If you’ve ever seen a Marvel movie, then you know the all-important rule: don’t leave until the movie is over. Marvel is notorious for their end credit scenes that often reveal details about upcoming movies, or just add extra scenes that were cut from the actual film. While reading the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8, I noticed something very interesting at the end of the story.
The story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch is found in Acts chapter 6, verses 26-40. It reads:
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”
34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Growing up, I had primarily heard this passage used to teach two things: follow the Holy Spirit’s prompting, and the presence of Jesus in the Old Testament. While those are certainly valid points to draw from the story, what I found really interesting when I read this story recently was verse 40.
Philip’s Example of Regular Evangelism
As I said above, many use this passage to teach that when the Holy Spirit tells us to talk to someone, we should. While I don’t think the Holy Spirit regularly audibly speaks to us as he did to some of the Apostles, I see the value in what they say. Evangelism is never a bad thing, and if you feel convicted to share you faith in a particular moment, go ahead.
However, what I find really interesting is that in verse 40, we see that Philip went along boldly proclaiming the Gospel, despite the fact that the Holy Spirit had not “told him” to do so (I put that in quotations because God commands us to tell all people the Good News, but Philip had just experienced a unique case of being told to talk to a particular person). He didn’t say to himself “Well now that I’ve spoken to the eunuch I’m going to wait until the Holy Spirit tells me to talk to someone else.” He made a habit out of boldly preaching the Gospel to anyone and everyone he encountered. This evangelistic lifestyle is one of the themes of the book of Acts.
We are sometimes taught that living as salt and light is enough evangelism; that people will ask us about out faith by how we live. While it is certainly true that we should live godly and holy lives that make people realize we are different, that is not where evangelism ends. Thinking about it, how often are you approached about your faith? Now compare that to the number of people you encounter in day-to-day life. Its a pretty small fraction, isn’t it? That’s because we are not called to lead holy lives without sharing the Gospel. In fact, I would argue that evangelism is essential for a holy life.
Philip understood this well. He didn’t need a circumstantial command from the Holy Spirit to make him evangelize, nor did he walk to Caesarea simply hoping someone would notice that he was different. He was obedient to the Spirit, of course, but he was also obedient to Christ’s command to make disciples of every nation and to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Realistically, many more people probably came to Christ while Philip was preaching on his way to Caesarea than the single eunuch saved on that desert road.
If we feel lead to speak to a particular person about the Gospel, should we? Absolutely. But we cannot only evangelize when we feel some kind of special conviction to do so. We have already been commanded to evangelize; that should be prompting enough.
This is the first in a series of posts about evangelism I’ve been planing. Let me know what you think in the comments below.
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