Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Acts 8:38 - 8:38
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
38. ἐκέλευσεν στῆναι τὸ ἅρμα, he commanded the chariot to stand still, i.e. he bade the chariot-driver halt. Of course the whole retinue would be witnesses of what took place, and they may perhaps 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.
κατέβησαν κ.τ.λ., they went down both into the water, as was the custom among the Jews. Thus John baptized his followers in the Jordan. It is worth notice that in the ‘Teaching of the Twelve Apostles’ recently discovered provision is made for baptism by affusion (chap. vii.), ἔκχεον εἰς τὴν κεφαλὴν τρὶς ὕδωρ εἰς ὄνομα πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος.