Rembrandt, The baptism of the eunuch, 1626.

The Ethiopian eunuch is a figure in the New Testament of the Bible. The story of his conversion to Christianity is recounted in Acts 8.

Biblical narrative[link]

Philip the Evangelist was told by an angel to go to the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, and there he met the Ethiopian eunuch. He had been to Jerusalem to worship (Acts 8:27), and was returning home. The eunuch was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah, and had come to Isaiah 53:7-8. Philip asked the Ethiopian, "Do you understand what you are reading?" He said he did not, and asked Philip to explain the text to him. Philip told him the good news about Jesus, and the Ethiopian asked to be baptized. They went down into some water and Philip baptized him.

In the King James Version, the Ethiopian says, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God" (verse 37), but this is omitted in most modern versions. Hubbard suggests that confession is "not supported in the better manuscripts," although the Ethiopian is still "one of the outstanding converts in Acts."^[1]

After this, Philip is suddenly taken away by the Spirit of the Lord, and the eunuch "went on his way rejoicing" (verse 39). Robert O'Toole argues that the way Philip is taken away parallels the way Jesus disappears after he has been talking to the disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24.^[2]

Assessment and interpretation[link]

The Ethiopian is described as a eunuch and a treasury official at the court of Queen Candace (Acts 8:27). D. A. Hubbard suggests that he may have been a proselyte,^[1] though Paul Mumo Kisau argues that he was a Godfearer instead.^[3] Scott Shauf suggests that the "primary point of the story is about carrying the gospel to the end of the earth, not about establishing a mission to Gentiles," and thus Luke "does not bring the Gentile status of the Ethiopian into the foreground." However, "the suggestion that the eunuch is or at least might be a Gentile in the story, by both his ethnic and possibly physical description, serves to tantalize the reader with the mystery of the situation."^[4] The eunuch may have been from Nubia or the Sudan: David Tuesday Adamo suggests that the word used here (Αίθίοψ, aithiops) is best translated simply as "African."^[5]

Commentators generally suggest that the combination of "eunuch" together with the title "court official" indicates a literal eunuch, who would have been excluded from the Temple by the restriction in Deuteronomy 23:1.^[6][7] Some scholars interpret the term "eunuch" more liberally. For instance, John J. McNeill suggests that this eunuch was "the first baptized gay Christian"^[8] on the grounds that the word "eunuch" in the New Testament is not always used in a literal sense (as in Matthew 19:12, which he believes contains "the closest description we have in the Bible of what we understand today as a homosexual"^[9]). Jack Rogers says that the Ethiopian "belonged to a sexual minority who was not fully welcome in the worship community of Israel,"^[10]:132 and concludes that "the fact that the first Gentile convert to Christianity is from a sexual minority and a different race, ethnicity and nationality together form a clarion call for inclusiveness, radical grace, and Christian welcome to all who show faith."^[10]:135

Illustration from the Menologion of Basil II of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch.

Other scholars have addressed the issue of the eunuch's race. Some, such as Frank M. Snowden, Jr., interpret the story as emphasizing that early Christian communities accepted members regardless of race: "Ethiopians were the yardstick by which antiquity measured colored peoples."^[11][12] Others, such as Clarice Martin, write that it is a commentary on the religion rather than on its adherents, showing Christianity's geographical extent; Gay L. Byron goes further, saying, "The Ethiopian eunuch was used by Luke to indicate that salvation could extend even to Ethiopians and Blacks."^[13]

C.K. Barrett contrasts the Ethiopian eunuch's story with that of Cornelius the Centurion, another convert. He notes that while the Ethiopian continues on his journey home and passes out of the narrative, Cornelius and his followers form another church in Judea, and speculates that this reflects a desire to focus on Peter rather than Philip.^[14]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Ethiopian eunuch

References[link]

The baptism of the eunuch by Rembrandt, 1626, depicting Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch.

Saint Philip the Evangelist appears several times in the Acts of the Apostles. He was one of the Seven Deacons chosen to care for the poor of the Christian community in Jerusalem (Acts 6). He preached and performed miracles in Samaria, and met and baptised an Ethiopian man, a eunuch, in Gaza, traditionally marking the start of the Ethiopian Church (Acts 8). Later, he lived in Caesarea Maritima with his four daughters who prophesied, where he was visited by Paul (Acts 21).

Life[link]

He is first mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (6:5) as one of "the seven" who were chosen to attend to certain temporal affairs of the church in Jerusalem in consequence of the murmurings of the Hellenists against the Hebrews.

After the martyrdom of Saint Stephen he went to "the city of Samaria", where he preached with much success, Simon Magus being one of his converts.

He afterwards instructed and baptized the Ethiopian eunuch on the road between Jerusalem and Gaza; next he was "caught away" by the Spirit and "found at Azotus" (Ashdod), then "passing through he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea" (Acts 8).

Here some years afterwards, according to Acts 21:8-9, where he is described as "the evangelist" (a term found again in the New Testament only in Ephesians 4:11; 2 Timothy 4:5), he entertained Paul and his companion on their way to Jerusalem; at that time "he had four daughters which did prophesy".

Tradition[link]

At a very early period he came to be confused with the apostle Philip; the confusion was all the more easy because, as an esteemed member of the apostolic company, he may readily have been described as an apostle in the wider sense of that word, beyond the original 12 Apostles.^[1] A late tradition describes him as settling at Tralles in Anatolia, where he became the bishop of that church.

"St Philip the Deacon" is commemorated on October 11 in the Catholic Church,^[2] and the Episcopal Church (USA).^[3] In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Philip is counted among the Seventy Apostles, and is referred to as a Protodeacon; his feast day is celebrated on June 6.

See also[link]

Saints portal

Notes[link]

References[link]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links[link]

• Apostle Philip the Deacon of the Seventy Orthodox icon and synaxarion
• Who is St. Philip the Evangelist
• IVP New Testament Commentary on Philip in Acts 8