Jews in the Roman world, see esp. Reinach, Textes . . . relatifs au Fudaisme, Paris, 1895.) Lydia, a seller of purple dyed garments, a native of Thyatira, famous for its dyeing trade, became the nucleus of a Christian congregation. She was already a God-fearer (σεβομένη τὸν Θεόν, see Schiirer, Fewish People, ii., 2, p. 314). As the result of Paul’s preaching she and her household were baptised, and the Apostle, with his companions, accepted her hospitality (see esp. A. xvi. 15). This spirit of generosity was to become characteristic of the Church at Philippi and of early Christian life as a whole.
It is needless to dwell on the sharp crisis through which Paul and Silas had to pass. The arrest, the illegal flogging (cf. Cic., in Verr., ν., 66: facinus est vincirt civem Romanum, scelus verberari, prope parricidium necart), the extraordinary deliverance, the repent- ance, conversion and baptism of the jailor, the release in presence of the panic-stricken magistrates,—all these experiences must have made a deep impression on the minds of the Philippians. Already there were brethren there (A. xvi. 40), whom they exhorted as they were on the point of leaving Philippi for Thessalonica. Strangely enough, the “we” introduced at A. xvi. 10 ceases with ch. xvi., only to be resumed at ch. xx. 6, when Paul leaves Philippi after another visit. Perhaps it is not unreasonable to believe with Ramsay (St. Paul the Traveller, p. 219) that Luke was left behind at Philippi to extend and consoli- date the good work which had been done. In any case the Church must have made rapid progress. For Paul had scarcely left Mace- donia when the Philippian Christians began to minister to his needs. From that time onwards they occupy a chief place in his affections.
It is difficult to point to anything like fixed data as regards the component parts of the Church at Philippi. Schinz in his important dissertation, Die christliche Gemeinde zu Philippi (Ziirich, 1837), brings forward many arguments to prove that it was essentially a heathen-Christian community (see esp. p. 57 ff.). Certainly much, both in the Epistle and in the narrative of its founding, goes to confirm this opinion. As we have seen, it was a proselyte, a woman of Asiatic birth, who took the leading place in the early fortunes of this Church. Jews seem to have been a negligeable quantity at Philippi, for, apparently, there was no synagogue in the town. From the evidence of the Epistle, devoted women of heathen extraction (as their names show, see ch. iv. 2) stood in the forefront of Christian work. This was not peculiar to Philippi. Nothing is more remark- able than the place taken by women in the Apostolic Church as a whole. The Christian faith was their true emancipation. It gave
scope for their most characteristic activities (see an interesting sum- VOL, III. 26