Acts 16:12Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“Having sat down” outside the city at the place of prayer, “we spoke to the women who had gathered. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, from the city of Thyatira, listened to what they said, whose heart the Lord opened” to understand accurately; Acts 16:13-14.

Call to mind those mentioned in the Gospel: the lowly Samaritan woman, the Canaanite woman, the woman with the issue of blood, and Simon the leper.

Later also Simon the tanner, who received the great Peter into his house, served as a small occasion for the divine preaching in Joppa, before great Caesarea in Palestine.

He was honored with divine praises, since he too opened the door of salvation for many.

Before the time of divine testing, we must not with haste compel God to show His wondrous works to all. Rather, we must endure and await goodwill and consent from above.

Listen attentively to what the Master Christ says about this to His disciples: “Remain in Jerusalem and do not depart from there, but wait for the promise”; Acts 1:4.

When you are counted worthy of it, then begin the teaching and the signs.

Those who were with the holy Apostle Paul “were forbidden” by the worshipful “Spirit” for a time “to speak the word in Asia” and in Bithynia; Acts 16:6.

On the Sabbath morning he went to the river with his companions and entered into conversation on pious matters with the women of the city gathered for prayer.

His words made an impression on the heart of one merchant woman, Lydia, from Thyatira, a city of Lydia.

After the divine service was completed, she was baptized by them with all her household and gave them lodging in her house.

From Lydia’s household Christianity spread in Philippi.

Since there were no Jews in this city, or very few, Christianity met no obstacle from that side.

Perhaps, without stirring up any persecution, it would have gained still more adherents, had not the covetousness of certain Gentiles risen against the apostle, touched by his preaching.

Was this not a foreshadowing that the Church in Europe would suffer most of all from the Gentiles?

Tertullian, De jejunio, chapter 16, writes: iudaicum certe jeiunium ubique celebratur, quum amissis templis per omne litus quocunque in aperto aliquando jam preces ad coelum mittant.

Macedonia was then divided into four parts or districts. The district in which Philippi was located was called the first district, or First Macedonia.

In what sense does the writer of Acts call Philippi the first city of this part of Macedonia? Certainly not in the sense of a capital city.

From ancient secular writers, the chief cities of all four districts of Macedonia are known, and Philippi is not counted among them.

The chief city of this part of Macedonia was Amphipolis, Acts 17:1, not Philippi. Therefore the word “first” is not used here in that sense.

Of all opinions on this matter, the most probable is that “first” is used here in a topographical sense.

It was the first Macedonian city into which the preachers came after being called by the vision into Macedonia.

“A colony.” Philippi at that time was a Roman colony or settlement. Octavian Augustus settled the adherents of Antony in this city and gave the city the so-called jus italicum, the right of Italian jurisdiction.

“They remained several days.” From the time of the apostles’ stay in this first Macedonian city into which they came, the writer of Acts describes several events as their eyewitness.

Politically, too, this city had an advantage over others. Four cities were considered most important, corresponding to the number of regions, and Philippi possessed Roman jurisdiction.

Therefore all its citizens considered themselves, in a certain sense, Romans.

In Samothrace and Neapolis the apostles stayed only a little while. In Philippi they remained for a more or less extended time.

The word of the Lord, proclaimed here zealously according to custom, bore sufficient fruit. The Spirit of God cooperated with the preaching, as is clear from the divine miracles that occurred there.

“The sudden appearance here in the narrative of the book of Acts of the first-person pronoun ‘we’ indicates that the number of the Apostle Paul’s companions, while he was in Troas, increased by one person.

“This was Saint Luke, the writer of the book of Acts.

“Since Luke’s person seems especially connected with Macedonia, particularly with Philippi, some think that the apostle’s new companion, taken by him in Troas, was a Macedonian.

“He probably remained in Philippi after Saint Paul’s first departure from there; see Acts 16:40. The history of Acts finds him there again when the great apostle sailed away during the third journey; Acts 20:5.

“But there is no basis for rejecting the generally accepted church tradition, which testifies that Luke came from Antioch of Syria.

“Some have supposed that Luke was occupied with seafaring and guided ships along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

“It is easy to understand how such a companion could be useful to Saint Paul, and how the apostle therefore rejoiced to add him to his company.

“Preparing to cross over to the European mainland, where there were different people and a different manner of life, Saint Paul, as a native of Asia, faced much that was unknown.

“He could not fail to see God’s evident goodwill toward him in the increase in the number of his companions that had just occurred.

“Silas and Timothy, of course, shared his view. Obedient to the mysterious call, the apostles set out by ship for new conquests for the Kingdom of God.”