The conversion of 10 individuals in the book of Acts (part II)

In the previous blog post, we discussed the conversions of 5 individuals in the book of Acts.  Let's look at the second half of the list after a brief recap of the introduction:

 At the conclusion of two of the gospels we find the following:

In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus tells his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations…by baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In Mark 16:15-16, Jesus tell his disciples to preach the gospel/good news to all creation…and that everyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. 

We will look at the second set of  cases here to see if they follow the pattern given: A) preaching of the gospel by a Christian, B) believingand being baptized by the converts, making them disciples (=saved).

6) In Acts 16:11-15 we encounter Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from Thyatira was one of several women who were (working or washing) at the river.  Paul and his companions speak/preach to them (Acts 16:13-14), and we can reason that Lydia believed as her heart was opened to respond to the message.  She and the members of her household are baptized (Acts 16:15), presumably in the river right there.  Again, we can see the pattern of being preached to, believing and then responding by being baptized.  While her belief is not explicitly stated, after her conversion she asks if they consider her a believer in the Lord (v. 15), which obviously they do.

7) The conversion of the Philippian jailer occurs in Acts 16:23-36.  Paul and Silas land in prison after being persecuted for an exorcism.  While in jail, there is a great earthquake, and the jailer believes that all the prisoners have escaped and so he is about to commit suicide when Paul intervenes (Acts 16:16-28).  He asks what he must do to be saved, and Paul/Silas respond that he needs to believe in the Lord Jesus, and both he and his household will be saved (Acts 16:30-31).  Afterwards, Paul and Silas speak/preach the word of the Lord to him and his entire household (v. 32).  This is important, because we see that he preaching the word of the Lord came AFTER him being told to believe in the Lord Jesus.  This lets us know that to “believe in the Lord Jesus” ALONE is NOT the full “word of the Lord”.  After being preached to, the jailer takes Paul and Silas to a place where he can wash their wounds (probably the river mentioned earlier in the chapter).  Then immediately, he and his entire household are baptized (v. 33), probably in the same river as Lydia.  Again, the converts are told to believe, but it is not explicitly stated that they do as in other cases.  However, we can infer their belief by them accepting being baptized, and by the later statement that he and his household had come to believe in God. (v. 34)

8) Paul is in Athens in Acts 17:16-34, where he preaches the good news about Jesus and the resurrection (Acts 17:18).  He is then taken to the Areopagus, and he preaches again (Acts 17:22-31).  We are told that a number of people became followers of Paul and believed.  The two that are mentioned by name are Dionysius (a member of the Areopagus) and Damaris.  If they are presumed to have become “followers of Paul” the way that Simon followed Philip (Acts 8:13), or the way Paul describes it in 1 Corinthians 1:12-16, then belief and baptism would be in view as someone would become a follower of the person who baptized them; although nothing explicit is said of their baptism, similar to Sergius Paulus (Acts 13). It should be noted that in several of the other individual conversions, an explicit mention of the person having “believed” is not mentioned, while their baptism is.  Just as in those instances the belief can be assumed, here the baptism should be assumed as well.  The next story will give further confirmation for this.

9)  In Corinth (Acts 18:1-17), Paul goes to the synagogue and reasons with/tries to persuade Jews and Greeks.  Paul preaches/testifies that Jesus is the Messiah to the Jews.  The Jews become abusive, so Paul leaves the synagogue and goes next door to the house of Titius Justus;  Crispus and his entire household believe in the Lord, and many Corinthians believe and are baptized (Acts 18:8).  So, again, we have someone preaching, and then the convert believes, but what about the baptism?  One beauty of the Bible is that many of the cities that Paul planted/strengthened churches in also receive letters from him later.  In 1 Corinthians 1:14, we are told that Paul baptized Crispus.  So, again, we have our complete pattern of being preached to, believing and then being baptized.  This is also an important conversion story because of what it lets us know about how Luke may word conversions.  So, in Acts while Luke may only say “believed” (Acts 13:12, Acts 17:34), the implication can be that the person “believed and was baptized”. 

