And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. Acts 16:34
Did you know that the Philippian jailor’s youngest son was an apprentice carpenter? No, I didn’t think so. You might well ask me where I get that piece of information in our text. Of course, it is not in our text; we have no idea whether the jailor had any children at all, at least not from our text. And yet, there are people who assume other information in this chapter, and create doctrine based on that assumed information. And of course, their doctrine is wrong. I am referring to the practice of baptizing every family member, including infants, as soon as the parents are saved, or as soon as a baby is born into a family of believers. This practice of ‘household baptism’ has been a stumblingblock that has led to many false professions with children growing up believing that because they are ‘baptized’, they must also be saved. Yet others never experienced believer’s baptism because they have already been ‘baptized’. Our text today refutes that doctrine.
It might be good to review the events that have transpired up to this point. Firstly, the jailor is rescued from suicide by Paul’s shout, then the jailor falls before the preachers with his all-important question, receiving their all-important response. Then we read that the Gospel was preached to the jailor and to his household. Then we read of the jailor tending to the preachers’ injuries, and of he and his entire household being baptized. Our text explains why they did that. A more careful rendering of the last phrase of our text – believing in God with all his house – would be to place it into the past tense: having believed in God with all his house. This makes it clear that the jailor and his family at this point had all been saved. There is no doubt of this. It also makes it clear that the household had no members too young to understand and respond to the gospel. So our text certainly does not justify the false practice of baptizing infants nor give any purpose for doing so. But it does point out that a careful study of the Scriptures will help us to preserve its truth.
Critics of the Bible tell us that the Book has many errors and contradictions. But it has none; it cannot have any because it is the Word of God. Many of the supposed contradictions arise from imperfect translation from the original languages, as is the case with our text. But if we examine all of those supposed errors and contradictions, they can be easily resolved by careful examination and study. We can have absolute faith in the Book. And we can accepts its doctrines with absolute certainty.
After he was saved, the Philippian jailor was kind to the preachers, and was filled with rejoicing. We should be likewise. -Jim MacIntosh