By Shanna Campos, General Sunday School Coordinator
“Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:29, 30).
These are the words of an unnamed Roman jailor, who Paul and Silas met while they were imprisoned in Macedonia. The events leading up to this moment tell the story of how an unexpected detour resulted in one man’s life being forever changed. I love the phrase, “Then he called for a light.” The awareness of his surrounding physical darkness caused him to ask for an actual light, and when he came to realize that he was lost in spiritual darkness as well, he then asked for spiritual light: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” The men of God shared the light of God’s Word with him, and the Light began working in his heart. Its work was so powerful that he was baptized, took Paul and Silas to his house (in the middle of the night), treated their wounds, and gave them a warm meal.
What a transformation this man experienced! Then, Paul and Silas had an opportunity to share the gospel with his entire household, and the Bible says he “rejoiced, believing in God with all his house” (Acts 16:34). The jailor’s children could believe Paul and Silas’ message because they saw something different in their father, and his wife saw something in her husband that she had not seen before. And what did they see? The evidence of a man who was made new. A new creature in Christ stood before them because the light of Jesus had come into his life.
The Bible does not mention this man or his family anywhere else. But we can conclude that he and his family were never the same after that night when two willing men of God brought the light of God into their home.