Acts 8:35Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do you see how the matter of his conversion is ordered? First he reads and does not understand. Moreover, he reads the passage where the Passion, Resurrection, and gift of the Lord are proclaimed.

"See, here is water. What prevents me from being baptized?" See how prudently he acts. First he reads and does not understand. Then he reads the same prophecy, which contains the teaching concerning the Passion, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the gift of the grace of the Holy Spirit. Then he asks to be baptized. Philip explains everything to him in order, beginning from this prophecy. Winged by his readiness, he is gradually brought to baptism. Yet he did not say, "Baptize me," but, "What prevents me?" By this question he showed his strong desire to receive baptism.

"Philip" is translated as "the mouth of a lamp." The interpretation is beautiful: the mouth of a lamp opened its mouth when it brought an obscure prophecy into the light of knowledge. Yet according to the history, this descriptive expression may indicate that his conversation was considerably longer.

Approaching the chariot at the prompting of the Spirit of God, Philip heard that the eunuch was reading the fifty-third chapter of the prophet Isaiah.

He begins the work of evangelization by asking the eunuch, "Do you understand what you are reading?" For he supposes that the courtier does not understand the passage correctly.

That is, he does not see in it the image of the Savior of the world suffering for the sins of men.

The courtier appears so immersed in meditation on God, and so humbly and diligently striving for knowledge of the truth, that he simply admits that he does not understand what he reads.

He also asks Philip to come up into the chariot and sit with him. From Philip's question he guesses that Philip possesses knowledge of Scripture and can explain what is being read.

"He opened his mouth." This indicates a certain solemnity of speech, cf. Mt 5:2, and points to the special importance of Philip's preaching of Christ to the eunuch, though the writer does not transmit the evangelist's speech to him.

"Beginning from this Scripture," and so on. The explanation of the passage read served Philip only as the beginning of his preaching about Christ.

After explaining it, he preached Jesus to the eunuch. That is, he preached Him as the Messiah, His works, His teaching, and the events of His life.

In a word, he conveyed to him the Gospel history, probably in its principal parts. He also indicated what was necessary in order to be His follower, for the eunuch knows that he must be baptized, v. 36.

The eunuch's question about the inner meaning of the prophetic words he had read shows that he was fairly familiar with this prophetic book. He even knew the ways of explaining it in its immediate and figurative, or prophetic, sense.

One may suppose that he had heard of the Light in the revelation of the nations. He may even have guessed to whom these words referred, so that he needed only to be confirmed in his conjecture.

If his disposition is compared with Simon's, Simon, being wholly unprepared, turned aside in everything. This man, by contrast, went forth with his whole soul, as it were, to meet the Gospel proclamation.