Except for These ChainsSýnishorn

The first biblical account of Paul being in prison is found in the book of Acts of the Apostles. During his second missionary journey, Paul reached the Roman colony of Philippi in Macedonia. After freeing a slave girl from spirit possession, Paul and his coworker Silas were falsely accused by the girl’s owners of advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice (Acts 16:21). Without stopping to ascertain whether Paul and Silas were, in fact, Roman citizens, the magistrates had them stripped, severely beaten with rods, and thrown into prison. The jailer had received orders to guard Paul and Silas carefully, and he did so by putting their feet in stocks in the worst cell in the prison.

For a moment, let’s try to imagine how the two missionaries felt – unjustly punished in a humiliating and painful way, and now tortured in the depths of the jail. How would we react if we were victims of a travesty of justice, beaten up and uncomfortable in the dark? Would we plot revenge, or ask God to punish those who had abused us?

The Bible account in Acts chapter 16 tells us how Paul and Silas reacted: About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them (Acts 16:25). The mention of midnight tells us that the missionaries took some time to recover from what had happened. They were not superhuman heroes. But instead of groaning and complaining, they were worshiping God! The other prisoners did not shout them down, but rather listened to them, perhaps curious because this was not at all a common reaction in such circumstances.

What happened next was even more unexpected – an earthquake that led to the conversion of the jailer and his family as the missionaries first preached the Gospel and then received treatment for their wounds. Paul and Silas had come to Philippi to preach the Gospel and the Lord created opportunities for witness that could not have been arranged in any other way. When someone is in prison, especially unjustly, the main thought on their minds is getting out of jail, but Paul and Silas show that God can have work for them to accomplish before release.