Chapter 16
Timothy Joins Paul and Silas
1 Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. And a disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek,
2 and he was well spoken of by the brothers who were in Lystra and Iconium.
3 Paul wanted this man to go with him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
4 Now while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering the decrees which had been decided upon by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem, for them to observe.
5 So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, and were increasing in number daily.
Translator’s Notes — vv. 1–5:
v.1: Timothy enters the narrative. He is the product of a mixed marriage: a Jewish mother who is a believer and a Greek father. His mother Eunice and grandmother Lois are named in 2 Timothy 1:5 as women of sincere faith who raised Timothy in the Scriptures from childhood (2 Timothy 3:15). Timothy will become Paul’s most trusted companion and delegate, the recipient of two Pauline letters, and Paul’s surrogate in multiple churches. Paul will call him “my true child in the faith” (1 Timothy 1:2) and “my beloved and faithful child in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 4:17). He is probably a young man at this point — Paul later writes “let no one look down on your youth” (1 Timothy 4:12).
v.3: Paul circumcises Timothy. This action has provoked intense debate, given that Paul has just returned from the Jerusalem Council where the requirement of circumcision for Gentile believers was definitively rejected. Is this a contradiction? The answer lies in Timothy’s status: as the son of a Jewish mother, Timothy was considered Jewish by halakhic standards. An uncircumcised Jewish man was an anomaly — his Greek father had apparently prevented the eighth-day circumcision. Paul circumcises Timothy not as a requirement for salvation (the council had settled that) but as a practical step for ministry: “because of the Jews who were in those parts.” An uncircumcised Jew traveling as Paul’s partner would have been a stumbling block in every synagogue they entered. Paul is not compromising his theology; he is exercising the strategic freedom he describes in 1 Corinthians 9:20: “To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews.” The contrast with the case of Titus (Galatians 2:3–5) is instructive: Paul refused to circumcise Titus, a full Gentile, because that would have been a theological surrender. Circumcising Timothy, a halakhic Jew, is a pastoral accommodation. The principle is the same in both cases: circumcision is neither required nor forbidden; it is irrelevant to salvation but relevant to practical ministry.
vv.4–5: The team delivers the Jerusalem Council’s decrees to the churches of the first missionary journey. The result is both spiritual and numerical growth: strengthened in faith, increasing in number daily. The council’s resolution is bearing fruit. The crisis that threatened to split the church has instead strengthened it.
The Spirit Directs the Mission to Macedonia
6 They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
7 And after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them;
8 and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.
9 A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
10 When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Translator’s Notes — vv. 6–10:
κωλυθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος (kōlythentes hypo tou hagiou pneumatos) — vv.6–7: The Spirit’s guidance here is entirely negative: the Holy Spirit forbids them to speak in Asia (the Roman province of western Turkey, whose capital was Ephesus), and the “Spirit of Jesus” blocks their attempt to enter Bithynia (the northern coastal province along the Black Sea). Luke does not explain how the Spirit communicated these prohibitions — whether through prophecy, a strong internal conviction, circumstances, or some other means. The effect is to funnel the missionaries westward, toward the coast and ultimately toward Europe. What appears to be aimless wandering is actually divine direction: God is closing every door except the one he wants them to walk through. The geography is essential: if Paul had gone south to Asia, the gospel would have stayed in the eastern Mediterranean. Instead, the Spirit drives him to Troas, on the western coast of Turkey, facing Greece across the Aegean Sea. The gospel is being aimed at Europe.
v.7: The phrase “Spirit of Jesus” (τὸ πνεῦμα Ἰησοῦ, to pneuma Iēsou) is unique in Acts and rare in the New Testament. It explicitly identifies the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of the risen Jesus — the same Jesus who appeared to Paul on the Damascus road is now directing his missionary movements. The risen Christ is not a distant figure; he is actively managing the mission through his Spirit.
v.9: The Macedonian vision: a man stands appealing, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Macedonia is northern Greece — the homeland of Alexander the Great, a Roman province since 146 BC. The vision is simple, direct, and personal: a human figure begging for help. There is no angel, no heavenly pageantry, just a man in need. The gospel crosses into Europe not because Paul has a strategic plan for western expansion but because a vision shows him someone asking for help. The mission is driven by need, not ambition.
