Answer:
The Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40)
Introduction
This week I spent a great deal of time working on the church grounds—something I do not usually do. As David Mills and I were standing in front of the church talking, a woman who lives across the street from the church walked up to us and asked, “Do you men attend this church?” We told her we both were members of the church. She seemed satisfied by this and followed up with this request: “My husband and I went out for a walk and accidentally locked ourselves out of the house. Do you suppose that you could help us get back into the house?” David knew that I had some skill in this area, and so he went on back to his work. I told the woman I would be delighted to help her “break in” to her house if she would not tell anybody what I had done. In less than a minute she was back in her house, pleased to be in so easily, but a little distressed to see the ease with which I got past her front door lock.
Later in the day, David called. He asked if I had been successful. I told him that I managed to get in in less than a minute. It only later occurred to me that there might be a connection between this neighbor’s asking if we were from the church and her asking if we could help her break into her own house. She wanted someone to help her break in, but she also wanted some assurance that the person who did so was trustworthy. In effect, she wanted an honest “second story man.” I guess that was me.
The conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch is similar, as I read this text in the eighth chapter of the Book of Acts. Here was a man who had just been to Jerusalem, to worship the God of Israel there. And yet he was not saved in Jerusalem, but in the desert. And rather than being “led to the Lord” by one of the apostles there in Jerusalem, or even by Peter or John in a Samaritan city, he was converted through Philip, who was divinely directed to him in that remote desert place. One would think that the first Gentile convert (specifically mentioned in Acts) would have been won by an apostle. How strange the ways of God are! The salvation of this Ethiopian eunuch was clearly a matter of divine election and calling, as was the choice of the human instrument (Philip) a part of God’s sovereign will. The reasons for this are important, and we shall seek to discover them as we continue on with our study.
In Matthew 19:12, Christ describes three types of people as unfit for marriage, namely those who have been castrated (which all exegetes take as indicating eunuchs); those born incapable (con- genital eunuchs) and those who, by their own free choice and for the glory of God's Kingdom, abstain from marrying (voluntary ...
