Women Working Boldly: A Study of Lydia in Acts 16Shembull

Lydia’s Backstory

For some readers, the sheer fact that Lydia is in the Bible will make this a milestone moment in their life. This savvy single mom and church-planting superwoman seems to counterpunch many things we’ve been told about women from the Bible. Through Lydia’s story, we have proof that God includes working women in his plan of building the kingdom. We also see her play an instrumental role alongside the apostles. 

The patriarchal society in which Lydia lived gave men power, and women almost none. Women were valued if they were virgins at marriage and able to bear sons after the union. When a baby girl was born into the Roman Empire, no gender-reveal parties popped pink confetti-filled balloons. Not only would girls grow up and require a marriage dowry, but they wouldn’t be able to join the workforce in the family business. So girls were a financial liability. 

On the apostle Paul’s second major missionary trip, he met Lydia. He had set sail from Troas, a Greek city located in today’s Turkey, with three of his buddies: Silas, Timothy, and Dr. Luke. When the four men arrived in Europe, their first stop was Philippi, where Lydia was living at the time. They stayed for a few days in the city, and then on the Sabbath day, Saturday, the guys went outside the city gate by the river, where they found a place of prayer.

The way the apostle Luke tells the story in Acts 16, Lydia has gathered some of her friends together to pray when Paul approaches her and shares the good news of the Gospel. God opened Lydia’s heart to understand that Jesus was the Christ (the promised Messiah). And Lydia believed and then recruited her whole family to get baptized. 

In addition to working boldly, Lydia was committed to her family’s salvation, to the founding of a church community that would meet in her home, and to using her influence in her city to further the Gospel.

Prayer:

Father, I want to be receptive to your truths like Lydia. Open my heart to understand your truth and to share that truth with my family, friends, and coworkers. In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen.