Baptisms in Philippi

Two sets of baptisms are mentioned in this chapter, although another one is implied. The implied one is Timothy because he was already a member of the church in Lystra. If he had not been baptised previously, then Paul would have baptised him before allowing him to join the missionary team on their further travels. Paul, however, did circumcise Timothy for pragmatic reasons in order to make it easier for him and Silas to engage in Jewish evangelism. Yet his chosen reason indicates that circumcision was no longer regarded as important for identifying the professing people of God. That practice had been replaced by baptism.

The other two baptisms mentioned in the chapter were regular Christian baptisms, although one set took place in a river and the other in a prison, a fact that indicates that the location does not matter as far as performing the ritual is concerned. Each of the individuals who was baptised knew nothing about the gospel the day before they were baptised. Lydia did not know that the Messiah had come and the jailer would not have known that there was a Messiah. 

Lydia and the gospel

There are obviously different ways of considering the gathering in which Lydia met the Saviour. For example, we can think about it from her viewpoint or we can think about from the viewpoint of Paul and his friends. We could ask, did any of them expect a baptism that day? Lydia would not have, although Paul and his friends may have in the sense that they had previous experience of the gospel being blessed to many people.

It looks as if Paul and his friends were only in the city of Philippi for one Sabbath (vv. 12-13). They arrived before it, although we are not told on which day, and on it they made their way to the riverside, hoping that some Jews would gather there for prayer. The reason why they went to the riverside is that meeting in such a way was a Jewish custom if there were not enough males to form a synagogue in a locality (ten males were required). Evidently, there were not many Jews in Philippi. When they found the group, it was composed of women.

Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke spoke with the women about the gospel. Luke focuses on what happened with Lydia, but maybe the other women also believed because Paul in Philippians 4 refers to the women ‘who have laboured side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.’ Yet Paul was in Philippi more than once, so maybe his reference to the other women is to a later occasion.

Lydia was searching for reality in her spiritual life. She was a Gentile from Thyatira, a city in modern-day Turkey. She was also a businesswoman who may have moved from there to Philippi to stay, or she may have been there on a business trip. Luke describes her as a ‘worshipper of God’ which was a term used to describe a Gentile who was interested in the Jewish religion but who had not yet become a proselyte. Obviously she was searching for God but had only come so far.

It is also the case that God was searching for her. In his amazing detailed providence, he had arranged for her to be in Philippi as the same time as Paul and his friends (or the other way round in the sense that they were there when she needed to hear the gospel). Jesus was about to start building his church in Philippi and he was going to start with this woman with an unsatisfied heart.

Why was Paul guided to speak to her rather than one of the other women in the group? Divine providence, again. As Paul spoke to her, her heart was changed. It is interesting how Luke describes what happened. She started to listen with her heart and not just with her mind or even just with her ears. Heart in the Bible includes her entire inner person - mind, affections and will. She was not merely curious, she was converted. She was not just intrigued by what Paul said about Jesus, she was introduced to Jesus in a profound manner that meant she would be his forever.

The next thing that happened, according to Luke, was that she was baptised at the riverside. He does not indicate that there was any delay in doing so or that they went somewhere else to do it. As soon as she had revealed that she had been changed, one of Paul’s team baptised her there and then. She confessed to her known contacts that she was now a disciple of Jesus, which of course is amazing. It does not take long for a person to be converted and to confess the change.

Her baptism also reveals something else - her family were baptised as well. Maybe they were with her, or maybe they were baptised later that day. But they were baptised because she had been baptised, which indicates that they were children. We can also add to that development the other detail that she realised that what she possessed was now at the disposal of the Lord. She showed this when she offered her home as accommodation for Paul and his team.

The jailer and the gospel

Paul and Silas were put in jail because they had delivered through the Lord’s grace a girl who was demon possessed and misused by her owners to tell the future. Because of such uncivil behaviour they were severely beaten and then given into the care of the jailor who responded by placing them in the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks. Little did he realise that he would be attending to their feet in another way later that evening.

