Sunday, October 11, 2020

The Acts of the Apostles, the history of the early church, by Luke the physician - Acts 8:26-40 comments : Baptism follows belief; Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch

 


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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