Biblical Studies

Book of Acts    Philip and the Eunuch in Acts 8

koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Visiting Professor

Kyungpook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

Australia

28 October 2011

           The book of Acts was written by Luke and we do not know how Luke got hold of his information in chapter 8:26-40. But the information here appealed so much to Luke that he had to tell the whole history. It started with an angel of the Lord speaking to Philip. God sends agents for salvation even today. We all have experienced that. Coincidental experiences in faith are not coincidental. They are preplanned by the Almighty who is more eager to save than to condemn. God knows that humans are trapped on this earth with powers greater than they are and therefore it gives Him a right to come to their assistance to guard them, to protect them, to guide them from darkness to light. Navigation is what humans need and God is there to supply it. He did and that is why the scriptures exist. Scriptures are the navigational tool God has put in the hands of people from the beginning of the world. Philip received his mission from the angel of the Lord to go to a lonely (eremos) place on the way from Jerusalem to Gaza. He stood up and went. He sounds immediately. The angel spoke and Philip did. It is in the same spirit as we find in Abraham. God spoke in Genesis 22 and Abraham went to the mountain to offer. There is no arguing with God, no "yes buts," it is "here I am, send me." It is the willingness to walk the second mile. It is emptying of self and filling with divine willingness to go wherever He leads. It is to go wherever the road leads, even a lonely place. When he arrived there he saw a man, an Ethiopian, a eunuch from the king of Ethiopia. He was the accountant of the king of Ethiopia. Why is it that business minded people love to read the Word of God? Why is successful business people so involved with the Scripture? It is probably because there is no security in money. More than money is needed in this life. They realized that very soon. A person thinks that when they make money they will be powerful and happy. When they do, they realize that in a world with financial diversity, rich and poor, there are so many problems, beggars and thieves, land-grabbers, rioters, protesters, people crying "we are the 99%". All because of money. Whether you are a have or have not, all have problems. So to solve this means "back to the Bible". Exactly that is what the black man of Ethiopian realized and very skilled in financing, a treasure of format, he felt the need to travel to Jerusalem to worship there but with his scripture roll on the chariot. He cannot travel without a Bible in the car. When there is a time for rest, his hand slips on the side and pull out the scripture and he read it. It was written in Hebrew language and the Ethiopian could read Hebrew. He was a learned man. It is there next to the road that Philip found him. Reading Isaiah and he happened to be at Isaiah 53. Philip ran up to the road and he could hear the Eunuch reading Isaiah. Reading was done load and clear. Philip knows his Scriptures as well and therefore, he could immediately realize that it is the book of Isaiah and chapter 53. The Spirit sent Philip. He said to him to join him. He did. He heard him and asked him if he knows what he is reading. Philip asked him "Now, do you certainly know what you are reading?" In classical Greek they never put ara/now in the front of the sentence like here in Acts.    Certainly is a particle used here which can also be indeed. Do you indeed know what you are reading. Do you really know or are you just reading? Now/ara used here in this strange position is for the purpose that Philip interrups someone unexpectedly without proper protocol. In classical Greek, ara or "now" is used when the questioner was in anxiety. In Xenophon it was used as "Oh! Who is there to save?" It was "Oh!" Uncomfortable Philip had to jump on him from the outside and disturb his tranquility with a question that will allow him to evangelize. It is the cold turkey question but very determined and full of agenda, an agenda not of selfishness but selflessness, not for self gain but for the fulfillment of the task of the Spirit of God. In modern sense it would be the word "excuse me" added to the question to apologize for the interruption in such a sudden way.

           Philip thought it was a good question. In a simple honest way he said that he needs a navigator. "Because, how possible (an) can I if someone does not show me the way?" The gar / because in the sentence, shows us that only half of a longer conversation is cited. The first part of the sentence is not given. He may have said: ["I am doing a lot of reading but cannot understand] because, how possibly can I, if someone does not show me the way?"

