In the story of Paul and Silas in prison, found in Acts 16:20-40, I have been struck by the back-and-forth of being in jail. They are in jail, then they are in the inner jail. The doors open, but they don’t escape. The jailer goes inside the jail, apparently bringing them out of jail and then to his house. Then we get to verse 33. “At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.” This story is not just about Paul, Silas, and the jailer, but a type and shadow of Christ and a reminder of 2 Samuel 7.
There is the type and shadow of Jesus in the developing story of Paul, Silas, and the Jailer. Looking at the Gospels, we can see some clear comparisons between the actions taken against Paul and Silas and the reactions of the jailer.
We know from verse 22 that the accusations against Paul and Silas came from the people. This crowd is like the crowds in Matthew 27:16 who shouted, “Crucify Him!” to Pilate. These charges against Paul and Silas were significant. There was an immediate desire to have this crime adjudicated on the spot. The magistrates sentenced Paul and Silas with no trial, much like the priests sentenced Jesus in an illegal trial. In both cases, this rush to judgment was illegal, and injustice was done.
Paul and Silas were flogged before being thrown into jail. Jesus was flogged before being crucified (John 19:1). I would say that Paul and Silas were a type and shadow of Christ and His sufferings.
In verse 23, we read the order from the magistrates, “charging the jailer to keep them securely.” If Paul and Silas had escaped, the punishment carried out on the jailer would have probably been death. We saw this in Acts 12:19 when Peter was let out of prison by the angel. Herod was angry about the “escape” and had about 16 guards killed. This jailer was not going to make this mistake. To make doubly assured they would not escape, the jailer put them in the most secure jail cell that he had and locked their feet in the stocks. That jail cell was the “inner jail” or the sewer. It was reserved for the most vile criminals.
Paul and Silas would have had cuts and open wounds after being flogged. They were chained by their feet and sitting in human filth. I cannot imagine the amount of bacteria, viruses, and parasites that they were subject to. This alone could have caused their death. Not only that, but the smells associated with sitting in a sewer. I really don’t know how someone can sing praises when their gag reflex is working overtime, not to mention the amount of pain they had to be experiencing.
Then there was the supernatural earthquake that broke the chains and opened the door of the prison. In Matthew 27:51-52, there was an earthquake at Jesus’ crucifixion. “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.” The prisoners were set free. They were probably sitting on the epicenter of the earthquake. It was strong enough to break stones and the chains, but not strong enough to bring the jail crumbling down on them.
There is enough evidence to convince me that this was symbolic of Paul’s baptism for the ministry to the Gentiles. Paul was first baptized by Ananias in Damascus. From there, he went to Arabia. We are never told why or what he did there. In Acts 14:19-28, Paul was stoned in Lystra and left for dead. We are not told that Paul actually died, but his recovery was nothing but a miracle. The next day, he got up and continued on his journey. I do not want to be heretical by making this assumption, but I cannot help but see the connection between what Jesus endured and what Paul and Silas endured.
Moving on, when the earthquake hit, there did not seem to be any hesitation on the part of the jailer. He was ready to die, probably to satisfy the magistrates so that they would not kill his family. Paul seemed to be aware of this and was ready to expose the situation. I believe they did not try to escape just to save the jailer’s life. God had a plan, and Paul and Silas trusted it no matter how stinky it was…
Then we read about the jailer as he “called for lights”. I love the fact that he was in total darkness and knew that he needed to come out. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9). On the one hand, it was so important to the jailer that they not leave the jail that he would have killed himself over it. In the next moment, there was such a change in circumstances that it could be nothing short of the Holy Spirit moving in the heart of the jailer. Everything changed; instead of their escape being a matter of life or death, now he, himself, brings them out of the jail.
Paul tells the jailer, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” The jailer obviously believed. This takes us to the promise in 2 Samuel 7.
2 Samuel 7 is the Davidic Covenant. David wanted to build a house for the Lord, but God had a different idea. God wanted to build a “house” for the line of David. 2 Samuel talks about David’s desire to build a physical house for God, the Temple, and the contrasting promise from God of a spiritual house for the line of David that would eventually usher in the Messiah. This house would be where salvation came from.
The picture of this is evident in the contrast between Paul being placed in stocks and in the sewer, to being in the jailer’s home. And it is not about this physical home, but a “household”. David wanted to build a temple for the Lord. The jailer brought Paul into his home to share this hope with his family. The jailer and his whole household were baptized into the family and body of Christ. To me, this is the point of the David Covenant: that Christ’s sacrificial atonement would extend to all mankind as Jesus sat on the throne of David. Instead of this being the end of a great story, the Bible says that immediately he and all his household were baptized.
At the washing of Paul and Silas’ wounds, they were immediately baptized. It would be a good, educated guess that the jailer’s family was washing the wounds of Paul and Silas with water. Was this act of dipping their hands into water to wash the wounds equivalent to baptism? No matter how it occurred, the whole household was saved.
One of the ways we know that someone has truly accepted Christ as their Lord is the life change that occurs in the days and weeks following putting their faith in Jesus. We see this in the attitude of the jailer. He went from being seconds away from suicide to “he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God.” He went from an act of possibly saving the physical lives of his family by committing suicide to knowing that God had saved his whole household from physical and spiritual death. From tragedy to triumph. That is what God does.
