Acts 16:30-31 reads, “And he brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
The exchange reported in Acts 16:30-31 between the Philippian jailor and Paul and Silas appears to many as the be-all-and-end-all of the question whether anything on man’s part is necessary for salvation other than belief (or faith) in Jesus Christ. After all, the question was clearly about what was necessary or essential for a sinner to “do to be saved” and the disciples’ answer was equally clear, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household.” The passage is silent about the need of any other requirement,- with no mention of repentance of sins, confessing belief in the Lord, being baptized and remaining faithful until death.
However, it is incorrect to infer from Acts 16:30-31 that repentance, confession, baptism and lifelong faithfulness are not necessary for salvation. The very next verse tells us, “Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house” (Acts 16:32), implying that other matters relating to salvation besides belief were taught then by Paul and Silas. And so it was that, right after the jailor had washed the two prisoners’ stripes, “immediately he and all his family were baptised” (Acts 16:33). That the jailor rejoiced after he was baptized evidenced the fact that his belief in the Lord was only complete after he came out of the waters of baptism, just as it was for the Ethiopian eunuch who also “went on his way rejoicing” after he was baptized (Acts 8:35-39). Indeed, “the word of the Lord” spoken to the jailor must have included the necessity of baptism for salvation because Jesus Himself had taught clearly that, “He who believed and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16). Jesus left no third option to sinners, either believe AND be baptized to be saved OR don’t believe and be condemned (because, obviously one who did not believe in Jesus as God’s only-begotten Son and as Lord would definitely not want to be baptized by the authority of our Lord (Matthew 28:20) for it would be mocking God and Jesus if he was baptized.
Acts 16:30-31 is not the only scriptural passage regarding the sinner’s action that brings about salvation. All of revealed scripture is God-inspired (2 Timothy 3:16) and therefore true (John 17:17; Psalm 119:160) and the noble act of “searching the scriptures”to determine God’s truth (Acts 17:11) must cover all scripture.
Inadequate and biasedly-selective use of holy scripture to determine what are the Lord’s commands to follow had been criticised by the Lord Himself when He pronounced woes upon the Jewish scribes and Pharisees, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone” (Matthew 23:23). All of scripture must be perused, handled (2 Timothy 2:15) and applied on any topic of concern (Hebrews 5:13-14). To disregard, ignore or neglect any portion of scripture is tantamount to subtracting from Divinely-revealed scripture, with dire eternal consequences (Revelation 22:19; Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32).
Regarding what must be done by the sinner for his salvation, belief or faith is only the beginning,- the end of which is salvation (1 Peter 1:9). Romans 10:13 requires those who believe in the Lord to “call upon” His Name so that they will be saved. That belief is necessary but not sufficient is clearly taught in Romans 10:9-10 that one’s “belief with the heart unto righteousness” must be accompanied with “confession with the mouth” which is unto salvation” Indeed, when it comes to salvation, belief alone is inadequate. as we are made to understand from John 12:42-43: “Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed on Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” The requirement of confession of belief in Jesus Christ is necessarily implied in the Lord’s warning, “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.“ (Matthew 10:32-33)
Besides belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ (Mark 16:15-16), confession of Jesus as Son of God and baptism, repentance of sin is also required for salvation. An almost-similar question as the jailor’s was asked by a crowd of Jews and proselytes who were already persuaded of the Lordship of Jesus taught by the apostle Peter in Jerusalem, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). Peter answered these believers, “Repent and let every one of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins;” (Acts 2:38). That repentance accompanied baptism was taught even before the Cross and the Christian Age, when John the Baptist “baptized … with water unto repentance” (Matthew 3:11”. In His earthly lifetime, Jesus also preached the necessity of repentance (Mark 1:14-15) as His disciples were baptizing (John 3:22; 4:1-2).
All scriptures relevant to a biblical topic (such as salvation) are Divinely-inspired (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and authoritative. Properly handled, the sum of what they teach constitutes truth to be instructed by and/or to be obeyed.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.