Summary
Purple and White
When Paul crossed into Macedonia in answer to the night vision Acts 16:9-10, he came at last to Philippi, a leading Roman colony. His ordinary practice was to begin in the synagogue, but Philippi had too few Jews to support one. So on the Sabbath he went outside the city gate to the river, where Jewish believers customarily gathered for prayer when no synagogue existed Acts 16:13. There, among a group of women, the gospel found Lydia.
Lydia is described as "a worshiper of God" — the same phrase used of Cornelius in Acts 10. The term names a Gentile who had come to believe in the God of Israel but had not yet become a full proselyte to Judaism. She was from Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth, a trade that marked her as a woman of means, since the dye that produced purple was extraordinarily costly. To wear purple, or to sell it, was to move in expensive company.
The decisive moment in the account is not Lydia's commerce but the quiet phrase, "The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul" Acts 16:14. Faith is God's work. He opens; the hearer believes. And the very next verse records that "she and her household were baptized" Acts 16:15. The Greek word for "household" includes everyone under her roof — adults, children, even infants. Texts like this one stand among the scriptural witnesses that infant baptism is the Lord's gift, not a later invention of the church.
In baptism Lydia received a garment far more costly than any purple she had ever sold. Revelation pictures the redeemed standing before the throne and the Lamb "robed in white" (Revelation 7:9; see also Revelation 3:4-5). That white robe is the perfect righteousness of Christ Himself, given to sinners through the water and the Word. As Paul writes, "As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" Galatians 3:27. Lydia's purple was bought with a great price, but her white robe was paid for with the red blood of Jesus, winning forgiveness and life eternal for her, her household, and for us.
Baptism, then, is the last judgment in miniature. God has already decided about the baptized: "You are mine, and I am not letting you go." Every gift is applied — forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, adoption into the family, the gift of faith — and the believer is wrapped in the righteous garment that Christ will see on the Last Day.
That gift naturally overflows into service. As soon as Lydia was baptized, she pressed Paul and his companions to come and stay at her home, and "she prevailed upon us" Acts 16:15. Her hospitality was simply the joy of her baptism, expressed in welcome and care for others. The white garment always reflects itself in service — not to earn anything, but because what God has freely given cannot help but shine outward. Purple is a fine color, but the white garment given in Christ is the one that truly looks good on the baptized. For more on this account, see "Purple and White" 9-29-19.
Video citations
- "Purple and White" 9-29-19 — Courtney Bennett's, a delightful lady that was part of the congregation that I served when I was in Washington. Courtney had a flare about her, and she also had a very distinctive voice. It had a…