by David Gibson<\/p>\n
I have seen on the rear side window of an SUV: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” This is a quotation from Acts 16:31.<\/p>\n
If we read the verses preceding and following (Acts 16:16-34), we see this verse is in answer to the frightened jailer’s question, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?<\/em>” (Acts 16:30). Paul told him, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.<\/em>” Is believing in Jesus all that was required of this man to be saved? Or of anyone, for that matter?<\/p>\n It’s been well-said, “The Bible is its own best interpreter.” To understand how to be saved, we must consider all that the Bible says on the subject. Doing so, we find plenty of supplementary material that helps us better understand what Acts 16:31 is saying (see Mark 16:16; John 3:5; Acts 22:16; Romans 6:3-5; Galatians 3:26-27; Colossians 2:12-13; Titus 3:5; I Peter 3:20-21).<\/p>\n Note this parallel: “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins …’<\/em>” (Acts 2:37-38 NASB).<\/p>\n Comparing these two passages, we see similar questions but different answers. In Acts 2, it was obvious to Peter that his convicted listeners believed what he had preached. He then told them what else they needed to do.<\/p>\n In Acts 16, the jailer had not yet heard the gospel when he asked what to do to be saved. Paul told him to believe in Jesus. Then in the very next verse, he taught him the gospel, and in the verse after that, he and his household were baptized.<\/p>\n In the New Testament, the word “believe” can have these three meanings:<\/p>\n Understanding this, we will not quote just one verse as the be-all and end-all of salvation. We must get the Big Picture!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by David Gibson I have seen on the rear side window of an SUV: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” This is a quotation from Acts 16:31. If we read the verses preceding and following (Acts 16:16-34), we see this verse is in answer to the frightened jailer’s question, “Sirs,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[139,49,1008,76],"class_list":["post-96278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-belief","tag-faith","tag-faith-only","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":89654,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-about-faith-only\/","url_meta":{"origin":96278,"position":0},"title":"What About \u201cFaith Only?\u201d","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Riley It is not uncommon to hear sincere religious folks speak of being saved by \"faith only\". They say, \"All you have to do is believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.\" Their statement is designed to convey the concept that one is saved at the exact moment of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68821,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-case-of-the-philippian-jailor\/","url_meta":{"origin":96278,"position":1},"title":"The Case of the Philippian Jailor","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton He wanted to know, \"What shall I do to be saved?\" (Acts 16:30). The simple answer: \"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ\u2026and you will be saved\" (Acts 16:31). The details of why believe in Jesus, what to believe about Jesus, and how to express faith in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10976,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-saves-us-from-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":96278,"position":2},"title":"What Saves Us from Sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Clem Thurman via Gospel Minutes, Vol. 57, No. 28, July 11, 2008 We are not saved by one thing to the exclusion of all others, for there are many factors that work out our salvation. Rather than focus on just one passage that speaks of our being saved, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/saved.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":79243,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-same-as-they\/","url_meta":{"origin":96278,"position":3},"title":"The SAME as They","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are\" (Acts 15:11). The Jews and Gentiles are saved the same way by the same gospel (Romans 1:16-17). There is no difference between the gospel\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2136,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-must-i-do-to-be-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":96278,"position":4},"title":"What Must I Do to be Saved? (Walker)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 25, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne S. Walker Of all the questions asked ... Where did I come from? Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? The most important question ever asked was: \"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?\" (Acts 16:30) In the sixteenth chapter of the book\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27982,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-you-patternists-abandon-your-theology-to-claim-that-baptism-is-necessary-for-the-salvation-of-gentiles\/","url_meta":{"origin":96278,"position":5},"title":"Why do you patternists abandon your theology to claim that baptism is necessary for the salvation of Gentiles?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Patternists abandon their theology when imposing water baptism in order to obtain salvation on all lost Gentiles today.\u00a0 There was not one Gentile in the crowd in Acts two when these words were spoken.\u00a0 A lost Gentile was told what to do (pattern) in Acts 16:30-31, and the \"pattern\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n