LYDIA AND THE PHILIPPIAN JAILER
8. Luke, Paul and Silas arrived in the Gentile city of Philippi (called after Philip, the father of Alexander the Great). It was a Roman colony (Acts 16:12) which means its government was structured like Rome itself and was controlled by two magistrates. There by the river they found a prayer group—women. It would seem from this there was no Jewish synagogue in Philippi or Paul would have gone there. Verse 13 also implies that praying in some quiet place was the done thing among Jewesses and God-fearing foreigners. It was there they found Lydia. She was a business woman from Tyhyatira (famous for dyes and cloth) but she was also a lover of God. When Paul and his companions shared the gospel with her the Lord opened her heart (16:14) so that she received the gospel and was baptized (16:15). Having done so she said: "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there." Here was the foundation of the Philippian church which came to mean so very much to Paul in the years to follow. It began with one godly, prayerful, capable woman who took on her the name of Jesus Christ. (See the letter to the Philippians.)
9. On the way to the river each day, they met a girl who was controlled by an evil spirit. She was a slave-girl, used by her owners as a fortune-teller (16:16). Paul liberates her and the owners accuse them before the Roman magistrates as troublemaking Jews (16:19-21). They are beaten, thrown into the inner prison. In the night Paul and Silas praise God in song while the prisoners listen (16:25) and an earthquake occurs. The doors fly open and the stocks break (16:26). The jailer wakens, believes the prisoners must be gone and is about to kill himself when Paul stops him (16:27-28). Tremblingly he asks what he must do to be saved. Paul preaches the gospel to him and he and his family are baptized around one o'clock in the morning (16:30-33). After this he joyfully feeds the two men who brought him to saving faith in Jesus Christ.
SOME GREEKS AT ATHENS
10. At Lydia's house they assured the church they were well and left for Thessalonica where they preached Christ. Greeks were pleased to hear and receive the message (17:4) but the Jews were jealous and created trouble. They moved on to Beroea where the Jews were more open to truth and many turned to Christ along with God-fearing Greeks (17:11-12). Thessalonian Jews hurried to Beroea to make more trouble so Paul, the main object of attack, moved on to Athens while Silas and Timothy stayed in Beroea (17:13-15).
11. In Athens Paul notes how steeped these Greeks were in idolatry and was troubled in his spirit. He not only talked with Jews in the synagogue, he talked in the marketplaces with anyone who would listen to him (17:16-17). The philosophers put him on show at the "Speaker's Corner" (the Aeropagus) and Paul preaches to them (17:22-31). He does well until he mentions the resurrection of Jesus and they then mock. Still, there were some who believed even in that society which spent all its time talking and listening so they could talk some more (17:21).