The story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, found in Acts 8:26-40, is a powerful illustration of the early church's missionary efforts and the inclusion of Gentiles into the Christian faith. It highlights the importance of understanding and applying the gospel, as well as the joy that comes from a life-altering encounter with Jesus.
Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8
"Baptism of the Eunuch" by Aert de Gelder (c. 1675)
Philip's Missionary Journey
Luke continues the narrative of Philip’s missionary journey in our text today. We often hear about the missionary journeys of Saint Paul and sometimes forget that the missionary journeys of the early church began before Paul, and we see it specifically in this text in the person of Philip. In the previous sermon, we looked at the beginning of the ministry of Philip in Samaria. We were told the whole town, after hearing the gospel preached by Philip and seeing the signs and wonders God performed, was given over to joy because the oppression they had suffered under Simon Magus and occult powers had been defeated and lifted.
Philip had been ministering north of Jerusalem in Samaria, and now an angel of the Lord came to him in a similar way to when God called Elijah to his desert ministry. 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. So he arose and went.
What strikes me about the angel of the Lord’s instruction is that the city of Gaza, which had been one of the five important cities of the Philistines, had been destroyed by Alexander the Great. That was the way it was when the angel of the Lord said, “Philip, I want you to go to the ‘Old Gaza Road.’” Nobody went on the “Old Gaza Road” anymore, so it was almost like God was directing Philip into the middle of the desert for no apparent reason.
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The Ethiopian Eunuch
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, was returning. Let me take a moment to talk about the Ethiopian eunuch. To be a eunuch meant to be emasculated surgically in antiquity. This was not uncommon, as eunuchs were often made to stand guard over a king’s harem. Some eunuchs rose to elevated positions of authority. They became household stewards for the royal house, chamberlains, treasurers in the community, and so on.
In antiquity, the kings of Ethiopia did not take care of the royal business of the nation. It was the belief in Ethiopia that the kings were descendents of the gods, and being divinely human creatures, they were too holy to be charged with taking care of the business of the empire. So, the business of the empire was put in the hands of the queen mother, and every queen mother for many generations was given the title or name Candace. Luke says that the Ethiopian had great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians and charge of all her treasury.
The Ethiopian eunuch had come to Jerusalem to worship, which indicates that he was either a Jew in dispersion or, more likely, a gentile who somewhere along the line had embraced the teachings of Judaism and had made a long journey from Ethiopia to Jerusalem for some special occasion.
Reading Isaiah in the Chariot
And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Luke mentions the term “chariot,” but do not picture the Ethiopian eunuch driving down the road to Gaza at breakneck speed, the reins in his hands with his team of horses pulling his chariot on two wheels like Ben Hur racing around the Circus Maximus. That is not the kind of chariot he was in. He had an entire entourage with him, and it was more like a covered wagon or stagecoach being drawn along the desert road. The chariot was not racing at speed, and the eunuch himself was not driving the chariot.
We are told that he was seated in the chariot reading, and we are also told that he was reading out loud. That may sound unusual, but think back to the days when you learned how to read in kindergarten or first grade. People like the eunuch were not reading books published by Gutenberg or modern publishers. They were reading manuscripts that were very difficult to follow, as they conserved space by placing the words close to each other.
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Here is the scene: in the middle of the desert, a caravan was proceeding down the road. There, a high official from Ethiopia was seated, reading out loud, and God sent Philip to intercept him. We do not know how fast the chariot was going, but we are told that Philip had to run to catch up with it. The eunuch looked at the man running alongside him asking if he understood the text of Isaiah and said: “Frankly, no I don’t. How can I possibly understand it unless somebody can explain it to me?”
With that, the eunuch invited Philip to come up into the chariot and talk to him about the text. So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?”
Preaching Jesus from Isaiah
Does that text sound familiar to you? When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper and I read from the text of Scripture while the elements are being distributed, my first choice for reading is Isaiah 53. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isa. Is this not familiar? It sounds almost like an eyewitness description of the passion of Jesus, but these words were written almost eight hundred years before the cross.
Eight hundred years later, as an Ethiopian was reading this text, Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The Ethiopian answered: “No. Who is this prophet talking about? Luke tells us, “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.” Why did Philip not just turn to the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, First or Second Corinthians, or the prison epistles, Ephesians, Galatians, Philippians, Colossians, or the book of Revelation? Those books had not been written yet. Not one word of the New Testament was yet in print. Philip preached Jesus not from the New Testament, but like Jesus Himself preached to the people on the road to Emmaus from the Old Testament, Philip preached Christ.
