Twelve Extraordinary Women by John MacArthur
Week 13: Chapter 12 — Lydia: A Businesswoman Who Opened Her Heart and Home
Read Chapter 12 of Twelve Extraordinary Women. Primary passages: Acts 16:11–15, 40.
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Lydia appears briefly in Acts, but her brief appearance marks one of the most significant moments in the history of Western Christianity — and MacArthur uses her story to show what it looks like when God opens a heart and a life opens in response.
Discussion Questions
8 questions1.Lydia was a seller of purple cloth from Thyatira — a businesswoman of apparent means and social standing. MacArthur notes that she was already a worshipper of God (a "God-fearer") before Paul arrived. How does her prior seeking shape the way you think about God's preparatory work in people's lives before they ever hear the gospel?
2.Acts 16:14 says that "the Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message." MacArthur emphasizes the divine initiative in Lydia's conversion — it was not her intelligence or her spiritual openness that made the difference, but God's sovereign work. How does this description of conversion challenge self-congratulatory accounts of "deciding for Christ"?
3.Paul had come to Philippi following a vision of a "man from Macedonia" calling for help (Acts 16:9) — and the first convert was a woman. MacArthur uses this to reflect on the unpredictability of God's work and the gap between our expectations and His methods. Where have you seen God work in ways that surprised your expectations?
a.What does it say about God's character that He sent Paul to Macedonia for a small prayer meeting by a river?
b.What does Lydia's response — immediate baptism and immediate hospitality — suggest about the nature of genuine conversion?
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