The Seventh Sunday of Easter, June 1, 2025 ~ Nichole Torbitzky

Background and Historical Setting

This story is set in the city of Philippi in what is now Greece. It was an important city on a busy trade route, the Via Egnatia and was a designated Roman colony. Colony status meant that the citizens of Philippi were Roman citizens and enjoyed the privileges of that status. As a major city on an important trade route and also situated near a major Mediterranean port, the population of Philippi was diverse with residents hailing from every part of the Roman Empire. There were, apparently, not many Jews since Paul and his companions could not find a synagogue for sabbath.

Paul is on his second missionary journey, traveling well established and maintained roads thanks to the might of the Roman empire. The empire stretched from the British Isles in the North to Egypt and North Africa. Roman society was highly stratified and social status dictated everything from legal rights to one’s daily routines and opportunities. It was an economic juggernaut, with trade routes connecting distant provinces. Slavery was central to the economy, and wealth disparities were significant, often leading to social tensions. Not only did the empire have never before seen infrastructure (a great deal of which is still standing), it also provided law and order on a scale this part of the world had never experienced. Roman law was enforced by local magistrates and governors in the provinces. Public punishment and spectacle were common tools for maintaining order and deterring dissent. Both of Paul’s journeys were probably undertaken during the rule of Emperor Nero. Rome had its hands full during this time. Not only was Nero one of the less stable emperors, Rome was also prosecuting the Roman-Parthian war and putting down revolt in Britian under Queen Boudica, while dealing with the simmering unrest in Judea.

Hope for the Mess

Often, this story is preached as an example of how big problems turn into opportunity when we just have faith. While Paul and Silas’ faith is apparent, this isn’t a story with a happily ever after ending. If your congregation is in need of “the problems to opportunity sermon,” I recommend preaching that sermon. Some congregations might need another take on this passage, one that takes seriously the messiness of life and how we can remain faithful and open to God’s aims for this world in the midst of the mess.
Let’s recount the story of Paul, Silas, and the female slave and see if there are alternative readings that might offer some more insight to the story and to our lives as followers of Christ. Paul and Silas encounter a female slave in Philippi who is possessed by a spirit that enables her to tell fortunes, bringing great profit to her owners. Paul gets annoyed that this woman keeps following them and yelling about their mission in the streets, so he commands the spirit to leave her. Her owners, angered by the loss of income, have Paul and Silas dragged before the authorities, who order them to be beaten and imprisoned. While in jail, Paul and Silas pray and sing hymns, and a sudden earthquake opens the prison doors and loosens all the prisoners’ chains. The jailer, fearing the prisoners have escaped, is about to take his own life, but Paul assures him that everyone is still there. Moved by these events, the jailer asks how to be saved, and Paul and Silas share the gospel with him and his household, who are all baptized that very night. The story concludes with the jailer caring for Paul and Silas, rejoicing with his family over their newfound faith. We don’t read the ending of this story here, but it closes with Paul insisting on his rights as a Roman citizen (Acts 16:37-38; 22:25-29; 25:10-12) resulting in his freedom, an apology from the magistrates who beat and imprisoned him, but also banishment from the city.

There are a few translation questions to be aware of in this passage:

Acts 16:16 “slave girl/female slave.” The Greek word παιδίσκη (paidiskē) is most commonly used to refer to a young female slave or slave girl, but its usage is not strictly limited to children or adolescents. While the diminutive form suggests youth, in practice, paidiskē could also refer to an adult female slave, particularly one of low status or one performing certain roles such as a maidservant.

Acts 16:16-“the spirit of divination.” The Greek text literally says the slave girl had a “spirit of Python” (πνεῦμα πύθωνα). This refers to the ancient Greek belief in the Pythian spirit associated with the oracle at Delphi and the god Apollo. Translators often render this as “spirit of divination” to clarify for modern readers, but it originally invoked local religious and cultural associations with fortune-telling and Roman/Greek prophecy.

Acts 16:17-“Most High God.” The phrase “Most High God” (ὁ θεὸς ὁ ὕψιστος) was used both by Jews for the God of Israel and by Gentiles for supreme deities (especially Jupiter). The slave girl’s proclamation could have been interpreted in multiple ways by a mixed audience, not necessarily as a clear endorsement of the Christian message.

