Acts 8:26-40 Phillip the evangelist

Acts 8:26-39 Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch. One might almost be tempted to ask, why did the Holy Spirit select Philip and tell him to go minister to one person in an out of the way place? Perhaps the easiest answer is, because he would go! Since the apostles had set everything in order in Samaria, perhaps he realized his evangelistic ministry there was ebbing; perhaps simply because he demonstrated his willingness to be used by the Holy Spirit; perhaps because he had a very powerful gift of evangelization. Even though he was in Samaria and the Holy Spirit told him to go south on the desert road from Jerusalem to Gaza, which was 40 to 50 kilometers away.

          The Holy Spirit told Philip to run up and join the chariot of the court official of Candace, who was returning home to Ethiopia after worshiping in Jerusalem. We don't know if this man was a Jew of the dispersion or a Jewish convert in Ethiopia. The evidence that he had gone to Jerusalem to worship and that he was reading the scroll of Isaiah while he traveled certainly suggests that he was committed. And obviously he was puzzled by Isaiah 53:7-8. In the innocence of faith, he had not had that passage explained away. Philip knocked on the metaphorical the door with a simple inquiry, and the eunuch opened the door with an invitation to join him. Philip then had the opportunity to explain how Jesus was in this Scripture, and no doubt many others, and all that Jesus had said and done. We don't really know what he said. But the eunuch was convinced because he asked if he could be baptized, so Philip must have explained something about baptism. And Philip baptized him on the spot.

          One imagines there must have been quite a number of people in this eunuch's traveling party, as he was the court official in charge of all the finances of the queen of Ethiopia. How much did they hear? What did they think of seeing their boss being baptized?

Acts 8:40 Phillip evangelizes from Azotus to Caesarea. These are both coastal cities, approximately 100 km apart. There are no details about this evangelistic campaign but clearly Philip was a gifted evangelist on both in a group and on the personal level.