Freedom in a Jail

Acts 16:16-40

Good morning! Today we continue our study of the Book of Acts, focusing on the second half of chapter 16. As part of a brief review, I want to go back to Acts 15. Already at this point we have many Gentile people coming to faith in Jesus. At the beginning of this chapter, our location is Antioch, where Paul and Barnabas are teaching and strengthening a large group of believers. Some people from Judea come down to say that all believers need to be circumcised in order to be saved, a claim that also presumably meant that they thought that all believers, even Gentile ones, needed to completely keep the Law of Moses. Paul and Barnabas disagreed with this claim, and so they were appointed along with some other believers to go to Jerusalem and get a definitive answer to this question. They did so, and in light of the fact that God Himself was clearly revealing Himself to Gentiles and giving them the Holy Spirit, the Jerusalem elders agreed with Paul and Barnabas that they should not make it unnecessarily difficult for the Gentile people that were turning to God. Only a minimal number of basic rules were given. Some of them returned with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch to relay this news, which was received gladly. And Paul and Barnabas then remained in Antioch, continuing to build up the believers there.

We are told that eventually Paul and Barnabas desired to revisit the cities they had previously visited in their first missionary journey, to see how they were doing and encourage them in the Lord. We then read that Paul and Barnabas had a significant disagreement about whether to bring along a certain believer named John who also went by Mark. Barnabas wanted to bring him, but Paul did not, because he had left them in a city previously and had not continued the work. For any Bible skeptics you meet, these verses at the end of Acts 15 are but one of many examples of the honesty – I would say brutal honesty – of the Scriptures. It’s hard to imagine any people in the Bible more “heroic” than Paul and Barnabas, and yet, Scripture tells us, they were not able to overcome their differences in opinion and decided to part ways, each going to different areas that they had visited before, as well as potentially new areas. I believe that God used this disagreement for good, as it meant that, going in two different parties, they were able to spread the gospel at effectively twice as many areas. 

I find this oddly encouraging – it is a potent reminder that we do not have to be perfect in order for God to use us, not on this side of heaven. Be sure that God will, however, finish his work in us, and we will be perfected. This is necessary so that we can spend eternity with a perfectly holy God. This does not mean that we should not continually seek after God, asking Him to show us our failures and sins so that we can repent of them and grow in Him. But it does mean that perfection is not a prerequisite for serving Him in this life.

And so Barnabas went with John Mark by ship for Cyprus, while Paul went with Silas through Syria and Silicia, strengthening the believers they visited along the way. Although Acts does not mention Paul and Silas visiting Tarsus, the place that Paul was from, it was along the way. They then came to Derbe and Lystra. Recall that it was in Lystra, in Paul and Barnabas’s first missionary journey, that Paul had healed a man who had been lame from birth. Rather than leading to an immediate abandoning of their false gods, the people prepared to offer sacrifices to them, believing that they were their gods Hermes and Zeus in human form. On top of this, Jews who came from Iconium and Antioch stirred the people up so much that they stoned Paul outside the city, leaving him for dead. But in that first journey people put their faith in Christ even in Lystra.  

After spending time in Derbe, they went back to Lystra to further encourage the believers there, and they also visited a young disciple named Timothy, who was well-spoken of by the believers there and in Iconium. Paul wanted to take him along. Even though his mother was Jewish, his father was Greek, and for this reason, Paul circumcised him so that he could be more effective reaching out to the Jews along the way. In each location, one of the things they did was pass along the decision from the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. Now with Timothy, their continued travels took them through the regions of Phrygia and Galatia and on to the coastal city of Troas, located on the Aegean Sea. 

Paul then had a vision of a man of Macedonia begging them to come and help them, so they left Troas and went by sea to Neapolis and then they went on to Philippi in Macedonia, taking the Ignatian Way, a prominent Roman road. As we read last week, after arriving in Philippi, they spoke to woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth and a God worshiper – meaning that, although she was not Jewish, she still worshiped the true God. They shared the gospel with her, and she became a believer in Christ, and had them stay in her home. Note that the gospel has now spread even farther, for the first time into what we call the continent of Europe. This brings us to today’s passage.     

Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. – Acts 16:16-18

This place of prayer in Philippi was mentioned in the message last week – it is outside the city gate by the river. This river was likely the Krenides river, about a mile outside the city. Let me mention as well that earlier in this chapter we switched from “they” to “we.” This likely means that Luke, the author of Acts, is also here, likely joining Paul, Silas, and Timothy at Troas and coming with them to Philippi. 

Let’s talk about this woman, a woman who is about as different from Lydia as you could possibly be. We need to look into the Greek a bit here to understand what is being said about her. She is first defined as a paidiske, a young female slave or servant, and then she is described with the verb echo, which is a pretty general verb, but I think is well translated with “attached to”. A few examples of this word: It is used in Matt. 1:18 to describe the pregnant Mary “with” child; that is, she and the child are attached to one another. Jesus is described with this word in Matt. 7:29, in saying that Jesus was one who taught “with” authority, that is, authority was an integral, inseparable part of His teachings. In Luke 5:24, Jesus is likewise described as “having” power, the power to forgive sins, a power specifically and even uniquely attached to Jesus. 

And so this female slave is likewise attached to something, or something is attached to her. What is it? In the Greek, it is not one word, but two: pneuma pythonos. Now you may already know that pneuma means breath, and also, spirit. The Holy Spirit is pneumatos hagios, where hagios means holy. But here we have pneuma pythonos. The root word of pythonos is python. 

Now, I’m not sure why I keep getting the passages that are best explained by going deep into Greek mythology, but here we go again. In Greek mythology, you may have heard of the oracles of Delphi. The oracles of Delphi were priestesses who conjured up demons and gave out information given to them from these demons. Now, there was a dragon who guarded these oracles, and his name was Python. According to this mythology, the god Apollo slew Python so that he could take over the location and establish his own temple at Delphi, having access to the oracles for himself, especially the high priestess, who was named Pythia. 

Now beginning about 8 centuries before Christ and continuing well past the time of Acts, a succession of real women was treated as this high priestess. This “oracle” had real power in Greece, and beyond, and indeed she was one of the most powerful women of the world at that time. In addition to the high priestess, the temple had a group of additional women who served in lesser roles, and at the death of the high priestess, one of them would be chosen to be her successor. 

Now the distance between Delphi and Philippi was pretty significant, about 200 miles on land. And although the land of Macedonia is Greece, the time of Greek rule was long over – like pretty much everywhere else, Macedonia was under the control of Rome. The Greeks were allowed to continue to worship their gods, and, indeed, the Romans had incorporated their gods deeply into their own worship structures, but the power of Greece – including that of the high priestess, the oracle of Delphi, was long gone. 

Now let’s turn back to this woman. Attached to her, according to this passage, was a spirit of python. What does this mean? Well, it certainly means that her owners, her handlers, were using this woman to make a great deal of money. She was like a small version of the long-lost oracle of Delphi. People in Philippi would pay her handlers well to give out oracles for them – what will happen if they take this business dealing? Should they marry this person? And so on. 

You may think this was entirely an elaborate hoax, a fraud, but something more was going on here. You see, she was actually controlled by a demon. As we see throughout the gospels, demons are real, and so is demon possession. Now we don’t know exactly what this possession looked like, what this demon could do through this woman, but it was enough to convince the people of the city to give great sums of money for access to her and her demon. 

What about the actual oracles of Delphi, from centuries earlier? Where they controlled by demons too? Most likely, yes, because something they were doing had to equally well convince the people that their information was worth vast sums of money. 

Now when Scripture says that she was controlled by a spirit of Python, does that mean that the Greek legends were true? Certainly not. I believe that we are being given the description “a spirit of Python” because that is exactly what her handlers called her. But was this spirit a centuries old spirit, the very same one who controlled the oracles? I suppose it is possible, but there is no reason to think so. I presume there were people like this in cities throughout Macedonia, that a whole host of demons were controlling them. Why did they do this? For the same reason demons control any person – because they hate God and want people to turn from Him. They hate people because God loves people, and they hate what God loves. 

One more point about the term python. Today the word python refers to a serpent. Both serpent and dragon are names for Satan, the great deceiver, going all the way back to the garden with Adam and Eve. And I think this is not lost on Luke – indeed, I think he is using wordplay here, as yes, the sales pitch, so to speak, was that she spoke the words of Python, meaning the spirits behind the oracle of Delphi. But on another level, she was speaking the words of another python, that great serpent who has deceived mankind since the beginning.

