Yes—Paul and Silas sang because God's grace supplied the strength they needed in the midst of severe suffering.
Acts 16:25 records that after being beaten and placed in a dungeon, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God at midnight. Les Feldick teaches that the same Lord who allowed their affliction also provided the consolation and strength to go through it, and that God's grace was sufficient for Paul in every hardship he faced.
Acts 16:25 — This is the direct record of Paul and Silas singing praises at midnight in prison.
2 Corinthians 12:9 — This is the promise of sufficient grace that Les applies to Paul's ability to endure suffering.
Acts 16:25 records that after being beaten and placed in prison, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God at midnight, and the prisoners heard them. Acts 16:26 then says that suddenly there was a great earthquake, the prison foundations were shaken, all the doors were opened, and every prisoner's bands were loosed. The biblical text reports the fact without explaining the psychological mechanism. Scripture does connect suffering and divine consolation in 2 Corinthians 1:5: "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ." And in 2 Corinthians 12:9, God tells Paul, "My grace is sufficient for thee."
Les Feldick points to Acts 16:25 and notes that after the arrest and beating, Paul and Silas were down in the dungeon praying and singing praises at midnight while the other prisoners listened. He emphasizes that all of this was still taking place in the Acts period of miracles, but the reason they could sing was not natural human toughness. Les teaches from 2 Corinthians 1 that the same Lord who permits persecution and testing also provides the strength needed to go through it. He also applies 2 Corinthians 12:9 to Paul's life, saying God's grace was sufficient for Paul through shipwrecks, beatings, hunger, cold, and nakedness. Les further shows that this pattern continued in later believers who went to their deaths singing hymns, just like Paul and Silas.
Acts 16:25 says that at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God, and the other prisoners heard them. Then Acts 16:26 says a great earthquake suddenly shook the prison so that all the doors opened and every prisoner's bands were loosed. Les notes that this was still in the Acts economy of miracles and that the earthquake had a distinct purpose: to open the doors and loose every prisoner.
Les teaches from 2 Corinthians 1 that the Lord who permits affliction and pressure is also the Lord who brings believers through it. He points to Paul's own words in 2 Corinthians 1:8 about being pressed out of measure, above strength, and even despairing of life. Les then applies 2 Corinthians 12:9: God's grace was sufficient for Paul in every situation, including beatings, shipwreck, hunger, cold, and nakedness. So the same sufficient grace is what enabled Paul and Silas to sing in the Philippian dungeon.
Les compares Paul and Silas to the early believers described in Fox's Book of Martyrs. He says these believers went through horrible persecutions but never flinched, and many went to their death singing hymns just like Paul and Silas in Philippi. This shows that the grace that enabled Paul and Silas to sing was the same grace at work in Christians throughout the early church period.
What Must I Do to Be Saved? Acts 16 Explained
come out of her. But let's be careful, I've told my classes, and I think I've even mentioned here on the program, this is still back in the book of Acts, and none of Paul's letters have been written yet. Not a one. This is only about in the early 50's, and I think Paul's earliest letter, which was probably the Thessalonian letters or maybe Corinthians, and they weren't written until about 58, Roma…
Paul and Silas sing in the dungeon
Les shows that at midnight, after a beating, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises in the dungeon, and the other prisoners heard them—an act of praise while still suffering.
Martyrs sang as they died
Les compares later believers who went to death singing hymns just like Paul and Silas, showing that praise under suffering was a pattern made possible by God's grace.
What Must I Do to Be Saved? Acts 2 vs. Acts 16 Explained
"...Then he called for a light," that is the jailer, "...and he sprang in," and I like this picture that he went down into that dungeon, "...and he came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas." Now why did this pagan Gentile jailer pick out Paul and Silas out of all of his prisoners? Somehow or other, God let him know that here was the answer to his dilemma. Now he's got a dilemma.
Consolation matches suffering
Les teaches from 2 Corinthians that the same Lord who allows persecutions and testings also provides the strength needed to go through them.
Pressed out of measure but sustained
Les notes that Paul was pressed out of measure and even despaired of life, yet the Lord who permitted the pressure also gave the strength to bring him through it.
My grace is sufficient
Les applies God's promise, 'My grace is sufficient for thee,' to Paul's lifelong hardships, showing that grace carried him through shipwrecks, beatings, hunger, cold, and nakedness.
The earthquake and the open doors
Les shows that after the singing, God sent a sovereign earthquake so that every door opened and every prisoner's bands were loosed, which kept the jailer from killing himself.
Acts 16:25: And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
This is the exact record of Paul and Silas singing praises while in prison, the event being asked about.
Acts 16:26: And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.
This shows the miraculous earthquake that followed immediately after their singing.
2 Corinthians 1:5: For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
Les uses this verse to show that Christ provides consolation in proportion to the suffering He permits.
2 Corinthians 12:9: And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
This is the promise of sufficient grace that Les applies to Paul's lifelong hardships, including the suffering in Philippi.
The Bible records the event in Acts 16:25, but Les explains that the ability came from God's grace. The same Lord who allowed their suffering also gave them strength and consolation, and God's grace was sufficient for them in that moment.
Acts 16:26 says a great earthquake shook the prison, all the doors opened, and every prisoner's bands were loosed. The jailer was about to kill himself, but Paul shouted that all the prisoners were still there.
No. Les points to early believers in Fox's Book of Martyrs who went to death singing hymns, just like Paul and Silas. This was a pattern of God's grace sustaining Christians under severe persecution.
Watch the Teaching: What Must I Do to Be Saved? Acts 16 Explained