What does Acts 16:15 mean?

Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke have arrived in the Roman outpost of Philippi on the border of Macedonia and Greece. It is a sizeable city with one noticeable lack: there is no synagogue. Typically, Paul plants a church in a new city by preaching in the local synagogue. There, he would recruit Jews and God-fearing Gentiles who accept that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. Philippi, apparently, doesn't have the ten Jewish worshippers required to maintain an official synagogue. So, the team goes to the river where people often gather to pray. They find a group of women, including a well-to-do merchant from Thyatira named Lydia.

Lydia is a bit of a mystery to us. She is only mentioned here, in the beginning of the team's stay in Philippi, and at the end (Acts 16:40). She is the first recorded convert in Europe, although she is from Asia, the province in western modern-day Asia Minor where the Holy Spirit has recently told Paul not to teach (Acts 16:6).

Macedonian women were more independent than others in the Roman Empire. In addition, Roman law gave freeborn women with three children and freedwomen with four children additional legal privileges. We know nothing about Lydia's family, just that she is generous and passes on that generous spirit to the church that started in her home (Philippians 4:15–16). When Paul was debating where to go, the Holy Spirit sent a vision of a man beckoning him to Macedonia (Acts 16:9). When they arrive, the first person to come to a saving relationship with Jesus—who is hand-picked by the Holy Spirit—is a woman. Women are equally included in God's kingdom, and subtle details such as these help emphasize that point.