Now, personally, I do not think demons have the ability to predict the future, certainly not perfectly, but I do think demons have access to information through observation and communication with other demons. So could they have secret knowledge about another person that is correct? Yes. And we see this in the gospels, when the demons reveal that they know something of who Jesus was. And the demon is also correct in its description of Paul and his group.

Now why was this demon-controlled woman doing what she was doing? I have seen two theories. Theory number one: She was disrupting. She was shouting continually, making it impossible for Paul and his companions to share the gospel. Now the fact that what she was saying was in fact correct was I’m sure something her demon thought was terribly funny. Imagine someone trying to disrupt a street preacher (a good one, not a person just shouting that everyone is going to hell) by blasting hymns through a PA system and you get the idea. I’m sure they would think that was funny, too. 

Theory number two: The demon is looking to ingratiate itself within the Christian movement in Philippi. Much like Simon the Sorcerer in Acts 8, the demon knows that if it can make the woman seem like a promoter of the group, then it can later take over and lead the group. It knows that Paul and company will oppose this, but it also knows that their presence in the city is temporary. Once they are gone, they can take over and it will return to business as usual, if not even better than before, because many Jews will now be with him.

In any case, this goes on and on, day after day. Finally, Paul commands the demon to leave her, and it does! We aren’t told anything more about the woman. You might assume she is happy that the demon is gone. But at the same time, she is no longer “special.” And she is still a slave, now a slave without any unusual value. And so how she feels afterward is by no means certain. But one thing is certain: how her owners must have felt about it. Let’s continue in the passage.

When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” – Acts 16:19-21

Notice how the owners don’t tell the real story. What they are really upset about is their lack of revenue source and their loss of high honor status in the city. They then resort to antisemitism, casting aspersion on the men because of their Jewishness. Now, antisemitism was rising steadily in the Roman empire. In fact, in Acts 18:2, just a few chapters from where we are now, we see in passing that Claudius had expelled all Jews from Rome. We don’t know whether the edict of Claudius had already happened, or if it had, whether the news of this had made its way to Philippi, but even if not, it is clear that antisemitism was increasingly becoming a popular and acceptable position to take. 

Now, were they correct about Christianity being unlawful? Technically, yes. The Romans did have a law that no Roman could practice a religion that had not yet been approved by the senate. But this is an example of a law that was enforced only when it served some secondary purpose. The same kind of thing goes on in many countries today. There are lots of laws against various religious practices that are not enforced until it is desired to punish the people who perform these practices. 

And so the owners were very clever in their accusations, both being technically correct and appealing to an “us-versus-them” mentality in which the owners were part of the “us”, the Romans. 

Note also that there is a false dichotomy here – by saying these people are Jews, and they are Romans, they are implying that one can be one or the other, never both, and that is patently untrue. Although Jewish Roman citizens were uncommon, they did exist, and, well, we will see more about this further in the passage.     

The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. – Acts 16:22-24

And so they were beaten severely with rods. The people who did this were called lictors, and they were like policemen. The rods they used were called fasces, a word from which we get our words fascism and fascist. The root word behind fasces is fascis which means bundle. The fasces were a bundle of rods with an axe in the middle. The axe was reserved for capital punishment.  We know that three separate times Paul was beaten with rods from 2 Cor. 11:23. 

I do not want to get too graphic, but people often died after being given the rods. Now, from archaeology we know that the stocks they used were designed to inflict more pain, as they had a series of holes and the prisoners’ legs were stretched so that they were put in holes as wide as possible. And they were in the inner cell, farthest from the fresh air, most likely to have rats, biting bugs, and conditions so unsanitary that contracting a disease was likely. 

How would you feel in that situation? Let’s see how Paul and his companions felt.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” – Acts 16:25-28

Let’s be clear – Paul and Silas were in tremendous pain. They were facing possible, if not likely, execution. And they are singing. And they are praying. And the other prisoners are listening, no doubt amazed. How could they do this? 

