Early Christian Disciples in Acts, Part 2

Prominent Women in the Book of Acts

And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region. But the Jews incited the devout women of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. (Acts 13:49,50)

Therefore many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men. (Acts 17:12)

Luke spends a great deal of time talking about women in both his Gospel and in the book of Acts. For the last several posts we have discussed mothers, sisters, disciples, widows, servants, evangelists, prophets, and teachers. These women have been from both Jewish and Gentile backgrounds. All who came to believe were filled with the same Holy Spirit as the men at Pentecost. All of the women were expected to follow and serve Jesus Christ as part of the one body of Christ. This was a remarkable change from the Jewish system that only allowed men to serve.

The women also came from all walks of life. Believers could be rich or poor, slave or free, prominent or “lower-class”. We already saw that some women of means, such as Joanna (Luke 8:3), used their wealth to support Jesus and the disciples. Women in the Greek culture would have the same opportunities to respond to the Gospel. As we see in the two verses quoted above, some could be incited to reject or even persecute Christians. Many others would have their hearts opened by the Holy Spirit and become believers and be welcomed into the Church.

So it was not wealth or social class that determined whether or not a woman came into the Kingdom of God – it was faith in Jesus alone.

This week we will look at the stories of three prominent women. One woman will believe and be saved; the other two will reject the Gospel.

But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. (Acts 17:34).

Damaris lived in Athens and was probably one of the Hetairai, a highly intellectual class of women. These women were associated with judges, statesmen, and philosophers. This may have been the reason that she was on Mars Hill when Paul was giving his sermon on Jesus; she was a part of the group of philosophers who were questioning Paul.

Paul had been speaking to the philosophers about God. They had some deep questions for him. Most of them were only interested in visiting Athens “to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new” (Acts 17:21). Paul’s Gospel was a curiosity to them. Most went away sneering. Some people’s hearts received the Gospel that day including Dionysius and Damaris.

Here is a woman who was not only prominent, but also highly respected for her intellect. In Rome in those days wealthy women had a lot of freedom and could even attain public office. They were in a better position than in the Greek or Jewish cultures. We do not know what became of Damaris, but surely her new faith would have had some influence in the philosophical and governmental circles of Rome. What a testimony to the Gospel that a woman of wealth and position would be humble enough to accept Christ.

Luke tells us about two other prominent women who did not believe Paul’s sermons – Drusilla and Bernice. These women were both granddaughters of Herod the Great. Their father was Herod Antipas, who had John the Baptist beheaded at the request of his wife Herodias. This family had a long line of people who did not honor God.

As Jews these women should have already known about the Messiah, thereby having an advantage over Damaris – a Greek. But just as social position did not matter when it came to being open to the Gospel, religious background was no guarantee of whether or not a woman would come to the faith. Let’s look at their remarkable stories.

But some days later Felix arrived with Drusilla, his wife who was a Jewess, and sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. (Acts 24:24)

In the Bible we find out that Drusilla was the wife of Felix, the Roman governor of Judea. But historians tell us much more about Drusilla. She had originally married King Aziz of Emesa at age 15. Later she married Felix without bothering to get a divorce. Felix, an ex-slave, was a brutal man. He got his wealth extorting money from prisoners.

Drusilla was about twenty years old at the time that Paul was tried before Felix. We can speculate that she must have heard about Paul. Everyone in Caesarea would have heard about Jesus and many would have known who Paul was. We have already seen that some prominent women knew all about Jesus and Paul (Acts 13:49,50). We also know that Joanna the wife of Chusa was a believer. Chusa was Herod’s steward. It was common in those days for the wives of officials to be part of the court. Did Joanna tell Drusilla and Bernice about the Lord? It’s an interesting thought.

In any event, Drusilla was curious enough to hear Paul speak that she was present when Paul came before Felix. One wonders what she was thinking when Paul spoke of “righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come” (Acts 24:25). Did her conscience even prick her a little bit? What an opportunity she had to repent of her sins and accept Christ. Perhaps she was too haughty to ask for forgiveness and too young to care about a future judgment.

Her husband became frightened at Paul’s words and told Paul to go away for the time being. Two years passed. We don’t know how many more times Paul or even Luke may have been able to witness to Drusilla and Felix. The couple moved on without having come to faith.

About twenty years later Drusilla was near Pompeii when Mount Vesuvius erupted. We won’t know until we get to Heaven if Paul’s words came back to her as she was perishing in the disaster. We can only hope that she cried out to God for mercy and forgiveness.

Now when several days had elapsed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and paid their respects to Festus. … So on the next day when Agrippa came together with Bernice amid great pomp, and entered the auditorium accompanied by the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. … The king stood up and the governor and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them,” (Acts 25:13, 23; 26:30).

Bernice was Drusilla’s sister. These two women did not get along. Bernice also was married to royalty – King Agrippa.

After Felix and Drusilla left Caesarea, Festus governed Judea. Felix had left Paul in prison hoping for some bribe money. Festus left Paul imprisoned in order to please the Jews who were still trying to get Paul convicted and executed. Festus decided to get the opinion of King Agrippa. Agrippa and Bernice desired to hear Paul for themselves.

Drusilla was a bigamist, but Bernice really outdid her sister for immorality. Bernice had an incestuous relationship with her brother Agrippa. She had married a man named Marcus and then her uncle Herod, king of Chalcis. Bernice was consort to Agrippa for some years then left him to marry Ptolemy, king of Cilicia. She returned to her brother as his mistress for a while and then eventually had affairs with Vespasian and his son Titus, two emperors of Rome.

She must have been quite beautiful and charming having had so many relationships with kings and emperors, even her own brother. We can imagine how arrogant and disdainful she must have been when Paul spoke.

Agrippa and Bernice and many courtiers listened to Paul. Paul was a very persuasive speaker but neither Agrippa nor Bernice became believers in Christ. Agrippa did admit that Paul had done nothing worthy of imprisonment, but he went away leaving Paul in prison.

Bernice left to go her way scandalizing all of the Roman Empire with her behavior.

Why does Luke tell us about these women? He could have only mentioned Paul’s trials before governors and the king and left out the names of their wives. Perhaps one point he was making was that God changes the hearts and the lives of those who are ready to ask for forgiveness. Perhaps Luke was giving us the contrast to the godly Joanna and Damaris.

All through the Gospels and Acts we see people from all walks of life coming to Christ even the very rich and prominent. Jesus died for His whole church – His single body in which “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man; there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)