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. 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, 28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot
read Esaias the prophet. 29 Then the
Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. 30 And Philip ran thither to him, and
heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou
readest? 31 And he said, How can I,
except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up
and sit with him. 32 The place of the
scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and
like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: 33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken
away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the
earth. 34 And the eunuch answered
Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself,
or of some other man? 35 Then Philip
opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
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? 37
And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.
And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 38 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. 39 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 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.
We move from the hated
sect of Judaism to the Gentiles whom the Jew held in contempt. Here is not only
an Ethiopian but a black African and a eunuch. A eunuch is someone who
biologically cannot reproduce and officials were often made that way to keep
them from being naturally aggressive and assertive, that is untrustworthy in
their servile duties of trust.
The earliest mention
made of eunuchs created by intentional castration is from the Sumerian city of
Lagash probably not long after the Tower of Babel. Throughout history, eunuchs
occupied court positions as well as military positions, all places of trust
where, contrary to intention, they had the ear of powerful men and often were
part of conspiracies and intrigue. Notice how Jesus references eunuch as a
person incapable of reproduction. The following covers those who are born
biologically incapable, those who are made so by men, and those who purpose themselves
to be childless for the sake of God’s work.
Matthew
19:12 For there are some eunuchs, which
were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were
made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs
for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him
receive it.
As a side note, the
early Christian writer, Origen, according to the church writer, Eusebius, had
himself castrated because he misunderstood the above verse. However, Origen,
himself, later wrote that only an idiot would think that verse in Matthew
commended having oneself castrated.
Philip is told to draw
near to the Ethiopian’s chariot. It is well-known among evangelical Christians
that there have been many times when they felt compelled to hand out a gospel
tract or witness to someone verbally who they would probably not have
approached on their own.
The eunuch is reading
to himself from Isaiah, specifically;
Isaiah
53:7b …he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her
shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment:
and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the
living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
There are several
possible reasons why what he read was slightly different than the actual
word-for-word verse we have. It could have been a version in the reader’s own
language and translated to Hebrew, then to Greek, then to English for us to
have the passage. It could be the Holy Spirit defining what is meant in Isaiah
by the wording in Acts if you compare and contrast. Word substitution, we have
seen is a predominant way the Holy Spirit has of clarifying itself to the
reader. Philip began preaching that this was Jesus.
Although some few
voices had noted this before it wasn’t until the eleventh century AD and a
Jewish teacher nicknamed Rashi that Jews began to believe that the individual
referred to in these and the surrounding verses in Isaiah were the suffering
Jewish people themselves, not the Messiah. This was probably a reaction to the
persecution visited upon them by the Christian power of Europe. But, Philip
makes it clear that this is a reference to Jesus.
The eunuch asked what
kept him from being baptized and Phillip answered.
37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all
thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God.
This verse clearly
states that salvation is predicated upon belief and that baptism is something
that happens after you believe, something a baby cannot do. You have to believe
and then be baptized.
Mark
16:16 He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Early church fathers
like Irenaeus and Cyprian commented on this as did Tertullian in the second
century. Even Augustine of Hippo in the fifth century, venerated by the
Catholic Church, supported this verse’s validity by referencing it. It
certainly doesn’t allow for infant baptism. Clearly it is a mistake in modern
Bible versions to delete it or to cast doubts on it. If your Bible doesn’t have
it or dismisses its validity then you need a different Bible.
Philip was physically
translated, removed, from the baptism after it was performed and taken to
another place. These are the same Greek and mostly the same English words as
in;
1Thessalonians
4:17 Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Compare caught away
here in 8:39 and caught up in 1Thessalonians 4:17.
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