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Why would frightened jailer take prisoners out for baptism & take to his house? Why did Paul say "Nothing will be done in secret" but he did?
"And when they had laid many stripes on them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely" (Acts 16:23) in the prison.
26 "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.
27 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.
28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go.
36 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.
37 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" (Acts 16:20-37).
Why would a frightened jailer about to kill himself take prisoners out of jail, to be water baptized then take them to his house so his household could be saved, sneak back into prison and then Paul allegedly says "they thrust us out privily" we won't do anything in secret but they had been to the jailer's house "privily" all night?
2 Answers
- ?Lv 71 month ago
That narrative states the jailer was "trembling with fear" He was on the brink of an eternity for which he was not prepared. The narrative tells plainly what happened "in that same hour".
- ?Lv 71 month ago
You're making a lot of assumptions without realizing it.
The passage doesn't tell us where the baptismal water or the jailer's house was. For all we know, he lived there right by the jail. Even today, often wardens' houses and even guards' houses are located right there next to the prison. A Roman bath or cistern could have been nearby also sufficiently large enough for a baptism.
Paul didn't do anything in secret. In fact, he was the one insisting that the magistrates NOT let him go in secret. He made them come and get him, which would have been at the prison if the jailer's house was also part of the prison.
