Silas, who understood Paul

References:                             Acts 15:22       After the Jerusalem Conference, the leaders in Jerusalem sent Silas with another to deliver the Council’s Letter to the church in Antioch

Acts 15:40       As Paul prepares for the next missionary journey, he and Barnabas have a major argument and separation. Paul choses Silas to go with him instead.

Acts 16: 19      In Philippi Paul and Silas get thrown into jail. After an earthquake, they escape, but not before they lead the jailor to faith.

The story that emerges:  

The profile of Silas best begins at the end of his appearances and then works forward. Moving in that direction will show how this companion of Paul arrived at a profound and life-changing understanding of the apostle’s teaching.

The final scene is a jail in Philippi, with Silas shackled with his friend Paul. Philippi was new territory for Paul and his missionary journeys. He had intended to go through the upper reaches of Turkey, but the Holy Spirit made it clear to him that God had other plans for him. So he went on to a city of the Aegean Sea named Troas. 

One night Paul had a vision of a man across the sea beckoning and saying, “Come over and help us.” Next we read that Paul, Silas, and Luke set out to cross the Aegean and placed their feet on European soil, marking the first foothold of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the lands of Europe. The first city where they ministered was Philippi. The gospel truth immediately clashed with the pagan practices of this city, resulting in Paul and Silas being thrown into jail. 

Here let me interject a hypothetical comment from Paul, one that allows me to bring the past into this context. Suppose, in the middle of the night, Paul turned to Silas and said to him, “Well, I guess you never thought hooking up with me would land you in a jail in an unknown land.” Then in my imagination Silas would have answered, “Oh no. All you have taught me about the gospel has prepared me for exactly this trip and this city.” And to prove this is my imagination at work, I’m sure Silas would have added, “But I do wish a mattress came with the shackles. I’m beastly uncomfortable.”

That they did sing praises to God throughout the night is absolutely true, gospel truth (Acts 16:25)!

Moving to the beginning of their acquaintance, about two years before their jail time, we find Silas taking part in what is known as the Jerusalem Council. The apostles and elders in Jerusalem had summoned Paul and Barnabas from Antioch where the report was that Gentile and Jewish believers were eating together and admitted to the Lord’s Supper. The scandal was that the Gentile believers had not been required to be circumcised. Was this to be permitted? A group of believers from among the Pharisees had objected and forced the issue to be resolved at this meeting.

Paul wisely addressed the single issue of circumcision, though we will see that a larger issue loomed just behind. He gave evidence of God’s full blessing of faith and redemption upon the Gentiles, none of whom had been circumcised. With support from Peter, this argument persuaded the Council and a letter was written confirming this to the church in Antioch.

The Council, then, appointed a legation of leaders to take this concordat back to Antioch. Among those who went, Silas was selected. For the two weeks of the return trip to Antioch, he had the time to get into Paul’s mind.

Once back in Antioch Paul and Barnabas began plans for their next journey. All plans halted when Barnabas insisted on taking his nephew Mark. But Mark had backed out near the outset of their first trip, and Paul would not hear of taking him along. Unable to resolve this, they went their separate ways. Paul wanted to take along a co-worker and companion, one who showed spiritual maturity and who fully understood the gospel. Paul chose Silas. 

This is the trip that landed them both in the Philippian jail. Returning to their conversation mentioned at the beginning of this profile, I remember Paul asking Silas: “And just what was it that prepared you for jail in Philippi?”

The answer Silas gave showed how he saw how that issue of circumcision opened a larger view of God’s salvation plan. Not requiring circumcision and being justified by faith unlocked the door of the grace of adoption for every believer. But coming into vision beyond that door was the universal offer of salvation for all nations.

Silas had followed Paul’s argument to see this conclusion. If keeping the law disqualified those outside the law, removing the law removed the disqualification. That meant that all became qualified for faith by grace alone. If God had removed the barrier that kept the Gentiles outside, then God wanted the Gentiles to receive His offer.

That is Silas understood. This is what connected justification by faith to the missionary call to all nations. This is what made sense of leaving Jerusalem and landing in the jail of Philippi.

When I came across Silas on the bench in heaven, he was heavily engaged in conversation with someone. He invited me to sit down and introduced me to his friend, Aristides. Aristides, Silas explained, was the jailer in Philippi, the very one who almost took his life when Paul and Silas were freed. Instead, moved by the faith of these prisoners and their praising God, he committed his life to Jesus Christ as his savior.

Aristides had been telling Silas of his ventures out from Philippi to the towns and villages inland and the churches he had been able to start. He told how the congregation back in Philippi had been supportive in prayer and visits for these efforts. Silas knowingly nodded, for he remembered how the Philippian Christians had continued their support of him and Paul all the way until Paul’s imprisonment in Rome.

I reflected a moment on these reports and then commented, “That picture – members going out to new people with the support of the home church – that pulls it all together, doesn’t it.”

“In a nutshell,” he replied.