And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house.
Commentary for this Verse
A jailer in Philippi, minutes from suicide, asks the one question that matters, and the answer asks nothing of him but faith. Everything hangs on what "believe" means, on Paul's three titles for the Saviour, and on how far the promise to his household reaches.
Nothing to Do
The jailer asked what he must do. The answer gave him nothing to do, and one writer shows how well that suits a man with no strength left:
W. T. P. WolstonBut what is the jailer told to do? God's answer to man's query is beautiful in its simplicity. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your house," falls on the ears of the awakened sinner. He had only to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and he would be a saved man. There is no word of anything that he must do to get salvation. This gospel exactly meets helpless sinners who have no strength. No wonder the jailer believed at once.
Another writer names the reason: Christ had already done the work.
BarkerNothing that he could do could secure God's salvation. The doing had all been done by Christ. All that is left for the sinner is taking hold of the results of His mighty work by simple faith.
Why Three Titles
Paul does not just say "believe on Jesus." Each name meets a different fear in an awakened conscience:
H. H. SnellWhy does he here repeat all these titles of the Saviour? Because he is presenting Him to this anxious soul as the Object of faith, and in such a way as to fully satisfy his awakened conscience... If the question of the troubled heart is, Is He willing to save me? The answer is, Yes; He is JESUS, and came into the world for the very purpose of saving sinners. If the question is, Is He able to save me? The answer is, Yes; He is "LORD of all," and has all power in heaven and on earth. And He is the CHRIST, the anointed One in heaven, following on His finished work on the cross. That is the unquestionable proof that everyone who has come as a sinner to Him the Saviour is forgiven and blessed.
The writers quoted here use an older translation, which reads "the Lord Jesus Christ." The ESV reads "the Lord Jesus."
Taking God at His Word
The jailer's response shows what believing looks like. He took God at His word:
C. StanleyThe Scripture says this, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." It is not enough to know that the Bible says so. The devils know that well enough, and so does the unbeliever. But do you know that God says so — that it is God speaking to us in the Bible? Now, if God says so, is it not true?... The jailer understood it to mean just what God said, and he was baptized at once. He raised no questions. "He rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." If he believed and rejoiced, why should you doubt?
And Your Household
The last words are the ones most often dropped. One writer treats that habit as a real loss:
F. B. HoleWe often quote Acts 16:31, but too often we leave out the last three words. God loves to identify a man's house with himself and include them in His offer of blessing. Why do we not more often take hold of this fact in our faith?... This is surely most encouraging for every head of a house whom the grace of God reaches. God shows no partiality: what He is to one He is to all.
Commentators differ on how far the promise carries. One writer separates what the jailer's faith gave his house from what each member must still do:
Leslie M. GrantHis being brought to God puts his whole house in a sanctified (set apart) position, as 1 Corinthians 7:14 plainly teaches. In this way the house is saved. Yet each person in the house must still personally receive the Lord Jesus to have eternal salvation.
Works Follow, They Do Not Purchase
Within the hour, the man who had bolted them into the stocks was washing their wounds:
F. B. HoleThere "only believe" was quite in place, and to have "demanded good works" would have been worse than useless. Yet within one short hour of conversion the jailer performed his first good work, the fruit and proof of his faith... He did it not to be saved, but as the result of the change that grace had worked within.
Summary
- Asked — the question assumed doing; the answer named believing, because Christ had already done it all.
- Answered — the titles carry the weight. Jesus means He is willing, Lord means He is able, Christ means the work is finished.
- Assured — the jailer raised no questions and rejoiced at once, because faith rests on what God says.
- Applied — the promise reaches past the man to his house and sets it apart, though each person in it must still believe personally.
- Attested — within one hour he did his first good work; works follow salvation, they never buy it.