Acts 8:26-40 - Philip and the Eunuch

Philip may not be a character that people model the New Testament church around, but his contribution to Christianity is rather extraordinary despite the limited reference to him in the New Testament. Unlike most apostles, Philip was best known for his individual work of evangelism without needing a group of evangelists to work with him. The series regarding Philip attempts to demonstrate how God, the evangelist, and the person receiving evangelism all work together in the famous story of Philip and the eunuch.

Most importantly, as the story of Philip and the eunuch can be found in the book of Acts, the following is said about the nature of the content, "without denying that Acts has as its main purpose the edification of believers and that its theological contributions are significant, we must not lose sight of the fact that Acts purports to narrate historical events." (Carson, 316) The point is that the story of Philip and the eunuch, despite its incredible nature, has is main purpose in teaching believers what to believe with significant theological contributions as this work presents itself as a history of events. The point is that the story of Philip and the eunuch in Acts 8:26-40 should be taken very seriously for both historical reasons and for theological reasons.

Lesson One

The case of Philip and the Ethiopian in Acts 8:26-40 demonstrates how God directed evangelization both in the form of angels and in the form of the Holy Spirit directly. As demonstrated by Philip, God is in control of evangelism. The question that the story of Philip raises is the question of how much of the message of the evangelist comes directly from God and how much comes from man.

In today's lesson, the main focus will be describing what God did for evangelism to happen. This lesson will thus show God's part in directing and orchestrating the process of evangelism. Overall, the hope in teaching today's lesson is to dispel the belief that God is not involved in evangelism and also to cause people to walk away with a better understanding of what God does in the evangelism process.

What God Did for Evangelism to Happen

According to Acts 8:26, an angel gave Philip the exact rode for Philip to take in order for him to do his mission. The point to be made is that God demonstrated a choice to use angels to direct evangelists, and this preference that God demonstrates is recorded clearly in the story of Philip. The fact that God used angels to direct the promotion of the gospel means that evangelism is not left to human direction apart from God. In order for God to direct angels to direct Philip he had to have a plan, and thus Acts 8:26 gives opening to the story of Philip and the eunuch by demonstrating that God had a plan for Philip.

Despite the fact that the residents of the hill country had very limited contact with outsiders (Scott, 45) in Acts 8:29 the spirit of the lord directed Philip to stay near a very specific chariot that did not belong to Philip. The Holy Ghost thus demonstrated a very clear purpose in having Philip stay in a very specific location that could have made Philip feel uncomfortable. The point to be made is that the Holy Ghost had a very clear order to give to Philip to do a specific task for a specific reason. Even more to the point is that the Holy Ghost had to receive direction from God the Father, and Philip had to receive this direction from the Holy Ghost. The point that can be drawn from Acts 8:29 is that God the Father predestined the meeting of Philip and the eunuch, but in order for the meeting to happen both the Holy Ghost and Philip had to be organized around doing the Plan of the Father.

After Philip evangelized and baptized in Acts 8:39, the Holy Spirit took Philip away. Christopher Hall makes an interesting point as he writes, "Athanasius himself comments that heresy is often marked by the name of its teacher, specifically because it is the teacher's unique doctrine that sets a group apart from the church at large. Orthodox Christians, on the other hand, are marked by their refusal to link themselves with any other name than that of Christ." (Hall, 30) In the case of Philip evangelizing the eunuch, God prevented and limited the involvement of Philip with the eunuch, and as a result the message that the eunuch would have been proclaiming was not that of the great understanding and power of Philip but instead the great work of Jesus Christ.

The point that scripture is teaching in Acts 8:39 is that Philip did not choose what would happen to him after he served God. God made the choice as to exactly what would happen to Philip after he did his duty, and no one else was responsible for making that choice. In Acts 8:39 scripture is very clear that none of the efforts of Philip had been expressed by Philip to be taken away, and this action was something that God alone was responsible for doing.

