Daily Scripture Reading Acts 8:26 - 9:9
When non-Christians become Christians today, baptism often happens months, or even years later. Much of modern Christianity accepts it as normal that there is a long time between becoming a believer and being baptized. Some Christians intentionally recommend that new believers wait before being baptized.
In today’s passage, we will see that the early Christians had an expectation that baptism happened the same day as conversion. This should cause us to reexamine our mentality about the urgency, or lack of urgency, regarding baptism.
Yesterday, we read that Philip went to the city of Samaria, preached Christ, and many became believers, including a man named Simon who formerly practiced magic. Peter and John went to Samaria and laid hands on the people so that they would receive the Holy Spirit. Then the apostles went back to Jerusalem.
Acts 8:26 ¶ But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Rise up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.)
Notice the word descend. Jerusalem is 2,600 ft / 800 m above sea level while Gaza is at sea level along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
Gaza is about 50 miles / 80km southwest of Jerusalem. That would have been a two day journey. The colors on the map indicate elevation. Browns are the higher elevations. Greens are the lower elevations.
Acts 8:27 So he rose up and went; and behold, there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship,
Ethiopia was south of Egypt. It was over 600 miles / 1,000 km away from Jerusalem. That would have been at least a three week journey. The fact that the eunuch made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem indicates the high esteem people had for Jerusalem. People still have that desire to visit Jerusalem today.
Acts 8:28 and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.
Acts 8:29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”
Acts 8:30 And Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
Acts 8:31 And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
Acts 8:32 Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:
“AS A SHEEP IS LED TO SLAUGHTER;
AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT,
SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH.
Acts 8:33 IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY;
WHO WILL RECOUNT HIS GENERATION?
FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH.”
The eunuch was reading Isaiah 53:7-8. Those verses are part of a multi-chapter passage that are about the Servant of Yahweh. Isaiah was not explicit about who the Servant is; however, reading the passages today, it is clear Jesus is the Servant.
Acts 8:34 And the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you earnestly, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?”
The passage in Isaiah was written in such a way that, before Jesus, or for anyone who knows nothing about Jesus, it was not clear who Isaiah was writing about.
Acts 8:35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he proclaimed the good news about Jesus to him.
Acts 8:36 And as they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?”
Pay attention to the desire to be baptized. After hearing the good news about Jesus, the eunuch knew that the next step was to be baptized, and that it was a step that should not wait.
Today, the mentality throughout much of Christianity is that baptism is something that happens months or years after a person becomes a Christian. When believers share the good news of Jesus today, they often do not do it in a way that the non-believer understands that if they become a believer, then baptism should happen right away. Baptism is probably rarely mentioned as people present salvation to non-believers. Baptism is something that is discussed long after the conversion.
However, based on this and other passages, we should ponder whether we need to change our presentation of the gospel, and make it clear to people that if they decide to become a believer, then baptism is the next step because baptism is a way to publicly declare that Jesus is now the Lord of their life. The early Christians believed baptism should happen the same day as conversion. Perhaps our outlook should be similar.
Acts 8:37 [And 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.”]
Notice there are brackets around verse 37. Some manuscripts do not include this verse, so it is not certain that this verse was part of the original text. Therefore, we need to be careful about using this verse as proof of any doctrine.
Acts 8:38 And he ordered the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.
We see in this verse that Philip must have been satisfied that the eunuch truly believed because Philip baptized him.
Acts 8:39 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.
Acts 8:40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept proclaiming the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.
Azotus was north of Gaza, and directly west of Jerusalem. Caesarea was 55 miles / 90 km north of Azotus. That would have been at least a two day journey if he walked all day. Since he was stopping in multiple cities to preach, the trip likely took him much longer than that.
Acts 9:1 ¶ Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,
Acts 9:2 and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
The seventh chapter of Acts tells us Saul approved of the killing of Stephen. Then Saul entered house after house in Jerusalem, imprisoning both men and women. As a result of that persecution, many believers scattered away from Jerusalem. Now we see in this chapter that Saul was chasing after the believers outside Jerusalem. In this case he wanted to go to Damascus to search for those belonging to the Way.
Damascus was 130 miles / 210 km away from Jerusalem. That would have been about a five day journey.
Acts 9:3 And as he was traveling, it happened that when he was approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;
Acts 9:4 and falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
Between the light and the voice, Saul knew he was dealing with something supernatural.
Acts 9:5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,
Acts 9:6 but rise up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.”
Notice the word “Lord” in verse 5. That word means master. Paul wasn’t sure who he was dealing with, but he recognized that he was inferior to it.
Acts 9:7 And the men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.
The men also knew something supernatural was happening.
Acts 9:8 And Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. Leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus.
Acts 9:9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
Three days is a long time to go without eating. Going with out drink three days is even harder.
The mentality among many Christians today is that baptism is something that happens months or years after conversion. However, in the early church, baptism happened the same day as conversion. Baptism is a way to publicly confess Jesus as Lord.
What is your mentality about how soon baptism should happen after conversion?
What is your church’s mentality about how soon baptism should happen after conversion?
If you or your church believe converts should wait to be baptized, why do you hold to that belief?
Is it Biblical to recommend that new converts wait to be baptized?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”