NOW AN ANGEL of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. 29The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
30Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
31“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
32The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before the shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
33In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”
34The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
36As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” 38And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
Original Meaning
THE PREVIOUS SECTION showed how Philip spread the gospel among the Samaritans. In the present section God has new work for his pioneering evangelist. The Spirit moves him to spread the message about Jesus to a foreigner, who worked in the palace of a pagan queen.
The story of the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch occupies about the same amount of space as the story of Philip’s ministry in Samaria (8:5–25). There is no unanimity about where the evangelist was when the angel of the Lord asked him to go south to a desert road (southwest of Jerusalem, v. 26). Was he still in Samaria, which is north of Jerusalem and therefore far away from that road? Was he in Jerusalem? Or had he by now settled in Caesarea, where he went after this episode and where we find him many years later (21:8)? We cannot be sure.1 In this vividly written piece Luke is not interested in specifics of geography. Rather, he wants to show how God directly led Philip to do something significant.
Philip immediately obeyed this somewhat strange command. And the God of surprises shocked him with the appearance of an Ethiopian (v. 27). He is called a “eunuch” (eunochos); there is disagreement among scholars as to whether he was literally a eunuch, for this word was used also for trusted workers of a royal court. If he was a eunuch, he may have been restricted from full participation in the worship of the Jerusalem temple, for Deuteronomy 23:1 prohibits castrated people from entering the assembly. Isaiah 56:4–5, however, promises an everlasting name within the walls of God’s temple for faithful eunuchs. What we know for sure is that he was a high official—something like the finance minister—in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia (Cush in the Old Testament) corresponds to what is known as Nubia. It encompasses parts of what is now southern Egypt and northern Sudan. In ancient literature the Ethiopians were considered as living in the ends of the earth.2 In other words, with the gospel going to the Samaritans and then to the Ethiopian, it was going to the last two geographical spheres of the Great Commission as given in Acts 1:8. Luke does not mention the religious background of the Ethiopian. He had come to the Jerusalem temple to worship and had a copy of Isaiah with him—not something easy to obtain in those days. This suggests that he may have been a God-fearer or a proselyte.3
Only the most well-to-do had chariots in those days,4 but the Ethiopian was in one, reading from the prophet Isaiah (v. 28). Considering the high standing of this official, it would have required some boldness for Philip to obey the Spirit’s command to go to the chariot (v. 29). Since people almost always read aloud in those days,5 Philip heard him reading—one of the favorite messianic passages of the early church. Philip’s question about whether the eunuch understood what he was reading got the response he needed to share the good news with him: “How can I . . . unless someone explains it to me?” (vv. 30b–31).
The passage the eunuch was reading (Isa. 53:7–8) talks of the unjust humiliation and sufferings of the Lord’s servant (Acts 8:32–33). His question about the identity of this servant (v. 34) becomes a launching pad for Philip’s telling “him the good news6 about Jesus” (v. 35). The Ethiopian must have had with him the rest of Isaiah 53 too, where the substitutionary nature of Jesus’ death is presented. Matthew and John specifically apply Isaiah 53 to Jesus’ healing ministry,7 whereas Luke presents Isaiah 53 as being fulfilled in the sufferings of Jesus.8 After a survey of Jewish interpretation of the Suffering Servant passages, Longenecker concludes that “while the individual elements for a suffering conception of the Messiah may have been in process of being formed in certain quarters, a doctrine of a suffering Messiah was unheard of and considered unthinkable in first century Jewish circles generally.”9 Yet in the church these passages became important messianic texts because Jesus applied these songs to himself.
It is the Ethiopian who suggests baptism when they come to some water (v. 36). Philip may have discussed baptism with the Ethiopian, or he may have already known about it because it was the initiatory rite for Gentiles who converted to Judaism. Philip takes another bold step in baptizing the eunuch (v. 38). Considering all the signs of divine leading he had received, Philip must have been convinced of the genuineness of this conversion, even though not long before he had baptized Simon, whose professed conversion turned out to be fake. Thus, just a few moments after the eunuch’s decision for Christ, Philip baptizes him.
