How often have you changed your mind? Were there times you felt strongly about issues or situations only to reverse your beliefs … and maybe have some mud on your face? Then there is another take on “a change of mind” … sometimes a parent disciplines a child because of breaking house rules or being disrespectful. It might come in the shape of “gating” the teenager from going out and mixing with friends. By the next day the parent realizes that the punishment levied was sufficient and calls off being “gated” as the teen had now suffered enough. This seems to be what we read about in the following passage in Acts 16:
Ac 16:35 When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.” 36 The jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.” 37 But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.” 38 The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. 39 They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. 40 After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and encouraged them. Then they left.
1) A change of mind. Did the experience of an earthquake change the heart of the magistrates or was it something else?
Ac 16:35 When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.”
Words are interesting. Look at two words used by the magistrates to the jailer. In both cases we would think they mean something similar.
(i) The word “commanded” in verse 23 was a military term … an official summons to do something. The mind is made up resulting in the will of the magistrates firmly decided and cannot be changed.
(ii) Whilst on the other hand, the word “order” in verse 35 means to “reevaluate, recounting or reason”. The same magistrates whose minds were so solidly made up and issued a non-reversible command … reevaluated their decision … they went back and recounted whether what they did was right … they reasoned they needed to change their decision.
Was it because of the earthquake? Was it because they felt the punishment levied needed to be terminated for lessons would have been learnt through the flogging and imprisonment? Maybe both contributed to them reevaluating their decision.
2) Set the prisoners free. Somehow the magistrates’ reevaluation of their decision reached the jailer. It was … “Release those men.” This is more than interesting considering the magistrates reevaluation of their earlier command. “Release means “set free” and “to send away”. Where they decided to remove Paul and Silas’ freedom and imprison them, they now decide to not only set them free but that they be sent away … that is, they must leave Philippi, never to return. This seems to show that the magistrates did not want the missionaries in their jurisdiction … maybe because they feared another uprising from the people doing something similar to when the slave girl’s exorcism occur. Even in our day … and even in first world countries where the Protestant and Reformed Church originated … they want Christian enthusiasts, missionaries and evangelists to leave their territories due to liberal theology, secularism and materialism that are godless. Soon we shall see what these missionaries said and did. Beloved, if Jesus requires us to evangelize all the world, then we need to be everywhere, even where people do not want us to be!
3) Sharing the “good news”.
Ac 16:36 The jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.”
Did you see the jailer using the same word as Luke records? “The magistrates have ordered” … they recounted their decision and decided to change it by returning the missionaries freedom, but telling them to leave the city. You are free … “Now you can leave. Go in peace” … then our problems with the slave’s owners would be over and we can get the city back to normal! To the magistrates this would be great news for them and good news for the missionaries. They pictured Paul and Silas would be elated and leave immediately.
4) Paul’s response to those delivering the reevaluated decision.
Ac 16:37 But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”
I wonder how you and I would have responded. Paul’s response was similar to an America citizen claiming the 14th Amendment, which says … “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Further … senate.gov says … “The Senate on June 8, 1866, and ratified two years later, on July 9, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to all persons “born or naturalized in the United States,” including formerly enslaved people, and provided all citizens with “equal protection under the laws,” extending the provisions of the Bill of Rights to the states.” Now listen to Paul again … “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.” Wow … this is staggering! Paul claims his rights as a Roman Citizen just as an American Citizen may claim the 14th Amendment. Look at what he says …
(1) They illegally flogged us. They beat us publicly without a trial. Whatever their status, under Roman law no man could be beaten without a proper trial. That is, by having a prosecutor and defense legal assistance.
(2) Their legal status … even though we are Roman citizens. As citizens they had rights, especially as they were born citizens. To wrong a citizen was a serious offence. (Compare the 14th Amendment).
(3) And more, they were incarcerated … and threw us into prison.
(4) They want the easy route out by this hush hush treatment … And now do they want to get rid of us quietly?
(5) Paul objects emphatically. No! He refuses their reevaluation of their own ruling.
(6) Paul claims his Roman citizen rights. Let them come themselves and escort us out.
Was Paul being hardline and difficult? After all this was a pass to freedom! Not at all. He was claiming his legal rights … you see, in 195 BC, “The Porcian Law removed the rods from the bodies of all Roman Citizens.” F. F. Bruce in his commentary on Acts says … “This meant that Roman Citizens were exempt from degrading forms of punishment and had certain valued right established for them in relation to the Law.” Paul rightly and legally claimed their Citizenship’s rights. As part of the Lord’s people, we still live as citizens of a country and as such we too have rights. No authority may treat us as Christians badly in “open” countries where there is freedom of religion. We have the right to stand up for our rights as Christians. It is not Christian to shrink back when authorities illegally persecute us.
Our Father, help us to know our rights within our countries and to abide by the laws of our country. This You require of us to demonstrate true Christianity in practice. Amen.