Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 8:38
And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
38. And he commanded the chariot to stand still ] i.e. he ordered the chariot-driver to stop, and of course the whole retinue would see what took place, and they may certainly be regarded as the nucleus of a congregation to be established in Ethiopia. Tradition tells us that the eunuch laboured to evangelize his countrymen, and none were more likely to be influenced by his teaching than those who were present at his baptism and were, with him, witnesses of the way in which Philip was taken from them.
and they went down both into the water ] As was the custom among the Jews. Thus John baptized his followers in the Jordan.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And they went down both into the water – This passage has been made the subject of much discussion on the subject of baptism. It has been adduced in proof of the necessity of immersion. It is not proposed to enter into that subject here (see the Editors Notes at Mat 3:6, Mat 3:16). It may be remarked here that the preposition eis, translated into, does not of necessity mean that they went into the water. Its meaning would be as well expressed by to or unto, or as we should say, they went to the water, without meaning to determine whether they went into it or not. Out of twenty-six significations which Schleusner has given the word, this is one, and one which frequently occurs: Joh 11:38, Jesus, therefore, groaning in himself, cometh to eis the grave – assuredly not into the grave; Luk 11:49, I send them prophets, Greek, I send to eis them prophets – to them, not into them, compare Rom 2:4, 1Co 14:36; Mat 12:41, They repented at eis the preaching of Jonas – not into his preaching; Joh 4:5, Then cometh he to eis a city of Samaria, that is, near to it, for the context shows that he had not yet entered into it, compare Act 7:6, Act 7:8; Joh 21:4, Jesus stood on eis the shore, that is, not in, but near the shore. These passages show:
- That the word does not necessarily mean that they entered into the water. But,
- If it did, it does not necessarily follow that the eunuch was immersed. There might be various ways of baptizing, even after they were in the water, besides immersing. Sprinkling or pouring might be performed there as well as elsewhere. The most solemn act of baptism that I ever saw performed was, when I was a boy, in the river on the banks of which I was born, where the minister and the candidate went both of them into the Myer, and, when near to the middle of the river, the candidate kneeled down in the water, and the minister with a bowl poured water on his head. Yet if the fact had been stated, in reference to this case, that they went both down into the water, and came up out of the water, and it had been hence inferred that the man was immersed, it would have been wholly a false inference. No such immersion occurred, and there is, from the narrative here, no more evidence that it occurred in the case of the eunuch. See baptizo.
(3)It is incumbent on those who maintain that immersion is the only valid mode of baptism to prove that this passage cannot possibly mean anything else, and that there was no other mode practiced by the apostles.
(4)It would still be incumbent to show that if this were the common and even the only mode then, in a warm climate, that it is indispensable that this mode should be practiced everywhere else. No such positive command can be adduced. And it follows, therefore, that it cannot be proved that immersion is the only lawful mode of baptism. See the Editors Notes at Mat 3:6, Mat 3:16.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 38. And they went down] They alighted from the chariot into the water. While Philip was instructing him, and he professed his faith in Christ, he probably plunged himself under the water, as this was the plan which appears to have been generally followed among the Jews in their baptisms; but the person who had received has confession of faith was he to whom the baptism was attributed, as it was administered by his authority.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In hot countries this was usual, to baptize by dipping the body in the water; and to this the apostle alludes, when he tells the Corinthians, 1Co 6:1, that they are washed: but God will have mercy, and not sacrifice; sprinkling being as effectual as washing, and as significative also, representing the sprinkling of the blood of the paschal lamb, of which we read, Exo 12:3, which presignified the sprinkling the blood of Jesus, that Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world; and our hearts must by it be sprinkled from an evil conscience, Heb 10:22. It is not the more or the less of the outward element which makes the sacraments effectual; but they are effectual only as they are Gods appointments, and attended upon according to his will.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
38. they went down both into thewater, and he baptized him, &c.probably laving the waterupon him, though the precise mode is neither certain nor of anyconsequence.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he commanded the chariot to stand still,…. That is, the eunuch ordered his chariot driver to stop; for to him it better agrees to give this order than to Philip; though otherwise the words are so placed, that it would be difficult to say who gave the command.