Philip is then taken away suddenly by the Spirit of the Lord. But the newfound joy of the Ethiopian cannot be dampened by his disappearance (v. 39). We do not hear of him again in the Bible, though Irenaeus, writing in the second century, says that he became a missionary to the Ethiopians.10 Philip next appears in Azotus, some twenty miles north of Gaza, and continues traveling north, preaching incessantly until he reaches Caesarea (v. 40). It is there that we find him again about twenty years later, now the father of four unmarried prophetesses (21:8). Luke, who probably visited him on this occasion,11 describes him as “Philip the evangelist”—a most appropriate title for one who was so mightily used in evangelism.
Bridging Contexts
THE IMPORTANCE OF and guidelines for personal evangelism. As we think about applying this passage today, many may say that because they are not specialist evangelists like Philip, this passage has little to teach them. But one of the important truths of Acts is that the prominent preachers and theologians of the early church were also personal evangelists. Philip is a good example. In the first part of this chapter he has a public ministry that allows him to bear the title given him by Luke: “evangelist” (21:8). But here he is a personal evangelist.
The British scholar and evangelist Michael Green believes that Luke’s primary reason for including the story of Philip and the Ethiopian was to teach the value of personal, one-on-one evangelism and to give guidelines on how it should be done.12 This story shows how important personal evangelism is, insofar as a key preacher in the church is taken on a long journey in order to share the gospel with just one person. And note that the episode is given the same amount of space as the record of the conversion of large numbers in Samaria.
When Paul later refers to his ministry to the Ephesian elders, he speaks both of public and personal ministry (20:21). After listing the many occasions in Acts that public evangelists are involved in personal evangelism,13 Robert E. Coleman writes, “Clearly the Book of Acts wants us to realize that these early leaders were no less astute in personal evangelism than they were in formal preaching.”14 Michael Green lists the well-known Christians in the sub-apostolic church who were converted through personal witness or became personal witnesses. Justin Martyr, for example, was converted through the witness of an old man and then led Tatian to the Lord. The great intellectual Origen worked with sensitivity, tact, and persistence until Gregory was converted.15 These leaders, of course, were following the example of Jesus.16
Much of the evangelism in the early church was done by laypeople who shared their faith wherever they went. This is implied in Acts 8, where Luke says that all except the apostles were scattered (8:1), and that “those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went” (8:4). The public preachers stayed at home while laypeople went out and witnessed for Christ.
This model is seen in Ephesus, where Paul had discussions daily for two years in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. The result was that “all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord” (19:10–11). Coleman explains what happened: “The apostle was in the city teaching and setting an example of witnessing before the church, but the real evangelizing of the area came through those persons Paul was discipling, who in turn were reaching others.”17 Michael Green reaches this conclusion: “Above all how the early church grew [was] by personal evangelism.”18
We must look at this passage in order to learn about personal evangelism. The way Philip witnessed to the Ethiopian serves as an example. We can learn from this expert evangelist about personal witnessing because the principles that emerge from this encounter are applicable to all Christians who seek to witness for Christ (see the “Contemporary Significance” section).
The calling of an evangelist. In Acts 8 Philip lives up to his title “evangelist” (cf. 21:8). All of us are called to evangelism and should contribute, through our personal witness and other ways, to the total witness of the body to which we belong. But some are specially called to be evangelists (Eph. 4:11; 2 Tim. 4:5). This calling remains needed today too. We need to recognize this call and encourage those who respond to it.
In passing let me mention that the Ethiopian was reading while traveling. John Wesley, who read while traveling, makes the observation: “It is good to read, hear, seek information even in a journey. Why should we not redeem all our time?”19 I do not think that we can derive an abiding principle about reading while traveling from this passage. But a lot of traveling occurs today, and bookstores in airports are generally busy. In our mobile culture, we can use our travel time well by reading good books.
