Was the Eunuch Saved by Baptism?

Tom: This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment. We are in the Book of Acts 8. Dave, last week and weeks past, we’ve been talking about Philip’s interaction with the Ethiopian eunuch, and last week we read verse 35: “Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him (that is, the eunuch) Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water; and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” 

Now, Dave, last week, a controversial subject - baptism, infant baptism in particular - but I don’t know what the controversy is, because the Scripture is very clear: “If thou believest with all thine heart….” What infant can possibly do that? This isn’t heavy theology here, this is just simple logic.

Dave: It’s rather clear, Tom. It’s like the Philippian jailer who said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,” that includes everything He is and what He did, and so forth, “you will be saved.” 

And Romans:1:16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
See All...: “The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes it.” Okay? So it’s straightforward, and now we find out baptism follows salvation. When you believe in Christ, you’re born again of the Spirit of God, then you should be baptized, because Jesus said, “Go into all the world, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” It’s a symbol of our having been crucified with Christ. As Paul said, “It’s no more I that lives, it’s Christ now.” Having been buried with Him and raised again into new life, and Christ, in fact, is our life. So that couldn’t be symbolic; it couldn’t have any meaning for anyone who is not a Christian. 

So he very clearly says, “What would hinder me from being baptized?” In other words, what are the rules? If a person is going to be baptized, how must he qualify? Philip very clearly says, “If you believe with all of your heart you may be.” 

Now, we’ve talked a bit about Islam, Tom, so let me just make a contrast: Muhammad would whip out his sword, put it on the guy’s neck, and say, “You either are baptized or I’ll kill you!” No, it’s voluntary! Islam has been forced on people. You can’t make someone believe something against their will. 

Tom, my wife Ruth and I were in Canada. I was speaking at a conference. We came into the hotel late one evening, and I turned on the TV to see what the news was, and I was just absorbed in what I saw! It was an interview - we wouldn’t have seen it had we not been in Canada; it was on Canadian television. It was a Canadian who had been working in Saudi Arabia, had been arrested and falsely accused of being a terrorist. They tortured him horribly, and he said he learned two things that he would never forget, and I can tell you I have never forgotten them - I don’t think anyone out there listening would ever forget it, and it relates exactly to what we’re talking about. He said, “I learned first of all, they can make you hurt so bad, you will confess to anything. They can make you confess you killed your mother. They can make you confess you killed God. That’s number one. Number two,” he said, “I discovered they cannot make you believe it!” There is a place inside - this man was not a Christian - a place inside that they cannot touch. They can make you confess it, but they can’t make you believe it. In Islam you don’t have to believe, you just have to confess it. We could go to Romans:10:9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
See All...: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Lord Jesus  (that’s not enough, not just words) and believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” 

To be a Christian you are required to believe in your heart. The Bible talks a lot about the heart; that’s that place inside of each of us - the integrity God has given us…you can’t make me believe what I don’t want to believe. That’s why it’s so essential to lay the facts out, to give the evidence to people…

Tom: That people understand.

Dave: Exactly, so they understand and they have a basis for their belief. Of course, Tom, it relates to Calvinism, which we won’t get into, but does it come from the heart? You go back to the Old Testament, they made an offering from their heart. I sometimes say to a Muslim, “If Islam could convert the world by force, what would that mean? They’ve got a lot of people who are cowed into submission, but who don’t really believe what you force them to confess with their lips.” God does not want those kinds of people in heaven. He wants our heart. He lays it all out: He has given us the power of choice. 

So this is basically what Philip is saying to the Ethiopian eunuch: “If you believe with all thine heart, thou mayest.” In other words, not just words, Ethiopian; you must really believe this in your heart. Now, how could you believe it in your heart if you weren’t sure that it was true? So Philip must have laid out all the evidence, explained it from the Scriptures, and this man has believed in his heart. 

Now, we have talked on other programs a number of times about problems in the world today and the church. I think there are many people who don’t really believe what they say. They’re hypocrites, or they’re going to church just for window dressing or to salve their conscience.

Tom: Well, Dave, even as one would join a club, they’re there. Their level of understanding is so shallow that they think they’re in. How many times have we talked to people who can’t grasp what we’re saying because they have a whole other view of Christianity? They think it’s okay, and they’re okay, and so on; and we’re not trying to impose our rules or regulations on them, we are just trying to present what the Scriptures say, but they can’t fathom it.

Dave: Exactly. This is Word of God, and if this is the Word of God, then we’d better obey it. If it is not, throw it out, shut down all the seminaries and churches and so forth. So it’s that simple; it’s logical. 

So, v. 38, he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went down, both into the water - now here we get another controversy. Is it sprinkling? No, you go to Romans 6, it tells us that baptism is symbolic of our having died and been buried with Christ. You don’t sprinkle a little bit of dirt on a dead man; that’s not how you bury someone. They went both into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. “And then they come up,” it says, “out of the water, and the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing.”

Tom: Dave, I want to go back to baptism again and different kinds of baptism. It has to be a believer’s baptism. We’ve been over that; this is what the Scriptures say. You quoted from Acts 16 the Philippian jailer, and we’re quoting from Acts 8 here, the Ethiopian eunuch. But as you know, I grew up Roman Catholic, and in Catholicism, baptism - that’s the entrance. You have to go through baptism to become a Catholic, and there are actually three types of baptism, none of which the Scriptures talk about. First of all, there is water baptism. Interestingly, most Catholics are baptized as infants and it is sprinkling, but now I have seen in newer cathedrals that the Catholic Church has built, they do have a baptismal - not just a fount, but where you can go in and be dunked. Baptism, nevertheless, is the entrance into the Church according to the Roman Catholic Church. 

Now, there’s also the baptism of desire. They would say, “Well, if there’s no water available, you can just desire to be baptized.” Again, this is contrary to what the Scriptures teach, but there’s a third baptism…

Dave: See, Tom, you wouldn’t have any reason for that except that baptism is the entrance into the Church, which Vatican II says, “You enter through baptism as through a door.”

Tom: So these are critical, but again, when man makes something up, there are conditions that he’s going to have to cover. The other baptism is called the baptism of blood, and this is interesting, because it says that if a Protestant puts his life forth to protect the Catholic Church, or in defense of the Catholic Church and he dies, that’s a baptism that’s acceptable to the Catholic Church, and this Protestant has just made his way into heaven.

Dave: Not what the Bible talks about, but baptism doesn’t save anybody. Of course the Bible doesn’t say that, but you are saved by grace through faith in Christ. When we’re saved, then we are baptized, publicly declaring that we have identified ourselves with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection and we belong to Him, and that we are crucified with Christ and raised in new life. That’s the teaching of the Bible, and we’re going to stand on that.

Tom: Acts:8:40But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.
See All...: “But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.” That takes us to chapter 9, which we’ll pick up with next week.