The Early Church · c. AD 34
Chapter 6
Philip and the Ethiopian
Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”He said, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” He begged Philip to come up and sit with him.
For parents
The chapter opens just after Stephen was stoned to death (Acts 7:58) and tells how Saul went into homes and dragged men and women off to prison (8:1–3), plainly and without detail. The Ethiopian official is a eunuch (8:27), and the word’s card explains that this means a man who could not father children.
They had thrown out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses had laid their cloaks at the feet of a young man named , who gave his approval to Stephen’s death.
That day a great persecution rose up against the in . All the believers except the were scattered across the regions of and .
Men who were devoted to God buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him.
But Saul was tearing the assembly apart. He went into one home after another and dragged men and women alike off to prison.
So the believers who had been scattered traveled around, preaching the word.
, one of the seven chosen along with Stephen, went down to the city of Samaria. There he told the people about the .
The crowds all listened as one to what Philip said, when they heard him and saw the signs he did. came out of many people who had them, crying out in a loud voice as they left. And many people who had been paralyzed and lame were made well.
And the city was full of joy.
But a man named had been practicing sorcery in that city. He amazed the people of Samaria and claimed to be someone great. Everyone listened to him, from the least important to the most important, and they said, “This man is that great power of God.” They listened to him because he had kept them amazed with his magic for a long time.
But when Philip preached the good news about God’s Kingdom and the name of Christ, the people believed him. They were , men and women alike.
Simon himself believed too. Once he was baptized, he stayed by Philip’s side. He saw signs and great miracles taking place, and he was amazed.
The apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received God’s word. So they sent and there.
When the two came down, they prayed for the people to receive the . So far he had fallen on none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of Christ Jesus.
Then the two laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
When Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the apostles laying their hands on people, he offered them money. “Give me this power too,” he said, “so that anyone I lay my hands on will receive the Holy Spirit.”
But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could get God’s gift with money! You have no share in this and no part in it, because your heart isn’t right in God’s sight. So of this wicked thing, and ask God if perhaps he will forgive you for the thought in your heart. I can see that you are full of bitter poison and held prisoner by wrongdoing.”
“Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon answered. “Pray that none of the things you have said will happen to me.”
Peter and John testified and spoke the word of the Lord. Then they went back to Jerusalem, and they preached the Good News to many villages of the .
Then an of the Lord told Philip, “Get up and head south. Go to the road that runs down from Jerusalem to . This is a desert.”
Philip got up and went. And there was a man from . He was a with great authority under , queen of the Ethiopians. All her treasure was in his care. He had come to Jerusalem to worship. Now he was on his way back, sitting in his chariot and reading the words of the .
The Spirit said to Philip, “Go up close to this chariot, and stay beside it.”
Philip ran to the man and heard him reading from Isaiah the prophet. He said to him, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
The man said, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” He begged Philip to come up and sit with him.
These were the words of Scripture he was reading:
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter.As a lamb before his is silent,so he doesn’t open his mouth.In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away.Who will declare His generation?For his life is taken from the earth.”
Then the eunuch spoke up. “Who is the prophet talking about?” he asked Philip. “About himself, or about someone else?”
Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, he preached to him about Jesus.
Farther along the way they came to some water. “Look, here is water,” the eunuch said. “What is keeping me from being baptized?”
He called for the chariot to stop. Philip and the eunuch went down into the water together, and Philip baptized him.
They came up out of the water, and then the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away. The eunuch didn’t see him any more and went on his way rejoicing.
But Philip was found at . He traveled on from there, preaching the Good News to all the cities until he came to .