Contemporary Significance
THE IMPORTANCE OF personal evangelism. There is no doubt about the value of lay personal witness as a means of church growth today. Laypeople come in contact with non-Christians in a way that paid church workers do not. They can identify with their fellow students or fellow workers in a more natural way than professional Christian workers. If we are going to reach the lost world for Christ, they are surely a key. But to be successful, church leaders, especially preachers (like Philip), must give the lead. They must show the importance of personal evangelism by demonstrating it in their lives. And just as Luke recorded this story for posterity, preachers today can tell Christians in their preaching, teaching, and conversing about their experiences in witnessing. In this way personal evangelism is upheld as a basic part of the Christian lifestyle.
We all know how we can let opportunities for witness slip past us. Keeping personal witness high on our topics of discussion helps us to be vigilant and to use these opportunities when they present themselves.
Guidelines for personal evangelism. Let us now examine the guidelines for personal evangelism that are apparent in this passage.
Witness as obedience. The first truth that leaps out of this passage is Philip’s obedience. When God asked him to go to the desert road, he went even though the command seemed an odd one (vv. 26–27). When he was asked to go to the chariot and stay near it, he obeyed again (vv. 29–30a). Through his obedience the Lord opened a door to an evangelistic situation.
We often hear it said that a key to personal witness is “Spirit-led boldness.” Some claim that they do not have this boldness and therefore cannot witness. In reality, much of Christian witness inspired by Spirit-led boldness begins with a decision to be obedient to the call to witness. If we take that first step of obedience, the Spirit will guide us and equip us with boldness. We often miss out on opportunities to witness simply because we do not take the first step to turn a conversation into a witnessing situation.
I can think of several situations where I talked about many things with an individual and missed opportunities along the way to make the conversation into a witnessing situation. I recognize too that the basic problem was my disobedience to the promptings of the Spirit. But I also know of other situations where I did use the opportunities—and how joyous was the result, for there are few things as thrilling in life as talking to someone about the Savior! Obedience to the Great Commission and to the promptings of the Spirit is the key that unlocks the release of the Spirit into our lives and transforms us into being witnesses with Spirit-led boldness.
Witness across cultures. Personal evangelism can take place across cultures. We do not know much about Philip’s background. But we know enough of the Ethiopian that he was very different from the Christian Jew, Philip. He was probably a black-skinned African of a high standing, who had servants attending to him as he traveled in his chariot.
Cross-cultural evangelism and the related topic of contextualization are popular topics of study in the church today. This is an exciting development, for it teaches people to respect cultures, to be sensitive to others, and to be relevant in their witness. But there is a danger that with all this missiological study, the priority of personal witness is downplayed and evangelism becomes a complex procedure beyond the reach of ordinary people. The facts of history are that simple Christians can share Christ with people who are different from them by simply loving them and by being humble and sensitive to their needs.
A servant girl from Israel influenced her master, Namaan, the commander of the army of Aram, to seek contact with the God of the Israelites and to experience his healing (2 Kings 5). Philip led a high Ethiopian official to Christ. A desperately poor servant filled with the joy of the Lord had a marked influence on a theology student at Oxford University, John Wesley, who knew nothing of his joy and freedom.20 In India today we are hearing of some “high” caste Brahmins, who are usually resistant to the gospel, coming to Christ through the witness of Christian servants working in their homes. When an opportunity comes to talk to someone about Christ, we must pray for guidance, be aware of our shortcomings, and launch out into loving witness about our Savior.
Hearts are prepared by God. Philip discovered that the Ethiopian had been prepared by God before he even spoke to him. We too can expect this as we share Christ with others. As we share, we are often surprised to find that the person with whom we are talking has been prepared by God for the encounter. This doesn’t always happen, of course, but it happens often enough for us to realize that God can lead us to people whom he has already prepared to listen to what we have to say. We are just one link in what God is doing in that person’s life.
Leighton Ford, in his excellent book on personal evangelism, Good News Is for Sharing, reports how a young pastor friend of his was used to lead a hardened criminal in a county jail to Christ. This man told the preacher, “Now preacher, don’t get the big head because I have accepted Christ. You are just the twenty-fifth man.” On asking what that meant, the pastor was told that at least twenty-four others had witnessed to him about Christ and that his conversion was the effect of all of these together.21 God was at work before the pastor came on the scene.
Start often with their questions. Philip started his gospel presentation from where the Ethiopian was, that is, with the question whether the eunuch understood what he was reading (vv. 30b–31). Then Philip gave the eunuch an opportunity to ask another question (v. 34). From that point, Philip took him to where he should be in terms of knowing the facts of the gospel. We should always look for such bridgeheads to share the gospel with people.22
This principle is relevant to public evangelism as well (cf. our study of 17:16–34). In both types of evangelism, we must start where people are and lead them to where we hope they will go. Often people are not interested in the questions we think that the gospel answers. This is particularly true of postmodern society, where people may not consider themselves to be interested in finding the truth, to be in need of a supreme God, or to be guilty of sin. Thus, we may need to start with what they recognize as needs (i.e., their felt needs) and then show them what Christianity has to say about those needs. From there we can lead them to recognize a need for Christ and his salvation.
About 75 percent of those who attend our church are converts from Buddhism or Hinduism (with two from Islam). Almost all came into contact with Christianity through friends telling them that God could solve some problem they had. These believers brought them to a Christian meeting where the problem could be discussed or prayed over. Gradually they became aware of the heart of the gospel and eventually trusted in Christ for salvation.
A witness based on Scripture. Philip’s witness was based on the Scriptures (v. 35a). Much discussion is taking place today on the role that Scripture has in evangelism among non-Christians who have no background in the Bible. When I was a seminary student in the United States, I wrote to a Buddhist who had studied with me at the university in Sri Lanka, asking her to read the Gospel of John. I felt bad that I had not adequately witnessed to her and hoped that this would create an interest. But she stumbled over the first few verses, about the Word becoming flesh, and did not go beyond that! She wrote back that the Bible was an unintelligible book. In the Ethiopian’s case God had led him to just the right passage. In the same way we too can choose suitable passages from an understandable version and give those to non-Christians.
In the mission ministry that Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka started, we have done this in many Buddhist villages. Teams of volunteers visit these unreached villages, taking with them attractively produced tracts with relevant portions of Scripture. We have an address at the back of the tract that they can write to if they are interested. And from those who write in we have found a nucleus for ministry in these areas. The work has become so large that it is now an independent church-planting ministry. In the West it may not be that easy to get people interested in the Bible, but the principle of arresting people’s attention through strategically chosen and attractively produced Scriptures still applies. The medium of communication, however, may need to be much more sophisticated. There is a humanly unexplainable power in the Word when it is appropriately presented to hungry people (Isa. 55:10–12).23
Our presentation of the gospel must always be based on Scripture. We may decide not to quote Scripture verbatim with people who do not accept its authority, but the ideas we present must spring from Scripture. This is what Paul did in Athens (Acts 17:22–31). I have found it helpful to tell some of those to whom I am talking that such and such is what the Bible says on a particular issue. It comes as an aside, but it shows these people that the Bible has some wise and relevant things to say. Even though we may not use the exact words of a Bible translation, the ultimate goal we have in personal evangelistic communication is to have the person accept the truth of the gospel.
Jesus is the theme. The main theme of Philip’s witness was Jesus (v. 35b). E. Stanley Jones was an American missionary with an effective evangelistic ministry among the Hindu intellectuals of India. Regardless of where he started in personal or public speaking, he always ended with Christ. Our message is Jesus, and everything about Christianity revolves around who Jesus is and what he has done. W. H. Griffith Thomas aptly entitled his heart-warming book on the supremacy of Christ, Christianity Is Christ.24 Jesus himself said that he is “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). In that pithy statement are found truths the depth of which the human mind is incapable of plumbing.25 We must “offer them Christ,” as John Wesley used to say. If this is so, then one way to prepare for personal evangelism is to deepen our intellectual and experiential knowledge of Christ.
