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Acts 16:25-40 - Corps Notes - October 19, 1976

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Format: mp3-pdf
Publication Date: 10-19-1976

On Ephesians 4:25 where I want to begin tonight, or where we will begin tonight , the first part of what the Research Team gave me is the work that Walter Cummins published in our wonderful Way Magazine on "The Spoken Word." Also, as we cover Ephesians 4:28 tonight, I had all the information in front of me from another article that Walter Cummins has in the... has had in the Magazine. The first article on Ephesians 4:25 is entitled "The Spoken Word." The one on Ephesians 4:28 is "Workers for God." Both of these pieces of work by Walter are absolutely superb. And I believe that they should appear and will appear in our research journal GMIR whenever we begin publishing that. {GMIR Aramaic word meaning ' to perfect, accomplish , mature, complete, arithmetically to be divisible without any remainder.}

And I noticed again that some of the things that were stated are just so beautifully and logically presented, I'm truly thankful for, not only Walter, but the whole Research Department. I think our Biblical Research Department is just second to none. And it' s even going to be better by God' s mercy and grace next year and in years to come than it is at this time. And right now I do not believe that our Biblical Research Department needs to take a back seat for any academic institution or work in the world.

And I thought today, I have never... I've never thought of Walter Cummins in any other capacity than to be my assistant. I know Vince Finnegan, you know, on the books is my assistant. And that' s great. But I've never thought of Walter Cummins in any other capacity for so many years as always being my assistant. And I think he' s just the most wonderful person that any president could have as his assistant. And also to be chairmen of the Department of Greek, and then the coordinator of the Biblical research of The Way International. For any one man to have that position and that responsibility is an awesome reality and I'm real proud of Walter and real thankful for him. But I am also thankful for the rest of our wonderful men and women in the Research Department.

I would like for the Corps all over the country to go to the Magazine and find "The Spoken_Word," that's the title of it, dealing with Ephesians 4:25 and other scriptures, and before the next Corps meeting next week, you endeavor to master that great piece of work by Walter Cummins. It's just, you know, the spoken Word. Over fifty Greek words are used in the New Testament in connection with the faculties of utterance. Over fifty. And then he takes the most important ones and he lists them and it' s just. .. it' s just a piece of research work that you should really as a Corps master in your heart and in your life.

Ephesians 4:25 in the King James reads, Wherefore put away lyin g, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.

The ' putting away' was interesting to me again because of the Greek word aniko, a-n-i-k-o.

And this word is ' the putting away,' this word ' put away,' aniko, is the same root word as in 4:22, where we use the word ' rest,' meaning ' to rest.' Is that right? Yep, that is right. I taught you that,

didn't I? Did I or didn't I? Doesn't look right to me. It is the same root. What chapter am I missing? Am I missing anything? I don't know. Right now I'm screwed up, ha ha. First time today. You check the word again and I'll do that, too and see what I'm missing here.

But a-n-i-k-o is the word for ' putting away from you. ' To put away. And it' s the same root as the word ' rest.' I don't know where the word appears, but it's got to be in there.

Now, that word ' speak,' every man speak. That word ' speak ' is from the Greek word

laleo, l-a-l-e-long-o. And that' s where Walter' s article on "The Spoken Word"_c omes in because that is.. .he uses that word laleo in here, which I teach in Corinthians when I teach the Foundational Class. And he says the word is employed 24 times in I Corinthians chapter 14. I had forgotten that.

This word is truly significant. I couldn' t quite understand it Research Department, what  you said on page 26B 16, where you defined it ' to make vocal utterance,' ' to babble,' 'to talk,'  'to  exercise the faculty of speech without reference to the words spoken.' I just wondered if there might not be another word that could be substituted or utilized at this point. I know that Zachariah 8:16 is the quotation that is used here, or spoken of. And that Zachariah 8:16 adds force to what is said by using a quote, a quotation. That' s why my question to the Research Department is, How can it be without reference to what is spoken if it is truth plus the quotation of the Word of God that's given. It doesn't quite fit for me.

'With his neighbor' has to be a believing neighbor. This 'speak truth with his neighbor' is a figure of speech gnome, g-n-o-m-e, which simply is a citation. And that' s a citation from Zachariah 8:16.

There are a series of figures of speech, Corps, in chapter four which just put the 00mph, the highlight, to the particular things that are set whereby you put off the old man. This phrase here 'speak every man truth with his neighbor'  is one of them. The other one appears in verse 26, 'be  angry and sin not.' ' Steal no more' is another one. 'Corrupt communication' is the fourth one.  'Grieve not the  holy spirit' is the fifth one. ' All bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking' is  the sixth. And  then  ' be kind' and so forth, is the seventh.

