Acts 16:15Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“That you have judged me faithful” is clear, she says, from the fact that you entrusted to me such mysteries, which you would not have entrusted if you had not considered me such. She did not dare invite them before, but only after she had been baptized. By this she showed that otherwise she would not have persuaded them. Why, then, did those with Paul at first not wish to go, but refuse, so that she had to constrain them? Either because they were calling her to greater zeal, or because Christ said: “Whatever city or village you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there” (Mt 10:11). Thus they did everything with foresight. See how the historian is not ashamed to recount the occupations of the inhabitants. When there was time free from work, they listened more to instruction; and the city of the Philippians was not large. Knowing this, let us also be ashamed of no one. Peter stays with a tanner, Paul with a seller of purple. Is there any pride here? See, she is baptized and receives the apostles with such obedience, even greater than Abraham’s obedience. She did not point to any other dignity of hers, but to the one through which she was saved. She did not say, “If you have judged me” a great or pious woman. What did she say? “Faithful to the Lord.” If she is faithful to the Lord, then all the more to you, if only you do not doubt. And she did not say, “Stay with me,” but “in my house,” to show that she did this with great zeal. Truly, a faithful woman!

So Lydia too worshiped God, but did not know how one must be saved. The Lord showed this to her through true teaching. As it was said: “a worshiper of God” (Acts 16:14). On the other hand, if God does not open someone’s heart, He does not open it because that person, being godless, receives the words in vain. Even if someone learns the divine word through evident proofs, as from the apostles by miracles and signs, yet he may desire to be a slave of his own passions and sin. Then he rejects the Word and becomes responsible for himself. For God never helps anyone in evil. In His love of good, He works together with what is good. As for evil, He permits each one to remain in his own desires (see Is 56:11). Thus each person lives as he wishes.

Paul commanded the spirit to come out of the soothsayer. The maidservant fell silent and completely ceased foretelling. This event would have had no further consequence than the healing of the maidservant, had her masters not lost the rich income they received through the predictions. Angered by this, they stirred up the people, seized Paul and Silas, and brought them before the city authorities, the strategoi. They accused them as disturbers of the public peace, as preachers of a secret religion and customs contrary to those previously established in their city. They accused them as Jews who, contrary to the laws of the empire, were trying to impose their religion on Romans. The city authorities did not examine the matter. They immediately subjected the apostles to public bodily punishment, beat them with rods, and then imprisoned them.

After this, of course, the children of Christians from among the pagans also were not subjected to circumcision. But to remain both uncircumcised and unbaptized clearly means not to be in either the New Covenant or the Old. It means to remain outside the Church of God, without hope of salvation. If the Church, while depriving the law of circumcision on the eighth day of universal obligatory force, had not at the same time deemed Christian children worthy of baptism, then Christians from the Jews, zealous for the Law of Moses, could now have objected. They could have asked: what, then, is the lot of these children, deprived of the seal of the Old Covenant and not received into the New? But this question did not arise and could not arise, because from the beginning the Church was guided by the commandment of her Lord: “Let the children come to Me, for of such is the kingdom of God” (Lk 18:16). She deemed children worthy of baptism at the very age at which, according to the Old Testament law, they would have been circumcised. Compare Col 2:11-12.

"She was a woman, and moreover of no noble rank, as is clear from her trade. But see what love of wisdom was in her.

"First, it is said that she worshiped God. Then it says that she invited the apostles to her home. And when she was baptized, she and her household.

"Notice how she persuaded all her household. Then consider her prudence, how she entreats the apostles, and how full her words are of humility and wisdom."

Lydia belonged to the best people of paganism. Seeking for her soul more substantial nourishment than the religious tales of the pagans, she became a proselyte of Judaism.

She could have become acquainted with Judaism even in her homeland, for there was also a church there, as is clear from the Apocalypse (see Rev 11:18).

In the apostle's words she found answers to the questions whose resolution was dearest to her. The history of the Messiah that was communicated to her explained the history of her own heart.

It also laid the beginning of a new life. It is no wonder if all her household were also proselytes.

Afterward they proved so prepared for Christianity that they immediately wished to receive Christian baptism as soon as it was offered.

Note. In verses 10, 11, 12, 13, and others in this chapter and those that follow, the writer often speaks of the apostles with the word "we."

This is usually explained to mean that the writer of Acts here acknowledges himself to be acting together with the others. It follows that he was a direct eyewitness of what is described here.

But some Western scholars draw other conclusions from this. For example, they suppose that the writer had other sources for all the following chapters.

The falsity of this conclusion is refuted from every side in a special study. Here are some of its data: "Writers do not always use the connective and other particles desired by criticism.

"To infer from this a duality of writers is at least risky. We see that a connection exists between the sections with 'we' and the neighboring sections, an internal logical connection.

"The writer of Acts passes very skillfully from narration in the third person to narration in the person of 'we,' and back again."

In both parts the writer of Acts often uses the same expressions, such as "a considerable time," "many days," and others.

If one looks more closely at the sections with "we," one can discern in them the same sacred tone that prevails in the first part.

Analysis of the contents of the sections with "we," in relation to the preceding part of Acts, speaks convincingly for the unity and complete reliability of the writer of Acts.

In the narratives of the second part concerning events in Miletus (20:16-38), Jerusalem (21:15-40), and Rome (28:14 and following), "we" appears only at the beginning.

Then the account concerns one apostle. The expression "we" would have been wholly out of place there.

It is different when the writer of Acts himself participates in a certain event and actively experiences it. There "we" is entirely understandable and fitting.