Except Some Man Guide Me

Last week we looked into giving our testimony in which we saw Paul’s recount of his own personal testimony before King Agrippa, which personally I find to be such a sad ending that Agrippa himself did not believe on the LORD.

Today we will look at what I think is the greatest personal evangelism passages after the gospels.

Here we find Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch.

Acts 8:26–40 KJV 1900

26 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. 27 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, 28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. 30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? 31 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. 32 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: 33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. 34 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. 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? 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. 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. 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. 40 But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.

Lets look at some background of this text:

Not the same as modern day Ethiopia, this would be Cush in the Old Testament which is modern day Sudan.

Acts An Ethiopian Eunuch, 8:26–40

Ancient Ethiopia is not identical to the modern country by this name. Ancient Ethiopia is the same as the nation of Cush in the Old Testament (Gen 10:6–8) and was located in area of modern Sudan. The civilization of Cush lasted until c. AD 350. The culture was a source of fascination to the ancients. Pliny the Elder (Nat. VI.186–92) speaks of reports that certain regions of Ethiopia produced human monstrosities: people without noses, upper lips, or tongues. Some tribes were said to follow a dog as their king, while others followed a one-eyed king. Awareness of these popular stereotypes of Ethiopians makes God’s directing of Philip to invite an Ethiopian into the fold of God’s people especially provocative. This gospel really is for all types of people! Other relevant biblical texts are Isa 11:11 and Zeph 3:10.

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 8

This desert road was a major trade highway connecting Israel and the key Mediterranean ports of the area (including Caesarea, Joppa, and Gaza). Travel without protection was risky in first-century Palestine, even on major trade highways (compare Luke 10:25–37).

Candace was not the name of the Queen, rather a title given to queens.

Acts An Ethiopian Eunuch, 8:26–40

“Candace” was a title (like Pharaoh) for the queen of ancient Ethiopia. The queen was the official head of this government (see Pliny the Elder, Nat. VI.186). A novelistic biography of Alexander seems to understand “Candace” as the queen’s name, for a certain Queen “Kandake” appears in one portion of this novel (Psuedo-Callisthenes, Alexander Romance, III.18–23).

The Ethiopian

It was common for men who served in any close proximity of the royal court to be castrated as to reduce infidelity within the royal court.

This practice actually carried on for a long period of time to prevent kings and queens from having bastard children that would not technically have royal rights despite being born from a single royal rather than two royals.

Remember Daniel was made an eunuch during the Babylonian captivity.

Acts An Ethiopian Eunuch, 8:26–40

Castrated men regularly served in positions of governmental responsibility, particularly in overseeing financial matters and the royal harem. Philostratus tells an amusing story of a eunuch who was attracted to one of the royal concubines. The king wanted to execute the offender, but Apollonius of Tyana recommended that a more fitting punishment would be to let him live, given that he would never be able to satisfy his sexual longings (Apollonius of Tyana, I.36).

Religious Background

The eunuch had some respect for the Jewish religion and seemed to have a desire to be a full participant.

However there were some problems with this, the Jews did not allow anyone to just walk into their synagogues and worship with full liberty.

The eunuch not being Jewish but a Gentile posed a great problem for him. He would be able to enter but not into the most inner part of the temple to worship.

We know that he was a true seeker in that he made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to worship in the temple.

Acts An Ethiopian Eunuch, 8:26–40

In Isaiah, the eunuch and the foreigner were to find full acceptance in God’s house, the temple. It is significant that in the Lukan narrative the promise of Isaiah, the promise of full inclusion among God’s people of foreigners and eunuchs, finds its fulfillment not in Jerusalem and the temple, from which the eunuch is returning, but in his hearing and receiving of the gospel. Readers miss much of the punch of this story if they fail to observe that this man, as a foreigner and eunuch, is excluded from the fold of Israel. Thus, whatever sense readers make of this story, it is best not to downplay the Gentile (foreign) status of this character.

The Evangelist

Awareness

Notice it was Phillips awareness to the Holy Spirit that led him to the eunuch.

We must rely on the Holy Spirit to lead us and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit working and moving on our hearts.

Notice that the Holy Spirit led him to be near the person’s chariot. This was Phillips prompt to interact with the man.

How did Phillip know what passage of scripture the man was reading?

The man was reading it aloud.

Ancient readers tended to read aloud even when reading by themselves. Phillip would have overheard this and no doubt would have primed him for an opportunity to speak with the man.

Acts An Ethiopian Eunuch, 8:26–40

As Philip approaches, he hears (ancients tended to read aloud, even when reading to themselves) the eunuch as he reads from Isaiah (v. 30).

When an opportunity to witness to someone arises like it did for Phillip (hearing them read the scriptures), we should feel the Holy Spirit ‘well up’ within us. We should have a overwhelming desire to lead them to Christ.

Answer

Notice Phillip poses a question to the man to regarding the passage to the scripture, this is to judge his knowledge of the scripture.

We should ask questions and not assume that someone knows what the bible is teaching in a given passage.

This will also help with taking things out of context.

Any time you have an opportunity to expound the scriptures and draw out the real context, it is worth doing so as it will always aid in witnessing. If nothing else, it will reveal what the bible is actually teaching rather than the interpretation someone has drawn out in 1-2 verses.

He not only asks questions, but then answers the question.

Be ready to answer questions, people have lots of questions.

1 Peter 3:15 KJV 1900

15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

Action

What was in the heart of the eunuch before Phillip spoke to him?

A desire that someone would guide him in the scriptures.

Notice the opportunity that Phillip took. He took action on this and gave the gospel to the eunuch.

Phillip then began to give the gospel to the eunuch.

We should strive to use the passage of scripture that a person is asking about to give the gospel.

This is not always possible, as some people will want to ask difficult and off the wall questions, but more often than not, true curious seekers will ask about a passage that the gospel can be given easily and clearly.

The Effect

The effect here is that the eunuch believed on the Lord.

The Eunuch Prompted

Acts 8:36 KJV 1900

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?

Notice that the eunuch is the one who saw the water and prompted the question. Here Phillip uses this as an opportunity to pose the most important question.

Phillip is not seeking anything other than a true personal confession of faith from the eunuch.

The Eunuch Professed

Acts 8:37 KJV 1900

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.

Here the eunuch professed that he believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Many of your newer translations take verse 37 out entirely. This is because it uses a different Greek text than the KJV. They only later added it the verse into footnotes after a lot of backlash that they excluded this verse and verses like it where it makes such clear declarations.