Phillip Baptizes an Ethiopian

Philip Baptizes an Ethiopian

Acts 6: 5

Acts 8: 26 - 40

Philip was one of the seven deacons chosen by the early Christians to evangelize and to serve the poor. Like Stephen, he may have been a hellenized Jew, someone who had been educated in the Greek language.

Philip went southwest to Gaza, and then north to Azotus, which is modern-day Ashdod, on the Mediterranean coast.

In those days, many of the people with large financial responsibility for kings and queens were forbidden to have families, in the belief that without families, they would not be tempted to steal. The Ethiopian official had been asked to choose between having an important job and having a family.

The passage the Ethiopian (or North African) was reading is from Isaiah 53: 7-8.

1. Who did Philip find on the road to Gaza?

[Philip found an Ethiopian official riding in the chariot.]

2. Where had the official been?

[The official had gone to Jerusalem to worship.]

3. What did Philip tell the official?

[Philip told him the good news about Jesus.]

4. What did the official reply?

[The official replied, "Here is some water. Why can't I be baptized?"]

5. What did Philip do?

[Philip baptized the Ethiopian official.]