By – Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi 16: 11-15

Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi
16: 11-15

50-51 AD

Lydia’s conversion in Philippi DIG: Compare verse 13 with 14:1 and 17:2. What does the fact that there was no synagogue in Philippi mean with respect to the Jewish community there? How did that affect Paul’s strategy for his ministry? Why did these women meet near a river? What did Lydia have to do with Thyatira? What was unusual about her name? Was it a surprise that she also sold purple fabrics? What are the we or us passages about?

REFLECT: How did the Lord open your heart to respond to the gospel? What people did he use as part of the process? Where do you have an “open door” for ministry right now? In your home? School? Work place? Community? How will you step in and fill it?

As a result of Paul’s vision of a man from Macedonia pleading with him, saying: Come over and help us (16:9), Luke tells us that we (Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke) put out to sea from Troas. By this time, Luke had joined the missionary team and traveled with them (to see link click Bx – Paul’s Vision of the Man of Macedonia: A closer look at the “us” or “we” passages and sea passages) and gives some details or their voyage across the Aegean Sea. They made a straight course for Samothrace and stayed that night. It was a rocky island, about half way between Troas and Philippi, whose jagged peak rises to 5,000 feet above sea level. They must have enjoyed a favorable wind to complete their 150-mile journey in only two days, since it took them five days on their return (20:6). The next day we sailed on to Neapolis. They did not stop to preach in Neapolis, but from there continued on to Philippi, about ten miles inland – that Luke notes was a leading city of the district of Macedonia as well as a Roman colony. We stayed in this city for several days (16:11-12).

They didn’t think of themselves as passing from the continent of Asia to Europe. These terms were in use, but the Aegean was Greek on either side. They had, instead, the excitement of approaching a new province, bringing them nearer to Rome. They knew that beyond Macedonia they could reach Achaia and Italy, and the vast lands of Gaul, Spain, Germania, even the mist-bound island of Britain lately added to the empire; all except Rome untouched by the Good News. They were not bringing military might or a political program; just four men – and Another, invisible.³⁶⁹

Philippi was an important Roman colony city, in fact, the only such colony that Luke actually describes as such. It lay on the Via Egnatia, the main east-west route across Macedonia, connecting Rome with its eastern provinces. While the city was originally built and fortified by Philip of Macedonia, father of Alexander the Great, about 358 BC and named after him, the Philippi that Luke and Paul knew was a metropolis run on Roman principles and Roman law. This is a very important fact as the story develops. Roman citizenship was highly valued in such a place. The city prospered not only because it was in a very fertile region, but because there were still active mines in the area, especially gold mines.

Philippi was a military city. When Antony had been defeated by Octavian in 31 BC, he not only made the city a Roman colony, but he even gave Philippi the ius italicum, the legal character of a part of Italy, even though it was outside Italy. This was the highest honor that could be bestowed on a provincial city, for it meant that the Philippians were self-governing, exempt from poll and land taxes, and they could purchase or sell land and engage in civil lawsuits. It was, in short, a microcosm of Roman life at that time.

Finding no synagogue on Yom Shabbat, we went outside the gate to the Gangites River, where we expected a place of prayer to be. But how did Paul know that there would be a prayer meeting by the river? Jewish custom and the Oral Law (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ei – The Oral Law) said that if there were not enough sufficient Jews in the area to maintain a synagogue, then the public worship should take place in a clear area, preferably by a river so there would be easy access for a mikveh, or ritual immersion. Paul knew that Philippi’s Jewish community was too small to form a synagogue. A minyan (a quorum of ten men) would have been enough for a regular synagogue service, and a modified version of the service could proceed with fewer men, or even with no men and only women, as is the case here. And Luke said that we went to the river, found a small group of women, sat down (the normal posture for teaching) and began speaking with them (16:13).³⁷⁰ Lacking a man to lead them, these women met to pray, read from the TaNaKh, and discussed what they had read. To be taught by a traveling rabbi such as Paul was no doubt a rare privilege.

It is significant that the first people Paul preached to in Europe were women. Those who reject his teaching on the role of women often caricature him as a male chauvinist. But he was not prejudiced, as his eagerness to speak to this group of women shows. Paul’s attitude was in sharp contrast to that of his fellow Pharisees. They would not lower themselves to teach a woman, and regularly in their rote prayers they thanked ADONAI that they were neither a Gentile, a slave, or a woman. Paul’s teaching also ran counter to the treatment of women in Greco-Roman society. He valued the ministry of women such as Phoebe (Romans 16:1), the various women among those he greeted in Romans 16:3ff, and even Euodia and Syntyche (Philippians 4:2-3).³⁷¹

There by the river, Paul encountered a certain woman named Lydia (16:14a). We’ve seen Paul have more thrilling encounters. Nothing outwardly dramatic happened. Almost seemed ho-hum, didn’t it? Was this all that God had in mind – one woman’s reception of the gospel – when He resisted Paul’s plan to preach His Word in the direction he was headed (see Bx – Paul’s Vision of the Man of Macedonia)? But after temporarily closing a door in the province of Asia, ADONAI strained Paul’s eyes to see a much wider vision. The gospel of Yeshua Messiah went to Europe! Within a couple hundred years, Christians numbered in the tens of thousands in Europe. When we hear people say, “When God closes a door, He opens a window,” sometimes we just might be underestimating Him. In this case, He closed a door and opened a continent. And it all started with a businesswoman named Lydia.³⁷²  (Art by Sarah Beth Baca: see more information on Links and Resources).

