Acts 16:14
And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled. A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
Lawrence Vance comments: “...God opening Lydia’s heart didn’t guarantee her salvation any more than all Gentiles being saved because God ‘opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles’ (Acts 14:27).” (The Other Side of Calvinism, p.505)
To the Arminian, God opens a person’s heart in order that they may make a Free Will, voluntary choice to receive Him. Conversely, to Calvinism, God swaps out the old stony heart for a fleshly new heart, by means of an involuntary regeneration, so that they may receive Him. In any case, to the Calvinist, anyone whose heart has gets opened by God, will unfailingly come to Him, on the basis that all whom the Father has eternally given to the Son, will come to Him. (John 6:37) I list that verse reference, only to show what verse a Calvinist believes about it.
Calvinist, James White, comments: “If we have libertarian free will, why would God have to open Lydia’s heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul? Is that not a violation of ‘free will’? And if God can open Lydia’s heart, why does He not open every person’s heart in the same way? Shouldn’t the text say that she opened her own heart?” (Debating Calvinism, p.204, emphasis mine)
Maybe God opened her heart so that she could understand. How is it a violation of her free will, to help her understand something? Now if God made her choice for her, only then could you suggest that her will was violated. As for how God works with others, it is not clear. But we do know from John 16:8, that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of its sin, and the purpose for that is evangelical in nature, because what would be the point in showing one their sin debt, if one does not also point out the hope of being delivered from it? And of course, none of this requires that Lydia open her own heart. Obviously, this passage states that God is doing that, and for the purposes of enabling her to understand the Gospel.
White continues: “God had to take out that heart of stone and put in Lydia a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) so that she would respond to the message of the Cross.” (The Potter’s Freedom, p.289, emphasis mine)
This is pulled completely out of thin air. She was already a worshiper of God. So it is not clear what kind of “heart of stone” a worshiper of God would already possess. Nevertheless, notice also, that whereas Calvinists read “opened,” they see “take out.” A heart-transplant theory is absent from the text.
John Calvin writes: “If Lydia’s mind had not been opened, Paul’s preaching would have been mere words.” (Acts: Calvin, The Crossway Classic Commentaries, pp.278-279, emphasis mine)
He doesn’t know that. Calvinists seize upon phrases and assume it as support for their pet theology.
The Holy Spirit works with the Gospel, in opening hearts and convicting hearts, which is why the Gospel is said to be “spirit and life” (John 6:63) and “living and active.” (Hebrews 4:12) 1st Peter 1:23 teaches that we are made born again “through” the imperishable seed of the Word of God. The fact that the Holy Spirit’s work within the heart of man is made evident by what Jesus told Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus: “‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’” (Acts 26:14) And yet he had been kicking against what Calvinism would otherwise call Irresistible Grace. That which the Holy Spirit does within the heart of the lost is both resistible and universal in scope. The Holy Spirit convicts “the world” of its sin. (John 16:8)
Calvin continues: “Luke shows that we cannot obtain anything merely by hearing the Word, without having the Spirit’s grace; and the Spirit is given to us not to bring contempt of the Word, but to instill confidence in it into our minds and write it on our hearts. If you ask why God only opened one woman’s heart, we must go back to the principle that all those who are preordained to life believe. The fear of God, which in Lydia preceded the clear knowledge of Christ, is also a fruit of election.” (Acts: Calvin, The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.279, emphasis mine)
In other words, you cannot obtain anything from merely the Bible. You also need Irresistible Grace. That’s Calvinism in the raw. Calvinists don’t usually like to spell it out like that. Nevertheless, Calvin misquotes Acts 13:48 on at least two levels. It does not say preordained, and it does not lay out a principle that all who are Calvinistically elect will believe. If read carefully, the Calvinist interpretation of Acts 13:48 would mean that there are no second chances to hear and believe the Gospel, and so if you apply that as a principle, then you must infer that there are no second chances, period. Secondly, who said that only one woman’s heart was opened to respond, as if others were passed over, via Preterition style? Calvinists take a lot of liberties in interpreting Scripture.
Question: What does it mean that God “opened” her heart?
Answer: God enabled her to make a positive response to the Gospel. There is no indication that it was in any way, irresistible. And remember, in whatever way that God “opened her heart,” she was already a “worshiper of God.” It seems that sometimes Calvinists miss that perspective, when customarily engaging in proof-texting. Who knows; perhaps God had simply given her an understanding, by the manner in which the Gospel was preached to her. Acts 14:1 states: “In Iconium they entered the synagogue of the Jews together, and spoke in such a manner that a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of Greeks.”