εὐθέως ἐζητήσαμεν (eutheōs ezētēsamen) — v.10: “Immediately we sought to go into Macedonia.” Two things happen in this verse. First, the response is immediate: Paul does not deliberate, form a committee, or seek a confirming vision. He acts. The team “concluded” (συμβιβάζοντες, symbibazontes, “putting it together,” “drawing the conclusion”) that God was calling them. The conclusion is communal and rational: they interpret the vision together and make a judgment.
v.10: Second, and more famously, the pronoun shifts from “they” to “we.” This is the first of the “we sections” in Acts (16:10–17, 20:5–15, 21:1–18, 27:1–28:16), where Luke includes himself in the action. He joined Paul’s team at Troas — apparently a resident of or visitor to the city — and boarded with Paul for the crossing to Macedonia. From this point on, Luke is an eyewitness to the events he narrates. The account gains the quality of a personal memoir: I was there. We sailed together.
Lydia’s Conversion at Philippi
11 So putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis;
12 and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony. And we were staying in this city for some days.
13 And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.
14 A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.
15 And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
Translator’s Notes — vv. 11–15:
v.11: The sea crossing from Troas to Neapolis (the port of Philippi) takes two days with a favorable wind — Samothrace is an island midway across the Aegean that served as an overnight stop. The voyage covered about 125 nautical miles. Luke’s sailing details throughout the “we sections” are consistently accurate and suggest firsthand experience.
v.12: Philippi was a city of extraordinary significance. Originally a Greek settlement, it was renamed by Philip II of Macedon (Alexander the Great’s father) in the fourth century BC. In 42 BC, the decisive battle in which Octavian and Antony defeated Caesar’s assassins Brutus and Cassius took place on the plains outside Philippi. After the battle, Octavian (later Augustus) made Philippi a Roman colony (colonia), settling retired soldiers there and granting the city the ius Italicum — the same legal status as cities in Italy itself. The population was primarily Roman veterans and their descendants, with Latin as the official language alongside Greek. The city was fiercely proud of its Roman identity. This matters because the charges brought against Paul and Silas (v.20–21) will be framed in terms of Roman identity and Roman law.
v.13: There is no synagogue in Philippi — a synagogue required a quorum of ten Jewish men (a minyan), and the Jewish community was apparently too small. Instead, Paul finds a “place of prayer” (προσευχήν, proseuchēn) by the riverside, outside the city gate. Riverside locations were preferred for prayer sites because of the availability of water for ritual washing. The gathering consists of women — no men are mentioned. The gospel’s first contact in Europe is a group of women praying by a river. There is no crowd, no synagogue, no public platform. The most consequential geographic expansion in Christian history begins at a women’s prayer meeting beside running water.
ἧς ὁ κύριος διήνοιξεν τὴν καρδίαν (hēs ho kyrios diēnoixen tēn kardian) — v.14: Lydia is a God-fearer from Thyatira (a city in western Turkey known for its textile industry, particularly purple dye — the same city addressed in Revelation 2:18–29). She is a “seller of purple fabrics” (πορφυρόπωλις, porphyropōlis), indicating significant wealth: purple dye, extracted from murex shellfish, was extremely expensive, and purple cloth was associated with royalty and the Roman elite. Lydia is a businesswoman of means operating far from her hometown — an independent, wealthy, God-fearing Gentile woman. And Luke says “the Lord opened her heart” (ὁ κύριος διήνοιξεν τὴν καρδίαν). Paul speaks; the Lord opens. Human proclamation and divine initiative work together. The door that only God can open — the human heart — swings open for a businesswoman by a river in Macedonia.
v.15: Lydia’s entire household is baptized with her, and she immediately offers hospitality: “Come into my house and stay.” The verb παρεβιάσατο (parebiasato, “she prevailed upon us,” “she urged us forcefully”) indicates determined insistence — Lydia does not take no for an answer. Her house becomes the base of operations for the Philippian mission and, after Paul’s departure, the meeting place of the Philippian church (cf. v.40). The first European church meets in a businesswoman’s home. Lydia is the first named convert in Europe, and she immediately becomes a patron and host of the movement. The Philippian church will become Paul’s most beloved community, the only church from which he accepts financial support (Philippians 4:15–16), and the recipient of his most affectionate letter.