And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him: upon which Calvin has this note;
“hence we see what was the manner of baptizing with the ancients, for they plunged the whole body into water.”
And indeed, other mode had been practised then, as sprinkling or pouring of water, there would have been no necessity of their going out of the chariot, and much less of their going down into the water; and as for change of apparel, it cannot be reasonably thought that so great a man should take so long a journey without it. In like manner the Jewish ablutions and purifications, which were performed by immersion, and therefore called baptisms, Heb 9:10 are spoken of in the same sort of language as here: so a profluvious person, and a woman that had lain in, were obliged , “to go down and dip” k.
“It is a tradition of the Rabbins l, that he that sees any nocturnal pollution on the day of atonement,
, “goes down and dips himself”.–And so all that are obliged to dipping, dip according to their custom on the day of atonement; the profluvious person, man or woman, the leprous person, man or woman, the husband of a menstruous woman, and one defiled with the dead, dip according to their custom on the day of atonement.”
k T. Bab. Nidda, fol. 42. 1. & 43. 1. l T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 88. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1) “And he commanded the chariot to stand still:” (kai ekeleusen atenai to hamma) “And he (the eunuch) commanded (ordered) the chariot to stand, stop, or halt,” at a watering place in the desert of Gaza of sufficient size and depth for a baptism by burial or total immersion.
2) “And they went down both into the water,” (kai katebesan amphoteroi eis to hudor) “And they both went down into the water,” into the oasis or watering place, not merely “nearby” or “close to” the water; Just as Jesus went into, and came up out of, the waters of the Jordan River when he was buried in baptism, Mat 3:16-17; Rom 6:4-5.
3) “Both Philip and the eunuch,” (ho te Philippos kai ho eunouchos) “Both (the conversing ones) Philip as well as the eunuch;” the one to whom Philip had preached Jesus, Act 8:35; Act 4:12.
4) “And he baptised him,” (kai ebaptisen auton) “And he (Philip) baptized or immersed him (the eunuch);- as or like John baptized Jesus, by carrying Him down “into” and bringing Him up “out of” the water, Mat 3:16-17, a picture of the eunuch’s faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for His sins, according to the Scriptures, 1Co 15:1-4; Anything called baptism, short of a burial in and resurrection from the watery-grave casts doubt, aspersion upon the Bible story of the resurrection of Jesus, see? Col 2:12.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
38. They went down into the water. Here we see the rite used among the men of old time in baptism; for they put all the body into the water. Now the use is this, that the minister doth only sprinkle the body or the head. But we ought not to stand so much about such a small difference of a ceremony, that we should therefore divide the Church, or trouble the same with brawls. We ought rather to fight even an hundred times to death for the ceremony itself of baptism, inasmuch as it was delivered us by Christ that that we should suffer the same to be taken from us. But forasmuch as we have as well a testimony of our washing, as of newness of life, in the figure of water; forasmuch as Christ representeth unto us his blood in the water as in a glass, that we may fet (566) our cleanness thence; forasmuch as he teacheth that we are fashioned again by his Spirit, that being dead to sin, we may live to righteousness; it is certain that we want nothing which maketh to the substance of baptism. Wherefore the Church did grant liberty to herself, since the beginning, to change the rites somewhat, excepting this substance. For some dipped them thrice, some but once. Wherefore there is no case why we should be so straitlaced in matters which are of no such weight; (567) so that external pomp do no whit pollute the simple institution of Christ.
(566) “ Petamus,” seek.
