Site Search Engine

The book of Acts

Philip and the Ethiopian

Chapter 8: 26 to 40

We have here the remarkable account of the conversion and baptism of a single person, and later we will have the same about two other people: Saul and Cornelius. Whereas the Ethiopian was a descendant of Ham, Saul, a Jew, of Sem, and Cornelius, a Roman, of Japheth, the three sons of Noah, we see that the Gospel was beginning to reach representatives of the entire human family.

After the great success of the ministry of Philip in Samaria, preaching the Gospel to large crowds, with many conversions, an angel of the Lord told him to get up and go toward a desert road between Jerusalem and Gaza, on the other side of Jerusalem.

It was an amazing message, but Philip realized that it was from God, and immediately went there. This reminds us that sometimes we are removed from major work to something that seems of little value. We may even be a little disappointed, but God's plans are perfect, and through obedience, we will bear much fruit in His work. As with Philip.

Going along that road, Philip saw the chariot of an important person: he was an Ethiopian eunuch, chief steward of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians (south of Egypt), overseer of all her treasures. No doubt, he feared and sought the God of Israel, as he had crossed a great distance to worship in Jerusalem. Eunuchs were not allowed by the Law of Moses to enter the precincts of the Temple (Deuteronomy 23:1) but in Isaiah 56:3-8 there is a prophecy favourable to eunuchs and foreigners like him.

This person was reading the prophecies of Isaiah, but without understanding to whom the text he had just read referred. It really is a difficult text for those who do not know the Gospel, and it still confuses unbelieving Jews. The Holy Spirit knew of his dilemma, and that was why He had brought Philip just at the right time. The Lord had said, “everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:8).

The Spirit told Philip to approach and accompany that carriage, and again he obeyed promptly. It is remarkable how Philip did not hesitate to obey God, nor discriminated the person’s race or nationality. The Ethiopian now would find what he was seeking. The Ethiopian was reading aloud, and Philip soon realized what it was. He saw the opportunity and asked if he understood what he was reading. The Ethiopian replied that he needed an explanation and invited Philip to sit beside him. It is good to note the lack of racial discrimination in this episode.

The passage he was reading, quoted here, is found in Isaiah 53:7 and 8, but it was the translation into Greek, called the "Septuagint", used at that time when Greek was the common language, and it differs slightly from our Bibles, translated from the Hebrew and Aramaic, where we read: “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of my people He was stricken.”

No doubt, he would have read what came before; this chapter makes a sublime description of the sufferings of the Messiah. The prophecy tells of a gentle and silent Person in the presence of His enemies, who was snatched from justice and from a righteous judgment, wounded and killed because of the transgressions of the people.

The Ethiopian was wondering who He was, and Philip soon pointed out that He was the Messiah (Christ), the name Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified in Jerusalem shortly before, and that He had fulfilled perfectly the prophecy that was being read. Probably the Ethiopian would have heard of Him during the days he had been in Jerusalem.

Let us look at the steps taken by Philip to bring the Gospel to this man:

• The Holy Spirit, who paved the way, guided him.  
• He began his explanation from the point where the man was in his reading.
• He explained how Jesus Christ fulfilled those prophecies.

In presenting the Gospel, we should start from the position in which the listener is. Paul, for example, when he began his preaching in Athens, started from the religion and idolatry involving the Athenians.

Philip had no doubt about the meaning of the messianic prophecy in Isaiah 53, and knew that Jesus was the Messiah. Those who do not want to believe, try to put doubt in its meaning, but the Lord Himself confirmed it (Luke 24:27). Jesus Christ is the centre of prophecy: prophets could not always understand, but now, after His coming and the events that happened and came after, all became clear (1 Peter 1:11, 2 Peter 1:19-21).

It is essential to base ourselves on the Word of God: Paul taught: "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). The Holy Spirit will make the Gospel heard by the sinner seeking salvation.

The Gospel lives and abides forever, unchanging, both in its content and in its effectiveness. Simon Peter, wonderfully used by God for the conversion of multitudes, makes that clear. He said in his first letter: "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because, 'All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away; but the word of the Lord endures for ever" (Isaiah 40: 6-8). "Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you” (1 Peter 1: 23-25).

No doubt, Philip had said something about baptism as a step following conversion, and the Ethiopian then asked if there were impediments to his baptism straight away, because as they went down the road there was water nearby. Philip imposed only one condition: that the Ethiopian believed "wholeheartedly".

Baptism is a public testimony of identification with Christ and His people. Nothing is said about others who were present, watching what was happening, but because of his high position, an entourage would have accompanied the Ethiopian. It is obvious that baptism was by immersion, because they went down into and came up out of the water. It was very simple: a believer baptized a new convert, without the presence of a church, or of one of the apostles, in a roadside pond in the middle of a desert.

Soon after, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip: more than the simple message of an angel, or person, it was a miraculous event. He disappeared from view of the Ethiopian, but this man was satisfied, and joyfully continued his journey. Philip had fulfilled his mission, and the Ethiopian was saved and would take the seed of the Gospel of Christ to his own land. It is understood that the church in Ethiopia became one of the largest in early times.

Philip found himself in Azotus, ancient Ashdod, a city where, in antiquity, the Anakim giants, descendants of Anak (Joshua 11:22), had taken refuge from Joshua. The Philistines, bitter enemies of the Israelites, were their descendants. Philip left and went to Caesarea, preaching the Gospel in the cities along the way.

He settled in Caesarea, where he became known as Philip the evangelist. He married and had four daughters who prophesied (Acts 21: 8-9).

 

R David Jones    

 

 

 

 

 

 

26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, "Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is desert.

27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship,

 

 

 

 

s8 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet.
Act 8:

 

 

Philip, "Go near and overtake this chariot."
30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"

 

 

 

31 And he said, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.
32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this: "HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO THE SLAUGHTER; AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT, SO HE OPENED NOT HIS MOUTH.
Act 8:33 IN HIS HUMILIATION HIS JUSTICE WAS TAKEN AWAY, AND WHO WILL DECLARE HIS GENERATION? FOR HIS LIFE IS TAKEN FROM THE EARTH."

 

 

34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, "I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?"

 

35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?"
37 Then Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.

 

39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.

 

 

40 But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.

Acts chapter 8:26 to 40