Believer's Baptism

Introduction

Today we are going to be looking at the topic of Baptism through the account of the Ethiopian Eunuch. Churches of all denominations have come to differing opinions on the topic of Baptist:

Presbyterians baptize infants until they are old enough to make a profession of faith because it grants membership into the Christian community and acts as a temporary covering to the child. They would practice baptism by immersion, affusion (pouring) and aspersion (sprinkling).

Churches of Christ believe that only adults can be baptised which is by immersion, but they hold that baptism is necessary to be saved.

Catholics believe baptism that baptism imparts grace so it is the actually means of salvation. Depending on the branch of Catholicism will determine whether they baptise by immersion, affusion or aspersion.

Pentecostals and Baptists baptise only believing adults by full immersion.

Some Brethren churches will baptise you three times in each of the names of the trinity.

Seeing there is such variety in practice should we just accept any position on baptism. There has been a movement within Baptist church to accept the baptism of those baptised as infants who later got saved. Is that something we should do? We are not going to look at every passage dealing with this topic but we are going to draw out some principles from this text which I believe are consistent with the rest of the NT examples on baptism.

The Ethiopian Eunuch vs 26-28

Sometime after the revival in Samaria, an angel of the Lord comes to Philip and sends him on his next mission

A. His location- Philip is sent somewhere he probably never would have gone on his own. I am kinda picking up on a theme with Philip that he was willing to do and go where most people were not willing to go. At the beginning of the chapter we see him preaching to the Samaritans. I have always had a burden for missions because my family was saved overseas because of the work of a military missionary in Japan. If you look at where most people are going as missionaries you will notice a trend that has always disturbed me. The majority of missionaries go to a handful of countries. Every missionary is needed in every country that they currently serve and I do not doubt that God has called them, but it concerns me that more people aren’t considering the call to countries that are hard, different, or even closed like Bhutan. I am grateful for friends like Paul J who went to Baffin Island, Jacob Hughs who went to Moldova and the Gilberts to Greenland. Like Paul these determined Romans 15:20 “Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation:” This isn’t the call of everyone, but we need people like this.

This road went through the desert so when we come across water to baptise in, we know there weren’t many other places to choose from.

This road was also heading toward Philistia, a Gentile region beyond the Jordan river.

B. His position- another factor that may have kept other men from being willing to preach the gospel here to this man was the fact that he was a Gentile by birth.

a. in Ethiopia- This man was from the country of Ethiopia which at the time was a major kingdom south of Egypt. When you hear Ethiopia don’t think modern Ethiopia. The capital of this kingdom was actually in Northern Sudan along the Nile river, but it encompassed much of that region of Africa. Obviously, this man was a black man which at the time in history does not seem to have been a problem to most people. We have a tendency to interpret the past by our American experience. He was also a man of authority. According to these verses he was a Eunuch. I won’t go into detail but eunuch often served in with the harems or with female royalty because they could be more trusted around the women. This eunuch was in charge of the treasury for the Queen of Ethiopia which remember was a larger empire at this time. He served under a Queen the text calls Candace. This is most likely a Greek transliteration of the royal title Keuteky which was used for female royalty. To understand this man though we must not just look at his political and social background, but his religious background.

b. in Judaism- The last phrase of vs 27 says that he was returning from Jerusalem where he had been worshipping God. According to Jewish law a eunuch and a Gentile could not have had full access to the temple, but this man was worshipping God in any way that he could. Most likely he was some form of a proselyte, a Gentile convert to Judaism. In the eyes of the Jewish law, a proselyte was considered a Jew not by birth but by conversion. This is important here because in the eyes of Luke this is not the first Gentile convert to Christ, that would be Cornelius. This man is viewed as being on the fringes of Judaism just like the Samaritans were.

C. His thirst- More important than all of that, this man was a seeker. He had a thirst for God. He has a long trip home from Jerusalem to Ethiopia, and as we find him here he is reading the book of Isaiah. He has a desire to know the word of God and is searching the scriptures. He isn’t even a Christian and yet we see him more diligently spending time in God’s word than most of us.

The Scriptures vs 29-35

Acts 8:29 “Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.” This is a divine appointment. Sometimes God will lead you directly to one person that he wants you to witness to.

The clearest I have ever experienced this was when I was working in a church plant up in Vermont. I couldn’t drive up to Northern Vermont one weekend to do evangelism that week, so I decided I would get a phone book and just call people. I came across a lady who I was on the verge of committing suicide. I wasn’t able to lead her to the Lord that night, but I was able to give her the gospel and talk her down from killing herself. Sometimes God will just put us in the right place at the right time because he knows the needs and hearts of people.

Acts 8:30 “And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?” Philip doesn’t take his time. Notice he runs. If only we were than eager to obey God. Imagine running fast enough to keep up with a chariot driver.

Much like many of us when we haven’t had years experience reading the bible or the holy Spirit to guide us, the eunuch doesn’t understand the text he is reading.

I want to take a look at the scriptures that this man was reading so we can understand what Philip needed to explain to him.

This passage comes from Isaiah 53:7-8 “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, Yet he opened not his mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, So he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: And who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living: For the transgression of my people was he stricken.”

The passage is from the Servant prophecies in the book of Isaiah and points to a Messiah who would suffer and die for the sins of the people. The Eunuch asks the question that a lot of people ask when they get to this passage in Isaiah, Did this man speak of himself or someone else? Who is this servant? Many have debated the identity of the servant, but Philip here applies the text clearly to Jesus Christ.

Acts 8:35 “Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.” Isaiah becomes the launching point for a gospel presentation for Philip. From this text we see that Jesus

was beaten and afflicted

didn’t fight back

was refused justice

killed

for the sins of the people (Present gospel here)

The Baptism vs 36-40

I mentioned that I wanted to focus on baptism from this text. In Acts 8:36 “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?” The Eunuch clearly believes what Philip is telling him and knowing that baptism was a Jewish sign of conversion asks to be baptised. He asks the question What doth hinder me to be baptised? That is the question we are asking today. Who, How and when

A. Who should be baptised

Those who place their faith in Jesus Christ. Acts 8:37 “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.” Faith in Jesus Christ is clearly a prerequisite to baptism. This is why we as baptist’s don’t baptise babies or accept infant baptism in our churches. The only baptism that we see in scripture is the baptism of those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. Now I have a little bit of a technical discussion to have with some of you because maybe your bible doesn’t have verse 37 in it.

If you have a KJV, NKJV, MEV or some versions of the NASB or LSB (John McArthurs NASB revision) and the HSCB, your bible probably has this verse while most other translations either don’t have this verse or they put it in brackets with a footnote saying “Some manuscripts add all or most of verse 37: And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” Because part of my message is dependent on this verse I want to give you a little bit of the textual evidence for this verse and why I think it should be here.

The textual evidence is actually split on whether this verse should be included:

The earliest manuscripts do not contain the verse including P45 and Codex Vaticanus although Vaticanus does have what is called a distigma marking that the copyist thought something could be missing. We don’t know that this was the original copyist or one of several editors later on but if it is original it means the copyist had one copy with and one copy without in front of him. The oldest Greek manuscript (codex E) with the verse in it is from the 500’s Ad and is an interlinear with the latin text on the left indicating the scribe could have been trying to make the Greek look like the latin. Out of the 559 Greek copies we have today of the book of Acts only 64 contain this verse and most are from the middle ages. However, let me caution that just because the ones we have in hand do not contain the verse does not mean that the ones we don’t have in hand didn’t have the verse.

Early church Fathers quoted the verse: We have records of this verse being quoted in this story by Iraneaus in AD 184 and Cyprian in the early 200’s and then Augustine in the 300’s. These church fathers were older than any of the manuscripts we have available today.

There are also some early translations of the bible that contain this verse such as some of the Coptic translations and the Old Latin translations.

Whether the verse was original or included because the scribes new Peter would have confirmed the faith of the Eunuch or not, the evidence is split. However, we know from vs 35 that Philip preached the gospel to the Eunuch. The word preach is again that word gospeling that we saw at the beginning of the chapter. Whether the words were written or not, Philip would have asked this question. I believe there is ample evidence to support including the KJV reading in this passage. If necessary, putting a footnote to explain the evidence.

B. How should we be baptised

Acts 8:38 “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.” The example we have in this passage and elsewhere is that baptism was by immersion. Notice Philip and the eunuch go down into the water. It was common practice to submerge in the water as a symbol of being placed into the faith that the person was converting to. Because of this we always baptise by immersion. Added to that is the fact that the word for baptise in Greek means to dip, immerse or plunge into water. Sprinkling just doesn’t do it and doesn’t fit the illustration. Pouring still doesn’t quite get the idea.

Acts 8:39 “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.” Notice that they came up out of the water. You can’t do this by sprinkling or pouring.

C. When should we be baptised

The ideal is that as soon as possible after salvation you should be baptised. This isn’t always possible but Philip baptised the eunuch immediately. Normally, baptism is a church ordinance meaning it is celebrated by and among the church, but that couldn’t happen here in the desert.

There is no command on who should baptise. In fact if the command to evangelize is given to all believers than the command to baptise is given to all believers as well from Matt 28:19-20 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” The example we have here is that Philip a deacon, not the pastor baptised the eunuch. The emphasis is probably on the fact that the person who led him to the Lord did the baptising though this is not always the case with Paul later on.

Conclusion

Baptism is not getting saved and it isn’t even a part of getting saved. Rather it is a sign that follows getting saved to show others that we have placed our faith in Jesus Christ and are now part of the body of Christ. There are two challenges this morning:

Like the Ethiopian eunuch, we all need a savior because we have sinned against a holy, perfect and just God. Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” but like the ethiopian eunuch Jesus came to die, was beaten, mocked, killed and denied justice because God is also a merciful, loving God. In Jesus’ sacrifice, we see God’s mercy and His justice perfectly. God Himself took on the punishment that we deserve. Jesus died for our sins. I am the reason he hung there on that cross. I am the reason He was beaten, I am the reason, He was denied justice. But Jesus bore it all for me. After being buried for three days, He rose again because death could not conquer Him. If you were to ask me what do I need to do to have my sins forgiven? My answer would be like that of Philip if you believe with all your heart. Believe what Jesus did for you not just in your head, but in your heart. Trust Him to forgive you of your sins. If you ask, He will forgive you.

For those who have been saved, have you been baptised biblically? Baptism is not to save us. It is only for those who have been saved and it is only after you have been saved. According to this text it is also by immersion.

If you haven’t been saved, please come during this invitation and we will have someone show you how you can have your sins forgiven in more detail. If you need to be biblically baptised, please come see me. We can arrange to meet and talk about baptism and set that up.