You see, the last phrase in that verse, in King James, For we' re members one of what? [Another] And it' s relative to the neighbor. Now you just look at that. Wherefore put away  lying, speak  every  man truth with his what? [Neighbor] For we are members  one of  another.  That  doesn't  mean just  a neighbor who lives next door, but it has to be a believing neighbor because  we are members  one of what? [Another]. You could not be a member ' one of another' ifhe  was an  unbeliever.  That's how I know this is going to  work. This tells me that the neighbor  is  a  believer.  And  this  ' we' re members one of another' continues the imagery of the Body of Christ.

The literal  according  to  usage of this verse is as follows:   Wherefore  put away the  lie... and I believe in my heart, before I go on with the literal that until man is born again, it's all a lie anyways. And that' s why I believe that this translation will fit in the light of that knowledge. Because when  a man is not born again, his whole  life is just a  lie. Now you're  born again,  and that ' s  why  I think the text states it ' wherefore put away the lie,' the life you' ve been living , the screwed up life you have lived outside of God. It' s been just a life of a lie. It' s not truth. It' s just the opposite of truth and that's my reason for translating it this way... Wherefore put away the lie.

You've got to go with that translation. You have no other text to go by both from Aramaic and Greek it's 'lie.' Not 'lying.' If the Research Department has anything to share in the light of that, I'd be blessed to hear, but you' ve heard my reasons for translating it, Research Department, this way.

Now since they're born again, their whole life is changed, so the life of lying, and living a lie, and being a lie, and being false, is to be put away.

And every man... this is the translation ... and everyone, everyone. The word ' man' you could use because it's an inclusive noun, but I prefer to use the word ' one.'

Wherefore put away the lie and everyone speak the truth with his neighbor for we are members one of another. That is literal according to usage.

Now for the expanded according to understanding. It's not bad. Because of this... What we coughing for? Everybody sick?...Because of this... and the reason I went in the expanded along this line is because verse 24 last week told us that we are created by God in righteousness and in true purity, through holiness. Twenty four.

That's why 25, Wherefore ... 'wherefore' can be translated 'because of this.' Because of this what? Being created in righteousness and truly pure. See it's an inside job.

Because of this being created in righteousness and truly pure by the grace and the love of

God.. .Because of this being created in righteousness and truly pure, you put away, completely lay to rest the lie that you have been and were living and each one of you speak the truth using a quotation from the Word with his believing neighbor for we are members one of another in the Body of the Church.

Robinson {Edward} said, he translated, 'speak every man truth with his neighbor' and he said it's from Zachariah 8:16 which adds force to what is said by using a quote. That's why I translated that. I think that' s great. It adds force to what is said. If you're speaking to someone, it adds force to what you say by using a quote, a quotation from God's Word. In other words, ' you share the Word with them.' That' s why I went with that translation. I want to give it to you again in this sense.

Speak the truth using a quotation from the Word, which means 'share the Word.' Quote the Word to them. Tell them what the Word says, with his believing neighbor. Why? For we are members one of another in the Body of the Church. This verse is just mind blowing.

Here, you have a born-again believer neighbor who needs to grow up a little more. So what do you do? Each one speak the truth to that neighbor, that believer, using the Word, quoting the Word because we' re members one of another in the Body of the Church. It's a real positive thing to do.

Verse 26 in King James reads, Be angry.. .ha ha... we like that one, don't we. Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.

Here is a verse of Scripture that' s very, very difficult for most people. And it' s not too easy for us either. But I think we are able to share the truth of the greatness of this and it's been burning in my heart for a long time to do this with our people.

Everybody has problems with ' how can you be angry and not sin?' You know, how can raise hell with something and not be sinful in doing it? Teed off and not be sinful. And how can you go... and what does it mean 'don't let the sun go down upon your wrath?' See.

In the context, here, verses 26 and 27 deal with your believing neighbor, specifically. Then the Greek word for ' anger' which is from the root orge, o-r-g-long-e means 'anger together with the desire of revenge .' That' s bad. That' s a heavy. The Hebrew word means ' to kill, and all the tumults of passion that terminate in killing.' So it's a real heavy word when it said ' be angry.'

And the way I believe it's used in God' s Word, ' be ye angry' means ' it's a long time anger with your believing neighbor until a change has ensued.' The desire to... of revenge is a change. And I, knowing the Word in the light of the new birth, it's where a change finally comes about. Until that time, you just, long-term, you just stay put witnessing the Word, sharing the Word. You do not dislike the believing neighbor; you simply dislike that he is not fully accepting the Word and walking on it. So it' s a long-term anger until a change has ensued. You just stay faithful.