Now let me be honest and say that I don’t know if I could begin to do what they did. But it is clear that their focus was not on their pain, their present circumstances – their awful living conditions, or their uncertain but very negative-looking future. It was midnight, and they weren’t sleeping, probably because they were in too much pain to sleep. But their focus was on God, His goodness, His love, how He had died for them because He loved them, and how they had a certain long-term future in which there would be no more suffering or pain, a future where God Himself would wipe away every tear. It was looking like they might be with Him in that future quite soon – but if so, hallelujah!

How did they do it? I am reminded of what Paul wrote in Hebrews 12:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. – Hebr. 12:1-3 

They fixed their eyes on Jesus. They remembered what He went through for them. And surely this is an application for us. We can lose sight of Jesus in minor annoyances. As I was writing this message, I found myself being distracted and annoyed by mosquito bites. Let us learn how to fix our eyes on Jesus in the minor annoyances as preparation for when we will face greater challenges. We may never have to go through what Paul went through – but then again, we may. We don’t know. But certainly we will go through significant challenges in life – let us learn now how to take our eyes off of our circumstances and fix them on our Savior. 

Returning to our passage, we see that God delivers them with an earthquake. This earthquake shakes the prison to its core, nearly knocking it to the ground, and not coincidentally, knocking all the doors open and releasing everyone’s chains. If you are thinking, yeah, right – that’s totally unrealistic, even impossible, than I reply, yes, exactly. Impossible is exactly what this is. That’s what miracles are. Impossible with man, but all things are possible with God. 

Now, the jailor’s life, literally, depended on his ability to keep the prisoners locked up. The Romans had very little tolerance for incompetence, and that is exactly what the Romans would see when they saw this man’s empty jail. “Well, you see, there was this earthquake, see, and it exactly opened every door, see, and it also removed everyone’s bonds, see. No, there was no other damage. What did you say? The earthquake didn’t affect any other buildings? Oh, I see.” That story was not going to cut it. 

And so the jailor, perhaps thinking about how he was about to be tortured for what had happened, or perhaps because of the severe dishonor he felt in utterly failing in his job, prepared to kill himself with the small sword he had. But Paul heard him, and called out to him that they were all still here, that nobody had escaped.

Now, why didn’t Paul and Silas escape? Perhaps because they were in too much pain, or more likely, because the sensed the Lord telling them not to do so. What about the other prisoners? Why didn’t they escape? Perhaps they were simply so amazed at what was happening with these weirdly happy people singing to God that they wanted to see what would happen. Or perhaps they were too weak to attempt to run away.  

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household. – Acts 16:29-34

Here is a hard lesson. If Paul and Silas had not gone through the horrific things they had gone through, the jailor and his family would not have been saved. Does God sometimes let his beloved suffer, even suffer a lot, so that others will come to Him? Yes. 

These events caused the jailor to believe in God. He saw how miraculous the earthquake was. He saw the testimony of joy in these people who had suffered so much. The Spirit was testifying to his innermost being. All these things came together into understanding when Paul and Silas explained the gospel to him and his family – and they all became believers in the Lord Jesus. 

Paul and Silas had joy despite their pain in that jail. And now the jailor had joy. I am reminded of Paul’s exhortation to the Philippi church later in his life:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – Phil. 4:4-7

Both Paul and that jailor experienced that peace of God which transcends all understanding. And you can experience it too. Let’s look at the final part of this account:

When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.” The jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.” But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.” The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left. – Acts 16:35-40

Why did Paul make such a deal about being a citizen? Well, this meant that the magistrates had broken the Roman law. One of the rights of citizenship was that a trial was required before you could inflict any kind of physical punishment. The less obvious implication of this is that Paul now had the upper hand with regards to the antisemitism and anti-Christian sentiment in that city. Even though he and Silas were leaving, the magistrates knew that the new believers in Philippi could always send a note to Paul if they were persecuted. And if they did so, Paul might go ahead and report how the magistrates had broken the law to Rome, likely leading to severe punishment if not death for the magistrates. Basically, what Paul had done was ensure that the burgeoning church in Philippi was now protected, at least for a while. 

So at this point Paul and Silas were leaving behind an interesting collection of believers including a hospitable woman who dealt in purple cloth the local jailor and his family. The work of God was continuing to spread, now into Europe. This growth came at a price – the price of intense suffering upon Paul and Silas. May we learn from their example of joy in the Lord in the face of suffering, ever fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, and with our eyes on Him, may He use us to further the spread of the gospel.