Acts 16:15

ὁ οἶκος : as in the case of Cornelius, so here, the household is received as one into the fold of Christ, cf. Acts 16:33 and Acts 18:8. We cannot say whether children or not were included, although we may well ask with Bengel: “quis credat in tot familiis nullum fuisse infantem?” but nothing against infant baptism, which rests on a much more definite foundation, can be inferred from such cases, “Baptism,” Hastings' B.D., p. 242. Possibly Euodia and Syntyche and the other women, Philippians 4:2-3, may have been included in the familia of Lydia, who may have employed many slaves and freed women in her trade. εἰ κεκρίκατε : almost=since you have judged me, viz., by my baptism; or εἰ if instead of ἐπεὶ chosen with delicate modesty. μείνατε : this has been called the first instance of the hospitality which was afterwards so characteristic of the early Church, and enforced by the words of St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. John alike; 1 Peter 4:9; Romans 12:13; 1 Timothy 5:10, etc., 3 John 1:5, cf. Clement, Cor [294], i., 17, and see Westcott on Hebrews 13:2, Uhlhorn, Charity in the Early Church, pp. 91, 325, E.T.; “Hospitality” in B.D. 2, and Smith and Cheetham, Dict. of Christ. Antiq. Another trait is thus marked in the character of Lydia, the same generosity which afterwards no doubt made her one of the contributors to the Apostle's necessities, as a member of a Church which so frequently helped him. παρεβιάσατο : only used by St. Luke, once in Luke 24:29, in the same sense as here, cf. LXX, 1 Samuel 28:23, Genesis 19:9, 2 Kings 2:17; 2 Kings 5:16 (A omits). The word expresses urgency, but not compulsion (in classical Greek it is used of violent compulsion). The word may imply that Paul and his companions at first declined, cf. 2 Corinthians 11:9 (so Chrys., Bengel), although on occasion he accepted the aid of Christian friends, Philippians 4:15, and the hospitality of a Christian host, Romans 16:23; or it may refer to the urgent entreaty of Lydia in expression of her thankfulness.

[294] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.