After God took Philip away in Acts 8:40, Philip appeared in another location as a result of the power of God putting him somewhere else. What Luke the New Testament author of Acts (Lea, 148) demonstrates is that God can do whatever he wants to do, and in this case he is supernaturally transporting the evangelist Philip from one location to another. Overall, God transporting Philip and causing him to reappear in another location demonstrates God's direct power over the apostles perhaps more than any other event in the New Testament.

The all powerful and all knowing nature of God is what is responsible for making evangelism happen and for making Christianity work. God uses several characters and their personality's together for his plan in order to generate a message, and this message is what we read about today. God overall shows himself in control of all things especially situations and times.

LESSON TWO

Philip did not force anyone to believe anything in any way in regard to the story of the eunuch. All that Philip did was to follow the direction that he was lead into. Philip never once took a leadership role such that he directed others, but instead he evangelized passively. Regardless of the passive nature of Philip, the powerful words of William Carey to, "expect great things from God; attempt great things for God" (Winter, 312) cannot be underestimated in the evangelical practices of Philip.

In today's lesson what will be learned is how the message of Philip evangelizing the eunuch teaches how to evangelize without dominating, acting reckless, and forcing people into repentance. In other words scripture clearly teaches with the example of Philip that putting the gospel into people's hearts and minds does not always require smashing their heads in and driving a stake through their hearts. Although many churches may use the story of John the Baptist in order to make a model to form a paradigm for evangelism, the tactics of Philip the apostle show a stark contrast to John the Baptist inspired popular evangelism with the peaceful, careful, and gentle approach that Philip uses to evangelize through being interactive with both God and man.

What Philip Did for Evangelism to Happen

Philip followed the direction of an angel instead of following his own direction according to Acts 8:27. Philip's following of an angel was very similar to what the shepherds did when they first heard the good news about the birth of Jesus Christ as seen in Luke 2:8-20. What Philip did was not new at all since he followed an angel in the same way that Joseph followed the direction of an angel at the birth of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1:18-20. If Philip had not followed an angel, then the message regarding how Philip did his work of evangelizing would not as clearly show how angels had been players in orchestrating the entire message of the gospel. Overall, Acts 8:27 gives very clear demonstration, with the case of Philip, of exactly how reliant the apostles had been upon the work of angels to direct them.

Acts 8:30 demonstrates how Philip followed the command of the Holy Ghost faithfully. When Philip followed the direction of an angel, then soon after Philip received direction from the Holy Ghost as the orders that Philip was to follow became more exact and refined. A point to make clear is that Philip did not in any way oppose the Holy Ghost, and this accounts for the ease of the work that he did as he did exactly what the Holy Ghost would have him do. The best point to make regarding Acts 8:30 is that Philip was both able to recognize commands given by the Holy Ghost, and Philip was both able and willing to do whatever the Holy Ghost had him do.

In Acts 8:30 Philip questions the eunuch instead of using the Holy Ghost as a sword of truth to slay the eunuch with the gospel in a demonstration of God's holy Power. Instead of Philip assuming that since he is an apostle that everyone else knows far less than him about the gospel and that he must take every moment to expound upon it, he questions the eunuch to see what he does not know. Philip is very careful not to assume but instead to use questioning to see what the eunuch understands about what he is reading and to see what he does not understand. Overall, Acts 8:30 demonstrates a type of humility that Philip brings forth in order to deal with the task of evangelizing the unbeliever.

Acts 8:31 shows that Philip was not at all ashamed of dealing with the eunuch, but instead Philip sat with the eunuch beside the eunuch. Philip also demonstrates that by sitting with the eunuch that he was okay with getting on a chariot in a close encounter with a complete stranger. Philip even sat with the eunuch regardless of the fact that Deuteronomy 23:1 prohibits eunuchs from worshiping God the same way that Jewish people did. One of the very best points to make regarding Philip sitting with the eunuch in Acts 8:31 is that Philip sat with the eunuch as he only knew his purpose in riding with the eunuch as being the purpose of explaining the message of Isaiah.