Aim at a response. The Ethiopian realized that he needed to respond to Philip’s message. Thus, when they came to some water, he suggested baptism (v. 36). We are not told how Philip brought him to this point, but here, as in all the evangelistic situations in Acts, a response is implied. Similarly, in all our witness we must have in mind the goal of a response to the gospel. This is not popular in our pluralistic society. People have accepted dialogue as a suitable way to discuss religion. But the end of such dialogue is mutual enrichment. The evangelism of Acts, by contrast, always aims at a response.
It is possible for us to confine our conversations with non-Christians to discussions on religion, where we present what Christianity says about a certain topic. This is indeed a good beginning, but it is not evangelism.26 We should also not stop with only answering the questions that people ask. Rather, we must always look for an opportunity to bring people to the biggest and most important question of all: “What will you do with Jesus Christ?” This does not mean that every time we talk to a non-Christian about Christ, we must press for a decision. While we desire that, we may sense that the situation is not ripe for a response, so we end hoping that someday this person will be led to Christ, even if it is through person number twenty-five.
Baptism at once? Philip baptized the Ethiopian immediately after his conversion to Christ (vv. 36–38). Was he ready for immediate baptism? Can we be so sure of people today? After all the miraculous leading that Philip had received from God, he must have realized that this conversion was a genuine one, in which God had led right along. As a result, he baptized the eunuch at once.
We may not always have such an assurance. Some people profess a conversion without understanding that a total giving of one’s life to God is involved. We have found, for example, that when some Hindus and Buddhists in Sri Lanka accept Jesus Christ, they intend him to be a help to them alongside their other gods and ways of life. They pray a typical prayer of commitment, but they have no intention of giving up their Buddhism or Hinduism. There are similar situations in the West, where people take on the “born-again” badge without any intention of repenting from their past life. I do not know of any Scripture that prohibits us from delaying baptism. Sometimes we may need to wait until a person has shown some signs of conversion and until some basic instruction about Christianity has taken place.
Yet Philip’s trust in God’s work in the Ethiopian’s life continues to challenge us, especially since this came shortly after the baptism of Simon in Samaria, who had not genuinely converted to Christianity. Matthew Henry’s words are instructive here: “If some hypocrites crowd into the church, who afterwards prove a grief and scandal to us, yet we must not therefore make the door of admission any straiter than Christ has made it; they shall answer for their apostasy, and not we.”27 I must confess that I do not feel that the church has fully come to grips with the fact that in Acts, immediate baptism seems to have been the norm. I wonder whether the reasons for delay today are more pragmatic than scriptural.28
Encouraging evangelists. Because the primary work of those called to be evangelists is with people outside the church, Christians may not recognize their value and not give them the support they need. I know of many evangelists who spend far too much time trying to raise their support. It would be much better to have local churches commission evangelists to go where God leads them (within or without the church). The churches can then give them the backing and accountability they need. An interdenominational evangelist may find it more appropriate to work outside the confines of one local church. Such persons should have a good group to back them. Evangelists especially need support because evangelism is a spiritually draining work and because Satan is active to trip them, seeing that they are directly invading his territory.
I close this study with a quotation from the great Bible scholar and specialist on Acts, F. F. Bruce. Towards the end of his autobiography, he writes:
For many years now the greater part of my time has been devoted to the study and interpretation of the Bible, in academic and non-academic settings alike. I regard this as a most worth-while and rewarding occupation. There is only one form of ministry which I should rate more highly; that is the work of an evangelist, to which I have not been called.29
This is, of course, a subjective opinion, not a biblical affirmation, for the Bible teaches the equal importance of all the gifts in the body (1 Cor. 12). But I trust it will give encouragement to the evangelists among us.