(567) “ Non ita necessariius,” not absolutely necessary.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(38) They went down both into the water.The Greek preposition might mean simply unto the water, but the universality of immersion in the practice of the early Church supports the English version. The eunuch would lay aside his garments, descend chest-deep into the water, and be plunged under it in the name of the Lord Jesus; the only formula recognised in the Acts. (See Note on Act. 2:38.) So it was, in the half-playful language in which many of the Fathers delighted, that the Ethiopian changed his skin (Jer. 13:23).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Act 8:38. And they went down both into the water, The prepositions and , here, and in the next verse, rendered into and out of the water, frequently signify unto and from, as every one must allow who understands the Greek language; and thus they are often used in the stile of the New Testament, and particularly of St. Luke, as for example; signifies unto in Mat 15:24. Luk 4:5; Luk 6:12; Luk 9:28. Act 14:21 and Col 1:20.; and signifies from, in Luk 20:4. Joh 19:12. Act 14:8; Act 15:29; Act 27:3; Act 27:31 and Act 27:34. But supposing, says Mr. Henry, we here understand them to signify into and out of, Philip and the eunuch did not strip off their clothes, and go naked into the water; but going barefoot, according to the custom, they went, perhaps, up to the ancles, or mid-leg, into the water, and Philip sprinkled water upon him, according to the prophesy which this eunuch had probably but just now read; for it was but a few verses before those which Philip found him upon, and was very apposite to his case, Isa 52:15. So shall he sprinkle many nations; kings and great men shall shut their mouths at him, shall submit to him: for that which had not before been told them, shall they see; and that which they had not heard, shall they consider.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
Ver. 38. And he baptized him ] Set Christ’s mark upon him, that seal of the new covenant. The Jacobites (a kind of mongrel Christians in Asia) sign their children, many in the face, some in the arm, with the sign of the cross, imprinted with a hot burning iron, at or before baptism; but we have not so learned Christ.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
38. .] viz. the eunuch.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 8:38 . : even if the words are rendered “unto the water” (Plumptre), the context indicates that the baptism was by immersion, and there can be no doubt that this was the custom in the early Church. St. Paul’s symbolic language in Rom 6:4 , Col 2:12 , certainly seems to presuppose that such was the case, as also such types as the Flood, the passage of the Red Sea, the dipping of Naaman in Jordan. But the Didach is fairly quoted to show that at an early period immersion could not have been regarded as essential, cf. Act 7:3 . See also “Teaching of the Apostles,” iv., 807, in Dict. of Christ. Biog. (Smith & Wace), “Apostellehre” in Real-Encyclopdie fr protestant. Theol. und Kirche (Hauck), p. 712; “Baptism” in B.D. 2 . “Mutavit thiops pellem suam” is the comment of Bede, “id est sorde peccatorum abluta, de lavacro Jesu dealbatus ascendit.”
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
into. Greek. eis.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
38. .] viz. the eunuch.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 8:38. , both) It is not recorded what became of the attendants of the Eunuch.-, Philip) He is put in the first place; for he was greater, as the baptizer, than the Eunuch, who was being baptized.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
and he baptized: Joh 3:22, Joh 3:23, Joh 4:1
Reciprocal: Act 16:15 – when
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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Act 8:38. A chariot is an inanimate object and cannot receive an intelligent order. Hence Philip addressed his command to the driver, for had he been doing his own driving he would not have commanded the chariot either. All of this proves that at least three persons were present at this baptism. The remark and question of the eunuch, also the answer of Philip and the eunuch’s confession all took place after they came in sight of the “certain water,” and they were still in sight of it when the command was given for the chariot to stop. This is another proof that the water was of some considerable size. Into is from is and is properly translated in the King James version. They both had to go down into the water for the act of baptism. The word baptize is from BAPTIZO, and Thayer defines it, “To dip repeatedly, to immerge, submerge.” Robinson defines it, “To dip in, to sink, to immerse.” Groves defines it, “To dip, immerse, plunge.” Greenfield’s definition is, “To immerse, immerge, submerge, sink.” In its noun form, Donne-gan defines it, “An object immersed, submerged, soaked.