Salvation & Conversion

Thought for Today
Dec. 30

"WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?"

The answer that Paul gave to that trembling Philippian jailor that night is one of the most misinterpreted verses of Scripture found in the holy Bible. Paul simply said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house" (Acts 16:31). Reading this response, multitudes of Christian ministers have assumed that simply believing in Jesus makes the believer a "saved" person, as if all there is to the way that leads to eternal life is contained in those few words from the apostle.

Paul gave the terrified man a short, simple answer because the circumstances required a short, simple answer. It was in the dead of night. God had sent a great earthquake. The jailor was shaking with fear. He knew that God was furious with him for his maltreatment of Paul and Silas. He also knew he would be executed by his Roman superiors if the prisoners escaped. Feeling hopeless, he had at first drawn out his sword to kill himself. Paul's response was intended to let the man know that he had hope, that there was something that he could do that would cause the wrath of God to pass from him. His answer was not intended as a complete explanation of the way of salvation.

When Paul and Silas had calmed the man down so that his nerves would allow him to comprehend what they wanted to say to him, they "spoke the word of the Lord" to the jailor and to all who were in his house. Apparently, they had run to the prison with the jailor when the earthquake had struck. They told those amazed Gentiles about the ancient prophecies of the promised Messiah, and of Jesus' miraculous birth, his wonder-filled life, his unjust crucifixion, his glorious resurrection, and his ascension into heaven to the Father, there to present himself to the Father and to offer himself as a propitiation for the sins of the world.

The jailor and those with him heard and believed the gospel Paul preached. They hurriedly took the two prisoners, bloody from the whipping that the jailor had given them the previous day, to his home. There, the jailor washed and treated their gruesome wounds. After that act of repentance, the holy Ghost fell upon them all, and they were baptized into the body of Christ by the mercy of God.

The answer Paul gave to the jailor when he asked, "What Must I Do To Be Saved?", was appropriate for that man at that moment, but it was not the complete answer for every person in every situation.

What a sinner must do to be saved is to repent and believe the gospel.

But the answer is actually more specific than that. This sinner must repent of the specific sins that he has committed, while that sinner must repent of the specific sins he has committed. In order to repent, one sinner may have to return stolen property, while another may have to go confess a hatred toward someone and ask that person's forgiveness. John the Baptist gave different instructions to people of different occupations (Lk. 3:7-14). One size does not fit all in the kingdom of God.

What a saint must do to be saved is to be faithful to Christ until death.

But "faithfulness to Christ" will mean something different for me from what it will mean for you because God's will for me will differ at times from His will to you. The will of God for a husband is different from His will for a wife; they have different duties and, so, different things are expected of each one in order to receive salvation. Paul said that he must preach the gospel, and woe be to him if he did not (1Cor. 9:16). That was God's will for him, and that was what Paul had to do in order to be saved in the end. In other words, preaching is how Paul "endured to the end". But most of the saints are never sent to preach. Part of their faithfulness to God, then, is not to preach but to do whatever God's will is for them.

The happiest people on earth are those who find their place in the body of Christ and stay there. That is, after all, what they must do to be saved.

WE ALL MUST BELIEVE

We all must "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ", as Paul told the Philippian jailor. Paul told the jailor the truth, but the details of what "believing in Jesus" means will vary somewhat for each individual. The saints, for example, are often instructed to wait patiently for the Lord to come, bringing their salvation with him. Sinners are never told to wait for anything. They are only told to repent and believe the gospel, and to do it as soon as possible.

Many Christian ministers use Paul's answer to the Philippian jailor like a magic formula. Because Paul only used the word "believe" in that particular sentence, they teach and have misled millions into thinking that all anyone has to do in order to be saved is to believe. What foolishness! Paul could not say everything there was to say about salvation in the simple phrase, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved".

Yes, we must all believe. But we all must also obey. And we all must also be baptized (with the holy Ghost). And we all must also be faithful unto death. Salvation is at the end of the line, not the beginning, and only those in God's family who do the will of God while they are living here on earth will receive it. The rest of the children of God will be disinherited and "given their portion with unbelievers" in the Lake of Fire.