Ethiopia Stretches Out Her Hands

Acts of the Apostles (20)

Introduction

Remember that the Lord had said the gospel would progress from Jerusalem to Judaea, to Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. The books of Acts begins in Jerusalem. After the murder of Stephen, the disciples scatter into the province of Judaea, and also through Samaria. Philip went to the city of Samaria and ministered there. From there, an angel then sends him into the wilderness toward Gaza, but does not tell him why. While there, Philip sees a chariot (and probably also a caravan, given the importance of this man).

As the gospel continues to fan out across the world, this is the next stepping stone, and the word of the psalmist is fulfilled.

And as the next verse makes plain, Ethiopia is the harbinger of all the other nations coming to Christ. “Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord; Selah” (Psalm 68:32).

The Text

“And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. 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? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea” (Acts 8:26–40).

Summary of the Text

So after Philip’s success in Samaria, the angel of the Lord commanded Philip to go down to the south desert road from Jerusalem to Gaza (v. 26). So he obeyed, and encountered there an Ethiopian eunuch, a very important officer under Candace, the Ethiopian queen. He was her treasurer (v. 27), and was returning home after worshiping in Jerusalem. He is clearly already a God-fearer. Sitting in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah (v. 28). The Spirit spoke to Philip, and told him join up with this chariot (v. 29). When Philip did this, he heard him reading Isaiah aloud, and asked him if he understood it (v. 30). In the ancient world, there was no such thing as reading silently—Augustine once recorded how astonished he was when he saw Ambrose reading silently to himself. In response to Philip’s question, the eunuch replied that he was not able to understand without an interpreter, and invited Philip up into the chariot (v. 31). As it turned out, the place where he was reading was Is. 53:7-8—the place where the Suffering Servant is led as a sheep to the slaughter, not protesting, and how his life was taken from the earth in a humiliating way (vv. 32-33). The eunuch asked whether the prophet was speaking about himself or about somebody else (v. 34). So Philip began to speak, starting from that passage, and preached Jesus to him (v. 35). As they continued traveling, they came to a place that had some water, and the eunuch asked what would prohibit him being baptized (v. 36). Philip said that if he believed with all his heart, he certainly could be baptized, and the eunuch replied that he did believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (v. 37). Indicating a difference in manuscripts, some of your Bibles don’t have v. 37 included, but we are working from the manuscript tradition which contains it. So as a result the eunuch commanded the chariot to stop, and both men went down into the water, and Philip baptized him there (v. 38). When they both came up out of the water, the Spirit caught Philip away from the eunuch, who went on his way back to Ethiopia rejoicing (v. 39). But Philip appeared at Azotus (Ashdod), where he preached through all the cities, until he came to Caesarea (v. 40). 

Modes of Baptism

Not surprisingly, this passage has been referred to often when it comes to debates over modes of baptism. Advocates of “immersion only” often refer to the fact that in v. 39, it says that they came up “out of the water.” The problem with this is that it would require the full immersion of Philip also. The actual demands of the text would be fully met if they walked into the water knee deep, and water was poured or sprinkled over the eunuch’s head. Now at Christ Church, we practice water baptism by three lawful modes of baptism—Christian baptism is any application of water to someone in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19).

You have perhaps been erroneously told that baptizo means immersion, and can mean nothing else, but this is plainly not the case. It certainly includes immersion, but it is not limited to that meaning.

In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit is poured out on the disciples (Acts 2:17-18), just as the prophet Joel predicted (ekcheo). The verb pour is used twice. In Acts 10:44, the Holy Spirit fell on them (epipipto). When Peter recounts what had happened, he describes it this way. “And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning” (Acts 11:15). And then in the next breath, he describes this falling and pouring as a baptism—“ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 11:16). So pouring is clearly a biblical mode.

What about sprinkling (rhantizo)? In the book of Hebrews, we are told about the older Mosaic ceremonies (Heb. 9:10), and they included “divers washings.” The word for washing here is baptismos, the noun. But three verses later, in describing one of these ceremonies, he refers to the “ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean” (Heb. 9:13). This sprinkling was part of the ceremonial ablutions that prepared the Israelites for worship. And in our text, whatever possessed the eunuch to ask about baptism? Remember that Philip had started from Is. 53:7. As it happens, this is what Isaiah says just nine verses earlier: “So shall he sprinkle many nations; The kings shall shut their mouths at him: For that which had not been told them shall they see; And that which they had not heard shall they consider” (Isaiah 52:15). So sprinkling is also a biblical mode.

And not that you need to be persuaded of this, but immersion is also a biblical mode. “For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing (baptismos) of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do” (Mark 7:8). The washing of cups and pots obviously includes immersing them.

Baptized Into the Living Christ

We are accustomed to think of baptism as resulting whenever a new believer comes to the water. But what happened prior to that was that the water came into the world, and the only way that the water could do that was because it was living water. Christ is the one who possesses the gift of living water (John 4:10). And when He brings the water to us, the water baptizes us, and that water is Christ Himself. And once we are baptized in His living water, we become a source of that same life that ministers to others. “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38).

It is for this reason, a very good reason, that the Ethiopian eunuch went on his way rejoicing. The water had come to him, sent by God through the ministry of Philip.