Acts 8:34–38 Holy is Your name!!!

FAITH in the Word of God made flesh, Jesus Christ, is salvation. No other name brings with it the way to the Father and the gift of Holy Spirit.

We trust in the living God who is the Savior of us all! 

Jesus finished everything needed for salvation. We can do nothing to earn it. Jesus is the unmerited and undeserved gift of our loving God to ALL people regardless of their gender, their country or their status in society.

Acts 10:47 “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”

This gift is offered to ALL men but it is up to us to accept. We are to be living examples of the goodness of God in word, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in good works. 

Faith in God, in the person of Christ Jesus, will get us safely home! He is the truth of God.

Acts 8:34–38

34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” 37 Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” 38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. The New King James Version

Philip used the fourth Suffering Servant song (Isaiah 52:13–53:12) to explain the gospel of Jesus’ sacrificial death, victorious resurrection, and the significance of Jesus’ actions for all people. In answer to the eunuch’s question Philip would have explained that the prophet is speaking about an individual suffering servant, who takes on the sin of all of humanity. He would have then connected the suffering servant prophecy to Jesus. Not long after this passage in Isaiah is the proclamation that eunuchs will be able to join God’s people (Isaiah 56:3–5). Isaiah reverses Deuteronomy 23:1, which excludes eunuchs from gathering with the assembly of Israel. Philip may have also made this connection. 

After Philip’s message, the necessary element (water) is presented for the eunuch to demonstrate his allegiance to Christ. The eunuch, who is not Jewish, wonders if any barrier remains to prevent his identification with Jesus and reception of the blessings of His work. The Greek phrasing used here may be meant to emphasize Philip’s spiritual solidarity with the eunuch: both of the men enter the water together, and both come up out of it together. Faithlife Study Bible

First-century Jews did not speak much about a suffering Messiah. The Jewish people, facing the yoke of Roman rule, believed that the Messiah would come as the Lion of Judah, a delivering King, not a weak lamb. They believed and taught that the suffering One spoken of by Isaiah was the suffering nation of Israel. Most likely this eunuch had heard the “official” teaching of this passage in Jerusalem but still had some questions. Philip showed him that suffering One was Jesus. He had to suffer on the Cross for the sins of all of humanity. Having heard the message of Christ’s sacrifice for sin, the eunuch responded to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Irenaeus, an early church father who lived between a.d. 130 and 202, wrote that the eunuch returned to Ethiopia and became a missionary to his own people. The NKJV Study Bible

Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

Acts 17:2–3 Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.”

Acts 18:28 for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.