Acts 16:17-“way of salvation.” The Greek phrase can mean “a way of salvation” or “the way of salvation.” The definite article is not present, so some translations use “a way,” which may suggest that the female slave’s statement was ambiguous to her hearers.
Acts 16:34-“The Jailer’s household.” There is ambiguity in the Greek regarding who is rejoicing and who believes. The verse can be translated as either “he rejoiced with his entire household that he had believed in God” or “he and his entire household rejoiced because they had believed in God.” The difference affects how one understands household faith and baptism: whether the joy and belief are attributed to the jailer alone or to the whole household. Those who argue in favor of infant baptism look to this passage as evidence that infants were baptized in the early church (working on the assumption that his whole household would include infants).

Let’s talk about the messiness of this passage. First, Paul loses his temper and ruins a female slave’s life. Is ruined too harsh? Probably not. As a prophet, she would have been valued and treated relatively well. Apparently, she had enough freedom in her enslavement to be able to walk about the city on multiple days annoying Paul. Once Paul casts out this spirit, she is no longer a highly valuable slave. She is simply a slave. While it is possible that her owners freed her after this episode, it is not likely. It is possible that her duties shifted to more ‘traditional’ ones for her current owners. Given this, the relative freedom she once enjoyed would have ended. Another likely alternative is that her owners sold her off now that they couldn’t make money from her. Female slaves were often sold into sex slavery. The chances that her story ended happily are slim. Paul most likely made her life worse.

Paul’s rash actions didn’t make things any easier for himself and Silas either. The ambiguities of the female slave’s proclamations in 16:17 might lead early readers to see this as an example of how Jews and early Christians were seen in a prejudiced light by Roman citizenry. Her words could have been referring to Roman gods and their ways of salvation. But, when charges are brought against Paul and Silas, they are accused of disturbing the peace and advocating for unlawful customs for Romans, which lands them a severe beating and jail. If he had just kept his temper maybe they could have avoided this whole mess.
While another whole household (probably) came to believe and a suicide was averted (and perhaps Paul got a little schadenfreude from the magistrates’ apology), they had a flee an apparently pretty fertile mission field. Leaving behind Lydia, a brand-new believer and pastor, to continue to spread the Good News basically unaided.
I cannot say that an “all’s well that ends well” reading applies here. It didn’t end well for most of the characters in this story. For the most vulnerable person, it likely ended in disaster. For Lydia, it ends with a real messy challenge. For Paul and Silas, it ends with nasty wounds and banishment. The exception is the jailer, for him, it’s a pretty nice story.
For us, it is story of how God will not let us go, even when we mess things up. It is a story of how sometimes the best possible we can wrest from a situation isn’t great. It is a story of how belief and believers are complicated and fallible and still not abandoned by God.

Here is a brief sermon illustration.

When I was in seminary, I attended a nearby church with a tiny congregation. Usually, there were about 8 of us in worship, and my presence brought the average age of the congregation down to about 70 years old. The church had been struggling for years. Not only was the congregation small and aging, but the building needed repairs, and younger families were moving away. The church council prayed fervently for revival and worked hard to attract new members, hosting community events and updating their worship style. Despite their efforts, they didn’t grow and couldn’t keep up the physical space.
Eventually, the church faced a hard reality: they could no longer afford to keep the doors open. After much prayer and discussion, the congregation voted to close the church and sell the property. It was a painful decision—no one wanted to see their spiritual home close. Yet, as they considered their options, they decided that the best possible outcome was to donate the proceeds from the sale to local charities and missions, believing this would honor their legacy of faith and service.

The church members grieved the loss. One matriarch who passed into God’s care and keeping shortly after the church was closed, knew that she would not be buried from the church she was baptized, confirmed, married in, then baptized, confirmed, and married her children from. Her final days were made more complicated by this grief and the loss of the building. Eventually, the funds the church gave helped start a food pantry in town, supported a new church plant in a nearby city, and provided scholarships for local youth to attend Christian summer camp. Former members found new church homes and the pastor found another call.

While the best possible outcome—closing the church and giving away its resources—was not what anyone had hoped for, and it was the end of their story as a church, it wasn’t The End. The story reminds us that sometimes, even when the ending isn’t what we prayed for, God can work through our disappointments.
This “silver lining” doesn’t erase the disappointment and grief. It does serve to remind us that God will do all God can to bring out the best of a bad situation, even if that best isn’t all that great. That God can work through even some of our messiest moments, gives me some hope. If Paul had managed to keep his temper, things might have worked out for the better. But, he didn’t. And some things got worse. But, some things got better. This is how life works. This can be a word of hope for members of our congregation who are in tough spots in their lives. It can be a word of hope for congregations in tough spots too.