The Conversion of Lydia
Acts 16:13-15
The book of Acts is a revelation from God of His will for the church through the
inspired activities of first-century Christians. After Paul and Silas began
Paul's second preaching trip, they came to Lystra where they found a young man
named Timothy who joined them on their journey. Later, when they arrived at
Troas, on the western coast of Asia Minor, Paul received a vision of a man of
Macedonia saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us." Immediately, they set
sail across the Aegean Sea, landed at the port city of Neapolis, and went to
Philippi which was the largest city of Macedonia.
While Paul and company were at Philippi, we read in Acts 16:13-15, "And on the
Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was
customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. Now a
certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of
Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken
by Paul. And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying,
'If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.'
So she persuaded us." Here we learn about the conversion of Lydia.
A worshipper of God
First, we see that she worshipped God. Wherever there was a large enough colony
of Jews, a synagogue was established. However, it appears that there were very
few Jews in Philippi because these women met for prayer by a riverside. The fact
that Lydia worshipped God tells us that she was a religious woman, and that is
commendable. However, just being religious is not enough to be saved. "Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I
bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their
own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God" (Rom.
10.1-3). The people of whom Paul spoke were religious, and even zealous in their
religion, but they were religiously wrong and thus not saved. We must make sure
that our religion is right in God's sight
Yet, the fact that Lydia worshipped God also tells us that she did believe in
God, and this is important. "But without faith it is impossible to please Him,
for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of
those who diligently seek Him" (Heb. 11.6). No one could be called a worshipper
of God who did not first believe in God. Lydia was obviously a believer in God,
and that's always a good place to start in teaching anyone the gospel.
Heard what Paul spoke
To "hear" in this sense means more than just to be aware of the noise or sound
of something--it means to listen to or to pay attention. Jesus wants us to hear
Him. He said of some in His day, "'And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is
fulfilled, which says:
"Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not
perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of
hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and
turn, so that I should heal them."'" Oh, they had heard what He said, but they
just did not really listen to Him or pay Him attention. In contrast, others did.
"But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for
assuredly, I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see
what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear
it" (Matt. 13.14-17).
Why is hearing so important? "For 'whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall
be saved.' How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And
how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher?...So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God" (Rom. 10.13-17). The Bible teaches that we are saved by faith, and
the only way to obtain true faith in Christ is by hearing His word. Lydia was
willing to listen.
Heart opened
We need to stop and ask, how was her heart opened? Yes, the Lord is said to have
opened her heart, but nowhere does the text imply that it was by some miraculous
or direct act of God by the Holy Spirit; rather, the text indicates that it was
by what she had heard in the preaching of Paul. Notice that the passage does not
say that the Lord opened her heart to understand what Paul said, but that the
Lord opened her heart to attend or to give heed to what she had heard from Paul.
There is a big difference. The word "heart" here does not refer to the blood
pump in our chests. "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he...." (Prov. 23.7).
Rather, it refers to that part of a person that is capable of thinking, or, in
other words, the mind. The Lord opens our hearts in the sense that He calls to
us through His word and we respond to His message by opening our minds to it.
Jesus wants us to open our hearts to Him. "Jesus said to him, '"You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
mind.' This is the first and great commandment" (Matt. 22.37-38). Compare Rev.
3.20 where Jesus is pictured as knocking at the door, asking that it be opened
so that He can come in. So, while the Lord wants to open our hearts by means of
the proclamation of His word, we have to do the actual opening up by responding
to it. When Lydia heard the gospel preached by Paul, she allowed the Lord to
open her heart by means of the message that Paul spoke.
Heeded the things spoken by Paul
The King James Version says "Whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto
the things which were spoken by Paul." It is not enough just to hear the truth;
we must act upon what we hear. The parable of the two builders illustrates this
(Matt. 7.24-27). Later, Jesus said, "If you know these things, blessed are you
if you do them" (Jn. 13.17). And other Bible writers remind us that it is not
the hearer who forgets but the one who does the work who will be blessed (Jas.
