Philip And The Eunuch

Philip And The Eunuch:

Acts 8:25-26-27, “And they (the apostles) when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.” Now we arrive where Philip will be supernaturally transported from the area of Samaria and Jerusalem down into the area of Gaza.

Acts 8:26, “And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, `Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.” Gaza would have been about a fifty mile walk from Jerusalem, and Philip was instructed by the Lord to go there.

Acts 8:27, “And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship.”

This event occurred some 7 years after the cross; I am going to assume the man was a Jew because he was reading the book of Isaiah. Paul had not yet become an apostle to the Gentiles, so again, I am going to assume 99.9% of all Gentles had no interest in the Old Testament. The Temple had not yet been destroyed; the law was still in force even to Christian Jews who maintained certain aspects of the law, as in circumcision, eating of food sacrificed to Idols, hanging around with Gentiles, they still were considered to be unclean, even by the apostle Peter. The eunuch was on his way home after worshiping in the temple.

The eunuch was sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. We know from the verses that he is reading Isaiah 53.

Acts 8:29, “Then the Spirit said unto Philip, `Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.” 

Obviously God is interested in this man’s situation, and so the Holy Spirit directs Philip to go to this particular man.

Acts 8:30, “And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, “Understandest thou what thou readest?” — “And he said, `How can I,…”  The Holy Spirit chose to show this Ethiopian the plan of Salvation using Philip to explain it to him.

Romans 10:17, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”

Acts 8:31, “And he (eunuch) said, `How can I, except some man should guide me?’ And he desired Philip that he would come and sit with him.”  The place of the scripture which he read in Isaiah was, `He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:”

Verse 33, “In his humiliation his judgment was taken away (this is a reference to Christ being crucified); and who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken from the earth. (He was put to death). And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, `I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?'”

Verse 35, “Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.

So let’s take a look at what was going on at this time. The New Testament, was not written yet. Philip couldn’t read from Matthew; Mark; Luke; John; Romans, etc.  The only thing Philip could use was the O.T, and so from the O.T., he preached unto him Jesus. What Philip did not do was preach Jesus crucified and resurrected from the dead.

Verse 36, “And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, `See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?”

The Jewish convert’s responsibility now, while still under Law was to repent; especially of the Crucifixion of their Messiah, and were to prove they had repented with water baptism. Philip had explained this to the eunuch, so the eunuch said, “Look, here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized?”

Verse 37, “And Philip said, `If thou believest (how?) with all thine heart, thou mayest.'”

Until this time, the eunuch had not heard what God had required for Salvation, but now after he is told, he believes it.

Verse 37, “And Philip said, `If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest (be baptized.)”

The Bible does not say the eunuch said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Who died for me, was buried and rose from the dead?” No, it does not speak of these things. So what did he believe? He said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” This is the same response Martha, and Peter gave Jesus, “But whom say ye that I am?’ And Simon Peter answered and said, `Thou art The Christ, the Son of the living God.’

Verse 38-39, “”And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him” just as John the Baptist baptized his converts. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he (the eunuch) went on his way rejoicing.”

Phillip Laspino www.seekfirstwisdom.com