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“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.” (Acts 16:31)
If salvation is a personal matter, how will you explain the above verse?
It sounds really controversial. But in reading the Bible we read the whole context not just the verse. Shall we continue reading the book of Acts 16:34. “The jailer brought them (Paul and Silas) into his house and set a meal before them, he was filled with joy because he had come to believe – he and his whole household.”
It’s clearly stated in this succeeding verse that each member of the family (household) must believe in order to be saved.
Reading the Bible is not easy especially if we only read with our own minds. We need the wisdom of God to discern His Word. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.” Isaiah 55:8
The Word of God is the heart and mind of God. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. The Word was also a person. In the person of Jesus Christ who is talking to us personally.
We have another saved family in the Bible, the family of Noah. In the days of Noah, men were full of wickedness and full of evil thoughts that made God repent for making man on earth. And the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air, for itrepenteth me that I have made them.” (Genesis 6:7)
But God saved Noah and his wife, his sons Ham, Shem and Japheth and their wives. And the Lord said unto Noah, “come thou and all thy house unto the ark for thee I seen righteous before me in this generation.” (Genesis 7:1)
And also, we have one more saved family in the Bible. “A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things were spoken of Paul. “And she was baptized and her household, she besought us, saying, if ye have judged me to be faithful in the Lord, come unto my house and abide thee.” (Acts 16:14-15)
Some saved families have problems with their unsaved family members. Let us be patient in sharing the Word of God. That’s all we can do. And God will convict them so that they can come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and they will be saved.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
God the Father sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. Begotten – means one of a kind. God the Father and God the Son are co-equal, co-eternal, and co-existing in the God Head. Jesus came down here on earth incarnated in flesh, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin birth. God did all these miracles because of His unconditional love for us.
Jesus went to the cross and paid the penalty of our sins. Jesus shed his blood on the cross to wash away our sins. Jesus resurrected from the dead to give us eternal life. Jesus finished our salvation on the cross.
Salvation is the greatest miracle of God because of His great love for us. Salvation is the greatest gift of God to us and it is free and eternal. It is God’s life and God is eternal.
Jesus is offering his free gift so he can save us for all eternity. He is looking at our hearts. He wants us to surrender to Him with all our heart and soul. Nobody can do it for us. We have to make a decision and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Lord, Savior and Redeemer.
EDITORS NOTE: ” This column hopes to address questions pertaining to faith, from those who have doubts about God. Pastor Pascual and Mrs. Lydia Tayco will use and cite no other reference but the Holy Scripture, which embodies the Word of God. You can reach them by email at lydia_rhoton@yahoo.com.”