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Scripture Guide

Acts 16:9-15

Author

William Rowley

Keywords (15)

Scripture

Acts 16:9-15

Updated

Jul 1, 2025

Preaching Commentary

Context

This week’s reading from Acts recounts the call to Paul on his second missionary journey to go to Macedonia and his encounter with Lydia in Philippi.

Textual Context

The structure of the Book of Acts can be read in the last words of Jesus in the first chapter (Acts 1:8). The disciples (now apostles) are to be witnesses in Jerusalem (1-8:3), Judea and Samaria (8:4-12:25), and to the ends of the earth (12:26-28:31). We are now in that last part of the book.

The last third of Acts is mostly concerned with the missionary journeys of Paul. Having parted ways with Barnabas, Paul and Silas have picked up Timothy at Lystra, they ended up in Troas, where we pick up the story.

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The shells of the sea snails Bolinus brandaris, the origin of the expensive purple dye in the Mediterranean used in Lydia of Thyatira’s wares.

Photo by Holger Crisp. Creative Commons License, Wikimedia Commons

Author

William Rowley

William Rowley (MA, Talbot School of Theology; PhD, University of Rochester) is a freelance editor and administrative assistant for The Pastor's Workshop. He is involved in leadership at his local church and is an occasional lay preacher. His theological background is equal parts evangelical and anglican.

He is broadly interested in matters at the intersection of faith and reason. He has a Master's degree from Talbot School of Theology and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Rochester. His specializations in philosophy are epistemology (the theory of knowledge), early modern philosophy, and philosophy of religion/philosophical theology. He dabbles in ethics. William was privileged to teach philosophy, writing, and logic to undergraduates for six years in the Rochester area.

William now works for the Pastor’s Workshop on a freelance basis. He assists with customer service, marketing, design, curation, planning, and editing content. He sometimes creates content for the site, primarily in his areas of theological interest, which include Ancient Near Eastern history, culture, and Old Testament interpretation, New Testament interpretation, literary and poetic analysis of scripture, and philosophical perspectives on the Bible and theology. His ministry passions are fostering a love and reverence for scripture and increasing space within churches for the life of the mind.

William also is available as a freelance editor and writer. As an editor, he has worked on long and short-form, from blog posts to full-length published books. As an author, he has experience and expertise to work on theological, philosophical, and literary topics. Contact him through LinkedIn.

Outside of his professional life, William lives in the New Haven area in Connecticut, with his wife and two dogs.