What does "the Lord opened her heart" (Acts 16:14) mean, according to Calvinists?
Upvote:0
God drew Lydia's attention to Paul's exhortation.
On the basis of the preaching of the gospel message, Lydia believed.
I find no exegetical basis for the Calvinistic view that she was regenerated before she believed.
The text cannot speak out of silence.
Upvote:4
Calvinists consistently hold that Lydia, at the time Paul met her, followed the Jewish religion and was not a believer in Christ. But then God worked in her heart so that she would respond to Paul's teaching of the gospel.
At first, in "time frame 1," as you call it, Lydia "was a Jewess" (Calvin) or "a proselyte to the Jewish faith" (Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown). Whether she is Jew or Gentile is rather uncertain, says John Gill, as her name doesn't clearly indicate her ancestry. Either way, however, she worshiped "the true God, the God of Israel" (Gill).
However, Gill continues, that even in this state, her heart "was shut and barred, with the bars of ignorance, hardness, and unbelief." Calvin notes that Luke "commended her godliness" yet shows "that she could not comprehend the doctrine of the gospel, save only through the illumination of the Spirit."
Thus Calvinists argue that she was not saved in "time frame 1," as you suggest, and instead that in "time frame 2," "the Lord opens [her] heart to hear the word which is preached" (Geneva Study Bible). This passage is seen as evidence for the distinction between the "inward call" of God and the "external call" of the preacher. Calvin writes:
We see that not faith alone, but all understanding and knowledge of spiritual things, is the peculiar gift of God, and that the ministers do no good by teaching and speaking unless the inward calling of God be thereunto added.
And in reference to Lydia in verse 14, the Reformation Study Bible (2015) states:
Divine illumination and persuasion is necessary for the heart blinded by sin to respond to the gospel. This effectual call of God ensures that all who have been chosen by God will believe.
More post
- 📝 How do Jehovah's Witnesses pay obeisance to Jesus in their daily lives?
- 📝 Was there a time before the East-West schism where heretics outnumbered Catholics?
- 📝 What is the Biblical Basis of a "water canopy", and is there scientific evidence to support it?
- 📝 Did Jesus ever tell jokes or use humor?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for the belief that the Jews rejected their king?
- 📝 Who is Lillith?
- 📝 When an offense has been committed, is it OK to talk to the other person through an intermediary or should it be direct?
- 📝 How does societal consecration to Mary differ from individual consecration?
- 📝 Was anyone making a theological point by changing the ending of Jesus Christ Superstar?
- 📝 From where does the teaching on women in ministry come?
- 📝 According to Catholicism, how did Jesus go in secret (disguise) to the Feast of Tabernacles?
- 📝 Does Irenaeus indicate that people were raised from the dead in the 2nd century?
- 📝 According to the penal substitutionary atonement view, why was Jesus' punishment not eternal?
- 📝 What tribe was Joshua from?
- 📝 In Christ's time the Jews believed in Purgatory and still do. Why don't Protestants?
- 📝 What are the arguments in favour of the 'beginning' at John 1:1 being the new beginning?
- 📝 What rationale do KJV-1611-Only give for not recognizing the apocryphal books of that version?
- 📝 What was St Paul's age at the time of his conversion and what was his age when he died?
- 📝 Is there scriptural basis for spiritual 'growth'?
- 📝 Is there a word for the beliefs of Baptists?
- 📝 Who are the remaining Apostolic Succession lineages that are non-Rebiban Succession?
- 📝 Apart from any claim related to antiquity, does the modern Roman Catholic Church claim to be ‘The Body of Christ'?
- 📝 Does Eucharistic Adoration fulfill the Obligation of Penance required of all Catholics on Fridays throughout the year?
- 📝 Where does God draw the line when it comes to Sin?
- 📝 Did Pelagius believe in "faith alone"?
- 📝 How do Christians in support of gay marriage interpret anti-gay Bible verses?
- 📝 From a Catholic perspective, what do family relationships look like in heaven?
- 📝 Was Jesus having the beatific vision when He said: "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?"
- 📝 If Adam and Eve didn't know good from evil, how can we say they sinned (according to Roman Catholicism)?
- 📝 Freemasons and Christains
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What does "the Lord opened her heart" (Acts 16:14) mean, according to Calvinists?
- 📝 What does "the Holy Spirit and us" mean in Acts 15:28, according to Catholicism?
- 📝 What does John 3:16 mean according to Calvinism?
- 📝 According to Jehovah’s Witnesses what does the name Immanuel mean in light of their belief that Jesus is a created being and not God?
- 📝 According to Roman Catholicism, what does "proceeds' mean in the Nicene Creed?
- 📝 When the Pope says "We commend to the Lord the souls..." what does it mean exactly? It it a symbolic gesture, a prayer, something else?
- 📝 According to Catholic Church, what does it mean to worship God in spirit and truth?
- 📝 According to Biblical Unitarians, what does it mean for Jesus to be the Son of God?
- 📝 According to Catholicism what does it mean for every relationship in heaven to be perfect and fulfilling?
- 📝 What does "God is just" mean according to Calvinists?
- 📝 What does it really mean [not able not to sin] according to Augustine?
- 📝 According to Roman Catholicism, Mary loved God of her own free will. Does her love mean less to God because grace protected her from sin?
- 📝 1 John 3:20 what does it mean "He knows everything" according to Calvinist Single Predestination?
- 📝 According to the Young Earth Creationism, what does it mean Genesis 1:14 and 18?
- 📝 According to the Young Earth Creationism, why there is still the darkness after God created the light and what does it mean Gen 1:4?
- 📝 According to Roman Catholic doctrine, why does Mary refer to God as her Savior if she was born without sin?
- 📝 What does it mean that Satan is "god of this world"?
- 📝 What does it mean that Jesus fulfilled the law but did not abolish it?
- 📝 What does Jesus mean by saying, "Why do you call me good?"
- 📝 What exactly does it mean that Jesus Christ is the son of God?
- 📝 What does "scripture" mean in NT writing?
- 📝 What does it mean that Jesus was the "second Adam"?
- 📝 What does it mean to "Bless the LORD"?
- 📝 What does CS Lewis mean by True Myth?
- 📝 What does it mean to interpret the Bible literally?
- 📝 In Catholicism, what does it mean for a priest to bless an object or person?
- 📝 What does it mean to "be saved"
- 📝 What does Jesus mean by "this generation" and "all these things" in Mark 13:30
- 📝 What does Paul mean by "Love believes all things?"
- 📝 What does "gates of hell" mean in Matthew 16:18?