are saved, but you are not, then Satan will only laugh at you. So make certain that you are truly a born-again Christian, before you do this. We are powerless against Satan without Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior!

What about quoting Scripture to the demons? Will that work? Well, did it work for the Lord Jesus Christ? Read the accounts in the Gospels, and you will find that Jesus quoted Scripture to Satan two times, and Satan was still there, bothering Him! It wasn’t until Jesus commanded, “Get behind me, Satan!”, that Satan obeyed and departed from Jesus.

“Then Jesus says to him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written: ‘You shall worship [Jehovah] your God, and him only shall you serve.’” Then the devil leaves him; and, behold, angels came; and they ministered to him.” Matthew 4:10-11

If Jesus quoted Scripture to Satan, but it did not work for Him; how is it going to work for me, a sinner saved by grace? It will not, obviously!

Follow the example of Jesus, and command Satan and his demons to leave in the Name of Jesus Christ when they trouble you! Quoting Scripture is a good and necessary thing, but Satan and his demons will only be annoyed; they will not leave until you command them to leave in the Name of Jesus Christ.

2) Fortune-tellers are demon possessed! Never consult with fortune-tellers, witches, spiritists, or wizards, because they are servants of Satan.

“There shall not be found among you anyone that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or practices astrology, or is an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a spiritist, or a wizard, or a necromancer: for all that do these things are an abomination to Jehovah; and because of these abominations Jehovah your God is driving them out from before you.” Deuteronomy 18:10-12

3) Paul and Silas were citizens of the Roman empire, and were also Jews; so they had an advantage in this situation. I do not know why Paul did not try to stop the magistrates from beating him and Silas at the start, but perhaps it was a very chaotic situation and there was no opportunity to say anything.

But this bad situation was of the Lord, because God wanted the warden of the prison to hear the Gospel and be saved! God turned “lemons into lemonade”, as the saying goes.

You might think, “Paul and Silas had just been beaten with whips, and were suffering much pain in a prison. How could this be a good thing?”

But God had a plan! Paul and Silas began praying and singing praises to God in the midst of their pain and suffering, and apparently were preaching the Gospel as well; or perhaps the warden had heard them preaching the Gospel at another time. The warden of the prison heard them and realized that Paul and Silas had something that he did not have; and when the earthquake happened and opened the prison by a miracle of God, he became scared and asked them, “What must I do to be saved?” Glory to God! Amen.

So God used the bad situation of Paul and Silas to become a blessing to others; in this case, the jailer and his entire family repented of their sins and received Jesus Christ as their personal Savior! Praise the Lord!

“And they spoke to him the Word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and he was immediately baptized, he and all his family. And when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his household.”

4) It is important also to understand that the family of the warden heard the Gospel from Paul and Silas: “They spoke to him the Word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.” In other words, everyone in his family was old enough to understand the Gospel; and none of them were infants; otherwise, they could not understand the Gospel!

“Believing in God with all his household”:

so, every one in his family was old enough to believe in God; infants cannot do this yet, so there were no infants in his family.

I say this because many Protestants teach that Paul baptized infants in this family, based on the faith of their father or their parents.

But as you can see, this passage does not support any such teaching! Infants cannot believe in God until they are old enough to understand the Gospel. So beware of anyone who tells you that infants should be baptized, because Paul did the same thing. This is false; Paul and the other Apostles did not baptize infants, and Christ never taught any such thing either. There is no evidence in the Bible to support infant baptism. It is a tradition that started soon after the Apostles died, but it is not scriptural; and it is wrong to do it in any situation.

Even worse, after the children are grown, they believe falsely that they are saved, because they were baptized as a baby; and so this is like giving a vaccine to children to prevent them from believing in Christ. They go to Hell, because they think that the water of baptism washed away their sins, when it actually did nothing at all, except make them wet.

Do not trust in Mary, the saints, your church membership, or your good works, or your baptism as a baby to bring you to Heaven when you die! It will not work!

Also, do not trust in Mohammad, or Buddha, or any other false prophet, because their way is the way to Hell and eternal destruction.

Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man comes to the Father, but by me” John 14:6. Jesus is the ONLY WAY, the ONLY TRUTH, and the ONLY LIFE: if you try to climb up to Heaven some other way, like Mohammad, Buddha or other false prophets, you will perish eternally without hope.

Do what the Philippian jailer did, and repent of your sins and accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior!

If you know that you are a sinner; and if you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and if you believe that Jesus died on the cross for YOUR SINS, and that God raised Him from the dead on the third day, you can be saved, right now!

Use this prayer as a model for your own:

“Lord Jesus, I know that I have sinned against YOU. I am no good, and you are righteous! I believe that you died on the cross for my sins, were buried, and rose again from the dead on the third day. I want you to come into my life and be my Lord and Savior. Please come into my heart right now. Forgive me for all my sins, and save my soul. In the mighty Name of Jesus, I pray, Amen!”

If you have turned from your sins and accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and only Savior from sin, please message me through Facebook and let me know that you have done that, so that I can pray for you and rejoice with you in what God has done in your life. Amen.