Lydia

FIRST EUROPEAN CHRISTIAN CONVERT
ACTS 16:13, 14, 15, 40

IMAGINE: Being a businesswoman, in a male dominated society, and God calls you to be a partner in the building of His kingdom throughout an entire continent.

On the Sabbath day we
went outside the city gate
by the river, where we thought
there was a place of prayer.
We sat down and spoke to
the women gathered there.
Acts 16:13

The ‘we’ spoken of here are Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke. Using the word ‘we’ indicates Luke was with the group and records the story of Lydia as a firsthand witness.
The first person on record to respond to the Gospel during Paul’s second missionary journey to Europe was Lydia. She was in Philippi, not her hometown of Thyatira, doing business. This first European convert on record, was really an Asian lady.

A woman named Lydia,
Acts 16:14

The name Lydia means ‘the Lydian woman’ and indicates she was from Lydia in Asia Minor, which is part of modern-day Turkey. She is sometimes called ‘St. Lydia’ or ‘the woman of purple’. Lydia’s name appears to derive from her place of origin, with her personal name being unknown.

a dealer in purple cloth
Acts 16:14

Lydia is a successful business woman who lived in a male dominated society. She is referred to as a ‘seller of purple’, an honorable profession for a woman of that day. She was apparently a woman of means as indicated by her being a home owner. (Acts 16:15).
            The purple cloth sold in that day was associated with high society and great wealth. It was difficult to produce the dye, and garments of that color were very expensive. As a dealer of this colored cloth, Lydia would have made a very lucrative wage.

from the city of Thyatira,
 Acts 16:14

Lydia is being introduced while she is residing in Philippi. She’s actually from the city of Thyatira, an ancient Greek city located in Asia Minor, which was under Roman rule at the time. She was of Asian descent and not European. There is no mention of any family she may have had or her religious upbringing.
Lydia is the name of a large Asian province whose capital was Sardis. Thyatira, in the province of Lydia, was where one of the seven churches of Revelation was located. (Rev. 2:18-29). Sardis was also home to one of the seven churches mentioned in Revelation. (Rev. 3:1-6).
Thyatira lies in the far west of Turkey, south of Istanbul and almost due east of Athens. It is about fifty miles from the Aegean Sea. During the Roman era, first century AD, the city was famous for its dyeing facilities and was a center of the purple cloth trade.
One way, dye for purple was made, was from a juice, found in a very small quantity, in shells of the murex snail. This was an ocean mollusk and took many of these crustaceans to make a yard of cloth, thus causing it to be very expensive. Also used for making the red/purple dye was a madder-root. Thyatira, being located inland and away from the sea, may have used this method for making purple, which would have been a less expensive form of the dye.
There were red or scarlet dyes that were made from a grub that fed on oak as well as other plants. The rind of the pomegranate produced dyes of a blue shade while yellow dyes were made from safflower and turmeric. Wools, linens, and leather products were dyed in many colors. Purple, however was the color for the rich.
Among the ancient ruins of the city, inscriptions have been found relating to the guild of dyers in the city. More guilds were known in the city of Thyatira than any other city in the Roman province of Asia.
These guilds were completely organized and wielded a wide influence. Every crafts person belonged to a guild. The guilds were closely connected with the Asiatic and were bonded by common pursuits and religious rites. This was the working atmosphere Lydia would have abandoned to venture toward Philippi.

who worshiped God, was listening.
Acts 16:14

Lydia was a worshiper of God, a term used for a large group of Gentiles, who were considered sympathizers with Judaism. They were believers in the one, true God, but who had not yet become ‘proselytes’ or taken the final step to conversion of Judaism.
From where Lydia came, Thyatira, the chief object of worship was Apollo, who was worshiped as the sun god under the name ‘Tyrinnus’. There was also a Jewish element in the city of Thyatira who worshiped Jehovah God. Inscribed on the arches outside the city of Philippi was a prohibition against bringing an unrecognized religion to the city, which early Christianity would have been considered.
Religiously, Philippi was a typical first-century city, in that there were a large number of gods that were worshiped. Also, there appears to be the presence of the Imperial cult, in which the Emperor was worshiped as a god. So, Lydia found herself in a confusing religious atmosphere in Philippi when she met Paul and his companions.