I don't know what else to do with those words. It is a righteous anger. Yet it is a righteous anger without sin.

Among the scholars, there is a disagreement on these words. Well, I don't know about my being a scholar; that I don' t anything about being about. But it's simple to me because righteous anger is commanded by God's Word when it says ' be ye angry.' Well, the scholars can fight about it. I don' t care. It' s a command. Not just permitted to get teed once in a while when somebody' s off of God' s Word, a believer is off of God's Word. You' re always teed off righteously at any believer, born-again believer, who is off of God' s Word. And for those of us in the Way Ministry, it' s been a lifetime.

Get into it with them on... Oh what subject do you want to talk about? Baptism? Food? One God? See. All that stuff.

The Aramaic is accurate in the words ' and sin not.' It literally translates ' and you will not sin.' Again, this ' be angry and sin not' is that figure gnome. Quotation. A citation from the Old Testament. It' s from Psalm 4:4. But in King James, Psalm 4:4, it's translated 'stand in awe.' The real sense of the Hebrew is ' one of admonition;' sin not. Where we' re admonished to not sin. Sin not.

' Let not the sun go down on your wrath. ' Ha ha. That again is beautiful. People went to bed when the sun went down, when it got dark. That's when they went to bed. So what that simply is saying, ha ha, ' don't go to bed teed off.' Don' t let the sun go down on your wrath. In other words, go to bed; don' t go to bed mad. ' When you go to bed' is what it means. Let not the sun go down when you go to bed. And they went to bed when the sun went down. When it got dark, they went to bed, see.

' Upon your wrath.' And the word ' wrath' here is basically ' irritation.' Ha ha. Previously when I taught Ephesians, I made mention of this fact, ' don' t let righteous anger shake you, wondering if it was right on. When you go to bed, go to sleep.'

Now, this is what we have done with it in the literal, ha ha, according to usage. I got more papers up here than Carter has liver pills, or something. Then, I can' t find my... whatever it is I take off of it.

Okay, verse 26. You be righteously angry.. .this is literal according to usage.. .and you will not be sinning. Don't go to bed even with a momentary irritation, ha ha.

I don't think you get nearly as much fun out of this as I do. It's neat. It's absolutely scrumptious, see. At the opening, is that heavy word, remember? Anger. So it's a real heavy time. So what he is saying, in the heavy time, when your standing on God' s Word  and sharing that with the  believing  neighbor, you' re righteously angry... you're not sinning. And  you don't  even go to  bed with a momentary irritation. In other Words, when you go to bed, thank God the day is over. Say your last prayer and start snoring.

Boy, that would save a lot of sleeping pills, wouldn' t it? Practicing that principle. Boy, oh boy, what a tremendous Word. And hardly anybody understands verse 26. They argue about it, but they don' t get the understanding.

Now this is the expanded one according to understanding, I hope. And again, I would like to just lay some things before the Corps, and especially before the Research Department. I translated the first part of verse 26, You always stay angry with an all-out desire to have them to change which anger will not be sin on your part.

Then I have another translation of that first part of it: You be righteously angry, 'teed off' with sin... 'Teed off' I put in quotes. But don't  you sin  by acting  ' holier than thou'  vaunting  yourself  by acting so righteously like you never sin.

I do not know which one of those two the Research Department feels would be the better. The last part of the phrase that I translated which would go with both of these that I have given you here on the expanded one for understanding. This, the last part, goes with that first one and with the second ... also.. .even if it is only a momentary irritation.  When you go to  bed, go to sleep. That's what I did with it.

Now, verse 27. King James says, Neither (or neither) give place to the Devil. The word 'place' is simply a portion, a part. No believer will give full place to the Devil, but he may be giving a part, a portion. He' ll mark off a spot, ' this is Devil' s permission over here, over here, no permission, you know. And you really give the Devil a portion or a spot if you stew about it after you go to bed and you toss and you tum and can' t sleep.

This word 'the Devil,' ' the Devil' in the Aramaic is a very interesting and exciting Word to me and it blesses my heart. It' s a compound word where the first part means ' to eat' or ' to devour.' The latter

' to slander' or ' to accuse. '  So when I got to translating  this, literally according  to usage, verse 27 reads: Do not give any portion or space or an opportunity to the Devil. So I used those three words synonymously: portion, space, opportunity. Do not give any portion or space or an opportunity to the Devil.

The expanded according to understanding: And you will not give a toehold, an opportunity or an occasion for the Devil to eat you. Ha ha. I get more fun than you ever will out of working this stuff, huh.

