Acts 16:31

Acts 16:31 is a direct answer to the most urgent question -- when the jailer asks how to be saved, Paul and Silas tell him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul and Silas had been beaten and imprisoned in Philippi. At midnight, praying and singing, an earthquake shook the prison and opened every door. The jailer, fearing the prisoners had escaped and that he would pay with his life, drew his sword to kill himself. Paul stopped him, and the trembling jailer fell down and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" This verse is the reply.

The answer is striking in its simplicity: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." The Greek pisteuo means more than intellectual agreement; it is to trust, to rely upon, to commit oneself to. The object of that trust is specific -- "the Lord Jesus Christ," each title weighty: Lord, the one with authority; Jesus, the Savior who lived among us; Christ, the anointed deliverer. The promise attached is "thou shalt be saved" -- rescued and made whole. And the offer extends beyond the jailer to "thy house," showing that this hope reaches his whole household, who would also hear the word and believe. That very night the jailer washed the apostles' wounds, was baptized with his family, and rejoiced. A man on the edge of despair found, in a single sentence, the way to life. The verse remains one of the clearest summaries of how a person comes to salvation.