Luke presents five cameos of important believing women in a variety of roles they assumed (see
Bd – Signs and Miracles Follow Peter: A closer look at Luke, Women and Ministry), and she was one of them. Because her home was located in the Roman province of Lydia, it is likely that Lydia was not so much her personal name as the name of her business. She was a seller of purple cloth from the city of Thyatira (16:14b), the site on one of the seven churches of Revelation (see the commentary on Revelation Bc – The Church at Thyatira), which was the part of Asia Minor called Lydia. Royalty and the wealthy knew Thyatira for producing purple dyed goods and it was obviously a very profitable business. The fact that Lydia had a house (61:15) large enough to accommodate the four missionaries and some from the emerging church at Philippi (16:40) points to her wealth. She may have been known as the Lydian lady. Three sequential aspects of Lydia’s conversion stand out in the narrative.

First, she was a worshiper of God (16:14c NASB). There were three levels of Gentile relationship to Judaism. The first level was God-fearers, these were Gentiles who became convinced that ADONAI was the only true God, they abandoned their paganism and idolatry, but they did not choose to become a proselyte in any form. There was no adoption of Jewish customs or practices (see Be – The Centurion’s Vision). The second form is the proselyte of the gate. This was a Gentile who adopted many Jewish practices like celebrating Shabbat and the feasts of Isra’el, but did not become a full proselyte. Most of these were men because this category didn’t require circumcision. Then you had full proselytes who were total converts. Most of these were women.³⁷³ So it seems that Lydia was a proselyte. Hers was a seeking heart, and she had already turned from pagan idolatry to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Lydia’s seeking was the first step of her spiritual liberation. Yet she, like all sinners, did not seek God on her own until He sought her. In Romans 3:11, Paul wrote: There is no one who understands, no one who seeks after God. And Yeshua added: No one can come to Me unless My Father who sent Me draws them (John 6:44).

Second, not only was Lydia seeking, but she was also listening (Greek: ekouen, the imperfect verb here suggests more than one meeting) to the gospel proclaimed by Paul (Romans 10:17). Many hear the sound of the life-giving message preached without really listening to it (16:14d). They are like Paul’s companions on the Damascus Road, who, although they heard its sound, did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking (Acts 22:9). Our Lord condemned those who heard without listening (Matthew 13:11-17).³⁷⁴

And third, the Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying (16:14e). Here we have the divine side of conversion. We are all spiritually dead. Just as dead as if we were physically at the bottom of the ocean with our lungs full of water. If that were the case, we could not save ourselves physically. We are dead. The same is true spiritually (Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2:13). God always has to make the first step toward us in the salvation process. Like Lydia, we are saved when we respond to the light God has given us. This is the human side of conversion. When the gospel does come to us, it is not only in word, but also in the power of the Ruach ha-Kodesh and with full conviction (First Thessalonians 1:6). But to be sure, this does not remove our responsibility to repent and believe once the gospel is understood.³⁷⁵

As was customary in the early Messianic Community/Church, Lydia, along with her household (she was a wealthy woman with household servants) were immersed immediately after their conversion, no doubt in the Gangites River near a place of prayer. Immersion is the outward sign of an inward conviction. It is the believers’ identification with Yeshua Messiah and is an act of obedience, but plays no role in salvation. After her immersion she urged us (all four of the missionaries) to accept her hospitality, saying: If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my house. And she insisted (16:15). Hospitality is required of all believers (Romans 12:13; Hebrews 13:2; First Peter 4:9), especially women (First Timothy 5:10) and leaders in the congregations of God (Titus 1:8). It was critical in the ancient world, where inns were often unsuitable for believers to stay in. They were filthy, dangerous, expensive, and often little more than brothels. To make a home where travelers could be exposed to the love of Messiah, family life and fellowship was a high priority for believing women (First Timothy 5:9-10). Lydia’s hospitality gave proof that she was a truly liberated woman (John 13:35).³⁷⁶

We must not conclude that because ADONAI opened Lydia’s heart, Lydia’s part in her conversion was entirely passive. She listened attentively to the spoken word (Greek: rhema) of Paul, and it is the word that brings a sinner to the Savior. I tell you, whoever hears My word and trusts the One who sent Me has eternal life. [That person] does not come into judgment, but has passed over from death into life (John 5:24). The same God who ordained the end, Lydia’s salvation, also ordained the means to the end, Paul’s witness of Yeshua Messiah. We should always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits for salvation through the sanctification by the Ruach and belief in the truth. He called you to this salvation through the proclaiming of the Good News, for you to gain the glory of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah (Second Thessalonians 2:13-14).³⁷⁷