"What Must I Do To Be Saved"
There could be no question of greater importance. The answer to this question will determine where each person will spend eternity.
The question was asked by a man identified as “the jailor,” or “the Philippian jailor” (Acts 16:22-34). After the jailor had beaten Paul and Silas and had thrown them into prison, there was an earthquake. During the earthquake, the foundations of the prison were shaken, and the prion doors were opened. The jailor knew the prisoners had an opportunity to escape, and in the darkness of the prison, he imagined that they had done just that. This thought terrified the man because he believed he would have to pay with his life for allowing the prisoners to escape. I am sure the jailor was relieved to hear Paul say, “Do thyself no harm: for we are all here” (verse 28). It was then that the jailor came before Paul and Silas and asked, “What must I do to be saved?” (verse 30). Paul and Silas answered the question, stating, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (verse 31).
For many, this ends the conversion account of the Philippian jailor. They conclude that Paul and Silas probably led the man in “the Sinner’s Prayer,” the man “accepted Jesus” and he was saved.
Yet, the actual account reveals that what many assume about the jailor did not happen. The following is the actual record of what happened after Paul and Silas answered the man’s question: “And they spake unto 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 was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house” (verses 32-34).