10) Our final story is not as straight forward as the others, but also could provide further evidence for the pattern outlined and examined here.  This conversion story takes some historical knowledge.  The three types of names that have come to be regarded as quintessentially Roman were the praenomen, nomen, and cognomen. Together, these were referred to as the tria nomina, or three-name system.  This is being brought up to point out that, as many scholars believe, Titius Justus of Acts 18:8 is probably Gaius of 1 Corinthians 1:14, his full name being Gaius Titius Justus.  He would be counted among the many Corinthians who believed and were baptized after hearing Paul preach, just like Dionysius and Damaris were counted among the many in Athens who became followers of Paul and believed (Acts 17:34).  Further evidence for this theory is that when Paul writes his letter to the Romans, he is in the city of Corinth; he is staying at the house of Gaius (Romans 16:23), and the whole church enjoys his hospitality.  Another possibility is that Titius Justus might also have been Stephanas, whom Paul also baptized personally (1 Corinthians 1:16).  Evidence for this is the fact that Stephanas and his family were the first converts in Achaia, and they devoted themselves to the Lord’s service (1 Corinthians 16:15-17).  In Acts 18:8, Titius Justus and Crispus are two of the Corinthians specifically mentioned by name, and mentioned together, so it would not be surprising that Crispus and Gaius or Stephanas who are all mentioned together and could be considered some of the first converts would be the same people in 1 Corinthians 1.  Since Titius Justus was a worshipper of God who lived next door to the synagogue, he was probably a wealthy benefactor who funded or built the synagogue, similar to the centurion in Luke 7:1-10.  Meaning, he was wealthy enough to have a large enough house to host the church.  Also, it would be at a prime location right next door with a synagogue which was usually built near a lake or river so that Jews could take part in their ceremonial washings, similar to the “place of prayer” in Philippi were Lydia was converted.  This would be a perfect spot to preach the word (to Jews and Greeks) and then convert via baptism all those who had believed the message. 

 

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS – GROUP CONVERSIONS:

In addition to these individual conversions, there are several places in Acts where large groups of people are converted.  What may be considered to be the prototypical group conversion is the FIRST conversion ever recorded:  Peter preaches the first gospel sermon ever in Acts 2:14-36.  Those who hear the message are cut to the heart, which could be presumed to be their belief.  They ask what they should do, and Peter tells them to “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  The 3000 people who accepted (=believed) his message were baptized.  This could be considered to follow the pattern outlined above with the individual conversions as well.  So, the very first group conversion recorded follows this pattern (3000 at Pentecost), and the very first individual conversion recorded also follows this pattern (Simon from Samaria). 

There are several more group conversions given in Acts, usually occurring after preaching, or a miracle.  Sometimes the converted are only said to have “believed”:  Acts 4:4, Acts 5:14, Acts 9:42, Acts 11:21, Acts 13:48, Acts 14:1, Acts 17:12, Acts 18:27, Acts 19:18 and Acts 21:20.  Other times statements about belief and baptism are given:  Acts 2:37-41, 8:12, Acts 18:8, Acts 19:1-7.  Given what we learned from the Crispus connection in Acts 18 and 1 Corinthians 1, as well as an in-depth examination of the conversion of the Ephesian disciples (of John/Apollos?) in Acts 19, we can see that even when baptism is not explicitly stated, it can/should be tied to belief.  So, while there are several examples of large groups and two cases of individuals (Acts 13:12, 17:34) simply having “believed”, we should still assume that baptism was a part of their conversion process given the command of Jesus in Mark 16:15-16, Matthew 28:18-20, and the very first conversions ever recorded in Acts 2:14-41 which show the pattern of being preached the gospel, responding by believing and being baptized as the conversion process. 

NOTE:  Repentance (Luke 24:46-47, Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19, Acts 5:31, Acts 11:18, Acts 17:30, Acts 20:21, Acts 26:20) and a confession of faith/calling on the name of the Lord (Acts 8:37, Acts 22:16, Romans 10:9-13, 1 Timothy 6:12-13) should also be considered part of the conversion process, however the confession of faith is not as heavily emphasized in the conversion stories in Acts, and repentance is often used to summarize the conversion process as a whole, rather than merely as a step, the same way that believe is often used at times to refer to the whole conversion process and at other times just as a step in the process.

CONCLUSION

Some of Jesus’ final words to his followers are that they are to:  preach the gospel to all creation/make disciples of all nations, with the response of the would-be converts being to believe and get baptized (in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit) for salvation. The pattern being preaching of the gospel/good news by someone who is already a disciple of Jesus, followed by all those who believe it, being baptized.  This pattern can be observed in the 10 individual conversions listed above.

Be strong in the grace,

Fenton