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 8:38. And he baptized him. The comment of Gregory of Nazianzen, about A.D. 370-380, on this verse, quoted by Wordsworth, is curious and interesting: Let me be a Philip, and be thou a minister of Candace. Say, Here is water, what hindereth me to be baptized? Seize the opportunity. Though an Ethiop in body, be thou pure in heart; and do not say: Let a bishop baptize me, and if a presbyter, let him be unmarried. Man looketh on the face, but God on the heart. Any minister can cleanse you by baptism if he is not alien from the Church. One minister may be of gold, another of iron, but they are both like rings which have the seal of Christ. Let them stamp on thee, who art the wax, the image of the great King; there may be a difference in the metal, there is none in the seal (St. Greg. Nazianzen, An Oration to those who delay their Baptism).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Act 8:38. And he commanded the chariot to stand still Namely, upon Philips declaring his satisfaction in this profession of his faith in Christ, and subjection to him, and readily consenting to receive him as a fellow Christian. And they went down both Namely, out of the chariot; into the water Or rather, to the water, as literally signifies. For it is not certain that he was baptized by immersion. This text neither affirms nor intimates it. And he baptized him Though Philip had very lately been deceived in Simon Magus, and had admitted him to baptism, though he afterward appeared to be no true convert, yet he did not therefore scruple to baptize the eunuch immediately upon his profession of faith, without putting him upon a longer trial than was usual. If some hypocrites, who afterward prove a grief and scandal to us, crowd into the church, yet we must not therefore make the door of admission any straiter than Christ has made it; they shall answer for their hypocrisy, and not we.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
38, 39. When Philip ascertained that the eunuch believed in the Lord Jesus, and desired to obey him, there was no delay, but his desire to be immersed was immediately gratified. (38) “And he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he immersed him. (39) And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more, for he went on his way rejoicing.”
This is one of the passages which the conflict of contending parties has rendered familiar to every reader of the New Testament. The questions in controversy are: First, Whether Philip and the eunuch went into the water, or only to it; Second, Whether the facts in the case afford any evidence that the eunuch was immersed.
The determination of the first question depends upon the exact force of the antithetical expression, katebesan eis to udor, and anebesan ek tou udatos. If the latter means, “they went up out of the water,” then the former necessarily means, “they went down into the water;” and vice versa. There are two methods of inquiry, therefore, by which to determine whether they went into the water: First, The direct method, which depends upon the meaning of the words supposed to declare this fact; Second, The indirect method, which determines whether they went into the water, by determining whether they went out of it.
In dealing with this question, Dr. Moses Stuart, one of the most learned and candid of the disputants on the pedobaptist side, does great injustice to his own reputation. He says: “That eis, with the verb katabaino, often means going down to a place, is quite certain; e. g., ‘Jesus went down to Capernaum;’ ‘Jacob went down to Egypt;’ ‘They went down to Attalia;’ ‘They went down to Troas;’ ‘He went down to Antioch;’ ‘Going down to Csarea.'” How strange it is that the learned author did not perceive that in every one of these examples the meaning is necessarily into! If he had paused to ask himself whether Jesus went into Capernaum, and Jacob into Egypt, and so of the others, or merely went to the boundary line of those places, he would have spared his reputation by erasing this paragraph. He would also have saved himself the utterance of another unfortunate sentence on the same page: “I find but one passage in the New Testament where it seems to mean into when used with katabaino. This is in Romans 10:7 , Who shall go down, eis abusson, into the abyss?” Besides the examples mentioned above, he must have searched with very little industry not to have discovered the following: “Let him that is on the housetop not go down into, katabato eis, the house.” “Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also first descended into, katebe eis, the lower parts of the earth?” “This man went down into, katebe eis, his house, justified rather than the other.” “A certain man was going down, katabainen, from Jerusalem into, eis, Jericho.” “The road that goes down, katabainousan, from Jerusalem into, eis, Gaza.”
