Acts 8:30 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?"

NIV: Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked.

NASB: Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, 'Do you understand what you are reading?'

CSB: When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, "Do you understand what you’re reading?"

NLT: Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, 'Do you understand what you are reading?'

KJV: And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?

NKJV: So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

An angel has led Philip the evangelist to an Ethiopian court official on his way home from worshiping the Jewish God in Jerusalem. The official is reading from Isaiah 53: a prophecy about Jesus' execution (Acts 8:26–29). At this time, reading was usually done aloud, so Philip would have heard him.

Although the Ethiopian official traveled to Jerusalem, understood Judaism, and worshiped the Jewish God, he didn't understand all of the Jewish Scriptures. He was separated from Isaiah by language, likely reading the Greek versions of the Hebrew Scriptures. He was also separated by time and culture. He was right to read the passage and understand it as far as he could, but he was also right to accept help understanding when he got stuck. The question asked here, and the answer given by Philip (Acts 8:31) are key in our understanding of how spiritual knowledge is gained. In short, no one is meant to learn about God entirely alone—the Great Commission is to "make disciples," which requires interaction (Matthew 28:19).

Jews today typically skip over Isaiah 53. They either don't understand the purpose of the "Suffering Servant" or they do understand how the prophecy so closely matches what Jesus experienced—and it makes them uncomfortable. Jews have a long literary heritage of interpretations and arguments about Scripture that they use to try to figure out what the Old Testament means. Jesus promised that when He left, He would send the Holy Spirit to "guide [us] into all the truth" (John 16:13). In this case, the Holy Spirit sends Philip.

Acts 8:26–40 completes the story of Philip's early ministry. Driven out of Jerusalem by persecution, he first travels north into Samaria and spreads the gospel to a people Jews had believed accursed (Acts 8:5–13). Now, an angel tells him to go south where he meets an official of the Ethiopian court who is reading from the book of Isaiah. Philip's ministry shows that God doesn't care if someone is born into His chosen people, or are ethnically and theologically confused, or are even a foreign eunuch. He loves equally and desires that everyone will repent and come to Him.

Jesus told the apostles they would spread the gospel (Acts 1:8) and persecution makes that happen. Upon the death of the first Christian martyr (Acts 7:54–60), a young Pharisee named Saul builds on the momentum to arrest and, if possible, execute Jesus followers (Acts 8:1–3; 26:10). The apostles mostly stay in Jerusalem, but the church members flee, spreading the gospel to Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. Important encounters in this passage include a magician named Simon and the conversion of an Ethiopian court official.

Acts 1:8 gives the outline of the book of Acts; Acts 1—7 describes the spread of the gospel through Jerusalem; Acts 8:1—11:18 shows the gospel spreading in Judea and Samaria; Acts 11:19—28:31 sees the gospel spread to the ''end of the earth,'' finalizing in Rome. Ironically, although Paul is the central figure in spreading Jesus' good news to the ends of the earth, his early persecution of the church in Jerusalem is instrumental in spreading the gospel through Judea and Samaria.

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.