The Slave Girl with the Spirit of Divination
16 It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling.
17 Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.”
18 She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment.
Translator’s Notes — vv. 16–18:
πνεῦμα πύθωνα (pneuma pythōna) — v.16: “A spirit of divination” — literally “a spirit, a python” (πνεῦμα πύθωνα, pneuma pythōna). Python was the mythological serpent that guarded the oracle at Delphi and was slain by Apollo. The term “python spirit” was used for ventriloquists and fortune-tellers who were believed to be possessed by the prophetic spirit of the Delphic oracle. The girl is enslaved in two senses: she is the legal property of her masters (κυρίοις, kyriois — plural, indicating multiple owners), and she is possessed by a spirit that speaks through her. She is doubly exploited: by the spirit and by the men who profit from her condition. Her fortune-telling (μαντευομένη, manteuomenē) generates “much profit” (ἐργασίαν πολλήν, ergasian pollēn), making her a commercial asset. Her body, her voice, and her suffering are someone else’s revenue stream.
v.17: What the girl says is technically true: Paul and his companions are servants of the Most High God, and they are proclaiming the way of salvation. But correct theology from a demonic source is still demonic. The pattern is identical to the demons in the Gospels who correctly identify Jesus (Mark 1:24, 3:11, 5:7): demons can speak truth while serving falsehood. The girl’s repeated cries associate the missionaries with the occult world of divination and oracles, potentially discrediting their message by linking it to the very spiritual powers they oppose.
διαπονηθείς (diaponētheis) — v.18: Paul is “greatly annoyed” (διαπονηθείς, diaponētheis — “thoroughly exasperated,” “deeply troubled”). The word suggests both irritation and grief. He endures it for “many days” before acting. When he does, the exorcism is immediate and absolute: “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” The spirit obeys instantly. But the exorcism, while liberating the girl from spiritual bondage, also destroys her economic value to her owners. The liberation of the oppressed inevitably threatens those who profit from the oppression. This is the trigger for everything that follows.
Paul and Silas Arrested
19 But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities,
20 and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews,
21 and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.”
22 The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods.
23 When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely;
24 and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
Translator’s Notes — vv. 19–24:
v.19: The real motive is economic: “their hope of profit was gone” (ἐξῆλθεν ἡ ἐλπὶς τῆς ἐργασίας αὐτῶν). The Greek word ἐργασία (ergasia, “profit,” “business”) appeared in v.16 for the girl’s fortune-telling revenue and now reappears as the reason for the accusation. But the slave-owners do not say “they destroyed our income” — that would be embarrassingly self-interested. Instead, they frame the charge in terms of public order and ethnic identity.
vv.20–21: The charges are carefully crafted for a Roman colony. The accusation has two elements: (1) “throwing our city into confusion” (ἐκταράσσουσιν, ektarassousin — “they are disturbing,” “agitating”); (2) “proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or observe, being Romans.” The accusers emphasize the ethnic contrast: “these men, being Jews ... us, being Romans.” In a colony proud of its Roman identity, the charge of introducing un-Roman practices by Jews was calculated to provoke maximum hostility. The charge is not about theology; it is about identity and belonging. The word “customs” (ἔθη, ethē) implies alien religious practices incompatible with Roman law. There may also be a reference to the edict of Claudius expelling Jews from Rome (cf. 18:2), which would have made anti-Jewish sentiment particularly sharp at this time.
vv.22–24: The response is swift and violent. The crowd joins the attack (mob justice, not legal procedure), and the “chief magistrates” (στρατηγοί, stratēgoi — Luke correctly uses the title for the senior magistrates of a Roman colony, called duoviri in Latin) order Paul and Silas stripped and beaten with rods (ῥαβδίζειν, rhabdizein — beaten by lictors, the magistrates’ attendants, with their official rods of office). This is a Roman punishment, not a Jewish flogging. Paul will later recall this: “three times I was beaten with rods” (2 Corinthians 11:25). The beating is severe (“many blows”), and they are thrown into the inner prison with their feet fastened in stocks (τὸ ξύλον, to xylon, “the wood” — a wooden device that locked the legs in a painful spread position). The inner prison (τὴν ἐσωτέραν φυλακήν, tēn esōteran phylakēn) was the maximum-security section, dark and windowless.