These are all the instances in the New Testament in which these two words occur together; and the reader can but see, that in every single instance the controverted expression means to go down into. By our first method of inquiry, therefore, it is settled that Philip and the eunuch went down into the water.
It is not logically necessary to pursue this discussion any further; but, let it might be imagined that the conclusion we have already reached should be modified by the force of the other member of the antithesis, we must give some attention to the meaning of anebesan ek tou udatos. And here I must take exception to another sweeping declaration of Dr. Stuart’s. He says: “anabaino is never employed in the sense of emerging from a liquid substance. The preposition ek, here, would agree with this idea-although it, by no means, of necessity implies it; but anabaino forbids us to thus construe it.” Why is this apparently broad assertion so cautiously limited to the single case of “emerging from a liquid substance?” Is it possible that Dr. Stuart knew that the expression meant to go up out of, but, thinking that it did not occur in any other passage in connection with a liquid, framed his proposition to suit such an accident? It is humiliating in the extreme to see so great a mind descend to such special pleading on so grave a subject. If anabaiein ek means to go up out of, nothing but the most determined obduracy can preclude the admission that it means the same when referring to liquids as to other substances. Now, it is a fact, and it must have been known to Dr. Stuart, if he examined into the ground of his own statements, that, in every single occurrence of these two words in connection, in the New Testament, they men to go up out of. Moreover, in one of these occurrences they are “employed in the sense of emerging from a liquid substance. In Revelations 13:1 , John says: “I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast, ek tes thalasses anabainon, rising up out of the sea.” Notwithstanding this broad assertion of Dr. Stuart’s, therefore, the expression in question does, without a single exception, invariably mean to go up out of. Philip and the eunuch, then, went up out of the water; hence, they must first have gone down into it. By both methods of inquiry, the conclusion is established.
The most astonishing display of partisan blindness on this passage is yet to be noticed. It is an argument employed by Moses Stuart, in which he is followed by Dr. Alexander. He says: “If katebesan eis to udor is meant to designate the action of plunging, or being immersed into the water, as a part of the rite of baptism, then was Philip baptized as well as the eunuch: for the sacred writer says they both went into the water. Here, then, must have been a rebaptism of Philip; and, what is at least singular, he must have baptized himself as well as the eunuch.” This argument proceeds upon the assumption that immersionists regard the act of going down into water as the act of immersion, than which there could not be a grosser perversion of their meaning. When a strong mind descends to arguments so weak and childish as this, we have the clearest evidence that the cause in which it is employed is felt to be weak and untenable.
We must now address ourselves to the inquiry, whether this passage affords any evidence in favor of immersion. This much-controverted question may be discussed either as a philological question, or as a question of fact. In the former method, the controversy turns upon the meaning of the Greek word baptizo. In the latter, upon the action performed by the apostles when they baptized men. Questions of fact are much more tangible than those in philology, especially when the philological inquiry runs into a foreign language. We prefer, therefore, to discuss this question as a simple matter of fact; and this method is the more appropriate in this work, which treats of acts performed by apostles. It can be most easily determined what act was performed when men were baptized, without any discussion as to the meaning of the word baptizo.
If the passage before us contains any evidence that the eunuch was immersed, outside of the meaning of the word, it must be circumstantial evidence, and not direct testimony. In ordinary jurisprudence, the former is often more conclusive than the latter; for living witnesses may be bribed, or voluntarily bear false testimony; but facts, however grossly they may be misinterpreted, can never give real utterance to falsehood. Circumstantial evidence is that derived from facts which transpired in such connection with the main fact assumed as to indicate its existence or character. There are two conditions necessary to its conclusiveness: First, That the facts which constitute the circumstances be fully authenticated; Second, That they shall be such as can not be accounted for without the admission of the main fact at issue. The first condition is always satisfied in scriptural inquiries, because the facts are asserted by infallible witnesses. Every thing depends, therefore, upon compliance with the second condition. This compliance may be so various in degree, as to admit of every possible degree of conclusiveness, from the slightest presumption up to absolute certainty. When the circumstances are as easily accounted for without the fact assumed as with it, they afford no evidence at all. When they can be better accounted for with the fact than without it, the evidence is probable. When they can not possibly be accounted for without the fact, and are fully accounted for by the fact, the evidence is irresistible.
