” And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. 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. 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?
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 16:26-34 KJV)
Here is Apostle Paul and Silas locked up in a very harsh jail cell, locked in chains. Not a great place to be and a situation that would cause most of us, even as believers, great fear and anxiety. Yet, what are they doing in this jail cell? Singing! Praising God! WOW! Look at their faith! Amazing right? An Earthquake happens and all the jail doors and shackles on their body are all removed. The jailer who had fallen asleep in his boring job wakes up in a panic to find all jail doors open. FEAR strikes him to his very core! If a prisoner escaped, the Roman authority who have him killed and tortured. So he decides it is better to kill himself and he takes out his sword to do just that!
But where is Paul and Silas? Did they take the opportunity to escape? NO! I must admit, if I was facing death in this prison, I probably would have ran until I could run no more. But not Paul. Not Silas. What BOLD FAITH! Paul was once a persecutor of Christians. He imprisoned believers once and he knew the rules for that jail keeper. So they scream out to the jail keeper to not kill himself, because they are right where they should be. They tell him not to kill himself. Look at the grace and love Paul and Silas gave this jail keeper! This is the love Christ has shown toward us and that we should show toward even our enemies.
The jailer sees this grace given and is very moved by it. You see, it is the love and grace of God that leads a person to repentance and Salvation. We need to remember this brothers and sisters in Christ! The jailer asks them, what does he need to do to be saved? He wanted the same grace. He heard their songs and praise of God, while sitting in that jail cell. But he did not know exactly what was the conditions to be saved.
Paul answers him with only ONE THING! Not a list of things that WE must DO. Paul did not list anything but ONE THING and here it is,
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.“
BELIEVE on Jesus as the Lord and the Christ. That is it. Believe what? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ! Believe that Jesus is God who died on the cross for our sins and rose again. This jailer certainly knows who Jesus is. Jesus’ followers are being imprisoned for believing in Jesus. It is the Romans who crucified Jesus. This jailer knew who Jesus is as a person but not how to be saved because of Jesus. Notice there is no long list of what this jailer needed TO DO to be saved. No water baptism as a requirement. No confessing every individual sin the jailer ever committed. No. Just ONE THING; believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the very same reply Jesus answered whenever he was asked the same question! In John 3, Nicodemus, a chief ruler of the Pharisees, asked Jesus this question and His answer is to BELIEVE ON CHRIST with nothing else mentioned (John 3:14-18). Others asked Jesus this question about how do we do the works of God and the will of God in John 6:37-40 and Jesus’ reply is only one answer.. BELIEVE ON CHRIST. I mean these questions were asked to Jesus directly for an answer. The jailer asked Paul and Silas directly for the answer. And the answer is just one thing; believe on the Lord Jesus. If any other requirements had to be met, wouldn’t Jesus and Paul and Silas list them? Yet, they do not. This is clear truth about Salvation.
Does This Mean That If I Am Saved That My Whole Family Is Automatically Saved?
Not at all. Paul is just saying that anyone, including the jailers whole family who would be the first to hear the truth from the jailer, can be saved by belief on Christ and His finished work on the cross, having paid for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). And if we continue reading in Acts 16, we see that this message was first preached to the jailers family and they accepted the free gift of Salvation by belief on the Lord Jesus. To be saved and born again in the Spirit, a person must believe the Jesus is God who came and never sinned, died on the cross, paid for the sins of the whole world and rose again. Just as Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians,
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4 KJV)
BUT! WAIT! Paul said to believe in THE LORD Jesus Christ. Doesn’t That Mean Lordship Salvation Is Correct?
Not at all. We cannot take the TITLE of Jesus as Lord and make works after salvation a requirement of Salvation. Jesus is LORD whether a person believes it or not! Jesus nor Paul replied to the question about how to be saved by adding works as a requirement of salvation. Good works can come from our salvation but not for our salvation.
Lordship Salvation is one of the most widely spread false teachings and it is rampant false teaching within the Christian Community and being taught by pulpits. It ‘sounds right’ but that is because it appeals to our wrong old nature thinking in the mind, instead of the truth of God’s Word and our New Spirit of God that God made believers from the moment of belief on Christ for justification and Salvation (Ephesians 1:13-14, 2 Cor. 5:17-21).
Lordship Salvation teachers tell us that a person must believe the gospel PLUS repent of sins a requirement of Salvation Through Christ. The very statement itself states two opposing beliefs! It is teaching that salvation is not by faith alone in Christ alone. It is PRIDE! Instead, it would be by faith PLUS the act of turning from sin as a person makes Jesus Lord Of All.
WE DO NOT MAKE JESUS LORD, HE IS LORD!
In other words, Lordship Salvation is a belief that salvation is obtained by faith in God PLUS turning from sin as a requirement of being saved – which amounts to keeping the Law. It is about our performance being required. Jesus did not teach it. Paul and Silas did not tell the jailer this either. Paul used the word LORD as a TITLE. In other words, a person must BELIEVE that Jesus IS GOD.
