Acts 8:26-40 New International Version (NIV)
Philip and the Ethiopian
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian[a] eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
30 Then 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.
32 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”[b]
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” [37] [c] 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When 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. 40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.
Philip may have told this story to Luke when Luke and Paul stayed in Philip’s house (Acts 21:8). God ordered Philip to go south. The road from Jerusalem to Gaza was very busy. It continued past Gaza to Africa.
Ethiopia was in North Africa. The man that Philip met was probably a black person from Africa. This man worked for the queen. ‘Kandake’ was the name that people always called the king’s mother.
Luke wrote that ‘he (the official) had gone to Jerusalem to worship God’ (verse 27). The official may have been born as a Jew. Or he may have decided to follow the Jewish religion. Many people did that even if they were not born as Jews. They did not want to worship false gods. They wanted to follow the Law. So, they worshiped with the Jews and they read the scriptures.
As he traveled home, this official was reading the scriptures. He was reading the book called Isaiah. Again, God told Philip what to do. And Philip obeyed. Christians must always listen to the Holy Spirit. This is especially true when we want to tell people about Jesus. The Holy Spirit tells us where to go. He tells us what to do. And he tells us what to say. But we must be willing to listen and we must always obey.
Philip tells the good news, 8:30-35
In verses 30-31, the official was reading aloud and Philip heard him. That was not unusual. Everyone read aloud at that time. The passage from Isaiah was a prophecy about the Messiah. This was an opportunity for Philip to talk about Jesus. And Philip realized it. So, he asked the official whether he understood the passage. The official did not understand that prophecy. He needed help to understand it. So, although he was important and clever, he asked Philip to help him. This shows that the official was a humble man.
We must be humble like this, too. We may need help to understand spiritual things. Then, especially, we must be humble enough to ask for help. And we must be willing to help other people. God wants us to learn more about him all the time. He wants us to know him better. It is good to talk to other Christians about God.
The passage from the Old Testament is Isaiah 53:7-8. It is about the Servant who suffered. That Servant is Jesus, the Messiah. (Acts 3:13-15.) Philip used the passage so that he could begin to talk about the good news. Jews who lived in the first century did not expect their Messiah to suffer. They expected him to beat the Romans. But Jesus had described himself as a Servant, who would suffer. (For example, look at Mark 10:45.) When Jesus had risen from the dead, he met two disciples. They were going to a town called Emmaus. As they walked, Jesus explained the Old Testament prophecies to them. He showed how these prophecies referred to the Messiah (Luke 24:13-27). Philip did that also. He answered the official’s questions. The prophecy was about Jesus. So, Philip could use it to explain the good news to the official.
Philip baptises the official, 8:36-40
The Holy Spirit had already prepared the official to hear the good news about Jesus. Then the Holy Spirit sent Philip to him. As soon as the official heard the good news, he believed it. He wanted Philip to baptize him immediately.
We cannot force a person to believe in Jesus. The person has to be ready. The Holy Spirit prepares a person. But the person has to hear the good news about Jesus. Otherwise, he or she cannot believe it. So, we must also be ready. We must be ready to tell people about Jesus. We must be ready to answer questions about our faith.
Some people are like the official. They believe the good news about Jesus immediately. Other people need more time to think about it. People become Christians by means of the Holy Spirit’s work. But we can help. We must ask God how we can help.
Believers said the words in verse 37 when they received baptism. The official also said those words. Those words show that he was a real believer. He was not like Simon who lived in Samaria (verses 9-24).
After Philip had baptized the official, the Holy Spirit took Philip away. The Greek word for ‘took away’ (harpazo) means ‘to seize’. It happened suddenly. Philip appeared again in the north and he continued to preach there.
Luke does not mention the official again. Irenaeus, a writer in the second century, wrote that the official went back to Ethiopia. He wrote that the official preached to the people there. We do not know whether this is true. But certainly, the good news about Jesus had started to spread to the Gentiles.