Articles
The Night Paul and Silas Sang
What a night it was for singing!
For doing a good deed, Paul and Silas were arrested, brutally beaten, imprisoned and fastened in stocks (Acts 16:22-40).
Do You Want to Feel More Spiritual?
Sometimes Christians get discouraged and want to feel more spiritual. They try to find spirituality in all the wrong places—dimming the lights, lighting candles, humming and holding hands, having unstructured and “free” worship, meeting in a “cell group,” or a “house church,” counting beads, chanting masses, walking on hot coals, fasting to the point of near starvation, the sound of a pipe organ, the light of stained glass windows, listening to a dynamic speaker. It is difficult to think of anything that hasn’t been tried in an effort to achieve spirituality.
I have to tell you that I do not know a single thing you can do in the way of creating an external atmosphere that will make you a more spiritual person. It cannot be achieved that way. It comes by reading, studying, praying, and obeying the word (Ps. 1:1-3). It comes when you put away sinful attitudes of envy, strife, and division; when you are busy converting the lost and restoring the erring, bonding with other Christians, growing in grace and knowledge.
And it comes by serving others. Jesus regarded those he depicted at the judgment scene who had served others as being spiritual people (Matt.25:31-46). There are no short cuts or gimmicks to achieving spirituality. Growing spiritually will involve average, routine days. It is not proven by one’s ability to reach an emotional peak when talking about the Holy Spirit. No person can maintain that high emotional level at fever pitch for long. Those who have tried eventually suffer burnout and come crashing down. The lives of the great heroes of faith were not filled with numerous mountaintop experiences. Only a few. Most of their lives were filled with valleys. It was the valleys that helped make them the heroes they became. How do I know spirituality doesn’t come by these external circumstances? Look at Paul and Silas!
T he Atmosphere and Situation
When a Roman beating took place, clothes were stripped off. It was bare flesh. No cushion between your back and the whip. It is hard for us to imagine what just one lash with that whip would feel like. We don’t want to think about what thirty-nine lashes would feel like. This was not a Jewish beating, but a Roman beating to which there were no limitations. When punished by the Romans, they didn’t intend for you to enjoy it.
God Wants Us to Sing
Have you ever considered that these disciples could not tend to their own wounds or the wounds of each other, since they were fastened in the stocks? How could you rest in this situation? You couldn’t lie down on your back. Miserable circumstances. Have you ever considered that they were probably sitting there in a puddle of blood? I have to tell you, that’s never happened to me. My problems are small. Do you know what else they were doing? They were singing!
This didn’t happen that night, but try to imagine a scenario. Imagine Silas saying to Paul, “Paul, let’s sing!” Paul says, “Silas, you know I can’t carry a tune in a bucket. You’re a good singer so I’m going to leave the singing to you.” Silas says, “But Paul, we’ve got a lot to sing about and look at the opportunity here!” Paul replies, “I’ve been singing all my life. I’ve done my part. Besides, we don’t have any song-books. Even if we did, it’s dark in here so how would we be able to see?” Silas responds, “We can’t let this opportunity slip away.” Paul replies, “My voice is a little raspy tonight. Nobody wants to hear my fog horn of a voice. Anyway, I can’t remember the words without a songbook. And I’m so mad right now that I’m just not in the mood for singing. And, good grief Silas, it’s nearly midnight! Whatsa matter with you? To be honest I don’t feel like singing and nobody can make me. Besides, my back . . . kinda hurts.”
Paul and Silas sang that night. We ought to be ashamed to make those worn out excuses that we’ve heard for many years. Here were two crusty old disciples. I bet it didn’t sound anything like the Florida College chorus or the Harding choir or some professional gospel group or a “praise team” from some church. But it was beautiful in the ears of God and it had an effect on those who heard. These were spiritual men! It had nothing to do with creating a spiritual atmosphere with external enhancements. They had not just been through an emotionally moving worship service. No stained glass, no dynamic sermon. It had everything to do with their faith and the fact that they were not thinking of themselves.
They were in the most unspiritual atmosphere imaginable. If anybody had a right to forego singing that night, they did. But they sang. They sang from memory, sitting there with their feet in the stocks, no way to get in a comfortable position, just sitting there in a puddle of blood.
Have you ever considered that if you are ever a prisoner of war or kidnapped by terrorists that you will have to rely totally on your memory for any hymns you might want to sing or any Scriptures you might want to hear or share?
