We’re looking at New Testament texts about baptism. Lately, we’ve been looking at some texts in Acts, with Acts 8 being the latest.
Now we come to the baptism of Paul in chapter 9… which I want to discuss next week. Chapter 10 relates the conversion of Cornelius, which we touched on before when discussing the Holy Spirit.
I want to move on to Philippi, in Acts 16. In the first part of the story, we see the conversion of Lydia and her household. As is the general rule in the book of Acts, there is a mention of their baptism when telling of their conversion.
Later, we see the man we know only as the Philippian jailer. While he is on watch, an earthquake frees all the prisoners, yet none escape, seemingly because of the influence of Paul and his traveling companion, Silas. Luke then tells the story:
“The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.” (Acts 16:29–34)
I don’t know that the jailer was thinking in spiritual terms when he asked about being saved. But Paul seized the moment and spoke the truth to him: You need to believe. Then the jailer and his family were baptized. Luke ends the story by saying that the jailer rejoiced because they had believed.
Modern Christians have an obsession with delineating the timeline of salvation, separating out belief and response. We want to know if a person is saved at the moment they believe or when they are baptized. Do we baptize lost people or saved people?
That wasn’t the mindset of the early church. You were out of the community of faith, then you were a part of it. There was the intellectual belief and the response that accompanied it. They were parts of a whole known as “faith.”
Paul told the jailer to believe. The jailer was baptized, then rejoiced because he had believed. They aren’t separate. They aren’t steps. Conversion is a holistic process, affecting body and mind, intellectual and physical.
It’s all worth rejoicing about.
So, we baptize people who are being saved? Interesting thought, but I’m too tired to think right now.
This is an interesting one in Acts, perhaps the most interesting (and fun!).
There are two mis-translations taken for granted within your post. You say on one hand that “the jailer [singular] rejoiced because they [plural] had believed” and on the other “the jailer [singular] was baptized, then rejoiced because he [singular] had believed”; none of which are what the text says. The translation you posted (NIV, I believe) also implies (by having “he and his whole family” at the end of the sentence) that all (plural) were rejoicing because all (plural) believed. And this introduces the issue of the two ways in which this text can be translated.
The text on the surface says that “he and his household” rejoiced because he (singular) believed in God (…καὶ ἠγαλλιάσατο πανοικεὶ πεπιστευκὼς τῷ θεῷ). The issue here is with the phrase “his household” and whether or not it goes with the verb “rejoiced” only or with both the verb “rejoiced” and the participle “had believed”. The former implies the first sentence in this paragraph (and is the way the ESV takes it: “And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God”). The latter says something different (the NIV choice).
What makes this interesting is that it is open to the possibility that the wife, children, and slaves (probably, too) were baptised because the head of the household (the jailer) believed [taking the “his household” only referring to the verb and not the participle]. This would be consistent with the text, context, and culture of the time in that what the head of the house does, the rest follow (wife, children, even slaves/servants). Much like today in tribal cultures. If the head of the tribe believes, the rest would follow; keeping harmony within the family/tribal unit.
Just an interesting tidbit to this story. The text, as written, is saying they all were baptised and then rejoiced because the jailer (the head) believed. But as your post maintains: yes, they were baptised! :)