Lydia’s Conversion; Acts 16:11 – 15 – Part 2

Church History: Date: A.D. 49-52
The observant 1eader will notice here a change in the style of the narrative, which indicates the presence of the writer among the companions of Paul. Hitherto he had spoken of them only in the third person; but when about to leave Troas, he uses the first person plural, saying, "we sought to go forth into Macedonia," and "we ran to Samothrace," etc. (Acts 16:10-11). It is only by such a change in the pronoun employed, from the third to the first person, and from the first to the third that we can detect the presence or absence of Luke. From this indication we conclude that he first joined the company in the interior of Asia Minor, just previous to entering the city of Troas. The company with whom we are now traveling is composed of Paul and Silas, Timothy and Luke.
Upon entering this strange city, the first on the continent of Europe visited by an apostle, Paul and his companions must have looked around them with great anxiety for some opportunity to open their message to the people. The prospects were sufficiently forbidding. They knew not the face of a human being; and there was not even a Jewish synagogue into which they might enter with the hope of being invited to speak "a word of exhortation to the people" (Acts 13:15). By some means, however, they learned that on the bank of the river Gangas, which flowed by the city, some Jewish women were in the habit of congregating on the Sabbath-day, for prayer. Here the apostles moved forward, determined that here should be the beginning of their labors in Philippi.8
Lydia was a seller of purple - She probably got her name from the province of Lydia, in which the city of Thyatira was situated. The Lydian women have been celebrated for their beautiful purple garments. She was a proselyte to the Jewish religion; as were probably all the women that resided here. She was a sincere worshipper of God, she was prepared to receive the heavenly truths spoken by Paul and his companions; and, as she was faithful to the grace she had received, so God gave her more grace, and gave her now a Divine conviction that what was spoken by Paul was true; and therefore she attended unto the things - she believed them and received them as the doctrines of God; and in this faith she was joined by her whole family, and in it they were all baptized.1
The conversion of Lydia; She probably was the first to believe in Christ, though not the last. In this story of the Acts, we have not only the conversion of places recorded, but of many particular persons; for such is the worth of souls that the reducing of one to God is a great matter. Nor have we only the conversions that were affected by miracle, as Paul's, but some that were brought about by the ordinary methods of grace, as Lydia's here.