1.22-25). Some people, even some who claim to be Christians, seem to think that
they can go to church, or turn on a religious radio program, or read the Bible,
or hear God's word preached on TV, yet go their way, live as they choose, and
still be blessed just because they listened to the will of God. Friends, that
simply will not cut it!
The word translated ""heed" or "attend" literally means "to turn to"--first to
turn the mind to and then to apply oneself to. Obviously, then, it implies that
she accepted the truthfulness of what Paul preached based on the evidence that
he presented--same must be true with us (Jn. 20.30-31). But it also implies that
she made a decision to do something about it. God has always demanded obedience
of those who want to be saved (Heb. 5.8-9). What Lydia did in attending or
giving heed to the things spoken by Paul is summed up in the words of a
well-known gospel song--"Trust and obey, for there's no other way To be happy in
Jesus, but to trust and obey." She believed his message about Christ, or
trusted, and then determined to follow Christ's will, or obeyed. Lydia was not
satisfied with just listening to Paul; she truly believed what he said and did
what Paul told her she must do to obey God.
Baptized
Evidently, when Paul preached the gospel, he must have said something about
baptism in order for Lydia and her household to know about it and comply with
it. Why were she and her household baptized? One reason is because Jesus
ordained and commanded it. "And He said to them, 'Go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be
saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned" (Mk. 16.15-16). Jesus
Himself made baptism a necessary condition to be saved.
Also another reason is because inspired men revealed and taught it. On the day
of Pentecost, when Peter and the other apostles were asked by their audience
about what they must do, Peter commanded them to repent and be baptized (Acts
2.37-38. Saul of Tarsus, after seeing the Lord on the road to Damascus, asking
what he must do, and being urged to go into the city where it would be told him
what to do, was commanded by the preacher Ananias to arise and be baptized and
wash away his sins (Acts 22.16). Later as the apostle Paul, this same person
wrote that we are baptized into Christ and that only after being buried with
Christ in baptism can we walk in newness of life (Rom. 6.3-4). Lydia's desire to
attend or give heed to the things spoken by Paul led her to be baptized
Besought Paul to come into her house.
Here was a lady who was given to hospitality. "Above all things, have fervent
love for one another, for 'love will cover a multitude of sins.' Be hospitable
to one another without grumbling" (1 Pet. 4.8-9). Evidently thankful for her
newfound faith, Lydia loved those who helped her become a child of God that she
wanted them to stay in her home. As a new Christian, there maybe was not a whole
lot else that she was able to do for the cause of Christ at that point, but one
thing that she could do was to provide a place for these gospel preachers to
stay and help meet their needs.
Lydia evidently understood that baptism is not the end of one's obedience to God
but merely the beginning. God expects His people to be noted for good works in
their lives (Eph. 2.8-10, Tit. 2.11-14). This woman did not stop with being
baptized, but continued to follow God's will because it was evidently her desire
to be judged faithful to the Lord. Likewise, all Christians are promised, "Do
not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is
about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will
have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the
crown of life" (Rev. 2.10). We do not know what testings and tribulations she
may have had to endure, but we can imagine that Lydia was the kind of person who
was committed to be faithful to the Lord all the days of her life.
Conclusion
We really know very little about the life of Lydia. Nothing about her prior days
is mentioned in previous scriptures. Nothing about her time after her conversion
is recorded in later scriptures. However, in the simple snapshot of her that is
found in this account there are lessons for all of us. Even as Christians, we
need to have the same attitude towards spiritual things that Lydia obviously
did. And those who are not Christians and want to be truly converted must submit
to God's plan in the same way that Lydia did--listen to God's will, open their
hearts to believe on Jesus Christ, obey his teachings by being baptized, and
then continue to serve Him all the days of their lives.
By Wayne S. Walker
From Expository Files 14.9; September 2007
