You And Your Household Shall Be Saved - Acts 16:31

 The Argument: The main verse "used" to "justify" this doctrine is Acts 16:31, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.". I have also heard of Joshua 24:15 being used: "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve... But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

The Problem: The main problem is that the promise "Your household will be saved" was simply not a promise given to all believers, but only to the Philippian jailer. Perhaps it wasn't even a promise, but a prophecy - certainly it was fulfilled: all of the jailer's household did in fact believe the gospel. However, it is not a promise for all believers any more than 2 Timothy 4:21 is a command for all believers. The passage in Joshua is more reasonably understood as a statement by Joshua about the spiritual state of his family.

 Note: Certainly the Lord can speak through these verses, giving such a promise to individual believers. That is between them and the Lord. Even in such circumstances, we should remain humbly aware that the promise for that believer's family does not come from the verse itself, but from the so-called "rhema" word spoken by the Lord at that particular time.

So What? What's The Big Problem?: When we are praying for a person's family, and we say "Lord, your Word promises `you and your household will be saved'", first of all, we will be found false witnesses of God - because we are putting words in His mouth. See Proverbs 30:6 for the dangers of this. Second, if we teach that God has promised such a thing when He hasn't, we inspire a false hope in our hearers - this can lead to apathy and disillusionment, which in turn may destroy any real chance the household had of being saved. Third, how do you answer those Christians who have seen members of their household die outside the Lord? Why did this so-called "promise" fail for them?

 More Notes:It is not God's will for anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance. If we ask anything according to His will, we know that we have what we ask. It therefore appears to me that God does guarantee the salvation of our household if we do our part, according to His pattern. Ask and you shall receive! The scripture says, if we ask God for anything according to His will, we know that He hears us, and if He hears us, we can be sure to receive what we ask. To those with non-Christian family members (including myself) I would urge diligence in prayer for their salvation, and faithfulness in Christian character - these combined with a sense of urgency and realism: some people do go to hell, and our non-Christian family members could easily be amongst them. May God's mercy outweigh His wrath!

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