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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Acts 16:14 - 16:15
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The conversion of Lydia:
v. 14. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
v. 15. And when she was baptized and her household, she besought us, saying, if ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
In the audience on the river bank, on that memorable morning when the first Christian service was conducted on European soil, was a certain woman, a merchant by the name of Lydia, the name by which she was probably known for business purposes, since she hailed from Thyatira in Lydia, a district of proconsular Asia. She was a dealer in purple, that is, in garments dyed with a very costly dye, and must therefore have been comparatively well-to-do. "Thyatira was noted for its dyeing. Madder root, with which they dyed a Turkey-red, grows abundantly in the neighborhood. As the ancients employed the names of colors with great laxity, this was often termed purple. " Lydia was a God-fearing woman, that is, she was a Jewish proselyte, she believed in and reverenced the God of the Jews, whose worship had been taught her. She listened carefully to the entire discourse, and the Lord opened her heart fully to attend to the matters which were explained by Paul, the news that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah. So thoroughly was she and all the members of her household (she may have been a widow with a number of children, as well as a number of servants] convinced of the truth of the Gospel that she and they all confessed their faith forthwith and were baptized a fine nucleus for a congregation in whose welfare Paul always took great interest. The gratitude of Lydia for the blessings of which she had now been made a partaker prompted her to extend a cordial invitation to the missionaries to accept her hospitality. It was in the form of earnest pleading that she said to them: If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, since the fact that you baptized me seems to argue that you consider me a believer in the Lord, please come to my house and abide there. And she did not rest until she had persuaded them to come and be her guests. Such hospitality in return for the great spiritual gifts received is a proof for the change of heart produced by faith, and is well-pleasing to the Lord.