The Beginning:
While preaching in Philippi, Paul and Silas are repeatedly followed by a slave girl who has a spirit of divination and brings profit to her owners through fortune-telling. After many days, Paul commands the spirit to come out of her in the name of Jesus Christ, and she is freed. Her owners, seeing their source of income is gone, seize Paul and Silas and drag them before the city authorities.
The Middle:
The owners accuse them of causing unrest and promoting unlawful customs, and the magistrates order Paul and Silas to be beaten and imprisoned. They are placed in the inner prison with their feet fastened in stocks. Around midnight, Paul and Silas pray and sing hymns to God as the other prisoners listen. A sudden earthquake shakes the prison, the doors open, and everyone’s chains are unfastened, prompting the jailer—thinking the prisoners have escaped—to prepare to take his own life. Paul stops him, assuring him that all are still present.
The End:
Trembling, the jailer asks what he must do to be saved, and Paul and Silas reply, “Believe in the Lord Jesus.” They speak the word of the Lord to him and his household, and he washes their wounds; he and his household are baptized, and he rejoices. The next day, when officials attempt to release them quietly, Paul reveals that they are Roman citizens who were beaten and imprisoned without due process. The magistrates come, apologize, and escort them out, and Paul and Silas encourage the believers (including Lydia’s household) before departing.
This account shows that God advances the gospel even through suffering and injustice, turning imprisonment into a setting for witness and salvation. Deliverance comes not merely as escape, but as God’s sovereign action that brings repentance, faith, and inclusion into the community of believers. The conversion and baptism of the jailer’s household highlight the outward movement of the risen Christ’s mission—reaching Gentiles and establishing a church in a major Roman city.
Philippi’s status as a Roman colony meant its civic life reflected Roman law and honor-shame expectations. Public beatings and imprisonment could be used to enforce social order, especially against those accused of disturbing civic peace. Paul’s appeal to Roman citizenship in Acts 16 fits the legal reality that citizens had protections against summary punishment, helping explain why the magistrates respond with urgency once his status is known.
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” — Acts 16:31
Answer the questions below. When you choose an option, you will see the result and an explanation.
1. Why did the slave girl’s owners seize Paul and Silas and bring them before the city authorities?
2. What did Paul and Silas tell the jailer when he asked what he must do to be saved?