Lesson 388

(Lesson 388)(09-06-12) Acts 16:32-40, "And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go. 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. 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. And the serjeants told these words unto the magistrates: and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans. And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city. And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed"

The description of the events that took place at the Jailers home do not provide enough context to determine the exact meaning of the term "baptized" as it is applied in this text. Seeing that these events occurred at night and knowing that light, sufficient to baptize, or totally immerse, a group of people in a river or *mikvah, was practically nonexistent at that time.

Applying that reasoning, one must assume that the term "baptized", as it is applied in this particular text, implies a complete surrender to the gospel of Christ as delivered by Paul and Timothy. An example of such a surrender can be found in Galations 3:27, "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." This example clearly expresses that one totally believing in Christ actually immerses him/herself into the concept of Christ as an absolute arbiter for sin.
I readily admit that this analysis is my own, established by an in depth historical study of the term "baptize" and its grammatical variations."
There is certainly room for other analyses.

After the magistrates realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and had been wrongfully beaten and imprisoned, they immediately sent word to Paul that he could go free. Paul, realizing that as a Roman citizen, he could cause the magistrates a lot of problems, demanded that they come in person to release him. After which, Paul and his party were politely asked to leave town.~

*Mikvah: Is a Hebrew term that defines a baptismal pool, or as we would refer to it today, a baptistry.