Along With Everyone In Your Household

[Daniel]

Acts 16:31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.”

I came upon this verse in scripture a few weeks back and have been thinking about it ever since. What, I wonder do Paul and Silas mean exactly by this statement? I ask this question because I like many others here are concerned about loved ones who have not yet been born again.

I know that scripture says that the only way to the Father is through Jesus, and you must be born again to be saved, but clearly the above passage states that everyone in your household will be saved if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Were Paul and Silas directing this statement to the jailer alone, or does it apply to me as well?

[truthseeker815]

Acts 16:31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.”

I came upon this verse in scripture a few weeks back and have been thinking about it ever since. What, I wonder do Paul and Silas mean exactly by this statement? I ask this question because I like many others here are concerned about loved ones who have not yet been born again.

I know that scripture says that the only way to the Father is through Jesus, and you must be born again to be saved, but clearly the above passage states that everyone in your household will be saved if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Were Paul and Silas directing this statement to the jailer alone, or does it apply to me as well?

VERY good question-I've often wondered about this myself and I don't have a sound scriptural answer,either,but I'm interested in what answers you may receive.This would be a good question to ask Jack Kelley :nod :popcorn

[ANewCreature]

I see it as meaning one of two things; I don't have time to look up how the verbage is done, but:

1. Paul and Silas may have been speaking prophetically. As in, "You will be saved, and we are stating as a fact that those in your house will be born again in the future, becuase in this instance it will be true." (As you put it, only to the jailer.)

2. It may be conditional. "You will be saved, and your house may be, if you continue in your walk with the Lord, for they will be drawn to Christ through you in that case." This goes along with how Paul writes that a wife who gets saved may choose to stay with unsaved husband becuase through her he might be saved; that is, through her testimony.

Remember that the Book of Acts is not always doctrinal int he way that other books are; it is a history of the early church. I tend to think that #2 is more likely as the meaning, simply becuase of later epistles. However, it is entirely possible that Paul was speaking prophetically, as that was done at times in Acts, and that proper application to households would be to use the epistles, and not this verse.

[Gabby]

My understanding of this comes from the next verse after:

32And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.

They spoke the Word of God to all of his household and THEN they were saved by grace through faith, just like us. They heard the gospel and then they responded and then they were saved.

I think it means once we're saved, we're to go home and share the Word, share the Gospel with our family and then, after our witness and the Truth, they may indeed accept Christ.

[Obadiah]

This verse has been misinterpreted by many simply because they don't understand the nature of the ellipsis in the verse.

When Paul and Silas tell the jailer, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your house," the sense is not that if the jailer believes, he and his household will be saved. The sense is that if the jailer believes he will be saved, and if the rest of his household members believe, they will likewise be saved.

We could paraphrase it a bit by saying, "If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved -- and the same goes for the rest of your household."

[icebear]

i agree with Gabby and Obadiah, you two just developed it better than i could have...

i never truly studied that set of verses, but had at first simply assumed that it was by the saved member's witness, the rest would be drawn to Jesus