Acts 8:39 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

NIV: When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.

NASB: When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.

CSB: When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer but went on his way rejoicing.

NLT: When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing.

KJV: 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.

NKJV: Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.

Philip is one of the first deacons of the Christian church in Jerusalem (Acts 6:5). He is a Jew, but he grew up outside of Judea, in the Greco-Roman culture. An angel led him to travel south to a road that connected Jerusalem with Gaza to meet a single Ethiopian court official and tell him the good news about Jesus. The reasons for this are not explicitly given, but the results are impressive (Acts 8:26–38).

We do know that Ethiopians and the Jews have had contact since at least the time of Solomon when the Queen of Sheba visited (1 Kings 10). Possibly longer, since "Ethiopia" then was in the territory that spans our southern Egypt and northern Sudan—it's possible the Jews first came in contact with Ethiopians during the four hundred years of slavery, or even earlier, when Abraham went to Egypt during the famine (Genesis 12:10–20).

But we don't know why this Ethiopian was so important to God's plan. Undoubtedly, he spread the gospel at home. Christianity became a state religion in Ethiopia about 300 years later. Egypt and Libya were home to several important Christian scholars in the first centuries of the church. Sometimes it's important for European and American Christians to realize that Africa's history with Christianity is significantly longer than theirs.

Philip and the Ethiopian official had been on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. The Holy Spirit takes Philip to Azotus, also known as Ashdod, which is twenty miles north of Gaza and just south of Tel Aviv. Why the sudden transport, we are not told. From there, he makes his way north along the coast to Caesarea, the headquarters of the Roman governor of Judea (Acts 8:40). Many years later, after he is settled as a church leader and has four daughters who prophesy, Philip will meet Paul on Paul's last recorded trip to Jerusalem (Acts 21:8–9).

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.