Acts 16:30Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He leads them out and says, "My lords, what must I do to be saved?" What did they say? Notice this: he did not love them because he himself had been delivered from danger, but because he had been struck by the power of God.

Do you see what happened there and what happened here? There the maidservant was delivered from a spirit, and the Apostles were cast into prison because they had freed her from a demon.

Here they merely showed the doors opened, and the doors of the guard's heart were opened. Double bonds were loosed, and light shone forth, for light shone also in his heart.

He "ran in" and "fell down." He does not ask, "What happened? How did this happen?" Instead, he immediately says, "What must I do to be saved?"

The prison guard called for light, ran into the prison, and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. Passing from despair to hope, a perfectly natural thing in an intense state of soul, he brought them out into a freer place. He asked them, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

When the jailer heard Paul's words, he took courage. To make certain that the prisoners had not fled, he asked for a lamp and went with it into the prison.

"And he was trembling," writes the divine historian, because that shaking had struck him so deeply that he trembled with terror.

But why did he suddenly conceive such reverence for Paul and Silas that he fell down before them? "He fell down before Paul and Silas."

Why is he now unafraid of his magistrates, but leads out of the prison those whom he had recently put there? For what reason, I ask, does he place all hope of his salvation in these holy teachers?

Why does he ask their counsel concerning what he must do to be saved? "And bringing them out, he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

The jailer was awakened by it. In terror, when he found the doors of the prison open, he wanted to kill himself. But he was stopped by the Apostle Paul.

He asked for a light and learned by his own experience that truly none of the prisoners had left the prison. Attributing this miracle to the Jewish strangers, the jailer fell at the feet of Paul and Silas.

Probably knowing already about their preaching, he asked them what he must do to be saved. The Apostles required him to believe in Jesus Christ and be baptized.

The jailer did not delay in fulfilling their demand. After brief instruction, he was baptized with his whole household.

With gratitude toward his benefactors, he took them from the prison into his house, washed their wounds, and set a meal before them. Thus the following morning was met with joy.

Yet even here divine help did not abandon the Apostles. A miraculous earthquake shook the foundation of the prison building, opened all its doors, and loosed the bonds of all the prisoners. It converted the jailer to Christ with his whole household.

The next day the city authorities wanted to release Christ's prisoners without trial, just as they had cast them into prison without trial. Then the Apostle Paul made use of his rights as a Roman citizen.

He did this so that, in the future, the arbitrary conduct of civil authorities would place fewer obstacles before the word of God. He compelled the city authorities publicly to apologize to him and Silas for the dishonor inflicted on them without trial, though they were Roman citizens.

Clearly he asks only about himself and his own salvation. The Apostles, however, answer him concerning the salvation both of him and of his whole household, although they require faith only from him.

They say, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your whole household." This resembles the way the Lord proclaims salvation to Zacchaeus's whole household because of Zacchaeus's faith and repentance.

"Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham"; Lk 19:9. Clearly, in both cases the faith of the head of the household is, to a certain degree, reckoned to his household and serves for their salvation.

All these circumstances melted this man's heart. There was the earthquake, the sudden terror, the rush of joy that turned him from suicide, and the prisoners' modest patience and calm forgiveness. Asking for light, he rushed into the inner prison. Trembling with emotion, he fell at the feet of Paul and Silas. Then he freed their feet from the stocks and brought them out from the inner confinement. He cried out, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" The very tone of his speech showed deep reverence in him.

"Having brought them out" means out of the inner prison into the outer one; see verse 23. Or, more probably, it means into the prison courtyard, where the jailer's household seems to have gathered in fear because of the miracle that had occurred; see verse 32.

"What must I do to be saved?" He asks about the salvation that Paul and Silas preached; see verse 17. What he had heard about this, namely that they preached the way of salvation, he now regards as unquestionable truth.

He expresses a living desire to walk this way of salvation and asks what is needed for it.

The conversion of the jailer to Christ was as astonishing as the earthquake was living and powerful. It deeply shook not only the outer supports of the prison, but also its inner stronghold, the firm and resolute soul of the jailer.

As an honest man, he inspected the prison and was convinced that all the prisoners were intact. He at once understood in whom that great power rested, by which even mountains are moved.

So he humbly fell down before Paul and Silas, who apparently were in the dark pit, a deep stone well. Then, leading them out from there, he asked them for instruction concerning salvation.

"Believe," they said, "and you will be saved, you and your whole household."