You see, and to me, that communicates to my understanding. John 10:10. The thief cometh not but for to what? [Steal, kill, and destroy] Right. To eat you out. To beat you. And that's why that Aramaic word, on the word ' Devil' really thrilled me.

And that ' s why I put it into the expanded translation: And you will not give a ' toehold.' Now, at L.E.A.D., you know how important it is to get a what? [Toehold] Ha ha. And when you' re really climbing in, you' re blessed for a toehold. How thankful you are when you get a foothold. Now the adversary can never get a foothold in a believer' s life until he first has a toehold. That's why I translated it that way.

Do not give... and you will not give a toehold ... shave all the rocks off... an opportunity or an occasion for the Devil to eat you. And that' s exactly what he likes to do to believers.

Now we go to verse 28. King James says, Let him that stole steal not more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. And here again, is another great work that I believe should be in our research journal GMIR, Walter' s work on " Workers for God."

It' s just tremendous where he... you know... he just goes into God' s men are called many things in the Word. They' re called: fellow workers, ministers, or servants, slaves, fellow slaves, partners, messengers, soldiers, fellow soldiers, athletes, fellow athletes, stewards, ambassadors, witnesses, all of those. And he covers them so beautifully. And I love very much how he covered the word ' slave,' because it' s a much stronger word than to be a minister, or to be a servant. It is to be one who is branded, marked out, sold out. And baby, from that day on, there are no ifs, and' s, or but' s. You never budge on it. You are branded. Most believers are never branded. They may be servants, they may be ministers, but they are not branded. When you' re branded, you stay faithful. You do not budge. You do not change. You stay put. If all hell breaks loose, you still live the believing Word.

I think the prophet once said, If I was in the midst of hell, God I know you' d be there. (Psalm 139:8) He' d be there. That' s the doulos. That, of course, is just a tremendous piece of work.

And the other great part that I think... and this is a second piece that I want the Corps to master before next Wednesday night, " Workers for God," the work on ' witness.' You see, it's the same word basically that's translated ' martyr,' see. And we got a lot of those canonized. That's not at all what a witness is. A witness is a living example, not a dead one. The word 'martyr' simply means that you lay down your life in witnessing. And boy, when you put the doulos together with ' witness,' then you' ve got power for abundant living. It's just a fantastic work by Walter and I' m real grateful that it was published. Because once it' s in print, people can take a look at it if they want to.

I'd like a cup of coffee, please.

Now, we are in verse 28. The Aramaic translation is ' and he who was stealing.' I understand it from the English, ' let him that stole,' past tense. The Aramaic is real simple, real strong. ' And he, the one who is born again, who was, past tense, stealing.'

Thank you.

His whole life was one of those before he was born again.

Whenever you bring a cup of coffee to a right-hand man, you put the handle to the right. When you serve a cup of coffee to a left-hand man, you put it on the left-hand side and put the handle to the left. Corps principle number seven or something, ha ha. Mrs. Wierwille would say, Well, be thankful you even get a cup of coffee. [Laughter] Ah, you're wonderful.

See, ' let him who stole, steal no more.' 'Stole and steal,' that' s a figure of speech and is polyptoton p-o-l-y-p-t-o-t-o-n. It' s a repetition of the same root word in different parts of speech or reflections. But, that's not earth shaking right now in my heart.

You see, in some Eastern culture, it was not considered a sin or a shame to steal because that's the way they lived, the only way they lived. Somebody told me... or not only told me, one of our people, but it was in a national magazine, that the basic culture of Russia today is to steal. And in some respects I can understand this. If you don't have anything and you're starving to death and there' s a loaf of bread you can get a hold of... steal the dam thing. I understand that.

So this verse is really sharp, really sharp. Let him who stole, even though that man previously considered it the way to live and there was no shame in it, no sin in it. He said, Well, let that fellow who stole, steal no more. Something has happened on the inside of that man. Something that happened, where He is able to meet all of our need according to His riches in glory. Christ in you, the hope of glory. More than conquerors.

A record in the Old Testament, I forget where it is, but it's in there, that it' s never, you never need to borrow or steal bread or... what is that in the Old Testament? Begging bread. One person stand and tell me. {Psalm 37:25, I have been young and now am old; yet have I seen the righteous forsaken, nor His seed begging bread.} Psalm 27:25 who? {Psalm 37:25} 37:25. All the years, he's never seen the righteous to have to do what? {Beg bread} Beg bread.

First of all, I wish the Christian world could hear this. Secondly, I wish our government in the United States could understand it. The Word says, If you don't work, you don' t eat. A lot of that stuff. Well, what we've been doing is stealing from the people who are willing to work to give to the people who don' t want to work. That's a bunch of crap. That's stealing. That's why this verse is so hot in my soul tonight. Let him who stole, quit stealing, dang it. See.

