“Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek: Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. Him would Paul have to go forth with him” (Acts 16:1-3).
Paul was a single man without descendants, but as a Christian, he was a father and had many spiritual children. Out of all of them, there was none that he loved as much as Timothy, who converted, it seems, the first time Paul and Barnabas went to “Lystra and Derbe and ... preached the gospel” (Acts 14:6-7).
Much time had passed when Paul, accompanied by Silas, left from his own assembly of Antioch, “recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God” (Acts 15:40). Arriving once again at Derbe and Lystra, he found Timothy, a young man who had, in an evident way, grown “in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18), since he “was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium.”
“Him would Paul have to go forth with him.” Paul had spiritual discernment as well as apostolic authority. Therefore, he would not have chosen the young man, Timothy, as a companion in the work of the Lord if he did not have a good testimony from the brothers in that place. This is a clearly laid-out principle in the New Testament. Even the apostles Paul and Barnabas were not sent “by the Spirit” without having the “right hand of fellowship” of the brothers in their own assembly (see Acts 13:3-4; 15:40). How much more essential is it that a young brother have the recommendation of the brothers that know him!
“Paul ... took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek” (Acts 16:3).
Eunice, Timothy’s mother, was a Jew. When she married a Greek she was not a Christian; but she disobeyed the law of Moses (see Deut. 7:3; Ezra 9:10-12). She converted to Christ, as did her mother, Timothy’s grandmother (called Lois) — both before Timothy himself converted (see 2 Tim. 1:5).
Having said that, we note the commentary: “because of the Jews ... for they knew all that his father was a Greek.” According to the Jews’ consciences, the marriage of Timothy’s parents was not in keeping with the law and so they considered Timothy to be unclean as well. It was an abnormal marriage, and Timothy’s father was probably still unconverted. Timothy was of age and converted, so Paul was not involving himself in a private family affair when he took (with previous understanding of this, it is believed) Timothy and “circumcised him because of the Jews.”
That a Jewish woman would have a male child who was not circumcised was something that the Jew’s feelings could not accept. Paul — more or less according to what he later wrote, “unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews” (1 Cor. 9:20) — did to Timothy what would normally have been done to an Israelite’s son in order to dispel the Jews’ prejudices.
It is important to note this fact because we have it narrated in Acts immediately after chapter 15 which tells us how it was decreed by “the apostles and elders and brothers” in Jerusalem that the Gentiles were not to be subject to the rites of Moses (Acts 15:22-29).
“Free from the law, oh, happy condition!
Jesus has bled, and there is remission!
Cursed by the law, and bruised by the fall,
Grace has redeemed us once for all.”
“And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem. And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily” (Acts 16:4-5).
As we have already seen in our study of chapter 15, what was determined by the apostles and elders was that those who had converted to God from among the Gentiles were not subject to the law of Moses. However, they were to abstain from “pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood” (v. 20). All of these things were always contrary to God from the beginning, even before the law of Moses was given to the Israelites.
Now that the question was resolved for the glory of God and peace among the believers, it was the cause of much blessing among the churches that were confirmed in the faith — and they grew in number every day.
“Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas” (Acts 16:6-8).
We see later how Paul spent three years in the province of Asia, giving testimony to everyone. The Lord has His time for everything: the apostle and his companion arrived at Troas at the edge of the sea without finding an open door for the gospel. What then? They could not do anything: shut doors behind them and the sea before them! Then the Lord manifested His will:
“And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them” (Acts 16:9-10).
The Lord wanted the gospel to be preached in Europe, and so He made Paul, in those days, leave the Near East, guiding him by a marvelous vision. In that moment, it appears that the inspired historian, Luke, joined Paul, Silas, and Timothy: “And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go.”
“Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis; And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days” (Acts 16:11-12).
“We came with a straight course.” Christian friends, how good it is to walk “with a straight course” after the Lord Jesus! Not wandering from here to there, as “a doubleminded man that is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8).
On going up to Philippi, Paul and his company spent some time there. There is not any activity on their part mentioned. It seems to indicate that they were waiting for the Lord to guide them. They were not preceded by any announcement or a lot of propaganda about a great evangelistic campaign or a great celebrity, “Saint Paul!” They knew what we ought to know — that the Lord wants to direct His work, and that everything turns out marvelously when men do not stick their hands in His business.
“And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us” (Acts 16:13-15).
There is no mention made of a “Jewish synagogue” in Philippi, in which Paul would always go to preach the gospel. However, there was a place outside the city where the women often met to pray. This is where the evangelical work began in Macedonia. Lydia was not an idolatress; she was a woman who feared God, and listened to what Paul said. The Lord opened her heart and she believed the gospel. She was baptized with her family. Having then put on Christ, having confessed him as her Lord, she begged Paul and his fellow soldiers, Silas, Timothy, and Luke, and compelled them to accept hospitality in her house. How quickly the good fruit of the new nature of a faithful child of God is manifested!
“And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans” (Acts 16:16-21).