The fact that Paul and Silas could remember the songs tells us they were used to singing. You can’t remember them if you don’t sing. “Is any among you cheerful? Let him sing praises” (Jas. 5:13). So how could Paul and Silas sing? They were happy! They had found the “peace that passes understanding” (Phil. 4:7). There is a kind of peace, tranquility, and happiness that transcends our earthly predicament and doesn’t depend on the circumstances and counts it a joy to suffer for Christ. These were spiritual men and they were thinking of others. They had just healed a maiden girl. There were the prisoners and jailer. Possibly they were thinking of the infant church in Philippi for as soon as they were released they met with the newly formed congregation and encouraged them! (v. 40).
The Jailer
Here was a man who was on the very edge. He was within fractions of a second and fractions of an inch of taking his own life when he heard a voice that offered him hope. Within moments here was a man whose emotions were stretched from one extreme to the other. He had gotten as low as a man can get. From a state of despair and desperation he rises to heights of joy as he and his family and these two prisoners sit at his table! (v. 34). What stretched this man’s emotions from one end to the other? It was Christianity! Jesus Christ can make life worth living! No, he hadn’t heard the gospel yet (not till v. 32), but he had seen Christianity in action! These were unique prisoners. (1) They were honest in not escaping, even though they didn’t deserve to be there. Rare indeed! (2) They were singing hymns of praise. In most cases, if any singing is going on it is “Gloom, Despair, and Agony on me. . .” (3) They saved his life. He represented the government that put them there. They could have said, “Tough luck, Buddy. Serves you right. We’re outta here.” Most hardened criminals will kill in order to escape.
Some Contrasts
Here were some beaten down prisoners who should have been miserable, yet they’re happy! Here was a man who was in power and authority—a free man on the outside. He should have been happy, but he was miserable! He saw the contrast and it caused him to blurt out loud a question that many people are ashamed to ask: What must I do to be saved?
We see another contrast in how we treat others. The principle of Christianity is that we should love people and use things (Luke 6:31; Eph. 4:28; Matt. 25:14-30). Men often reverse that. They love things and use people. Those men who brought the charges did not love the slave girl as a person. They used her as a thing—like a freak in a side show. Paul and Silas not only silenced some unneeded advertising but they freed her from the clutches of the devil and his cohorts. They loved her.
With what smugness the jailer must have thrown Paul and Silas into the inner prison and clamped them into the stocks. At that point there was no love for these prisoners. But they not only saved his life. Ultimately, they also saved his soul. The jailer had seen enough Christianity in action to give him second thoughts. Paul and Silas were looking for opportunities. That’s how spiritual men think.
His Conversion
In answer to his question, they told him to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 31). It is one thing to tell a person to believe and quite another to tell him what to believe. They had done the one but not yet the other. We could proclaim all day for people to believe on the Lord, but they can’t respond until they know what to believe. It is in the next verse (v. 32) that they spoke the word of the Lord to him—without which no man can be saved (Rom.1:16). If he was saved when they told him to believe (v. 31), then he was saved before he heard the gospel (v. 32), making the gospel unnecessary!
Upon hearing the “word of the Lord,” the jailer and his household were baptized immediately. This writer is aware and has participated in some inconvenient baptisms—driving in a blinding storm, hospital baptisms, breaking the ice on the pond, etc., but there surely has never been a more inconvenient baptism than the one we read of here in Acts 16. (1) An earthquake had occurred. We should never do anything rash after an earthquake for it can lead to disaster, especially in the darkness; (2) They had been through an emotional upheaval with the jailer almost taking his life; (3) The wounds of Paul and Silas needed attention; (4) They had to go elsewhere for the baptizing; (5) It was after midnight. Yet it couldn’t even wait till the next morning!
What could possibly have made this so important that he was baptized immediately in spite of all the inconveniences? Was there anything in “the word of the Lord” that would bring on this urgency? What had the Lord said on this subject? “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16). That’s what made it so urgent! This was the answer to the question he had asked. Did you notice that the jailer never made any of the arguments against baptism that false teachers often make today? He had a different attitude toward “the word of the Lord” than those who make these arguments.
Lessons for Christians
These events happened in a short period of time. We should never underestimate our influence, even in a brief encounter. Look at how they changed this man’s life! Does your Christianity show when you are in dire circumstances?
I have often wondered why Paul didn’t tell the authorities immediately that they were Roman citizens instead of waiting till the next day to inform them that they had been beaten contrary to Roman law. Perhaps some providence here. If he had done that he might never have met the jailer, and we wouldn’t have this moving account of the events that led to this man’s conversion. And the church at Philippi might not have become the beacons of light that they became (Phil. 2:15). As a charter member, I have often wondered just what part the jailer and his family played in that little epistle of joy in which some form of that word appears so often (Phil. 4:4). It may be that farther along we’ll understand these things.
Paul and Silas sang that night. And what a night it was for singing!
Dick Blackford
Truth Magazine