Many years ago I was really knocked for a loop along some of this line in India, from Dr. Williams. I think he loved India maybe like I love the United States, I don' t know. Because only a man knows how much he loves his own country, I guess.

But... as we were traveling together, he said to me, Dr. Wierwille, I hear you have whores in the United States.

You know, I never had given it a thought. I just took it for granted. [Laughter] And I said, yeah. He said, Why does a rich country like the United States have whores?

And I said, I don't know.

And he said, I can't understand it. Cannot your women make enough money to live? Yeah, but they figure that' s cheaper and more pleasurable or something, I don' t know. And he said, Well, I think it's sinful that the United States has whores.

And I said, What do you mean?

And he said to me, why, I can understand India. He said we don' t enough food, we don' t have enough of anything hardly for a lot of people. And we have whores because that' s the only way they can continue to live physically.

And I thought to myself, well boy, that' s slapping me in the face good. And I took it as a wonderful lesson. There is no excuse in the United States for any women being a whore because she doesn' t need to get screwed and paid for it in order to get money so she can live. There's plenty of work available and if there isn' t she ought to get born again, then there' s a guarantee of work. ..other work, available. I tell you, when you' re honest, some of these men in other countries have some real logic behind their thinking. How would you have liked to have handled that? I just simply admitted, Well, I think we' re wrong in the United States. But I said, I think you' re wrong in India, too, because no reason to have whores here if you get them born again.

So I don' t know. But this verse today as I worked the final working on this verse 28 is when my heart really went back and burned with that truth that Dr. Williams had stated. Because in many Eastern cultures, it was not considered as sin or as shame to steal, if it was a matter of livelihood. You sometimes wonder who will live in the greatest condemnation before God and justice and judgment when the time comes.

For in most of what are called poor countries even, there is sufficient money, food, and other things for the people to live if those in positions of authority were not so selfish and egotistical, and want it for themselves , and let the rest of the world die... or a country die.

The word ' labor' in verse 28 is the word which literally means ' hard work resulting in fatigue.' That's how I felt coming from the woods last night. And I didn' t do anything. It was just hard work being there with the rest of you. Today I got so tired of being with some, I came home. Ah, you' re wonderful.

' Working with his hands' is an Eastern cultural type of thing. Today in our culture, you could have it, you know, the truth is working with your mind or working with your hand, whatever you' re working at. But in Eastern culture, every son was to be trained to work with his hands, even if he was the son of a king. Had to learn a trade, a profession of business.

Jesus Christ was a saddle maker. He made them to ride, I guess, what do you want? Tennessee Walkers , or? See. I think not only did he do that, Paul did it, too, you know. Someday I'm going to find a...or Walter, or some of those, are going to find me a manuscript to prove it. .. and a wonderful carpenter by trade. Many times doing carpentry work and being a saddle maker were sort of in the same household, because building carpentry and having saddles to use for their business and carrying on, were very, very closely aligned. Well, I won' t argue the point, but I wish we' d keep looking.

II Thessalonians.. .Do your hands ever get so dry you can hardly hold anything? Golly, mine are so dry tonight, I wonder why? II Thessalonians, chapter 3:10... this we commanded you that if any would not work, neither should he what? [Eat] Right. Even unemployment is no excuse for stealing. He just doesn' t eat. Goes and gets work. Boy, when I first saw the greatness of these principles many years ago, and then of course, I uniquely by God' s grace, inculcated that into our W.O.W. program and very dynamically in the Corps leadership.