           Interpretation of the Bible is to show the way. What way? Truth, the way of truth. Truth is a way to walk on. One walk with God by reading His word. The Word of God is the road to heaven. Walking like Henoch with God is to walk with His book. By His Spirit He talks to the sinner and the faithful person. Now, someone who walks a long time the way can be a guide to others how and where to walk. Sigmund Mowinckel and G. Ostborn in 1945 said in his study Torah in the Old Testament, that the word Torah comes from horah which means "show the way". Deuteronomy 13:4 says that we "should follow the Lord". It is a walking action. While we are imitating Christ as example for us, we are to walk after Him in the same way He walked in relation with His Father, absolute surrender, unreservedly. It is a way of our life. It is not a way to perfection, it is God showing His way by His Torah or instruction to us, His Word, and we are to follow Him. He is the navigator. As Larondelle use to point out to us, Psalm 1 is speaking of a way to be walked. His way, after Him. 50%? No 100% says Deuteronomy 1:36 "because he has followed the Lord fully". Elijah said to the people in 1 Kings 18:21 that if you are certain Who you believe in, "follow Him". The Greek word used for interpretation by the Eunuch in Luke is thus "way-indicating".            Someone is needed for the sinner to see the way, to find the way, to learn about the way, to get proper navigation. They need a navigator. Philip was sent by the Spirit and the Angel of the Lord to be that navigator.

           He asked Philip to get up on the chariot and sit next to him. He was reading, says Luke, from Isaiah 53:7-8. Luke cited the text and when Philip sat down, the Eunuch said, please answer me this question: Is the prophet talking about himself or preterism or about someone else, a Christological interpretation of the Old Testament.   There are modern trends which are trying to avoid scholars talking about Messianic texts as referring to Christological texts. They wish to water the Messianic text down by saying the passage actually was speaking not of Jesus, but of a local person, David, the prophet, others, in the time of the writing of the book of the Old Testament. Only later did Jesus and the church applied that other person's information to Himself. W. Hengstenberg who was a scholar prior to 1844 and after, saw the Old Testament Messianic texts correctly, namely, Christological. It is not David the Messiah Jesusized. It is David in vision or dream or understanding given the insight of a future Messiah to come. That is Isaiah 53. There is no preteristic coating here or layers that are then by Jesus peeled off and applied to Himself in a new context and by kerugmatic church doctrine even further. In no way.

           Luke said that Philip opened his mouth and spoke from this Scripture to him about Jesus of Nazareth. Not about Isaiah or Serubabel or David or anyone else but Jesus. "I want nobody nobody but Jesus in this verse" was the message of Philip to the black Eunuch. It appears that they were traveling with the chariot. It was moving.            They came to water and the insight of Christ on the cross dying for his sins, giving His live as ransom also for an accountant like himself, touched the soul and thoughts of the Eunuch. It must have. When he saw the water, a push drive was in his whole life: there is water, what prevent me from getting baptized? "Look, water! What prevent me from getting baptized? How about you? If you see a good place, is there a voice saying, I need baptism? He asked the wagon to be stopped and they both went down into the water. Baptism in biblical terms is about to unfold before our eyes in the description of Luke. But Luke does not say how they baptized: to the back or to the front; one time or three times? Only lifting water with the hand or push the whole body in immersion? There is probably no need to climb into the water if one can only use a handful of water to sprinkle or baptize the head. The only logical conclusion is that he was immersed when he was baptized.

           Verse 37 is included by many manuscripts and left out by others. My Greek critical edition left it out in the main text but indicates all the manuscripts that included the verse. "And Philip said, 'If you believe with all your heart , you may'. And he answered and said, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God'". The conversation was longer than what is cited anyway. It took some time to go through all the explanations so that they had to start traveling again. It was while they were traveling that they progressed to such a point that his heart was touched and he wanted to be baptized. By that time, all that is in verse 37 and even more was already rehearsed by both men. It was clear that the Eunuch was ready in faith to join the remnant.

           A miracle happened said Luke as they came out of the water with the Eunuch probably walking in front. Philip was snatched away by the Spirit and the Eunuch could not see him again. What an experience for the Eunuch. But Luke said that the Eunuch went on rejoicing. The continuous form of the word indicate a bubbling over that cannot stop, it is ongoing and ongoing (chairoon). When God touch our hearts, a happiness is felt inside that cannot be described. At peace with God is the greatest gift of all. It was the Pearl of great price that this accountant picked up that day for a bargain sale. And what a sale it was!

           Philip found himself in Gaza and he continued evangelizing until he reached Caesarea, says Luke. Here Luke stopped the conversation of this incident. A window of an event that is very vivid and able to touch our hearts. We need a navigation, we need to read Isaiah, we need to read Isaiah 53, we need a navigator to show the way to us. We need understanding. We need surrender. We need baptism where there are lots of water and we need to be right of heart and mind. We need to get rid of preventions and barriers excluding us from that opportunity. We need to experience the rolling joy in our system and lives after baptism, that we are right with God, ready for heaven, fit through Jesus and rich in glory. That is the chairoon that we also need.

The Word of God is a road for our journey and a way of life and for life and to eternal life