We are not told when Paul and Silas were put in the prison, but we are told what they were doing at midnight. They were engaged in a twofold approach to God - praying and singing. Probably, they did so in Greek because the other prisoners were listening to them. We can surmise what the listeners thought about such devotional exercises, but they would have been startled when an earthquake suddenly occurred. One outcome of the earthquake was that the doors were opened and the bonds unloosed. A second outcome was that no-one tried to escape, although there was nothing to stop them doing so.

The jailer initially thought they all had, so he assumed suicide was the only option. As he was about to fall on his sword, he heard a voice urging him not to kill himself and that no prisoner had escaped. The jailer quickly realised that he was not in an ordinary situation. Normally, prisoners would be eager to get out of the jail, but here they were determined to stay in. And the two strangers seemed to have something to do with the overall state of affairs. He must have heard their messages or heard about them in some way because he knew what question to ask. ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’

Paul and Silas could have been pernickety and engaged him in a discussion about the fact that he could not do anything in order to be saved. But sometimes the best response of believers is to ignore the errors unconverted people may have and instead go straight to the point. The man wanted to be saved, therefore they told him how he could be saved. What they said to him was very simple: ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ 

What did the jailer do? He believed in Jesus, right there in the inner prison. This was an incredible sight for the prisoners still sitting there unable to leave. No doubt, they had seen unusual sights in their time, but I suspect that they had seen nothing like this before - a jailor on his knees discovering the way of salvation. How quickly it all happened!

More was to come. His household must have come down to see what was happening. Probably the jailer had been sleeping in a room in his house from which he could see the prison or else was part of the prison. His household would have seen him rushing out in a panic and they too saw him embracing Jesus. They had never seen him do something like that before, so they remained and listened to Paul and Silas speaking about the things of the gospel.

Embracing Jesus had another immediate effect on the jailer. There was a water supply somewhere in the prison and the jailor used it to express a new type of kindness when he washed the wounds of Paul and Silas. But the water was useful for another purpose because there in the prison the jailer and his family were baptised (Luke stresses that this baptism was done ‘at once’). 

Like Lydia, the jailer made his home available for Paul and Silas to use. The jailer became both a host and a waiter as he provided his new friends with a meal. It was a very happy occasion - he was rejoicing and so were his household that he was now a believer in the true God. 

A short time later, Paul and Silas were released in a manner that ensured the new church in Philippi would not be troubled by the authorities for a while. Then Paul and Silas went to their lodgings and told Lydia and others that there was another Christian family in the city, and how surprised they would be to hear that it was the jailer and his family. Then Paul, Silas and Timothy left, but we can see from the pronouns in verse 40 that Luke stayed behind to look after the new congregation.

Application

What does this account say to us about baptism? One obvious answer is that adult baptism should be administered as soon as possible. Both Lydia and the jailer were baptised on the day they were converted (which is also what happened on the Day of Pentecost and the man from Ethiopia). 

Another detail that is obvious is that families of adults who professed faith should be baptised at the same time as the adults. Connected to this activity is that it can be done in the same place where the conversion occurred if that is possible (Lydia is baptised at the riverside and the jailer in the prison). Of course, sometimes it would not be possible for that to happen.

Another feature that we can deduce is that baptism is connected to grasping the great power of God and acknowledging it. We have a God who can deal gently with Lydia and a God who can send an earthquake to waken up the jailer. It was no harder for God to use either means. He used whatever was needed to stimulate their interest and he achieved his purpose. 

Baptism in both cases also followed a simple explanation of the gospel. It was not only Paul that spoke. At the riverside, the four men may have spoken and both Paul and Silas spoke in the prison. What was important was that Lydia and the jailer understood that baptism is a gospel ordinance. That is not too hard to see since the gospel is about cleansing from sin and that is what baptism signifies as well. 

The final detail is that baptism must be followed by expressions of dedication. Both Lydia and the jailer were quick to use their homes in different ways. Both were short-term and did not last long, but they are examples of the kind of activities that a person who has been baptised recognises. Through baptism, they become servants of the Lord Jesus Christ and they show that is the case by freely using what they have for the benefit of his kingdom.