The most critical point in the story of Philip and the eunuch is that Philip proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ in Acts 8:35. Philip proclaiming the gospel happens best in Acts 8:35 because God orchestrated the entire event without anyone being in rebellion. When Philip does proclaim the gospel, it happens with the conversation at hand and without changing the subject. Not only that but in Acts 8:35 Philip is able to speak about the good news of Jesus Christ without dominating the eunuch at all.

In Acts 8:38 Philip baptizes the eunuch at the very request of the eunuch. The scripture is very clear that Philip did not need to convince the eunuch at all in order for the eunuch to undergo baptism. Philip did not need to prepare the eunuch in any way in order for him to be baptized because it happened at the spur of the moment without any preparation from either Philip or the eunuch. What is incredible is that in Acts 8:38 Philip baptizes the eunuch despite differences in class, race, and even lack of gender.

In Acts 8:40 Philip went along proclaiming the gospel after having baptized the eunuch. In other words the baptism of the eunuch did not stop Philip from going on to do other work. What Acts 8:40 demonstrates is that we should not ever think that our work is complete with having completed only one project for God.

What is clear about the story of Philip is that he was a servant both of God directly and of the eunuch. Philip manly took orders, followed directions, and followed through with service by suggestion. Philip most likely did not have any type of plain for his life at all, but he instead did whatever God wanted him to do.

LESSON THREE

The eunuch of Acts 8:26-40 was already a very dedicated worshiping individual before he was ever evangelized. The eunuch strived for answers to what the scripture had to say. The eunuch clearly only needed evangelization because he had not yet associated Christ with what the prophets had to say about the messiah.

Although the eunuch was much different than the usual person to be evangelized in a nation that is predominantly Christian, the message regarding the eunuch that scripture teaches is that some people actively look to understand the scripture and are willing to ask for help. The message regarding the attitude of the eunuch is that we should not always treat unbelievers as being people that are opposed to the gospel. The point is that many people like the eunuch have been put in positions by God such that when they hear the message of the gospel and believe the transformation is more of a realization of what exactly they had been pursuing in their lives to begin with.

What the Eunuch Did for Evangelism to Happen

According to Acts 8:27, the eunuch was a seemingly important government official. The eunuch apparently had worked into a high office of government through a process of performing well at whatever jobs that he had during his lifetime, and this did not disqualify him from being evangelized. The eunuch being a government official demonstrates that some government officials had not been the least opposed to Christianity. Overall, the indication that a person could draw from Acts 8:27 is that with the eunuch being a government official, he would have incredible prospects of making his nation into a pro Christian nation through evangelism if he himself was evangelized.

Acts 8:27 shows that the eunuch was honorable enough to be put in charge of an entire nation's treasury. God was not choosing the most common person to evangelize in evangelizing the eunuch. The honesty and respect from living an upright life is what brought the eunuch to the time and place of evangelism. Overall, in Acts 8:27 a person could see that the eunuch most likely do not have any unmet material needs, so for him, receiving the gospel would have most likely only helped him in spiritual and social ways as this could have been like the last great thing that he needed to make his life complete.

According to Acts 8:27, the eunuch was going back home from Jerusalem. The point is that the eunuch was a very devout Jewish person that would have been returning from a festival despite ethnic differences and despite his lack of gender. The point thus that the scholar Everett Ferguson makes that, "Judaism ... provides the immediate religious context for Christianity" (Ferguson, 31) thus cannot be under evaluated as even people like the eunuch from other nations had been Jewish and at the same time receptive of the gospel in some cases. Even though the eunuch would have had to cross a vast distance to visit Jerusalem, he nevertheless was willing to travel in order to practice Judaism. The eunuch in Acts 8:27 is seen as placing the worship of God at the highest priority in his life, and this would have been a good reason for God to send Philip to evangelize him.

According to Acts 8:30, the eunuch was reading Isaiah the prophet when he encountered Philip. The eunuch was thus reading the scripture and trying to understand it by himself, and thus he was actively looking for answers. Despite all the things that the eunuch had such as a high government office and wealth, he showed that his priority was the Word of God. The point is that like the eunuch many people do have the Word of God as their top priority, but room still may exist for receiving the message of the gospel as it has not yet fully been received.