Baptism and Rejoicing
The Ethiopian eunuch was hearing and absorbing what Philip had to say, and the chariot was still moving down the road. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. So he commanded the chariot to stand still.
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I am sure Philip had already talked about the Great Commission to go into all the world preaching and teaching Christ and baptizing all nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I am convinced he explained to the eunuch that just as circumcision was the sign of the covenant before Jesus, now the new sign of the kingdom of God and the new covenant was the sign of baptism.
In the early church, when the gospel was preached to foreigners, people who were strangers to the old covenant, who had never been circumcised as infants, who came for the first time to the covenant community as adults, before they could receive the sign of that new covenant, had to make a profession of faith. In the twentieth century, a church historian and New Testament scholar named Oscar Cullmann made a discovery. In the early church’s liturgy, there was what was called a “hindrance formula,” going back to Jesus’ rebuke of the disciples with respect to little ones, when the children tried to crowd around Jesus, get His attention, and come to Him, and the disciples said, “Go away, don’t bother the master,” and so on.
Cullmann said that in the New Testament, in the early church, before a person could be brought into communion with the church, they did not have to jump through hoops or pass a theological examination. What was required for membership was minimal. When Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may,” and the eunuch said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,” what happened?
The eunuch said to the driver: “Stop the chariot,” and they stopped on the spot. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 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.
There is not one word in this text about the mode of baptism. They may have walked down to the water, and we have seen paintings in the early church where people would go into the water and take a handful of water and pour it onto the convert’s head. That was one way of baptism. Others talk about immersing. We do not know whether the eunuch was sprinkled, sprayed, or dunked.
Philip's Continued Ministry
But Philip was found at Azotus. Luke continues, “And passing through there, he preached in all of the cities till he came to Caesarea.” Philip did a U-turn. He went north to Samaria, then he was called by God to go back south toward Jerusalem, back down toward Gaza, and then back up the cities of the plain, the five cities of the Philistines. Remember, you can find that in the maps in your Bible.
Finally, Philip headed north, back to the city of Caesarea, which had been built by Herod and given the name in honor of Caesar Augustus, and that was the headquarters of the Roman procurator. At this point in the text, we leave the study of the missionary journeys of Philip, and we do not hear about him until many years pass in his life, but his ministry is picked up later in the book of Acts.
The Significance of the Encounter
In Acts 8.26-40, Philip comes across an “Ethiopian,” a “eunuch,” a “court official,” although after 8.27 the man is only referred to as a eunuch. Why a eunuch of all titles? Luke emphasizes the fulfillment of Isaiah throughout Acts (Acts 1.8; 8.34 quoting Isa 53.7-8; Acts 13.47; and in many more places). While the eunuch is reading Isaiah 53, it is in Isaiah 56 where we see God’s promises for the eunuch.
The Lord will give joy to those who love and worship him (56.7-8). 56.8 ties the gathering together of Israel with the gathering together of foreigners, including eunuchs. “All the promises of God are ‘Yes’ in Christ” (2 Cor 1.20). All of God’s promises are fulfilled in Christ. Israel looked forward to the physical resurrection, and it happened in Christ Through Christ’s resurrection Israel was and is being gathered together with Gentiles included, as the one people of God. Christ “has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility… that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two” (Eph 2.14-15).
Key Elements of the Story
- Divine Guidance: Philip was directed by an angel to meet the eunuch.
- Openness to Learning: The eunuch was reading Scripture but needed help understanding it.
- Proclamation of Jesus: Philip explained how the Scripture pointed to Jesus.
- Faith and Baptism: The eunuch believed and was baptized.
- Joyful Transformation: The eunuch continued on his way rejoicing.
In times of spiritual renewal, when God is working powerfully in and through His followers to demonstrate how real and good Jesus is, one element we can expect to see is many people converting. This conversion is not a somber commitment to a religious code, but a joyous, life-altering encounter with the living Jesus. First, Philip exemplifies the importance of knowing knew how to apply the gospel. I mean this in two ways-one way that you probably expect, and one way that you probably don’t expect. This makes all the difference in the world! When you respond to Jesus’ guidance like Philip did, you may help a total stranger pray to receive Christ.
