Acts 16:16-40 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
In the last lesson, Paul and Barnabas parted, and Paul chose Silas to go with him (Acts 15:40). On the way, a disciple named Timothy joined them (Acts 16:1–3).
One night Paul saw a vision: “There was a man of Macedonia standing, begging him and saying, ‘Come over into Macedonia and help us’” (Acts 16:9). So they crossed the sea and came to Philippi, “a city of Macedonia, the foremost of the district, a Roman colony” (Acts 16:12). By the river outside the city, a seller of purple named Lydia came to believe, and she and her household were baptized (Acts 16:14–15).
This lesson begins on the way to the place of prayer.
16As we were going to prayer, a certain girl having a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by fortune telling.
17Following Paul and us, she cried out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us a way of salvation!”
18She was doing this for many days. But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” It came out that very hour.
19But when her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
20When they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men, being Jews, are agitating our city
21and advocate customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.”
22The multitude rose up together against them and the magistrates tore their clothes from them, then commanded them to be beaten with rods.
23When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely.
24Having received such a command, he threw them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks.
25But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
26Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were loosened.
27The jailer, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
28But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, “Don’t harm yourself, for we are all here!”
29He called for lights, sprang in, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas,
30brought them out, and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
32They spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house.
33He took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes, and was immediately baptized, he and all his household.
34He brought them up into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly with all his household, having believed in God.
35But when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, “Let those men go.”
36The jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go; now therefore come out and go in peace.”
37But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly without a trial, men who are Romans, and have cast us into prison! Do they now release us secretly? No, most certainly, but let them come themselves and bring us out!”
38The sergeants reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans,
39and they came and begged them. When they had brought them out, they asked them to depart from the city.
40They went out of the prison and entered into Lydia’s house. When they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them, then departed.
A girl. On the way to the place of prayer, a girl “having a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by fortune telling” (v. 16). She followed Paul and the others, crying out, for many days. Paul, “becoming greatly annoyed” (v. 18), commanded the spirit in the name of Jesus Christ to come out, and “It came out that very hour” (v. 18).
Not the real reason. When the girl’s masters “saw that the hope of their gain was gone” (v. 19), they seized Paul and Silas and took them before the authorities. But before the magistrates they said something else: “These men, being Jews, are agitating our city” (v. 20). The passage makes it plain: the real reason is in v. 19; the accusation is in vv. 20–21.
Many stripes. “The multitude rose up together against them” (v. 22). The magistrates tore their clothes from them and ordered them beaten with rods; “When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison” (v. 23). The jailer put them in the inner prison and “secured their feet in the stocks” (v. 24).
About midnight. “But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them” (v. 25). The passage does not say what they sang or what they were thinking; it says only what they were doing, and that the others were listening.
A great earthquake. “Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened” (v. 26). The passage records the singing and then the earthquake. It does not say the singing brought the earthquake.
We are all here. The jailer woke, saw the prison doors open, and “drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped” (v. 27). Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself, for we are all here!” (v. 28). The doors were open, and they did not leave.
What must I do to be saved? The jailer fell down trembling before them and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (v. 30). They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” (v. 31), and “They spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house” (v. 32). That same night the jailer “washed their stripes,” and he and all his household were baptized (v. 33). The man who washed their wounds was the same man who had put their feet in the stocks (v. 24).
Men who are Romans. At daybreak the magistrates wanted to let them go. Paul said, “They have beaten us publicly without a trial, men who are Romans, and have cast us into prison!” (v. 37). When the magistrates heard it, “they were afraid” (v. 38) and came themselves to bring them out. The passage does not explain why Paul said this; it records only what he said. The two left the prison and went first to Lydia’s house: “When they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them, then departed” (v. 40). The men who had been beaten were the ones who encouraged others.
Philippi was “a Roman colony” (Acts 16:12). The men who accused Paul spoke of customs not lawful “for us to accept or to observe, being Romans” (v. 21); in the end, Paul said of himself and Silas, “men who are Romans” (v. 37).
Later, in his letter to the church in Thessalonica, Paul mentioned this time: “having suffered before and been shamefully treated, as you know, at Philippi, we grew bold in our God to tell you the Good News of God” (1 Thess 2:2).
These are Paul’s own words in his letter.
Perhaps you too have been falsely accused: the reason people gave was not the real reason, and you had done nothing wrong, yet you were the one who got hurt first.
This lesson does not say that believing means you will be falsely accused, and it does not promise that if you sing, the doors will open. What it shows you is this: in the inner prison, with their feet in the stocks, Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns at midnight; when the doors opened, the one they thought of was the jailer about to kill himself. Paul later wrote to the church at Philippi, “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it” (Phil 4:11).
This week: One evening, write down something you feel you were falsely accused of, then bring it before God in prayer. Not to get a particular result, but so that you are no longer carrying it alone.
Scripture: World English Bible.