Acts 16:25-40
October 19, 1976

In Acts 16, we have a seismograph, a device that measures earthquakes. So the Bible wasn’t too far
behind the scientists, I guess.
Acts 16:25
“Paul and Silas prayed” - You remember Paul and Silas were both Romans, and I showed you that
God must have known from the beginning what was going to happen, because the other fellow was
not a Roman; the one that came with Silas from Jerusalem. His name was Judas or Barsabbas. He
was not Roman, yet Silas was. Here we have the record of these two fellows, Paul and Silas, both
Romans, sitting in jail having been beaten, and everything else just contrary to what was supposed to
happen to a Roman.
“sang praises unto God” - I told you literally it meant, “they were hymning” They were just singing
one song after the other and having a great time singing.
“and the prisoners heard them” – I can imagine what the prisoners thought. They wondered if these
fellows shouldn’t see a psychiatrist, whether they weren’t off their rocker.
Acts 16:26
“earthquake” – seismos – in the Greek text
“every one’s bands were loosed” - these bands were the bands of the stocks they put their feet in.
(Verse 24)
Acts 16:27
“keeper of the prison” – “jailor” of verse 23 - is the same word that is translated here “keeper of the
prison.”
“awaking out of his sleep” – literally it says, “shook awake” - He woke up right away because his
teeth were rattling with that earthquake.
“supposing that the prisoners had been fled” - Their feet were out of the stocks, everybody was free
to run, but the doors were open and nobody ran.
Acts 16:28
“Paul cried with a loud voice” - in other words Paul had to yell at the top of his lungs.
“Do thyself no harm” – This literally means, “Do nothing evil to yourself.” And the evil would be if
he would have sliced his own throat, killed himself.
Acts 16:29
“Then he” - the keeper of the prison, the jailor
“sprang in” - into that inner prison
“he came trembling” – in other words he was just shaking like a leaf
274
“he fell down before Paul and Silas” - That “falling down” reminds me of another record in Acts
where somebody fell down when a fellow by the name of Peter came in. (Acts 10:25) It was
Cornelius. To fall down does not mean that they are God; that you are worshipping them as God. It is
simply the utter reverence, respect, homage. That’s all it is; just to fall down. I guess in one time you
girls curtsied or something, for respect, and these kind of things. Over here, in Oriental Biblical
culture, the great respect, the great admiration, the great awe, is simply just to fall down. That doesn’t
mean Paul was God, or Silas was God.
Acts 16:30
“out” - is “outside” i.e.- of the prison where they were
“said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’” - That little earthquake must have had a tremendous
impression on him. I guess it shook his brain cells in line so he had sense enough to ask the right
question. The wonderful thing about this verse that hardly anybody sees is that the word “Sirs” is the
word “kurios,” This is the word used for “Lord” when we talk about the Lord Jesus Christ. “Sirs” is
the word kurios meaning “lord”. It is also translated in the King James as “master.” What I am trying
to show you: just because Jesus Christ is lord, does not make Jesus Christ God, because here are two
men, Paul and Silas. The jailor says to them, “lord.” He knew they weren’t God. But the word “lord”
is a respectful title like the wife would speak of her husband as her lord, for the respect. This is what
this man called them. He said, “Masters (or lords) what must I do to be saved?”
“what must I do to be saved” - It’s real personal - “I do” - What must “I” do? - He didn’t say, “What
do the rest of the prisoners have to do?” He said, “What must ‘I’ do, because man, you guys have
something? Here we have all been laughing at you. But we are the ones who are really being laughed
at. Therefore what must ‘I’ do? What must ‘I’ do? There has to be something done in order to get
saved.” That’s why salvation is not of works, but of grace, and yet you’ve got to do something and
your doing is works. We are not saved by works; we are saved by grace, so you have an apparent
contradiction. Because whatever you do is not grace, right? He said, “What must ‘I’ do to be saved.”
Romans 10:9-10: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth [that’s works not grace] the
Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved.
Believing is works not grace. So far all works. In the next verse is the key:
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation.
You don’t get saved by confessing with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believing in your heart that
God raised him from the dead until you understand that it’s a confession unto. Grace begins when
you act. Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and you believe in your innermost being that God
raised him from the dead; then the new birth, Christ in you, the hope of glory, is all grace.
It is a confession unto. It is not confession that brings salvation, it is unto salvation. Then grace
begins when you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. Then God by His grace gives you the new
birth. “Not of works lest any man should boast” “By grace are ye saved” (Ephesians 2:8-9) This
man said, “What must I do to be saved?”
Acts 16:31
“Christ” - delete - not in the text
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“Believe on the Lord Jesus” – Just like Romans 10:9. Jesus is the human manifestation on this
horizontal level of God’s only begotten Son. Christ is the messianic side, perpendicular down. You
don’t believe on the messiah, that’s Israel. He’s the messiah to Israel, but he’s the savior to men as
Jesus, all men, whosoever. He’s the savior to all men who confess him as lord. That he is the kurios,
the master. That he is the one and only Son of God. That is what it is to believe on the Lord Jesus, or
