# Lydia's Household Baptism



## blhowes (Sep 8, 2005)

When we read the passage about Lydia in Acts 16:13-15, there are certain things we know about Lydia and her household.

Things we know about Lydia:
1. She was a seller of purple and she lived in Thyratira.
2. She worshipped God (and therefore is Jewish or a Jewish proselyte?)
3. She heard Paul/Silas speak when she was by the river side.
4. God opened her heart, that she attend to the things Paul said.
5. She was baptized.
6. She besought Paul/Silas saying, "If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there".
7. Paul/Silas stayed at her house, therefore they judged her to be faithful to the Lord.

Things we know about the household:
1. They lived in Thyratira.
2. They were baptized.

From just the passage itself, though, its not clear why the household was baptized. It doesn't explicitly say that God had opened their hearts so that they believed, the way it does about Lydia. Can the passage about the jailor and his household a little later in Acts 16 be used as a template, if you will, to fill in the details in the story about Lydia? Is that warranted? Why or why not?

In the passage about the jailor, I think its safe to say the following about his household:

*All heard:* Act 16:32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. 
*All believed:* Act 16:34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
*All were baptized: *Act 16:33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. 

Can the same things be said about Lydia's household: all heard, all believed, and all were baptized? I think its true at least about two of the three.

*All were baptized:* Act 16:15 And when she was baptized, and her household...
*All heard:* Its my impression that Lydia's household was right there with her when she heard Paul speak and when God opened her heart that she could hear. If they were still in the house or somewhere else when Lydia was by the river side being baptized (with her household), they couldn't have been baptized with Lydia.There's no mention of them going anywhere to round up those in the household. 

The only thing I'm not sure of, that's not explicitly stated, is whether or not all in Lydia's household believed. Can we prove somehow that all in Lydia's household believed, or do we just assume so because of what's mentioned in the story about the jailor and his whole household believing?


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