Who is Lydia?

Faithful Women in the Bible

As we read through the Bible, we notice some women mentioned, like Eve, Esther, Ruth, Mary, mother of Jesus, etc. Some of these women are very well known or are even mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospels. In today’s post, we are going to discuss a special lady mentioned only briefly in the book of Acts. She was not part of the genealogy of Jesus, she never met Jesus while He was on earth, and her name only appears twice in the Bible. Yet, her actions are inspiring, and she had a beautiful impact on the early church.

… and from there to Philippi, a Roman colony and a leading city of the district of Macedonia. We stayed in that city for several days. On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate by the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women gathered there. A God-fearing woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying.  After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us. 

After leaving the jail, they came to Lydia’s house, where they saw and encouraged the brothers and sisters, and departed.

Acts 16:12-15, 40 CSB

Background

The book of Acts was written by Luke, the same guy who wrote the Gospel of Luke. They were originally written as part one and two. Acts follows the start of the spread of the Gospel and the early church. So, as you’ll remember if you’ve studied the Gospels, Jesus primarily taught the Jewish people. His disciples were all Jewish as were many of His followers, which means the early church was most Jewish people. 

After Jesus had spoken to Paul and transformed him from a persecutor to a believing evangelist, Paul traveled many places sharing the Gospel to all kinds of people. 

As we see in this scripture, Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke traveled to Phillipi. This is a different Phillipi than where Jesus brought His disciples in Matthew 16. The city of Phillipi that Paul and his friends visited is in modern day Greece. This visit probably took place in AD 50-51. Because of Paul’s teachings, a church was started in this city, and Paul would later write them a letter. This letter is the book of the Bible we know as Phillipians. 

One thing to note about Philippi is that the inscription on the arches outside the city stated a prohibition against bringing in any unrecognized religion into the city.

This may be missed in a quick reading of the text, but the story of Lydia is so full of God’s provision and grace. We see it briefly mentioned that Lydia is from Thyatira. Paul and crew had wanted to visit Thyatira previously but had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:6).  Earlier in Acts 16, we are told of a vision that Paul has where he is told to go to Macedonia (modern day Europe). So if Lydia is to be taught about Jesus, it would have to happen in her current home city of Philippi, and Paul would have to be obedient to God’s calling to go the distance to Macedonia. 

What do we know about Lydia?

She already believed in God. The women who wanted to pray and worship the God of the Jews had to meet outside the city gates, and Lydia was one of those ladies. 

She was a business woman and an influential one at that. The Scripture says she sold purple cloth. Purple cloth was valuable and expensive as it was often a symbol of royalty. 

Lydia was the head of her household. Because she was able to have her household follow in her footsteps, we know she led her household in many things. Because no husband is mentioned, we don’t know if she was married. 

My favorite fact about Lydia is that she was the FIRST GENTILE CONVERT IN EUROPE. And not only that, but also Paul’s first Gentile convert. She likely helped a lot in the building of the church in Philippi. My family is of European descent. So I wonder if it had not been for Lydia, or Paul and friends coming to share the Gospel, where would I be? 

Strengths

Lydia not only believed and was baptized, but had her entire family follow in her footsteps. This probably meant she had slaves who were also baptized. We know that the outer expression of faith is not enough, you must have an inner decision to follow Christ. It is obvious that Lydia had both of those changes and she wanted her household to follow Christ. (Side note: I wish we knew more about her family members who were baptized. Did they later accept Jesus in their hearts? Did they also become leaders in the community sharing the Gospel? We just don’t know.)

She was very hospitable. She pleaded with the men to stay at her home. She likely fed them and provided them with a safe and comfortable place to sleep while they were in the town sharing the Gospel. Later after Paul and Silas were falsely imprisoned, Lydia graciously welcomed them into her home again. She must have trusted them immensely.

Weaknesses 

While not a weakness of Lydia’s personally, the only weakness in this story is the lack of details we know. I am so curious about more things in her life. As I have mentioned elsewhere in this post, I want to know more about her household and what personal impact she had on the budding church of Philippi. How many people was she able to bring into the Kingdom as a result of allowing God to work in her heart? 

How can we be more like Lydia?

We can be hospitable! We can open our homes and lives to others. Now, I’ll be the first to tell you that this is something I am still working on. It is not easy for me to spread my doors wide open for anyone to come inside. But, at the end of the day, none of the things we have here on earth really belong to us. They are all given to us by God. 

We can be faithful to God and willing to follow where he leads! Lydia had her entire household follow in her footsteps. But do our closest friends and neighbors even know we follow Jesus? She went against the norm to choose to submit to Christ when her city didn’t allow outside religion. Yet, do we share the love of Jesus with our friends and neighbors? 

Also, we can’t skip over the fact that “the Lord opened her heart”. Did she have to be obedient, yes. But it was the power of God that allowed Lydia to receive the Gospel. 

According to the Scriptures, we don’t know how long it took between the time that Lydia heard the teaching and the time where she chose to accept and believe. But it seems to have happened pretty immediately! Do we immediately respond to God when He prompts us? Or do we wait and see if our choices will be popular and viewed highly?