Conversion of a Eunuch

“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.” (Acts 8:36–38)

The Gospel is God’s power to save mankind (Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 1:18). Before Jesus ascended into heaven, He commissioned His apostles to carry the Gospel into all the world in order that the world could hear the Good News of the Gospel, of salvation that is available through the shedding of the blood of Christ, and the hope of eternal life with God in heaven. The apostles did as commanded and carried the Gospel throughout the world (Col. 1:23), and in so doing “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). Since the preaching of the apostles, man has allowed the false teachers to tickle their itching ears (2 Tim. 4:2ff.) and have presented a perverted Gospel, wandering away from the teaching and instruction found within God’s Word (Gal. 1:6-9). There is mass confusion in regard to what man must do to be saved, and the number of divisions regarding the teaching of Scripture is ever increasing. We must rightly divide God’s Word in order to be approved by Him (2 Tim. 2:15), and in so doing we will be able to be saved the way He instructed. There are a number of conversions found within the book of Acts, proving how man may be saved, and if we will do what they did, we can become what they became (Christians). The conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch is just one of many cases that shows what man must do in order to be saved (Acts 8:26-40).

The Eunuch was saved because someone took time to teach him. Philip was one of the apostles of Jesus (Acts 1:13). Just as Jesus had promised, the Holy Spirit was guiding the apostles in all truth (John 16:13) and Philip is told by God to go to Gaza where he would meet the eunuch (Acts 8:26). Why would someone need to be sent in order that the eunuch be saved? God has designed the Gospel to be preached. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). The message of Jesus, the crucified yet resurrected Redeemer that now sits at the right hand of God is a message that is worth teaching, and the apostles and early church understood the need for the Gospel to be proclaimed. Philip was instructed to go to Gaza and promptly obeyed the commands of God/

The Eunuch was saved because he rightly divided the Scriptures. As Philip meets the eunuch, the eunuch is reading from the prophet Isaiah and asks, “understand thou what thou readest?” (Acts 8:30). The eunuch was reading a remarkable prophesy concerning Christ (Isa. 53:7ff.). As the eunuch was reading this Scripture, he inquired about what he was reading (Acts 8:34). Philip took the opportunity afforded to him to preach Jesus unto the eunuch (Acts 8:35). We are not given every word in the conversation between Philip and the eunuch, but as we see the eunuch’s response to this preaching, it can be seen that Philip proclaimed the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus, and how the eunuch could be saved by Jesus. It is obvious that the eunuch rightly divided, rightly discerned what was being told to him and understood his need to respond to the information given to him. The question still remains, “how was the eunuch saved?”

The Eunuch was saved when he was baptized. The eunuch has heard the Gospel of Jesus preached to him. The eunuch rightly divided from what was told to him that there was a need for him to be baptized into Christ. Philip told the eunuch he must believe Jesus and the eunuch made the great confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. After these matters had been settled there was still something the eunuch had to do to be saved and Philip went down with the eunuch into the water and the eunuch was baptized. The eunuch was fully immersed in water as there was “much water” (enough for both Philip and the eunuch to go into), and in so doing he was saved. Why be baptized? Why not just believe and confess Jesus and be saved? As Jesus had been preached to the eunuch, and as Philip was being guided by the Spirit, it is obvious that there was a need for the eunuch to be baptized. Baptism is essential for salvation. Jesus commanded baptism in order to be saved (Mark 16:16). The apostles commanded baptism for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). In baptism our sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus (Acts 22:16; Rom. 6:3ff) and is essential in order to be saved (1 Peter 3:21). Just as the eunuch had rightly divided the preaching of Philip which caused him to believe and confess Jesus is the Son of God, he also understood his need to be baptized.

We can be saved when we do what the Eunuch did. When we hear the preaching of the Gospel, when we believe Jesus is the Christ, when we confess Jesus is the Son of God, and when we are baptized into Christ, then we can be saved.