Two Ethiopian eunuchs

I am thrilled that the Bible speaks of two foreigners, who were also eunuchs, who trusted in the God of Israel. As foreigners, they could go no further than the Court of the Gentiles in the temple grounds, a noisy place, hardly suited for the kind of worship a true believer would want to offer. Even if they had not been foreigners, as eunuchs, they could not have congregated with the people of God. All these ceremonial restrictions changed when God established the new covenant through Jesus Christ.

Ebedmelech the Ethiopian eunuch [Approx 588 B.C.] recorded in Jeremiah 38,39
Jeremiah proclaimed, “Thus says the Lord: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and be taken.” In obedience to God, he also encouraged the people to surrender to the Chaldeans. Officials of King Zedekiah had strong objections against the words of Jeremiah, and the king gave let them do whatever they wished with him. They threw him into a cistern that had wet mud at the bottom into which Jeremiah gradually sank.

A godly eunuch Ebedmelech, an Ethiopian, who lived in the king’s house, trusted the Lord and bravely confronted the king. The king then commanded him to take 30 men with him and lift Jeremiah out before he died. The mud must have had a strong hold on Jeremiah for Ebedmelech thoughtfully gave Jeremiah old rags and used-clothes to place under his armpits so that the ropes did not cut him when he was being pulled up.

God punished the city but this godly man’s life was preserved because he trusted in the Lord with a living faith that was accompanied by good works.

The Ethiopian eunuch, official of Queen Candace [Approx 33 A.D.] recorded in Acts 8
Philip was sent by an angel to intercept this high official who was returning to his country after worshiping God in Jerusalem. Philip found him seated in his chariot and reading from the book of Isaiah.
Philip enquired, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
The official replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”

He invited Philip to come up and sit with him. The Bible tells us that the passage he was reading was Isaiah 53, the passage about the suffering Saviour. But the official did not know about whom the passage spoke.  Philip  began with this Scripture and proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus.

On the way, they came to some water and the official wanted to be baptised. When he had confessed his faith in the Lord Jesus, Philip baptised him. The Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away from that place. The Bible records that the eunuch went on his way rejoicing.

And why not? He had much to rejoice about.
for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave  nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (Gal 3:26-29)

Baptism in Conversion

My father Gnana Bhaktamitran speaking to the church after a baptism (Madurai India)

Wrong practices are often born when good men overreact to other wrong practices. That is how, perhaps, was born the notion that baptism is dispensable.

At the outset, please allow me to confess that I am not a theologian, but how can any Christian escape theology; our lives are worked around growing in the knowledge of God and delighting in Him.

Baptismal regeneration must have been the heresy that led to the error of baptism being treated so lightly. It is fairly easy to prove that baptism is not dispensable. But my fear is that we have perhaps over shot the right position in the matter of baptism out of a genuine desire to avoid the heresy of baptismal regeneration.

I lament the relegation of baptism to the status of a good-to-do option—almost dispensable. I think this is unbiblical.

• Baptism was the culmination of the conversion experience as we see in the book of Acts and served as an initiation into the church, the people of God.
• Baptism is a command of Jesus
• Jesus, our greatest Example, was baptised.

The latter two points are easy to understand and should suffice, even if the first point were not true, to make baptism mandatory in the life of a Christian.

The first point needs some explanation.