When the facts constituting the circumstances are actions performed by men, this introduces an additional element into the argument. In this case, if the agent is a rational man, he must be supposed to act for a reason, and his actions, as circumstances, may be regarded with reference to the reasons for which they were performed. We further observe, that the question, What act was performed by the apostles under the name of baptism? has not reference to an indefinite number of actions, but is confined, by the nature of the controversy, to two. It was either immersion or affusion; the latter term embracing both the specific acts of sprinkling and pouring. This is admitted by all parties; for, although some contend that either act will serve the purpose of a valid baptism, no one, at the present day, contends that the apostles practiced both. Those who contend for affusion deny that the apostles or John the harbinger practiced immersion; while those who contend for immersion deny that they practiced affusion. It is as if A and B were brought into court for trial in reference to the murder of C. It is admitted by both the parties, and known to the counsel, the jurors, the judge, the sheriff, and the spectators, that the murder was committed by one of these two parties. Now, whatever evidence might be presented to exculpate A, would have precisely the same tendency to the conviction of B. And if the demonstration of A’s innocence were complete, the jury would render a verdict against B, though not a witness had testified directly to his guilt. Just so in the present case. Whatever evidence can be fund against the affusion of the eunuch and others, is good to the same extent in favor of their immersion, and vice versa.
The circumstances by which this question is to be decided are divided into two distinct classes, which we may style, respectively, circumstances of fact, and circumstances of allusion. We will consider them in the order in which they are here named.
There are some circumstances of fact which afford no evidence upon this question whatever. For instance, three thousand persons were baptized in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, in one afternoon. Now, if it were impossible for the agents employed to immerse so many in so short a time, or if sufficient water for that purpose could not have been found in Jerusalem, the two circumstances of place and time would furnish evidence against immersion. But as the facts on which this evidence would depend did not exist, no such evidence is here found. All the circumstances involved in the transaction can be accounted for by the supposition of either affusion or immersion; hence they furnish no evidence in favor of either as against the other. In like manner, the command of Ananias to Saul, to “Arise and be baptized,” though it supplies the fact that previous to being baptized he must arise from his prostrate or recumbent position, furnishes no evidence bearing upon our question, because it is consistent with either immersion or affusion. If it were proved that C was murdered with a club, this in itself would be no evidence again A, or in favor of B, seeing that either of them could have used a club.
But there are other circumstances of fact which afford unmistakable evidence upon this question. The agent about to perform the act in dispute selected for the purpose a river, as the Jordan, or a place where there was “much water,” as in “non near to Salim.” When the parties about to perform the act were in an ordinary dwelling, they went out of doors for the purpose, though it were the hour of midnight, as in the case of the Philippian jailer. When they came down to the water selected, both the administrator and the subject went down into it, as in the case of the eunuch, and the baptism was performed while they were in it. These are all unquestionable facts, for they are declared in unambiguous terms by infallible witnesses. They are also actions performed by rational men, and, therefore, each of them must have been performed for some reason. Moreover, the reason for each was furnished by the nature of the main act, for the purpose of accomplishing which each of these subordinate actions was performed. But the supposition of affusion furnishes no conceivable reason for any one of these actions. It can not, therefore, be the main act in question.
Again: If the main act could have been as well and as conveniently performed without these subordinate actions as with them, then all these agents acted without a reason. But certain affusion, even of the multitudes baptized by John, could have been performed as conveniently to himself and the people, at some well or fountain centrally located, as at the Jordan, or in non. Paul could have sprinkled the jailer as conveniently in the house at midnight, as out of doors; and Philip could have sprinkled or poured water on the eunuch as well at the brink of the water, as by going down into it. Each of these subordinate actions, therefore, was an irrational one, if affusion was the main act performed.
