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Pre-Determined Safety?

So now our question becomes, “Was the safety of all those on the ship absolutely

pre-determined?” No. At any time, one could have ignored Paul’s admonishment to
be of good cheer and jumped overboard, but the foreknowledge of God foretold the
safety of them all provided they followed sound and reasonable steps.

Stay in the ship. It’s important. The soldiers under command of Julius cut the
smaller boats away, now trusting Paul. They had no evidence of Paul’s sure knowl-
edge of safety, but did recall his sense of foreboding that it was a bad idea to leave Fair

Harbor, and now, his word an angel had told him of their fate. Suddenly, Paul is one
to be trusted above the experienced sailors.

Stay in the ship. We hear that all the time as an analogy about salvation being tem-
poral, and not always eternal in scripture. We say the church is a type of ship and we
enjoy a salvation by staying in the ship. It’s a good lesson – but now let’s examine

the intended meaning of this verse for what it actually says:

Act 27:30 And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let
down the boat into the sea, under colour as though they would have cast anchors out

of the foreship, :31 Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide
in the ship, ye cannot be saved.