The Greek text says:
And on the Sabbath we came out of the city, by the river where it was thought to be prayer, and sitting [down] we spoke to the women coming. And some woman by the name of Lydia, a purple seller [from] Thyatira who feared God she was listening. And the Lord opened up her heart to [pay] attention to what was said by Paul, so that she was baptized, and her household [also]. She begged saying: If you judged me to be faithful unto the Lord [by?] coming into my house, [then] stay. And she constrained us.
We see that Lydia ALREADY feared (worshiped) God and that she was ALREADY “listening”. “And [so] God opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.”
“Akouo” (I listen/hear) can also be understood to mean, “obey”. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; HEAR YE HIM.” (Mt 17:5.) In Lydia’s case this may be just the hearing of words, though an argument can also be made for obedience, in which case, she was already obedient, that is, faithful, because she was already a worshiper of God, and she was actively, obediently “listening”. Thus, it should be no surprise that she was “judged faithful”.
This verse does not say God MADE her BELIEVE. It says He MADE HER PAY ATTENTION to what Paul was saying. God did this because she was already a believer in God’s word, she already feared God, she was already a “listener”, and when God drew her attention to Paul’s words, SHE believed in Christ.
“And he said unto them, TAKE HEED WHAT YE HEAR: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and UNTO YOU THAT HEAR SHALL MORE BE GIVEN.” (Mark 4:24, KJV.)
“Everyone who has HEARD and LEARNED from the Father comes to me.” (John 6:45b)
Lydia took heed, she already feared God, she had already heard and learned from the Father, consequently more was given, and she was therefore drawn to Christ through the preaching of the apostle, the sent-one.
A common argument is that the phrase, “…a worshipper of God…” is merely a Hebraism meaning that Lydia was a Jewish convert. Nevertheless, if this phrase is indeed an idiom that means "a Gentile convert to Judaism" (I acknowledge that it could be), that doesn't change my argument. She was ALREADY listening, and this is the reason that God "opened her heart".
On Predestination - II Thessalonians 2:13 - Chosen From the Beginning
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