But, still further, there are good and valid reasons against such a line of action as we are considering, such as have sufficed, in every age and country, and among all ranks of society, to cause those who perform affusion to pursue a course the reverse of this in every particular. To save time and labor, and to avoid personal discomfort, instead of going to rivers and places of much water, they administer the rite at home or at church. Instead of going out of doors at night, if they happen to be out of doors at night, they prefer to go into the house. And, instead of going down into the water, they dip into it merely the tips of their fingers, or, avoiding all contact with the water themselves, they pour it from a vessel upon the subject. To suppose, in the face of all these reasons, which are controlling with rational men, that the apostles performed the various actions which we know they did, for the purpose of affusion, is to suppose them to act not only irrationally, but contrary to all the reasons which govern rational men. But they were rational men; therefore, he who reasons thus concerning them is convicted, beyond question, of drawing an irrational conclusion.
So far as the circumstances of fact are concerned, we might logically rest the case here; for, having sustained the negative proposition that affusion was not the act in question, we have no alternative but to conclude that it was immersion. But the same circumstantial evidence which brings us to so solid a conclusion by this indirect method, serves the purpose equally well when applied to the direct proof of immersion. The supposition of immersion furnishes the desired reason for each one of the subordinate actions we have been considering. It accounts for the selection of a river or a place of much water; for leaving the house at midnight, and for going down into the water. It is the only supposition which can account for them; and, therefore, their existence demands the existence of immersion. We must either deny these facts, which would be infidelity; deny that the apostles acted rationally, which would be the height of folly and impiety; or admit that immersion, and not affusion, was the apostolic practice.
The circumstances of allusion are equally conclusive with those already considered. Their force may be stated thus: When parties who are certainly acquainted with the facts in dispute let drop incidental remarks indicative of the nature of the facts, such remarks afford evidence, by indicating the knowledge possessed by the speaker. If, in the case of trial for murder above supposed, it were known that D was cognizant of all the facts, any incidental statement of his, inconsistent with the supposition that he knew A to be the murderer, would afford circumstantial evidence in favor of A, and against B. Now, Jesus and the apostles were cognizant of all the facts in reference to baptism, and they have made certain allusions to it, which, so far as the nature of the act is concerned, are incidental, but which indicate what they knew the act to be. If, upon a collation of these allusions, we find them inconsistent with the knowledge, on their part, that baptism was affusion, but just such as imply the knowledge that it was immersion, the evidence from this source will be conclusive.
Of the many allusions at hand, we will select, for our present purpose, only a few, the bearing of which appears least liable to dispute. First, in the words of our Savior, “Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God.” That the expression, “born of water,” is an allusion to baptism, is admitted by all standard commentators and critics known to the writer, and is disputed by none but those who are incapable of being candid upon this subject. The term is used metaphorically, and, therefore, indicates some connection with water, which is analogous to a birth. But there is no conceivable analogy between a birth and an application of water by affusion; hence it is impossible that Jesus could have known the act alluded to to be affusion. The expression forces the mind to something like a birth, which can be found only in the act of drawing the body out of water, which takes place in immersion. This, alone, could have suggested the metaphor to the mind of Jesus, and to this our minds intuitively run when we hear the words pronounced. It is intuitively certain, therefore, that Jesus alluded to immersion, and not to sprinkling.
The next allusion to which we invite attention is that in which Jesus calls the unspeakable sufferings which were to terminate his life, “The baptism with which I am to be baptized.” Here the term baptism is used metaphorically for his sufferings, which could not be unless there is, in literal baptism, something analogous to the overwhelming agonies of Gethsemane and Calvary. The soul revolts at the supposition that a mere sprinkling, or pouring of water on the face, could have supplied this analogy, and intuitively demands something like the sweep of water over the sinking body, which is witnessed in immersion. Immersion supplies the analogy, and it must be the meaning of the term baptism, if there is any meaning in the Savior’s mournful words.
