JEFF TURNER
When a jailer asked Paul and Silas what he needed to do to be saved, their answer was short. They said believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
Some have pointed to this exchange as proof that the gospel message requires no doctrine, no mention of repentance, and no explanation of who Jesus is or what he has done. But that reading pulls the answer completely out of its context and ignores what must have already taken place before those words were spoken.
Before a person can believe in someone, do they not first need to know who that person is? Before they can grasp what they are being saved from, doesn’t that condition has to be explained?
Paul’s short answer to the jailer assumes that all of this groundwork had already been laid. Romans 10 makes the same point. Faith comes through hearing, and hearing requires a messenger who explains the details. The command to believe was the call to act on what had already been shared, not a standalone formula that replaces the full gospel message.
How then are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? But how are they to preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”
Romans 10:14
However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
