“And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.” (Acts 16:14)
This is the conversion of Lydia. What seems circumstantial is not. All things point to the hand of God orchestrating events so that Lydia would be saved. It was not Paul’s intention to go to Phillippi. He wanted to go to Asia but the Holy Spirit wouldn’t allow them. (Acts 16:6) Then the Holy Spirit wouldn’t allow them to stay in Bithynia neither. Paul is led to go to Macedonia (Greece) through a dream. (Acts 16:9)
Lydia was not from Philippi, but from Thyatira (Turkey), which is known for its purple fabric. She was probably in Philippi across the Aegean Sea selling this popular fabric. On the sabbath, she went where women gathered to worship probably because there was no synagogue, since Paul and his group went there to worship also on the sabbath. Lydia is thought to be a Jewish convert since her name is Gentile. The Bible says she worshipped God. (Acts 16:14) The word used for Lydia as a worshipper of God is “sebomene” meaning a Gentile worshipper of Yahweh.
There doesn’t seem to be a recognizable population of Jews in Philippi. There was no synagogue which would have required a minimum of ten Jewish men. There is also no mention of any Jewish men worshipping outside of Philippi, only women. But God arranged for Paul and his group to come upon this group of women to preach the Gospel. It’s thought, although not verified that Lydia may have gone back to Thyatira and may have started a church there since there is a church in Thyatira. Paul never visited Thyatira to start a church there.
Luke, the author of Acts, writes that the Lord opened Lydia’s heart. No man can open his own heart or anyone else’s. The Lord is the initiator of our salvation. It is totally a work of God. We cannot come to God on our own. Jesus said, “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw Him: and I will raise Him up at the last day.” (John 6:44) And unless the Father opens up our understanding, we cannot even understand the simple Gospel. Jesus tells the crowd, “Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.” (John 8:43) The Gospel to those who have no understanding is like a foreign language to them. They hear with their ears, but have no understanding. “But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2Corinthians 4:3-4) So it’s the devil who blinds people so that they won’t understand the Gospel and be saved. This is a hard concept to understand, unless one has been saved as an adult. How many times did we hear the Gospel and didn’t make any connection to it? But that seed grew and brought light into our darkness, enough to enable us to understand it when we heard once more time. “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:4-9)
Lydia acted quickly in obedience. (Acts 16:15) Although it’s told in one sentence, we can feel her enthusiasm at her salvation. She gets saved and her household. It’s so marvelous to her, she has to share the Good News with those she knows, who also get saved. And they all get baptized. Her spiritual gift is hospitality. Paul and his group accept her hospitality. And although the Bible isn’t explicit about what happened to Lydia after her salvation, we learn of a church in Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-29) which was not founded by Paul or any other apostle, but possibly if not Lydia, then believers from Ephesus.
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