A Study of Acts: Lydia and Her Household; A Possessed Slave Girl
Acts 16:14-21 - Be on your guard; the devil prowls like an angry lion, especially when many are saved.
“A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment. But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities, and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.””
Acts 16:14-21 NASB1995
Paul and the rest of the missionary group were preaching to the women gathered by the river at the end of the last devotional. One of the women, named Lydia, was there and she was a seller of purple fabrics. She is from the town of Thyatira, as shown on this map from Bibleatlas.org:
Ironically, this town is in the area of the Roman province of “Asia” (now western Türkiye), that same area that was forbidden for the group to travel through earlier in Acts 16. So Paul is now preaching to a woman from that area, but currently in the town of Philippi. Thyatira was also home to one of the seven churches mentioned in Revelation 1 & 2 (it is described in Revelation 2:18-29 as a corrupt church).
Lydia must be quite wealthy, as she is far from home selling valuable purple fabrics. This “Tyrian purple” was the most popular and “official” color for Roman togas, used for a complete garment or as an edging. Here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia on the use of Tyrian purple in history:
Tyrian purple is a pigment made from the mucus of several species of Murex snail. Production of Tyrian purple for use as a fabric dye began as early as 1200 BC by the Phoenicians, and was continued by the Greeks and Romans until 1453 AD, with the fall of Constantinople. In the same way as the modern-day Latin alphabet of Phoenician origin, Phoenician purple pigment was spread through the unique Phoenician trading empire. The pigment was expensive and time-consuming to produce, and items colored with it became associated with power and wealth. This popular idea of purple being elite contributes to the modern day widespread belief that purple is a "royal colour".
Lydia is also described as a worshipper of God; she is listening to Paul preach and “the Lord opened her heart to respond”. Let’s do a word study (we haven’t done one lately). Opened comes from the Greek verb διανοίγω or dianoígō, with the following Biblical usages:
to open by dividing or drawing asunder, to open thoroughly (what had been closed)
a male opening the womb (the closed matrix), i.e. the first-born
of the eyes and the ears
to open the mind of one, i.e. to cause to understand a thing
to open one's soul, i.e. to rouse in one the faculty of understanding or the desire of learning
In this case, the usage in 1.c is the closest match - Paul’s preaching led the Lord to open her mind with the desire to learn and understand. God alone opens hearts to belief!
Lydia believes, along with her entire household and they are baptized as a affirmation of their faith. She is the first Christian in Europe! She extends hospitality to the missionary group to come and stay at her home, if they judge her to be faithful. Hospitality is an important characteristic of the Christian believer, as described in Gotquestions.org:
Christians are “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Ephesians 2:10). As followers of Christ, we emulate His love and compassion when we show hospitality, not only to fellow Christians, but even more so to strangers and the less fortunate. In fact, we honor God when we are kind to the needy (Proverbs 14:31; 19:17). As Jesus said, “When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed” (Luke 14:13). Christ also taught us the second greatest commandment, to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39), and the Parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us that “neighbor” has nothing to do with geography, citizenship, or race. Wherever and whenever people need us, there we can be neighbors and, like Christ, show mercy. This is the essence of hospitality.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus discusses the hospitable behavior of those who will inherit the kingdom: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me” (Matthew 25:34-36). In these days we often don’t think much about entertaining strangers, but hospitality is still an important part of Christian ministry (Romans 12:13; 1 Peter 4:9). By serving others we serve Christ (Matthew 25:40) and we promote the spread of God’s truth (3 John 5-8).
Paul casts out the demon from the slave girl in Philippi (Artist unknown).
When the group was going to the place of prayer, they were met by a slave girl who had the power of divination and made a lot of money for her owners. Divination, according to several sources, is literally the spirit of the Python (Pythia) that guarded the Oracle of Delphi, according to Greek mythology. This girl followed them and cried out that they were bond-servants of the most high God and were proclaiming the way of salvation. This happened many times over the course of several days. Paul becomes very annoyed with her and he turns and commands the unclean spirit to come out of her in the name of Jesus Christ. The exorcism was successful!
I find it fascinating that over and over again in Scripture, people are brought to salvation only to have the enemy then try to intervene in some way. This girl, under the possession of a demon, was causing significant interference in the preaching of the missionary team, following them around and yelling about them. Paul approaches this correctly, of course, and after the exorcism the girl is no longer able to perform divination. Evil and the devil exist!
Here is a very sobering look at our current church from Pastor Jack Andrews, as quoted in Precept Austin:
God’s servants can discern evil, denounce evil, and defeat evil spirits through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is hard for the modern day church to defeat Satan when many in the modern day church do not believe he exists. Illustration: A George Bama survey revealed what many “Christians” believe about Satan and evil spirits.
Four out of Ten Christians (40%) strongly agree that Satan “is not a living being but is a symbol of evil.”
An additional two out of ten (19%) said they “agree somewhat with that perspective”.
A minority of Christians indicated that they believe Satan is real by disagreeing with the statement: one quarter (26%) disagreed strongly and about one-tenth (9%) disagreed somewhat.
The remaining 8% were not sure what they believe about the existence of Satan.
Those America “Christians” who do not believe that Satan exists are deceived by the one that they do not believe exists.
We will not be effective in battling Satan, defeating Satan, or getting victory over Satan without discerning his activity, his power, and his intentions.
Homes are being torn apart; lives are left in shambles; children are left helpless and homeless; diseases run rampant; crimes are skyrocketing; suicide is on the increase—Satan and his demons are very active.
There was not only demonic activity in Philippi, but there is demonic activity in America! (Jack Andrews Expository Studies – Understanding Acts)
I’m not sure when the survey was done, but I can guarantee that the results are probably even worse now. So many people reject God outright and laugh at the idea of His adversary. But we know who wins in the end!
So after the slave girl is freed from the demon, her owners are irate because their profits are gone. The owners of the slave girl drag Paul and Silas before the magistrates and accuse them of bringing in foreign (Jewish) ideas and customs, which are outlawed in the Roman town of Philippi. We don’t know what happens to this girl, but life was cheap then and is cheap now. In this study, it was estimated in 2021 that approximately 50 million people worldwide (men, women and children) are in a state of slavery (forced labor, forced sexual exploitation, forced marriage, etc.). Our “modern ways” have not improved things by a long shot, but have only allowed evil and the devil to flourish because people want to be “rational” about rejecting anything supernatural.
My next devotional examines Acts 16:22-40 - Paul and Silas are beaten and imprisoned, a miraculous earthquake occurs, a jailer and his family are converted, and the magistrates beg Paul and Silas to leave town.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - Please help me to be full of hospitality for others and to be cognizant of the evils of slavery that exist in our world today. Help me to be on guard against the devil and his schemes. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Bibleatlast.org was accessed on 11/26/2024 to review maps of Thyatira.
The Blue Letter Bible was accessed on 11/26/2024 to review the lexicon for opened.
Precept Austin was accessed on 11/26/2024 to review commentary for Acts 16:14-21
Gotquestions.org was accessed on 11/26/2024 to review the answer to the question, What is Biblical hospitality?