Author : Patrick Farish
The Man Of Macedonia
We begin an examination of the conversion of Lydia by calling attention to events immediately preceding it. Acts 16:6-10, “And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”
In every case of conversion in which divine intervention has been recorded (whether the Intervener was the Lord, an angel of the Lord, or the Holy Spirit), the intervention never involved telling the lost one what to do to be saved. In every case, the Lord, the angel of the Lord, or the Holy Spirit told the preacher about the sinner, or told the sinner about the preacher, or both. The Holy Spirit told the preacher where to go. The Holy Spirit told the preacher what to say. But the Holy Spirit never Himself spoke the directions to the sinner. Not in any case of conversion, as far as the divine record tells us. Those who think they have been visited by God, Who spoke to them words of comfort and salvation, are mistaken. So that man would be impressed with the power of the gospel, God determined that there should be nothing truly impressive about the one who preaches the gospel. So, rather than an angel, or the Holy Spirit, it is the responsibility of man to preach; and he must preach the word, and not himself.
So often today the effort is made to glorify the preacher by not-so-subtle allusions to his worldly accomplishments: he is a doctor, an author, president of this or that university, a lecturer of note – and always!!! he is “dynamic”! This is in glaring contrast with the “thumb-nail sketch” given by the apostle Paul, of his tactics: “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthian 2:1-5).
The more the preacher is exalted, the more the true power of God, the gospel, is hidden. So, 2 Corinthians 4:5, “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” God has determined that man must preach the gospel to men. So, He will not send an angel or any other emissary from heaven, to proclaim it.
Lydia
We learn of Lydia’s obedience to the gospel in Acts 16:11-15, “So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.’ And she prevailed upon us.”
Lydia is described as a business woman. Lydia did not regard the business of making a living as being of equal importance with the business of making a life, so she is identified as a worshiper of God. It is of special interest to notice that she first encountered the apostle Paul and his companions as she assembled with other women at a place of prayer on the riverside, on the Sabbath. The apostle Paul was not assembling with these people on the Sabbath day because it was the day to worship, in these last days. He knew that the Sabbath day was a part of the law of Moses, and that “you also have died to the law through the body of Christ”, Romans 7:4, and “now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit”, Romans 7:6. The apostle Paul knew, as we must know, that the Law of Moses was taken out of the way by the death of Christ. Christ cancelled “the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross”, Colossians 2:14.
The Sabbath day, tithing, burning incense and all such relics of the Law of Moses and the Jewish age, were abrogated, nullified, cancelled, and taken out of the way, by the death of Christ. He has fulfilled that law; and we live now under the law of Christ. It is not correct to say that the Lord’s day, the first day of the week, is the “Christian Sabbath”; there is no such. If any day is the “Sabbath” it must be the seventh day, Saturday, for this is the meaning of “sabbath.” W. E. Vine, in his Expository Dictionary, has an interesting note in connection with the definition of “sabbath”: “For the first three centuries of the Christian era the first day of the week was never confounded with the Sabbath; the confusion of the Jewish and Christian institutions was due to declension from apostolic teaching”. This is always the problem: when men begin “declension” (declining or falling away) from what the apostles taught, they begin skidding into things foreign to the will of God.
So, again, the apostle Paul was not with these people to observe the Sabbath as a day possessed of any significance with God now. His purpose in joining them was to find those who, though not informed as to the truth concerning Jesus Christ, were nonetheless acting upon the promise, “You will shall seek me, and find me, When you seek me with all your heart”, Jeremiah 29:13. Thus the historian Luke states that “we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together”.
The Conversion Of Lydia
Notice, now, the expression in Acts 16:16, that the “Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul”.
WHY did the Lord open Lydia’s heart? The Bible says, “to pay attention to what was said by Paul”. Did the Lord open Lydia’s heart to save her? No. The Lord opened Lydia’s heart so that she would pay attention, give heed to, that which was spoken – for that which was spoken was the gospel of Christ and it could save her, Romans 1:16.
HOW did the Lord open Lydia’s heart? Did he open her heart by some irresistible, direct operation? According to the record, Lydia first heard, and then the Lord opened her heart. From this we know that what the Lord did, did not enable her to hear, for she had already heard. In Romans 10:17 we are told that “faith comes from hearing” that which the apostle preached. Lydia heard, and this hearing caused belief, or faith. This faith in turn prompted her to obey, to give heed, to attend to the instruction given by the apostle. In Romans 10:10 Paul writes, “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved”. This is the process here: Lydia having heard, that which she heard opened her heart, for she heard the word of Christ, Romans 10:17. Thus, the words spoken by the apostle Paul were the words of Christ, and the effect they had on the heart of Lydia is properly attributed to the Lord. This is no different from any other conversion recorded in Acts, or since that time; but this is the only case in which it is so worded. Men and women who hear the gospel proclaimed and act in harmony with the precepts there advanced, have also had their hearts opened by the Lord; but this “opening,” like that of Lydia, was accomplished by the inspired words which were spoken. This is why, when Peter on Pentecost said “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36), the reaction of his audience was so profound: “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37) The word of God “is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword”, (Hebrews 4:12); thus our concern must be to preach the word: to constantly and tirelessly speak those words whereby men may be saved. The concern of every accountable human must be to desire and love the truth, and determine to know and to do the truth. You must “receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21).
The truth is not irresistible; it can be rejected. This is what Stephen was talking about in Acts 7:51, when he charged those to whom he spoke with resisting the Holy Spirit, as did their fathers. He explained what is meant by resisting the Holy Spirit in the next two verses, Acts 7:52, 53, “Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it”. How did they resist the Holy Spirit? By persecuting the prophets, by killing the prophets, by refusing to keep the law which they had received. The Holy Spirit is involved in conversion in convicting of sin through the words which He inspired men to record, and which we know as the New Testament. There is no direct operation of the Holy Spirit in conversion.
Lydia’s Babies?
The doctrine of hereditary total depravity, which is not a Bible doctrine, produced more or less naturally the practice of baptizing babies. This practice is also called christening; but whatever it is called, it originated from the belief that babies were tainted with something called “original sin,” which must be forgiven. The Bible does not teach “original sin” or “hereditary depravity,” but men join themselves to idols much more readily than they admit they are idols and reject them. Cases of conversion, such as that of Lydia, or the Philippian jailor, or Crispus, are grasped with desperate insistence by teachers of the doctrine of infant damnation, insisting that these cases of “household” baptism are proof of “infant” baptism. Notice, though, some of the things that one must assume without a shred of Bible evidence, if he asserts that Lydia’s household included children: first, he must assume that Lydia was married. Second, he must assume she had children. Third, he must assume that these assumed children of her assumed marriage were infants, babies too little to analyze testimony and believe. Fourth, he must assume that these assumed children were baptized, for the Bible says nothing to indicate that such was the case. Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16, and I Peter 3:21 are just a few of the passages which teach that baptism’s purpose is salvation, the remission of sins; but babies are not lost, babies have no sins to be forgiven. Baptism is for the remission of sins of a believing penitent. All those included in the statement that Lydia “was baptized, and her household”, were, therefore, believing penitents.
For one to be saved from sin, he must respond to the same teaching as did Lydia: hearing and believing the gospel, repenting of sins, confessing faith in Christ and being buried with Him in baptism for the remission of his sins.
Let the word of God open your heart, as it opened the heart of Lydia.
