The bible, and especially the New Testament has to be the most efficient book ever written. Let us look at just three verses and see some of the amazing things taught there.
Acts 16:13-15
And on the sabbath day we went forth without the gate by a river side, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down, and spake unto the women that were come together. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, one that worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened to give heed unto the things which were spoken by Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide (there). And she constrained us. (ASV)
Consider just some of the things that are conveyed by these three verses:
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It documents how when the number of Jews was small in a city they would gather in places other than a synagogue.
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I am not sure why they “supposed there was a place of prayer.” Perhaps this was the custom when there was no synagogue.
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It appears that this Jewish prayer group that met on the sabbath was strictly women. It would be possible to have a church today of strictly women. I never knew of one, but it certainly could exist.
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Referring to Lydia: “one that worshipped God” – infers that faithful Jews who had not yet heard the gospel were still able to worship God in this condition. Once they heard the word they would certainly be responsible to render obedience to it. No doubt, most of the Jews around Jerusalem had heard of Jesus prior to his death.
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Lydia was an independent business woman — no man involved that I can see. I kind of think this is a primary reason this conversion was included in Acts. She is a uniquely different type of individual than all of the other conversions that are detailed.
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“… heart the Lord opened …” sounds like Calvinism, but is not. It is the word of God that opens our hearts and the souce of the word of God is God, so it is God that opens our hearts — John 6:44-45 says the same thing, as this is also inferred from verse 13. There is nothing here that infers she was swept away by “irresistible grace.”
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“…when she was baptized …” assumes that the reader knows that baptism would immediately follow true belief of the gospel.
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“Her household” infers that she is the head of this household — apparently if she had had a husband, he was not longer alive. Again, thie reinforces the independence and autonomous nature of women who come to the Lord. Each of us has the same responsibility independent of our gender.
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Another inference here (althought not necessary) is that her household was with her at the river during all of this, since they were also baptized. It would be reasonable that they worshipped with her.
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Something not inferred is that there were children in her household. For this to be necessarily inferred all households would have to include children; we know this is not true. The fact that those who defend infant baptism would use this as their authority is strong evidence that there is no biblical authority for infant baptism.
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She provides an example of hospitality — showing kindness to strangers — at this point Paul and his company were still strangers.
Look at all of the words that I had to use to describe what could be read in less than thirty seconds from the book of Acts itself. But I did not cover everything contained in these three verses. And something tells me that Luke did not ponder over this and re-write it a dozen or so times … like I had to do to even get my feeble words in half decent shape. Luke had help — words that came from the Holy Spirit … I claim no such thing.
1 Cor 2:13 ASV
It is essential that we meditate over all New Testament passages — their meaning is not always readily apparent just from a surface reading. Thanks for your patience — dave