Acts 8:26-40
Luke’s account of the conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch helps us to see the inclusivity of the Gospel. The Ethiopian, despite being a convert to Judaism, is excluded from temple worship by virtue of his castration. However, in the New Covenant he experiences no limitations to his fellowship with God. Luke illustrates this in three ways:
Firstly, full understanding. Christ illuminates the meaning of the Old Testament text the Eunuch was reading. Likewise, Jesus illuminates our lives, giving us understanding of the world, ourselves and God’s character and actions. This enables us to interpret things correctly and worship God in all circumstances.
Secondly, an unreserved welcome. Although the Eunuch was a convert to Judaism, he would never have felt fully welcome. (See Deut 23:1) But no such prohibitions apply in the New Covenant. Anyone can become a Christian, no matter their situation, who they are, what they’ve done or what has been done to them. This leads some to argue (often from this passage!) that Christians should be radically inclusive in such a way as to welcome people into the Christian faith even if they choose to continue to reject God’s commands, especially with regard to sex, marriage and gender. Their idea is that this shows God’s love and enriches the church by teaching us to be more gracious by accepting of those who are different. One problem with this idea is that it misunderstands Christian salvation, which isn’t just about forgiveness but includes the restoration of the natural order at the resurrection of the dead and the renewal of all things. Those who willfully reject the natural order also implicitly reject God’s salvation, and therefore cannot be baptised. The passage offers us a different model of radical inclusivity: a radical “going out”, allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us, like Philip, to people who believe they are excluded from God’s love and the offer of salvation. Christians are not called to make the church more accommodating to unbelievers, but, standing confidently on our identity as Christ’s holy people and our experience of God’s power, we should be hopeful, persistent, bold and compassionate in our evangelism, especially to the marginalised.
Thirdly, an unrestricted blessing. The Eunuch couldn’t even enter the Court of the Gentiles in the Jerusalem temple, and so he was cut off from experiencing the blessing of fellowship with God. But under the New Covenant this restriction was lifted (See Is. 56). Every Christian, by virtue of our union with Christ is able to experience full fellowship with God, knowing his love, loving him fully and serving others in the power of the Spirit. This is the inheritance of Christ, who as the great high-priest ushers all believers into the Holy of Holies and his unrestricted fellowship with God. Often our expectations of this are affected by the world’s cliched and ungodly estimation of our worth. We can confess those things we believe limit our experience of fellowship with him and ask him to increase our trust that we can know him, love him and serve him fully, no matter who we are.