The Lord opened her heart
to pay attention to what
was spoken by Paul.
Acts 16:14

Since there was to be no more church planting in Asia Minor at that time, God led the missionary group to Europe. Paul had a dream of a man from Macedonia pleading with him to come to Macedonia. (Acts 16:9). God had made clear to Paul, through a dream, that the group was to proceed away from Asia Minor and go toward Macedonia and the Greek mainland. This area where Paul preached is in modern-day Greece.
They settled in Philippi for ‘some days’. (Acts 16:11, 12). Philippi was a thriving, cross roads of two trade routes. It was a Roman colony meaning it had Roman government and Roman citizens. Philippi had become a Roman colony in 31 BC. The local government was accountable directly to Rome. It was prosperous with trade and commerce from all over the world.
Paul always went to the synagogue first, but Philippi had no synagogue as it was an all Gentile population. If there were any Jewish men in Philippi the count would have been less than ten. According to Rabbinical rules, it took ten Jewish men to make up a synagogue and it appears one did not exist in Philippi.
Communities without synagogues allowed Jewish women to pray together in groups, if they chose to do so. The prayer group would have met outside the community by the Gangites River which was approximately one and a half miles west of the city. On the Sabbath, Paul and his group went to where the Jewish women were gathered to pray. Here Paul spoke to the women. (Acts 16:13). This was the Sabbath and it appears to be the only public gathering of Jews anywhere in Philippi.
Lydia may or may not have been included in this group of European Jewish women but was in the proximity to hear Paul and his group speak the Gospel. Ironically, it was this Gentile who responded to their message. Even though she had business obligations she found the time to worship according to the Jewish faith.
 Lydia’s salvation is about the Sovereignty of God. Luke speaks of this Supreme power and authority when he states in Acts 13:48, ‘and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed’. God in His Sovereignty did open Lydia’s heart and Lydia in return obeyed and acted’. She immediately embraced the truth of the Gospel account of Jesus Christ.

After she and her
household were baptized,
Acts 16:15

She confirmed her belief in the Lord Jesus Christ by her immediate action to be baptized. Her and her household. Not everyone in her household may have been a believer, but this was now considered a Christian home with God’s blessing upon it. The home may have contained family, servants, or both. Nothing indicates one way or another. What is indicated is that she was immediately leading others to Christ, as God opened their hearts also.

she urged us, “If you consider
me a believer in the Lord,
come and stay at my house.”
And she persuaded us.
Act 16:15

She immediately opened her home to Paul and the group of men with him, who were strangers in a strange land. Lydia appears to have social power, control of a household, and ownership of a home. Considering Paul and this group with him were there to plant a church, their length of stay would have been unknown, making this a very generous offer.
Because of her hospitality, the church in Philippi grew. Paul wrote the Epistle of Philippians a few years later that indicates there was opposition to the Gospel in this city, but that did not keep the Gospel from growing more powerful. From Philippi the Gospel of Jesus Christ went out into all of Europe.

After leaving the jail, they came
to Lydia’s house where they saw and
encouraged the brothers and departed.
Acts 16:40

This was a Roman colony hostile to the ‘Way’. This is where Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown in jail. Preaching the Gospel in that area, at that time in history, was very dangerous. Lydia was exposing herself to much trouble by housing these missionaries. But, by taking this risk and opening her house to meetings of the first church established in Europe, Lydia’s name is still spoken of to this day.

Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this,
some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it.
Hebrews 13:2

Later in Biblical history it is discovered there is a church in Thyatira. (Rev. 2:18). Paul did not visit that city in any of his recorded missionary journeys and there is no record of who might have established that church. Although the Bible doesn’t state how the church there came about, the possibility arises that Lydia could have possibly taken the Gospel to her hometown, or at least had a part in a church being established there. By all accounts, Lydia was a strong, determined, intelligent and a definite ‘risk taker’ kind of woman.  
Lydia listened to Paul give the Gospel account and she believed the Gospel account. Lydia then acted on what she believed by opening her home for the furthering of this Gospel account. Is Lydia that different from the rest of us? Not really. God uses all of us, in very different ways, to accomplish the same goal – to spread the Gospel account of the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

But how can they call on Him
in whom they have not believed?
And how can they believe without
hearing about Him?
As it is written:
How welcome are the feet of
those who announce
the gospel of good things!
Romans 10:14, 15

Thought for the day:
The Gospel is only good news
if it reaches the lost in time.
Anonymous