According to Acts 8:31, the eunuch was humble in confessing that he did not understand the scripture and he was actively looking for help to understand it. A person could make the case that the eunuch had a purpose in mind in looking for an explanation to the scripture. Even though the eunuch had high prestige, he was very willing to show that he was not understanding scripture. The honesty of the eunuch to identify that he did not understand was actually key to his ability to look for help in understanding.

According to Acts 8:34, the eunuch probed Philip for answers to try to explain the message of Isaiah. Instead of looking at Philip as just a poor person not worth dealing with the eunuch saw Philip as an opportunity for advancement of his knowledge. Unlike many people today, the eunuch looked to other people for the answers to questions regarding the scripture. Overall, what made the eunuch a prime target for God to evangelize him is that he really wanted to know what the scripture was all about.

According to Acts 8:36, the eunuch looked for the opportunity to be baptized as the subject did not even start with Philip bringing it up. Philip did not have to sell the idea of baptism to the eunuch at all, but instead if anything the eunuch had to sell the idea of baptism to Philip as he was asking Philip why if anything he could not be baptized. Hopefully today people still exist that will want to be baptized so much that they will introduce the subject without an evangelist ever having to introduce the subject to them.

According to Acts 8:38, the eunuch gave orders so that his chariot would be stopped in order for him to be baptized. Despite all the important treasury responsibilities of running an entire nation, the eunuch put all of that on hold in order to be baptized. The fact that the eunuch stopped the chariot to be baptized indicates that he was not going to go any further without being submerged into water by Philip. The point is that in Acts 8:38 the eunuch demonstrated the importance of baptism to Philip without Philip ever having to say anything.

According to Acts 8:38, the eunuch went under the waters and got baptized. Unlike many people in high office, the eunuch demonstrated that he was willing to undergo the very same process for eternal salvation that the common person underwent. Even though the eunuch was a very high ranking government official, he demonstrated that Philip was greater than him in some ways by having Philip baptize him. By being baptized, the eunuch demonstrated the importance of baptism to everyone that would have been watching.

According to Acts 8:39, the eunuch did not see Philip again as this demonstrates that Philip was no longer important to the faith of the eunuch. All that the eunuch needed was for Philip to explain the message of the gospel one day and to baptize him, and for the rest of the life of the eunuch he was all set. The eunuch did not need to know very much at all in order to be a Christian, but all that he really needed to be a Christian was Christ. The sincerity of the eunuch from the start to be truthful, honest, humble, and receptive to the gospel proved that he did not need anyone else to manage him after Philip evangelized him because he already understood the importance of the gospel.

According to Acts 8:39, the eunuch went on his way rejoicing. The point is that the eunuch realized the incredible gain that he had from being baptized. Despite the fact that the eunuch was in control of the money of an entire nation, the fact that he went away rejoicing says that he valued God over money. Despite the earthly wealth of the eunuch, he demonstrated himself to be part of God's kingdom by rejoicing at baptism regardless of how much money that he had or could have had.

What the story of the eunuch teaches is that people that had been truly committed to worshiping God as Jews would have clearly seen what the Old Testament scripture says about the messiah as being fulfilled in Jesus Christ. In other words New Testament Jews would not have had to make a sudden leap of faith in order to believe in Christ, but instead some just needed to be informed a little. The eunuch most likely already believed in Christ by being Jewish (without having to be told about him), but this cannot be said of Jewish people today.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Carson, D and Douglas J. Moo. An Introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005.

Ferguson, Everett. Church History From Christ to Pre-Reformation: The rise and Growth of the Church in Its Cultural, Intellectual, and Political Context, vol. 1. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005.

Hall, Christopher. Learning Theology with the Church Fathers. Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter Varsity Press, 2002.

Moreau, Scott, Gary R. Corwin, and Gary B. McGee. Introducing World Missions: A Biblical Historical, and Practical Survey. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2009.

Scott, Julius. Jewish Background of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 1995.

Winter, Ralph D. and Steve Hawthorne, ed. Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader, 4 th edition. Pasadena, California: Paternoster Press, 1981.