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Here I Stood: Philippi (Jailer)

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Having stood at the place where the gospel as first preached in Europe and the first conversion occurred, we visited other sites in Philippi. One very interesting scene was the actual Egnatian road, the highway that connected Macedonian cities, and the very one Paul and Silas would have followed from Neapolis. The paving stones are original.


As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation’. And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out that very hour. But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, ‘These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice’. The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks” (Acts 16:16-24).



We followed Paul to the Bema, the judgment seat, where magistrates tried cases and inflicted punishment. The Bema is a raised platform on which judges sit and defendants stand below facing them.





After beating Paul and Silas, they were imprisoned. Roman jails were merely holding cells waiting for possible but unlikely release but more usually waiting for execution. We visited the site which has been identified as the jail holding Paul and Silas:


Luke then related the incident of a divinely-sent earthquake that freed the prisoners, although they did not escape. The frightened jailer, fearing retribution, asked what he must do to be saved. His question was answered by Paul in a much deeper way, providing the answer for anyone ever after asking that most important of all questions: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household”. The jailer confessed his faith and he and his household were baptized. Paul demanded that the magistrates come personally to escort them from the prison, for the earthquake was demonstrable proof of their innocence. This they did, no doubt in much shame, and Paul and Silas continued on their preaching journey, and we followed in their steps.

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