confess with your mouth Jesus as lord. That makes Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, party of the first
part, second part, third part and every other part and you’re no longer Jesus yourself. Up until you get
saved, you are lord of your life. Now you change 1ords by confession; you make Jesus your lord.
That makes him party of the first part and you, at best, party of the second part. If then after you are
born again which is by grace, you do not renew your mind, you will still live in this life like you are
party of the first part, and not walk in the light of the Word as God manifests His Word in the walk.
The walk is the renewed mind. The salvation is the gift of God by grace.
If you’ll understand what I’m teaching you now and sharing with you, you will be able to understand
a lot of things that you see so called Christian believers doing, because you can be born again of
God’s spirit and not renew your mind on the Word and you have just not made Jesus Lord. Now to
make him Lord once is eternal life. The speaking in tongues is the proof that you’ve done it, but
unless you keep putting on the mind of Christ, he will not be lord in your daily walk. He’s lord of
your spirit which is a one time deal, but the walk is a day by day standing on God’s Word and
staying put on it.
“and thy house” - The house required the same condition of believing. “Thy house” is a figure of
speech. I can’t remember the name of it. “The house” represents the people. Here’s the house. You
can’t get this house converted, right? It stands for the people of that household of which he, the jailor,
was the head of the family; the body of the household.
Acts 16:32
“and they spake unto him the Word of the Lord” - That has to be a great deal more than what you do
in one minute or two.
Acts 16:33
“washed their stripes” - means he washed their wounds, that had been inflicted by the whips
“was baptized” - not in water, but by his believing, with Christ in him the hope of glory, which is
eternal life. And that’s better than all the water in the world.
“and all his [house]” – “house” is deleted, but the same truth
“straightway” - immediately
Acts 16:34
I thought we got the house saved. We did. He brought them outside the jail in verse 30. Where do
you think they went? He brought them into his house.
There may be a text that puts this thirty-fourth verse ahead of thirty. But even if there isn’t, you have
got to allow God the same writing privilege of His writing as you would a secular author. A secular
author could tell all these great facts and then go back and pick up something that had happened
previous to it. What happened is in verse 34.
“meat” –food; meat; gave them something to eat
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“rejoiced” - was delighted; tickled to death; just effervescing
“believing in God with all his house” - would be after they heard the Word. So this is sort of a
recapitulation as well as an addition of truth in verse 34.
There is something in this verse that I don’t know if I’m right on, but I challenge you to think about it
anyway. It really blessed my heart when I saw this possibility in working this thing. This word in
verse 34, “brought”, is the same word as the word “loosing” in verse 11:
Therefore loosing from Troas…
What did they lose? The loosing was the ship; they loosed from the moorings; they took those ropes
or whatever they are. That’s what it means to lose the ship. It’s the ropes I’m thinking of. That’s the
loosing of it. The record told us that when he threw him in the inner dungeon, they put their feet in
stocks, but it did not tell you that they handcuffed them. I believe they had their hands tied behind
them or someplace. That’s why I got so tremendously blessed when I began seeing that word
“brought” as “loosed.”
He got them all the way out of the jail; took them home and he forgot to untie their hands. He was so
shook, so excited, so turned on about what had happened. He got all the way back to his house when
it finally dawned on him, “Golly, they still have their hands tied.” They put their feet in stocks and it
was also a custom to, what we call, handcuff them.
Now the Bible says that the earthquake shook them out of their stocks. But it doesn’t say it shook
them out of their tied hands. He got them home. I can see this because, man, put yourself in that
place once. That tremendous earthquake; all the prisoners had a right to run out, the doors were all
opened. The jailor was responsible for every prisoner because if one of them escaped, then he had to
die for them. He must have really been shook. And he yelled, “What must I do to be saved?” And he
took them home, and when he got them home he looked at them and said, ”My gosh, I forgot to untie
you.” So he set them down, untied them, and he gave them some food.
“believing in God with all his house” - His whole household delivered, that’s what it ought to be
today. In Oriental culture, when the Father got saved, everybody got saved. Today, one sister gets
born again, the brother doesn’t. Dad doesn’t want to get born again, he says, “Mom, you have the
religion for us.” That’s not Biblical culture. The need is the same today, in the family, as it was then.
I’m looking for days when whole households will hear the Word and everybody get born again. If
you’ll go back to Acts, (Acts 5:15-16) as Peter was walking down the street, whenever the shadow of
Peter covered someone, the person got delivered. It wasn’t the shadow, it was the believing. The
temperature of believing was so hot; whenever you got within the vicinity of it you just burned the
Word in your life. That’s what happened to this man with Paul and Silas just standing faithful,
witnessing by singing and everything. They just stood. Isn’t that a wonderful verse? He set food
before them. They rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
You know what they did? They stayed up all night. Couldn’t go to sleep that night any more. Too
much excitement.
Acts 16:35-36