One allusion from the Apostle Paul, and one from Peter, will suffice for our present purpose. Paul exhorts the brethren to draw near to God, “having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” Here is an allusion to the sprinkled blood of Christ, as cleansing the heart from an evil conscience, and to baptism as a washing of the body. But this language is inconsistent with the idea of sprinkling or pouring a little water on the face, which could, by no propriety of speech, be styled a washing of the body. Nothing but immersion will meet the demands of the expression, for the words describe what takes in immersion, and in no other ordinance of the New Testament. Peter’s allusion is quite similar to this. He says: “Baptism doth also now save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the seeking of a good conscience toward God.” Now Peter could not have supplied the words, “Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh,” unless there was something in baptism which might possibly be mistaken for this. But it would be impossible for any one to so mistake sprinkling, while immersion might be readily mistaken for a cleansing of the flesh. Peter, then, knew that immersion, and not affusion, was baptism, and so indicates by this language.
We now have before us, from Jesus and Paul and Peter, who certainly knew what baptism was, unmistakable allusions to it, which could not have been made if they knew it to be affusion, and which force us to the conclusion that they knew it to be immersion. It is difficult to conceive how circumstantial evidence could be more conclusive.
We might add to our list of circumstances of allusion the statement of Paul in Romans 6:4 , and Colossians 2:12 , that in baptism we are buried and raised again. But I regard this as direct testimony to what is done in baptism, and not a mere allusion to it. If any man were to try to frame a statement of what takes place in the act of immersion, he could not do so in more unambiguous terms than to say, “We are buried and raised again.” If he were to say, “We are immersed,” it would not be so specific a description of the act, nor so little liable to dispute as to its real meaning.
The last clause of the passage under consideration demands some notice ere we introduce another section of the text. It is said that “when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away; and the eunuch saw him no more, for he went on his way rejoicing.” No doubt the influence of the Spirit by which Philip was caught away was the same as that which had at first joined him to the chariot. It was that monition of the Spirit by which the movements of inspired men were frequently directed. We will notice frequent instances of the kind in the course of this work.
When Philip was caught away to other labors, the eunuch “went on his way rejoicing.” So universally does joy pervade the hearts of those whose sins are forgiven, that many sectaries of modern times have mistaken it for the evidence of pardon. The fallacy which they commit is to assume, without authority, that a real pardon from God is the only cause which can induce this feeling. Now, we know that joy must spring up in the heart, under the belief that pardon has been dispensed, however mistaken that belief may be. The convict awaiting execution would be just as happy if deceived by a counterfeit pardon, as if it were genuine. So with the penitent sinner. When his soul has been racked, for hours and days together, by the torture of an awakened conscience, it is likely, by the reaction of its own powers, or through exhaustion of the nervous system, to become calm. Now, if he has been taught that the supervening of this calm is an indication of pardon, immediately upon the consciousness of its presence there will spring up that joy which he alone feels who believes his sins are pardoned. Such individuals, however, generally have serious doubts, at times, whether they did not mistake the natural for the supernatural, and they seldom obtain more than a hope that their sins were forgiven. The rejoicing of the eunuch was based upon far different and more solid ground. Taught by Philip, according to the commission, and according to the preaching of Peter, who had been Philip’s own teacher, that the penitent believer was to be immersed for the remission of sins; realizing in his own consciousness, that he was a penitent believer; and having been immersed, his conviction that his sins were pardoned was as solid as his confidence in the word of God and in his own consciousness. In neither of these could he well be mistaken, and, therefore, his joy was not alloyed by any harassing doubts.
We now part company with this noble man, whose ready faith and prompt obedience give evidence of such a character that we would love to travel with him further; but here the curtain of authentic history drops upon him, and we see him no longer. Happily, the echoes that come back to us, as he passes on, are notes of joy, and we may hope to meet him at the point where all our journeys meet, and rejoice with him forever.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
38. . . .they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.