The Midnight Earthquake
25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;
26 and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.
27 When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
28 But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!”
29 And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas,
30 and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house.
33 And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.
34 And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.
Translator’s Notes — vv. 25–34:
v.25: The scene is extraordinary. Midnight, inner prison, feet in stocks, backs torn open from the beating — and Paul and Silas are praying and singing hymns. The verb ὕμνουν (hymnoun, “were singing hymns”) suggests sustained worship, not a brief prayer. The other prisoners (οἱ δέσμιοι, hoi desmioi) “were listening to them” (ἐπηκροῶντο, epēkroonto — “were listening attentively”). The prison has become a worship space. The men who were beaten for proclaiming an illegal religion are now proclaiming it in the place where the authorities put them to silence them. The inner prison, meant to be the most isolating confinement available, has become a concert hall.
v.26: The earthquake shakes the foundations, opens all the doors, and unfastens everyone’s chains. The scope is comprehensive — not just Paul and Silas’s cell but the entire prison. The liberation is total: every door, every chain. The earthquake at Philippi echoes the shaking of the room where the church prayed in 4:31. God answers worship with power. But this time the power is physical: the building shakes, the doors spring open, the chains fall off. The same God who opened the iron gate for Peter (12:10) now opens the entire prison.
v.27: The jailer’s reaction is understandable. Under Roman military law, a guard who allowed prisoners to escape was subject to the same punishment the prisoners would have received (cf. 12:19, where Herod executed the guards after Peter’s escape). The jailer assumes the prisoners have fled and prepares to kill himself rather than face execution. Suicide in the face of dishonor was considered an acceptable, even noble act in Roman culture.
v.28: Paul’s shout — “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” — saves the jailer’s life. Paul somehow knows what the jailer is doing in the darkness (perhaps he can see the silhouette of the drawn sword in the light from the open doors). No one has escaped. The earthquake opened the doors and removed the chains, but no prisoner fled. This detail is essential: the miracle was not a jailbreak. It was a sign.
τί με δεῖ ποιεῖν ἵνα σωθῶ; (ti me dei poiein hina sōthō?) — v.30: “What must I do to be saved?” The jailer’s question is the question of Acts, the question of all human seeking. The word σωθῶ (sōthō) means “to be saved,” “to be rescued,” “to be made whole.” In context, the jailer may be asking about physical survival (he almost killed himself moments ago) and about something deeper: the earthquake, the singing in the dark, the prisoners who stayed — all of it has shaken him more profoundly than the earthquake shook the building. The man responsible for imprisoning God’s messengers now kneels before them asking how to be rescued.
v.31: The answer is the simplest and most complete gospel statement in Acts: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” No requirements beyond faith. No circumcision, no Law, no ritual — believe, and you will be saved. The extension to “your household” follows the pattern seen with Cornelius (10:44–48) and Lydia (16:15): salvation comes to households, not just individuals. The ancient world was organized around households, and conversion flowed through household structures.
v.33: The sequence that follows is one of the most beautiful in Acts. The jailer washes their wounds — the wounds he is partly responsible for, since he threw them into the inner prison and locked their feet in stocks. Then “immediately he was baptized.” The man who inflicted pain now washes blood. The man who imprisoned them now receives the water of baptism from them. The reversal is total. And all of it happens in the same hour of the night: wound-washing and baptism, pain healed and sin washed, physical and spiritual restoration intertwined in a single sequence of water and touch.
v.34: He brings them into his house, feeds them, and “rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.” Joy is the characteristic response to the gospel (cf. 8:39, 13:52). The jailer’s house has become a place of celebration. The inner prison and the jailer’s dining table are connected by the same night, the same earthquake, the same gospel. The man who was about to kill himself is now rejoicing with his family around a meal.
Paul Asserts Roman Citizenship
35 Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, “Release those men.”
36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now and go in peace.”
37 But Paul said to them, “They beat us in public without trial, men who are Romans, and threw us into prison; and now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.”
38 The policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that they were Romans,
39 and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept begging them to leave the city.
40 They went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.
Translator’s Notes — vv. 35–40:
v.35: The magistrates’ change of heart the next morning may reflect the earthquake (a divine omen in Roman religion) or simply the passing of the mob fury. They send lictors (ῥαβδούχους, rhabdouchous, “rod-bearers” — Luke correctly uses the Greek term for these Roman officials) with a message of release.
v.37: Paul refuses to leave quietly. His objection is legal and specific: “They beat us in public without trial, men who are Romans.” Three violations of Roman law are named: (1) beating without trial (ἀκατακρίτους, akatakritous, “uncondemned” — no legal process was followed); (2) public humiliation of Roman citizens (the Lex Porcia and the Lex Sempronia forbade the beating of Roman citizens without appeal); (3) imprisonment without cause. Each of these was a serious offense by the magistrates. Paul is not being petty; he is protecting the Philippian church. If the magistrates learn they violated the rights of Roman citizens, they will be reluctant to persecute the church further. Paul uses his legal status as a shield not for himself but for the community he is leaving behind.
v.38: The magistrates are “afraid” (ἐφοβήθησαν, ephobēthēsan). Roman officials who violated the rights of citizens could face severe penalties, including removal from office. They come personally to escort Paul and Silas out — the public apology Paul demanded. But they also beg them to leave the city: the magistrates want this embarrassing situation to end.
v.40: Paul and Silas go to Lydia’s house — the house church that has already formed. They encourage the brothers and depart. The “we” narration stops here, suggesting that Luke stays behind in Philippi (it will resume in 20:5 when Paul returns to Philippi years later). Luke may have served as the ongoing pastoral leader of the Philippian church during Paul’s absence.
General Notes on the Chapter
Acts 16 is the chapter where the gospel enters Europe, and Luke narrates it with the detail and vividness of an eyewitness. The chapter contains three conversion stories — Lydia, the slave girl, and the jailer — and together they represent the full social spectrum of the Roman world. Lydia is a wealthy, independent businesswoman. The slave girl is the lowest of the low: a female slave exploited for profit, with no autonomy, no name (Luke never gives her one), and no human dignity. The jailer is a Roman civil servant, part of the machinery of imperial power. The gospel reaches all three: the rich, the enslaved, and the official. The church at Philippi will be born from this improbable combination.
The Spirit’s guidance in vv.6–10 is one of the most important passages in Acts for understanding divine direction. The Spirit does not give Paul a comprehensive strategic plan; he gives him closed doors and then, finally, one open one. The guidance is experienced as frustration before it is understood as direction. Paul does not know where he is going; he only knows where he cannot go. The Macedonian vision comes only after multiple blockages have driven him to the coast. This is the pattern of much divine leading: not a map but a series of redirections, not a clear destination but a process of elimination that eventually leaves one path open. The theologian who later writes about the mystery of God’s will (Romans 11:33–36) has experienced that mystery personally, wandering through Asia Minor with every door shut until a vision comes in the night.
The Philippian jail scene (vv.25–34) is one of the most powerful narratives in the New Testament. The image of Paul and Silas singing hymns at midnight in the inner prison, with open wounds and feet in stocks, has sustained persecuted Christians for two thousand years. The singing is not escapism or denial; it is defiance. It declares that the authorities who beat them do not control their inner reality. The prisoners who listen are hearing something they have never heard: men in maximum suffering offering maximum praise. And the earthquake that follows is not an escape plan (no one escapes); it is a sign that shakes the building, opens the doors, and breaks the chains so that a Roman jailer can fall to his knees and ask the most important question a human being can ask: what must I do to be saved?
The answer — “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” — is the gospel at its most compressed. No additions, no qualifications, no prerequisites. Believe and be saved. The subsequent baptism and meal (v.33–34) provide the sacramental context, but the core is faith. The jailer who was about to kill himself in despair is now rejoicing with his family at a table. The trajectory from despair to joy, from sword to meal, from the inner prison to the family home, is the trajectory of the gospel itself.