Acts 16:31

The context

Paul and Silas have been beaten and jailed at Philippi after a slave girl's owners stirred up a crowd. At midnight an earthquake opens the doors, and the jailer, waking to find them loose, draws his sword. Paul calls out, and the man asks what he must do, kneeling in the dark.

What it establishes

The verse names faith in the Lord Jesus as the condition of salvation and extends the promise to the jailer's household. It is one of the New Testament's most direct statements of what is required of an inquirer.

What it does not establish

It does not make the household's salvation automatic. The next verse has Paul speak the word to everyone in the house, and the baptism that follows is of those who believed. Nor does it give a complete account of conversion; it answers a frightened man's question in one night.

Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.

Cited in these answers

• The Gospel
• What's the Bottom Line?

Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.