8:36-38 What do we learn from what happened here?

We learn from V36 here that Philip emphasized the importance of baptism as part of his gospel message to the eunuch, because as soon as he saw the water the eunuch asked to be baptized (CP V26-38).

Philip did not have to ask him if he wanted to be baptized - the eunuch already knew that it was an integral part of the gospel message, and as soon as he confessed his new-found faith in Jesus, Philip baptized him. Sadly, contemporary Christians do not always stress this aspect of the gospel and many new converts have to wait months, and sometimes years to be baptized.

Yet Jesus placed it second in importance in the divine order of God's redemptive plan (CP Mt 28:18-20 with Ac 2:37-42). Ac 8:36-38 also teaches that baptism does not have to be a public ceremony to be valid in God's eyes.

New converts do not have to be taken to church to get baptized. They can be baptized immediately they confess their new-found faith in Christ wherever water is available and they are physically able to be baptized

(see also comments on Mt 28:19-20(B); Mk 16:16; Ac 2:37-38, 2:41; Ro 6:3-5; 1Pe 3:20-21, and author's study Water Baptism in his book Foundational Truths of the Christian Faith).

Acts: