The Ethiopian Eunuch Act 8:26-40
The Ethiopian Eunuch Act 8:26-40
Here we have an account of a high government official of the Ethiopian Queen Candice, going to Jerusalem to participle in Jewish worship, for he was, by religion a Jew, and returning a Christian!
Many of us who come from churches which delay baptizing people, lest we baptize them too quickly, and they prove false believers, have wondered if Phillip baptized this man too quickly, on such a simple statement as, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God," which was made within a very short time, maybe less than an hour, of the man hearing the gospel.
I have come to believe that Phillip was correct to baptize this man so quickly, but I also maintain that this event cannot be used as a "proof text" for baptizing anyone, in any circumstance, so quickly.
Who was this man?
He was probably an Ethiopian by ethnicity. It is clearly stated he was a high government official. He was a eunuch. He was certainly a Jew by religion.
Those are facts stated in the narrative, and they do bear on the rightness of what Phillip did.
If the man was truly saved, if Phillip could know this with absolute certainty, then of course, it was 100% correct for him to baptize the man right then and there.
Our difficulty is that we ask ourselves, can we ever know with 100% certainty if a person is saved.
To that question, the answer is "We cannot!," but then, if carried to its logical conclusion, we could never baptize anyone!
So our decision to baptize someone, anyone, comes down to a this: Is their profession of faith, credible, believable; can we take it at face value, and say, yes, it is probably true that they have been saved.
Remember, the profession of faith is the person's statement that the Holy Spirit has given new life to them, and that therefore they believe X,Y, and Z; making the statement of faith, does not save the person.
So we are saying that the Eunuch said what he said, because the Holy Spirit had given life to him, right then, during his conversation with Phillip. What would make Phillip believe the man's profession of faith was credible, that the man had actually been saved right then? And why is Phillip's question, Act 8:37, "If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest be baptized," the perfect question for the man.
First, the man is a Jew. He was coming back from Jerusalem, and would have certainly heard of, and maybe even seen some of the official persecution of the Jewish authorities against the Christians. Maybe he listened to Stephen speaking, and saw him stoned to death? Maybe he saw Saul/Paul leading around a mob to round up Christians: "As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison." (Act 8:3) Maybe, maybe not, but at a minimum, he knew official Judaism was against Christianity, and that those very same high priests who authorized Saul/Paul to persecute the Christians, had themselves asked Jesus, Are you the son of God?, and when he said yes, had accused him of blasphemy, and used that statement as the legal basis to crucify him.
The Eunuch, knowing all that, yet he says, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
The very statement that got Jesus crucified, this man makes, siding with the blasphemer and his hated and persecuted group, against the entire Jewish establishment, of which he was part of, both as a Jew, and as a high government official of the Jewish Queen Candice!
Second, but let's go back a bit, to the initial encounter between Phillip and the Eunuch. The man is reading Isa 53, the clearest portion of scripture, Old Testament or New, regarding the work and death of Christ. Having just recently worshiped in Jerusalem, having seen the official Jewish persecution of Christians, this man, being full of zeal, is reading THE key scripture portion about Christ.
There was no New Testament at that time, he only had the Old Testament, as did the early church, and they preached Isa 53 all the time, which he would have known from his time in Jerusalem, and so he is reading it on his own, trying to figure out if Isaiah is speaking about Jesus, whom the Christians say he is speaking about, or someone else. He asks Phillip, "I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?" Act 8:34
Phillip begins there, and again using the Old Testament, which were the only scriptures, teaches the man about Christ: "Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." Act 8:35
And it is revealed to the man that the promised Savior is Jesus!
Certainly, Jesus statement to Peter, upon Peter's confession, applies to this man:
"He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Mat 16:15-17
And note, Peter and the Eunuch make the same statement: you are the son of the living God!
God the Father revealed to this man that Jesus, the crucified carpenter, whose followers were the objects of official, organized persecution, was indeed the promised Savior, the suffering servant of whom Isaiah had written in Isa 53, the son of God.
Previously he had been reading, but had not seen the truth; but God reveals it to him, he sees it, and instantly confesses it.
Three, the man asks to be baptized.
"And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?" Act 8:36
Phillip did not press the man; the man pressed Phillip! He wanted to be identified with Jesus! He knew all about baptism, and that it was the identifying mark of a person having become a Christian.
This is a huge point! And from it we should learn that a true convert wants to be identified with Jesus, they want to be known as one of Jesus people. They don't care about the fall-out, in fact they welcome the fall-out; they want there to be no mistake about it, I am now a Christian!
We will note the fallout that this man could expect, but first let's next note:
Four, the man was not alone. As one of the high government officials of Ethiopia, he would have had a large retinue of attendants. He probably had also brought an official offering, a monetary gift from Queen Candice to Jerusalem (it was this man "who had the charge of all her treasure"), so he had soldiers, to guard him, the money, and the travelers.
The point here, is that the entire retinue of his fellow travelers, court officials and solders, would have seen and heard everything that was happening!
They saw the man reading, but what they could not see, was that he was seeking. Why was he reading Isa 53? He had probably, and there is no proof to this, but probably, he had heard it being discussed back at Jerusalem, and wants to read for himself what is written. But he is confused, he tells Phillip he cannot figure out if Isaiah was speaking about himself, or another. The entire group of fellow travels hears this conversation between the Eunuch and Phillip.
They then hear Phillip start there in Isa 53, and then from many other scriptures, preach Jesus to him. And remember again, all of these officials and solders were also Jews; they all knew the scriptures Phillip was using!
They then hear him ask to be baptized, and when asked why he should be baptized, make a clear, ANTI-JEWISH confession, that Jesus is the Son of God! Not just NON-Jewish, but ANTI-JEWISH. NON-Jewish means he says something Jews would not normally say; ANTI-JEWISH means he says something which is antithetical to the Jewish official line.
They then hear him ask to be baptized, and they see him be baptized!!! The public sign of identification with Jesus, and Jesus with people, who, remember, at that very time were being persecuted by Saul/Paul, who had received official authorization and commissioned from the high priests, to also go to Damascus, and do the exact same thing there, as he was doing at Jerusalem! Act 8 starts with Saul/Paul instigating an official persecution of the Christians in Jerusalem, which he was able to do, because Steven had just been killed.
"And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison." Act 8:1-3
If this man had been converted at Jerusalem, he could have been arrested! OK, maybe his official royal position would have protected him, but that is not the issue, based on his public verbal profession, and at his own insistence, identification with Christians by baptism, he very likely could have been arrested, or at least, sent back to Candice in chains as a traitor, for her to deal with; and she as a faithful Jew, she is the queen of a country whose roots go to King Solomon, would have been in a very difficulty spot, her zeal for Judaism open to public scrutiny, based on how she dealt with this convert to Christianity, the enemy religion.
Five, the probable/possible fall out.
Queen Candice was a Jew! The entire Ethiopian history, etc, was openly Jewish!
From an Internet search:
"The Ethiopian Constitution of 1955 includes references to King Solomon, asserting that the Emperor descends from the Solomonic dynasty, which claims lineage from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. This connection is used to legitimize the Emperor's authority and status."
The last Ethiopian Emperor, Hali Selassi, who reigned up until 1974, claimed direct decent from Solomon. Wikipedia has a good article on him.
So the royal line of Ethiopia traced itself back to Solomon, hence Candice was a descendant of Solomon, and the Eunuch's conversion to Christianity, was treason!
And treason usually carries the death penalty!
This man had put a bull's eye on himself, willingly!
When I put all of this together, and this would have all been know to Phillip, for he knew exactly who this man was, I realized this man was real, he had truly been saved at that very hour, and it was totally correct for Phillip to baptize him right then and there! Phillip must have been beyond amazed, and can you imagine the soldiers and fellow travelers seeing all of this, and the conversation they would have had. From Jerusalem to Addis Ababa Ethiopia is 2300 miles, at 30 miles a day (just a guess), is over 70 days.
What happened? What was discussed? What happened when he arrived back home again?
We know nothing more of this man, and speculation is always speculation at the best, but one thing is for sure, it will be very interesting to hear him tell his story when we meet him in heaven.
3 January 2026