“keeper of the prison” – jailor
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Evidently the keeper of the prison made his job, his assignment. Six o’clock in the morning, he was
supposed to still be there. They got back there, and Paul and Silas went with him. The guys came
from the top brass and said, “We decided to let those men go.”
“this saying” – logos - And yet people say that the logos was God. Jesus was God because he was the
logos, John 1:1. By that same logic, you would have to say that somebody else was God over here.
The keeper of the prisoner or the magistrates, or the serjeants, somebody has to be God, because of
the word logos. No, no, we know better than that. We know that there are different usages of words
in their context. But the point is; this is the word that is used for “The Word.”
Whenever any authority gives the Word it’s always logos. Whenever they are words, w-o-r-d-s,
within that Word, it is the word rhēma.
“to let you go” - in order that you may be released
“go in peace” – “get out of town, clear out, behave yourself. Don’t come back into our city limits.”
That’s what is behind this.
Acts 16:37
“Paul said unto them” - The keeper of the prison apparently told Paul, then Paul ventures in, and he
talks to the magistrates and the serjeants. He faces them.
“openly” – publicly - They put them out in the public square and all the people came there; watched
what was happening; and they beat them 39 lashes with the whip.
“uncondemned” - without prior investigation - Not only prior, but without accurate or proper -
perhaps that would be the best way to translate it - “without proper investigation”
“Romans” - Roman men
“privily” – secretly – “They beat us publicly, now they want us to leave and get out of here secretly.
If they could beat us publicly, they could escort us out publicly.”
“nay verily” - no indeed – is the text
“fetch” - lead - this same word used in Acts 5:19; 7:36, 40) – it means, in essence, “let them escort
us out; get their motorcycles and trucks ahead and we go with them.”
They did it publicly; now they can escort us out publicly, not secretly. No indeed! Boy what a stand.
Acts 16:38
“words” - rhēma
“magistrates” - bosses, top brass
“feared” – literally - were alarmed - The bell went off in their head, the alarm clock.
“when they heard that they were Romans” - that’s what alarmed them, for no Roman citizen could be
scourged, beaten, by any provincial governor without an appeal to the Emperor of Rome. That’s why
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Paul, in Acts 25:11-12, made his appeal to Rome. This is what they had not done. They had scourged
Paul and Silas. No wonder those magistrates were alarmed, they should have been.
Acts 16:39
“they came” - Now I want to tell you they had their motorcycles wide open coming. They didn’t
mess around because if the Emperor, or the Caesar, had heard of this treatment, the provincial
governor would be released of his position and perhaps severely punished for it. They didn’t waste
any time.
“they besought them” - What do think they talked about when they besought them? Do you know
what they said? “We’re sure sorry. We did not know you were Romans.” The reason for that is,
earlier they had assumed that they were just Jews (Acts 16:20). They acted on an assumption.
Therefore when they “besought” them. I know they said to them, “Look, we’re really sorry, we
thought you were just Jews coming in here to make trouble, we didn’t know you were Romans, and
we’re really sorry.” I suppose they paid their medical bill for everything that was involved. “they
besought them” - they lovingly requested; they pled with them; they besought them. You and I would
say, “they begged them” to forgive them, and not to tell Caesar.
“brought them” – brought them out – Out of what? They took them outside of the city; they walked
with them; escorted them.
“desired them” – begged, pled with them - literally they were just praying that they would leave.
When those fellows left then the rest of the town’s people wouldn’t find out that they were Romans.
Therefore, the provincial governor might never be reported on. So he wanted to cool it and get it just
as quiet as possible and get it over with. That’s why they escorted them. That’s where I get my
motorcycles, you know; they escort. I see all that. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if they slipped them a
ten or something and said, “Fellows, when you get to the next town, have dinner on us.”
Acts 16:40
“went out of the prison” - Here again, it’s just a repetition of things that have occurred. That doesn’t
mean they went out of the prison now; they’re already outside of the city, but they had to come from
the prison to begin with.
After they got outside of the city, they went to the house of Lydia. Outside of the city gates, I guess is
what I’m talking about, or outside of that whole area.
“comforted” – parakaleō - like the Paraclete that I told you about. (pg. 247 – “consolation” - Acts
15:31) They comforted them. It would seem to me that the brethren should have comforted Paul and
Silas, but Paul and Silas are doing the comforting. You know what that tells me? That they were
really shock up; that whole Twig. “They beat our Paul, they beat our Silas,” They were all nervous,
shook up, about it. So Paul and Silas come back and give comfort to them. And that simply is telling
them, “Look, so what? It’s over with. Let’s move the Word; let’s move!” The word is “exhorted”; to
encourage toward a more worthy endeavor.
That Lydia is that seller of purple with whom they prayed. (Acts 16:13-14) God opened her heart.
That’s where they went and taught. I’ve had a thought. I don’t know, but what I really in my heart
feel happened: (I’ve never told anybody this before but thought about it many times) they let them
lead them out of the city so that they were all happy. Then, after the guys left, they came back and
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