Richard’s Remarks
If you have a Biblical question that you would like to have addressed in the bulletin, please write your question down and give it to me or simply leave it on my desk. (Names will not be indicated unless otherwise indicated.)
Question: Why do we find different answers being given in the scriptures
regarding what a person must do to be saved?
In Acts 2:37 we find that those who were pricked in their hearts by the message of the Gospel asked, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” In response to that question, the apostle Peter instructed them to “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). However, in Acts 16, when the Philippian jailor asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (vs 30), they answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (vs 31). So, why were different answers given to the same question? Can this be harmonized?
To help us find a proper answer, let’s suppose that Amy, the kids and I decided to travel to Joplin, MO by way of Highway 59 to West Siloam Springs and then on to Highway 71. Being new to the area, we might ask somebody if they knew how far it was to Joplin (by that particular route) and how long it should take to get there. On our way, let’s suppose that we stopped in West Siloam Springs to fill up the van with gas. Let’s also suppose that I asked the station clerk how far it was to Joplin and how long it should take to get there. Now, that’s the same question that I had asked in Sallisaw. Should I expect the same answer? Of course not. Why? I’m in two different places when asking the same question. But, since I would receive two different answers, does that mean that one or both of them are incorrect? No. The correct answer would depend upon where I was when I asked the question.
Let’s apply this line of logic to the questions asked in Acts 2:37 and Acts 16:30. The people in Acts 2 had just heard Peter’s presentation of the Gospel. Now, if they hadn’t believed his message, they wouldn’t have responded to it. So, Peter didn’t tell them to believe because they were “already there.” So, he instructed them to repent and be baptized. The Philippian jailor, prior to responding to the Gospel, needed to hear it and believe it. You see, he wasn’t “there yet.” So, that’s where Paul and Silas started. Acts 16:32 tells us that they then “spake unto him the word of the Lord.” Following this additional teaching, he was baptized.
Different answers were given because those who asked the questions were “at different
places” spiritually at the time of their asking. The different answers are therefore easily
harmonized when one considers the whole of the scriptures and applies sound logic.