Was Lydia Saved By Baptism?

Gary: Now our final segment, Understanding the Scriptures, and we resume our excursion through the Book of Acts. Here again are Dave and Tom.

Tom: This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment. We’re in the Book of Acts, now in Acts:16:13And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
See All..., which I’ll read: “And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.”

Dave: That’s interesting, Tom. Who are these women? It doesn’t tell us. They are not Christians at this point. They may not have heard about Jesus and His crucifixion up there in Jerusalem.

Tom: Well, they needed help, because they got together for prayer. That’s interesting.

Dave: Right. I think they have adopted Judaism, and they are religious. I mean, they’re devout, and they come for prayer. They are talking to God, they think, and they recognize their need, as you said. 

Tom: Well, it says, verse 14, “And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.”

Dave: Yeah. So these are things she’s never heard before. All she knows is, like Cornelius back in chapter 10, there’s a God out there who created this universe, and she wants to know Him. And she is reverent before Him, and prays to Him. These ladies don’t have a church. They’re just by the riverside. Interesting that it was women! The men apparently, maybe their husbands, disdained this “religious folly,” maybe that’s what they would call it. I don’t know. It doesn’t give us those details.

Tom: Mm-hmm. But it says, “she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.” So she must have believed the gospel. I mean, there’s no doubt he presented the gospel. 

And then it says, verse 15, “And when she was baptized,” obviously she had to believe…

Dave: Right.

Tom: …before 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.”

Dave: Now, Tom, there’s several things of note here in these verses. It says, “whose heart the Lord opened.” The Calvinists say, “You see? She was one of the elect. God opened some hearts…”

Tom: Irresistible grace. God’s work here, right?

Dave: Yeah, God opens some hearts, He doesn’t open all hearts. Tom, we’ve been over that a number of times. There are a few verses like that, but when you look at the Bible as a whole, you recognize what it means. The Lord is working in her heart. He has been working in her heart, but He doesn’t make her believe. But He is helping her. She still must believe, and…

Tom: She could have resisted, as opposed to it being irresistible.

Dave: Of course. Dozens and dozens of times the Bible talks about the individual’s faith. First Peter 1: “The trial of your faith being much more precious than gold that perisheth,” okay? The Bible says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. He that believeth…” you know, and so forth. So to say, well, God causes certain ones to believe and He lets the other ones…He doesn’t cause them to believe, and leaves them in total depravity, doomed for hell. Tom, the Bible just doesn’t support that. 

But it does tell us, I mean, the Lord, I believe the Lord is working in every heart—1 Timothy:2:4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
See All..., remember? “Who would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” And if you went to chapter 4:10, it says, “He is the savior of all men, especially of those who believe.” So He wants everybody to be saved, and I believe that He is working to open every heart. And without that, Tom, and we acknowledge that—without the Holy Spirit drawing us, without the Father drawing us, we could not be saved.

But the Scripture says, “Draw us, and we will run after thee.” He draws us, but we must come. So we want to at least mention that part of this verse, “she attended unto the things that were spoken of Paul.” She’s giving conscious…she is making a conscious judgment of what Paul is saying. She’s listening carefully and weighing his words. 

“She attended unto the things that were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household…” There are people who teach household baptism. If Dad gets saved and gets baptized, then you baptize all the others, all the children, and so forth, because he’s the head of the household. That’s not what it says. And if we went to…well, farther, a little later on in chapter 16, we’ll be there shortly. Notice what it says…

Tom: You have the Philippian jailer. 

Dave: …you get the same picture, right. It says, verse 31, and this is Paul and Silas, they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Well, he doesn’t mean if you believe that everybody in your house is saved, and […] I guess would say even the dogs and cats, because he’s talking about… And, Tom, I’ll never forget listening to a tape by Kenneth Copeland. I had to listen to it, I think, three times. I can still remember where I was sitting in my yard, because he was telling you how to get your animals saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit so that they could come to heaven. No, it’s talking about all those who are human beings who have a conscious will to exercise, who can believe and disbelieve.

But anyway, “thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” It’s not saying if you get saved, then all your house is saved. Notice what it says in the next verse: “And they spake unto him the Word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.” So there weren’t any infants in this house, because they preached the gospel to them. You get the same thing back in chapter 10, in the household of Cornelius—verse 33: Cornelius is speaking, and he says, “Immediately therefore I sent to thee, and thou hast well done, that thou art come. Now therefore, are we all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.” I don’t think if he’s holding a baby in his arms he would say, “Oh, we’re all here to hear the Word of the Lord.” 

So once again, they all get saved, but they all get saved by hearing the Word. This is not something that God causes to happen to them without their conscious belief and assent.

Tom: Well, Dave, here’s verse 16, an interesting contrast to Lydia, who just came to Christ. Verse 16 says, “And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel [that is, a young woman] possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: the same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.”

Dave: Very interesting passage, Tom. We are not going to accept the endorsement of the world. We’re not going to accept the endorsement of unbelievers.

Tom: Especially of demons!

Dave: And in this case, that’s exactly what it was. But the people didn’t know that.

Tom: Right.

Dave: Well, this lady was very popular. I mean, she was a fortune teller. Some of the things she said came true. “Well then, wow! We get her on our side, then look, they’ll believe in Jesus!” Now you’ve got a mixture. So, “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.”

So how are we going to, like some of our leading evangelicals, I would still call them that—Chuck Colson, for example, and J. I. Packer, and Bill Bright even…

Tom: Who’s now with the Lord.

Dave: Right, and others, “Well, we’re going to join with the Catholics to proclaim the gospel to the world.” Well, how are you going to join with the Catholics when they preach a false gospel? I’m not Catholic bashing, but they say Jesus didn’t finish the work on the cross. You’ve got to go to Mass, you’ve got to ingest Him into your stomach, you’ve got to follow the rules of the church, and they’ve got so much that is not biblical, they’ve changed the gospel. Now, you can’t do that. So this is a pretty clear picture that we must not associate with those who are not preaching the same gospel that we are, even though they may endorse the gospel we preach.