And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
What does Acts 16:31 mean?
The consolations of God to his suffering servants are neither few nor small. How much more happy are true Christians than their prosperous enemies!
Key themes
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Keep this verse inside Acts 16:30-34 and alongside a few nearby related passages.
Commentary on Acts 16:31
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ - This was a simple, a plain, and an effectual direction. They did not direct him to use the means of grace, to pray, or to continue to seek for salvation. They did not advise him to delay, or to wait for the mercy of God. They told him to believe at once; to commit his agitated, and guilty, and troubled spirit to the Saviour, with the assurance that he should find peace. They presumed that he would understand what it was to believe, and they commanded him to do the thing. And this was the uniform direction which the early preachers gave to those inquiring the way to life.
Key words
- said
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And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,.
- Believe
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And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,.
- Jesus
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And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,.
Context in Acts 16
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Acts 16 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as Peter and Gentile opening. Acts traces the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and the Gentile world through Peter, Paul, and the Spirit-led church. Read this chapter with the wider themes of Spirit, mission, and church in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.
Related topics
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Passages on trusting God, receiving Christ, persevering without sight, and the relation between faith and lived obedience.
Bible verses about suffering and trials
Key passages on grief, endurance, lament, divine mystery, and the Christian claim that suffering is neither final nor meaningless.
Passages on asking, persistence, confession, dependence, and the way prayer shapes Christian life and attention.
Central texts on sin, grace, faith, Christ’s saving work, and the Bible’s announcement that salvation is received rather than achieved.