Lydia is introduced as a "dealer in purple cloth" (14) from the city of Thyatira. Purple dye was extremely expensive and was associated with wealth, status, and royalty. This suggests that Lydia was a woman of means and independence. She's described as a worshipper of God (15). A Gentile who worshipped the Jewish God and is drawn to the Jewish community but is not a full convert.
Paul and Silas, after a vision led them to Philippi in Macedonia (modern-day Greece) went to a place of prayer by the river (13).
I just want to interject here about the formation of synagogues in the first century as I think it helps understand this story. The word synagogue (Greek: synagōgē, meaning assembly or gathering) referred to both a group of people and the physical place where they met. Thus, synagogues were local centers for Jewish worship, teaching, prayer, and community life, especially outside of Jerusalem. They were not replacements for the Temple in Jerusalem, but they became the heart of Jewish religious life in the diaspora — Jewish communities living outside Jerusalem.
To form a synagogue there needed to be a “minyan”, ten men aged 13 or older. Without this, a synagogue could not formally be constituted though informal gatherings for prayer and study could still happen. Often women formed religious communities even when excluded from formal structures. Exactly like the women praying by the river in Philippi in today’s text (13).
There was likely not a minyan in Philippi, so no synagogue. Therefore, Paul and Silas went to where the women gathered for prayer which was by the river outside the city gates. This is powerful and important: the early Christian mission in Europe began not in a synagogue, but with a women’s prayer gathering in a marginal space. Lydia became not just a supporter but a founder of this early mission.
After Paul had spoken, Lydia and her household were baptized. This is another concept that is often hard to understand in our highly individualistic culture of the twenty-first century. In the first century household (oikos) referred not only to immediate family but also to extended family, servants, slaves and business dependents. Lydia is presented as head of her household — this is notable in the patriarchal culture. The concept of household baptism reflects both the Jewish and Greco-Roman pattern of communal identity. If the head of the household adopted a new faith the rest followed.
So, Lydia’s decision changed the whole households’ identity. Her baptism was not just a personal declaration of faith but the forming of a new community. It does raise a lot of questions about power, inclusion and consent which I will leave for another day.
The story of Lydia is suddenly interrupted by introducing a slave girl, who in contrast to Lydia remains unnamed. This unnamed girl is described as having a spirit of divination (Greek. python spirit) which probably alludes to the Oracle of Delphi where the priestess, Phythia, channeled prophetic messages.
The slave girl was valuable to her owners and was exploited by them. As Paul and Silas were going to the place of prayer, she followed them shouting that they are “servants of the most high God who are telling the way of salvation”. Oddly, Paul and Silas don’t affirm her words. They don’t show any compassion for the enslaved girl, they are simply annoyed by her, so much so they cast the spirit of divination out of her.
I find this a very sad story. I can’t help but wonder if a rich powerful woman like Lydia had been the one with the power of divination would the story have ended differently? Maybe, the slave girl was a prophet in her own right who was silenced because of gender and poverty. Then, this slave girl simply disappears from the story — no further mention of her is made. Her gender and poverty have made her invisible.
The text reverts to the lives of the men whose actions got them thrown into jail by a very disgruntled slave owner! However, when they were eventually released, the story of Lydia continues. Paul and Silas immediately went to Lydia’s home (40) where both men and women were gathering. The first house church in Europe, led by a woman, was functioning.
These two women, juxtaposed in a single chapter, function as a challenge for contemporary times.
Lydia’s story shows what is possible when women are treated as full participants in spiritual life. It points to a model of spirituality and leadership that transcends patriarchal limitations
The slave girl’s story warns of the cost of liberation without compassion. True liberation would restore the silenced and honor prophetic voices from the margins.
The story of Lydia is interrupted by the slave girl. Lydia rises in leadership as the slave girl sinks into invisibility. I think this is an important part of the message of the text. Acts 16 is an invitation to reimagine spiritual community as a space where every voice matters, and every woman’s story is sacred.
