Acts 7-8 (ESV) by Wordle*

Today’s reading is Acts 7:1-8:40.

“And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?’ …And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him” (Acts 8:36, 38).

Obviously, preaching Christ to the eunuch included preaching baptism in the name of Christ. The eunuch himself saw water and wanted to know if anything prevented him from participating. Today, this seems like an odd question. What could possibly prevent a man from being baptized in the name of Jesus. But for the eunuch, this was an obvious question. As a proselyted Jew who had been made a eunuch in a foreign court, he had learned that he was a “second-class” Jew (for lack of a better term). He was prevented from full access to the congregation of the Jews (cf. Deuteronomy 23:1). Would it be the same for being part of the congregation of Christ? Was he prevented by what his queen had done to him?

Praise the Lord! The answer was nothing to prevent him. There are no second-class citizens in Christ’s kingdom. Everyone has full access to Christ and to the throne of God through Christ.

That was good news for the eunuch and great news for us. None of us are second-class citizens. We can all be baptized into Christ and into His congregation and kingdom. Nothing prevents us, except possibly us. If you want to be in Christ, you can get there today. Just do what the eunuch did; be baptized into Christ. (If you need help with this, just hit the “contact” link at the top left of the page and let me know.)

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS: What struck you in today’s reading? You can add your input by clicking here.

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*Today’s illustration was generated by the creative tool at Wordle.net. You can find all my wordles here.

Today’s reading is Acts 7:1-8:40.

Acts 8:4 starts a parenthetical section which doesn’t conclude until Acts 11:19. Luke tells four stories to prepare us for the progression from a Jewish church to a Gentile church. In order to prepare his early readers he told the first story of the conversion of a Samaritan Sorcerer. If Simon could be saved, a half-breed pagan, then anyone can be saved. Then he told the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch. If a proselytized Eunuch, could be saved, anyone can be saved. Then he told the story of the Priest’s Persecutor. If Saul, who was the number one enemy of Christ’s church could be saved, then anyone could be saved. Therefore, we should not be surprised when the Caesarean Centurion could be saved.

Lesson #1: I can be saved

This brings us to the first lesson I get from the Ethiopian Eunuch. According to Deuteronomy 23:1, no eunuch could enter the assembly of the Lord. This man was almost a second class citizen of that old kingdom. There is no way to know if he learned this after making the pilgrimage or if he made the pilgrimage even though he knew this. Yet, in either case, we see exactly why he asked, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” He had just experienced a time of prevention. He was prevented from much of the worship of the Jews because he was emasculated. Did that same prevention apply to entering Jesus? Philip’s answer was the only thing that prevents someone from being baptized is if they do not believe. The Eunuch believed and was baptized (cf. Mark 16:15-16).

The lesson for me is if the Ethiopian Eunuch can be saved, then anyone can be saved. More importantly for me, I can be saved. The only thing that will hinder me is whether or not I believe. Because, if I believe it, I will do it. If I don’t believe, I won’t follow God’s path. That will lead to destruction. I can be saved. You can be saved. Do you believe?

Lesson #2: Preaching Jesus

Philip preached Jesus to the Eunuch. He preached the good news about Jesus. While we don’t know his complete sermon. We can ascertain some aspects of it. He clearly pointed out the servant of the passage in Isaiah 53:7-8 is Jesus. He clearly pointed out there is good news in Jesus, that is, there is salvation in Jesus. But what cannot be missed, he clearly taught baptism as part of Jesus. The Eunuch didn’t come up with baptism on his own. There is no teaching of baptism from Isaiah 53 or in the Old Testament at all. How did the Eunuch come up with this question? Because an integral part of teaching the good news is teaching the necessity of baptism. 

This is a real shock considering the modern approach to baptism. For most of modern Christian religions, baptism is called something really important. Surely someone who is already a Christian should do it to let the world know they’ve been forgiven (odd point since the world isn’t seeing their baptism). Some even suggest they will question the salvation experience of a person who refuses baptism. But is it necessary to salvation? Is it necessary to the preaching of Jesus? The resounding answer is, “NO.” Friends, if we are going to follow in the footsteps of our ancient predecessors, we’ll see baptism as an essential to teaching the lost the good news of Jesus. It is not a sermon for the saved to convince them it is a good thing to do after they are saved. It is a lesson for the lost. It is part of preaching the good news. Without the baptism taught in Acts and exemplified in this story, no one will be saved. All other baptisms will fail us as Ephesians 4:5 explains there is only one baptism. That is, only one that brings us into the one body, expresses the one faith, provides us the one hope of our calling, submits us to the one Lord, follows the guide of the one Spirit and surrenders us to the one God.

I hear a lot today about just preaching Jesus. I’m all for it. Let’s just make sure when we are preaching Jesus, we are at least preaching what those early Christians preached when they preached Jesus.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. If you would like to read/hear a lesson I presented on this parenthetical set of stories and what we learn from them about the amazing gospel, click the link: The Amazing Gospel of Christ

P.P. S. What did you get out of today’s reading?