As soon as God begins a work, Satan opposes it. The Lord had opened Lydia’s heart. She believed. “She was baptized, and her household” (v.15). A Christian testimony, weak but true, was already appearing in the city of Philippi. To resist it, “the serpent” used a trick. There was a slave of certain men who was possessed with a demon (a “spirit of divination” i.e. “sorceress”). She persisted in following Paul and his companions, giving testimony — not to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners, but to his “servants” “which shew unto us the way of salvation.” To fleshly ears this affirmation sounds good, but to the spiritual ears of the Apostle Paul it did not! He discerned that Satan was setting out to destroy the true testimony about the Lord Jesus Christ by way of a deceitful testimony from a spirit of divination, and thus trying to attach the true and holy testimony of the Lord with another false and unclean witness, so that the gospel would lose its divine power in the consciousness of the Philippian people.
Paul did not act hastily. There is no doubt that he was praying without ceasing “for many days.” Finally, convinced that he had the mind of the Lord, he commanded the spirit of divination to leave the girl; it left immediately. Then the slave girl’s masters — seeing that she could no longer tell the future — captured Paul and Silas and brought them before the magistrates, falsely accusing them.
The young woman had said of them: “These men are the servants of the most high God” but her masters said, “These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city.” The devil, overcome as a “cunning serpent” turned into a “roaring lion.” If he cannot corrupt the Lord’s testimony, then he’ll try to destroy it.
“And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks” (Acts 16:22-24).
Completing his race, many years later, Paul wrote to his beloved son in the faith, Timothy, “But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:10-12).
Paul and Silas lived piously and did not want to be linked in any way with the satanic work in Philippi. Because of this they suffered cruel persecution. With backs bloodied from the lashes, the faithful servants of the Lord were put in a prison cell and their feet made fast in the stocks. What did they do a few hours later?
“And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them” (Acts 16:25).
Their attitude makes us think about a verse of a Christian hymn:
“Poor, you are our supreme gain
And, scorned, our smile of love
Prisoners in shackles, in stocks or a cell
Free in spirit, we raise our praise to you.
Life, you already are to us, prize in glory above
In death you are our victory, Oh, Lord!
For you make us more than conquerors
Christ Jesus, our Lord, our faithful Protector!”
How did the Lord answer their prayers, delighted by their praises?
“And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled” (Acts 16:26-27).
The result reminds us of the triumphant proclamation of the Lord Jesus after His resurrection: “All power is given to Me in earth and in heaven” (Matt. 28:18). A great earthquake was produced; all the doors were opened; the chains fell off the prisoners! An unprecedented work of God!
What, then, was the attitude of the Lord’s servants?
“But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. 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 16:28-30).
The Roman jailor — charged with zealously guarding the prisoners — desperate on seeing the prison doors opened (if a prisoner escaped from a Roman prison, the guard paid for it with his own life), drew out his sword to commit suicide. Paul, filled with his Lord’s pardoning spirit — in spite of the fact that he and Silas had suffered much evil at the hand of the jailor — cried: “Do thyself no harm.” There was a swaying of the jailor’s conscience. Then he asked for a light. (The sinner convinced of his sin needs light — the light of God’s saving Word). He trembled, probably for the first time in his life as a jailor. He humbled himself in front of his prisoners, the Lord’s servants, whom he took out of the cell. He recognized that they had the word of salvation, and although they were free, he was still the devil’s prisoner. Seeing this, he cried out for salvation. However, he asked the question in the habitual form of the man that does not realize that he is completely lost and cannot, nor could ever, in any way, do anything of his own to receive the salvation of his soul: “What must I do to be saved?”
The divinely inspired word immediately came to his ear:
“And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house” (Acts 16:31-34).
The Lord had profoundly shaken the jailor down to his core, and he converted immediately, hearing that salvation comes by unfeigned faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He wanted the rest of his house (his family, servants, everyone) to hear the Word of the Lord. This happened, more or less, at one in the morning! Then the jailor — now a child of God — with a soft heart had compassion on Paul and Silas and “washed their stripes.” He had stopped doing “evil” and learned to do “well” (Isa. 1:16-17). He also understood the due position of a Christian (we do not know if he knew in Philippi about the baptism of Lydia and her family). He did not delay in putting on the uniform of a soldier of Christ: “and was baptized, he and all his.” They had put on Christ (Gal. 3:27).
Lydia, immediately after being baptized with her family, invited the Lord’s servants to accept hospitality in her home. The jailor did the same: “And when he had brought them into his house” (paying no attention to the magistrate’s command that he diligently guard them in the prison), “he set meat before them.” Physically, Paul and Silas had suffered much and probably had not had anything to eat in about twenty-four hours. The persecuting jailor had changed into a compassionate doctor. Then, for the first time, his house was filled with true joy.
“And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go. And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace. But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out. And the serjeants told these words unto the magistrates: and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans. And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city. And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed” (Acts 16:35-40).
The Lord’s servant, although he be despised by men (including those of high rank), is conscious of a certain dignity conferred by the Lord. Paul, in this case, and later in the “tribunal” before “Felix” and before king “Agrippa” (Acts 22:25-28; 24:10-21, 24-25; 26:1-19), was conscious of his favored state before God.
The Lord’s servants, no longer wanted by the humiliated magistrates of the city, “being let go, they went to their own company” (Acts 4:23). They went to Lydia’s house, where the first Philippian believers would meet. There is no doubt that during the “many days” which passed between the baptism of Lydia and the imprisonment of Paul and Silas, there were other people who heard the gospel and believed it. When Paul was put into prison in Rome many years later, he wrote to his beloved brothers in Philippi. Paul and Silas — although they were wounded from the many lashes — instead of receiving comfort spoke words of comfort to their brothers, and said goodbye.