Godbey's Commentary - Acts - Romans - Enter His Rest

the manner of its application, and thus run into a very dangerous form of idolatry, i.e., hydrolatry,
i.e., water-worship, i.e., the imputation of saving efficacy to water baptism, which is a fond delusion,
and has doubtless sent multitudes to hell who relied on water-baptism and human works instead of
Jesus only. Such is the ambiguity of this passage that we can not tell whether they went into it and
Philip immersed the entire body, or whether they simply went to the spring and took up some water
with which Philip baptized him according to Isaiah 52:15, which the eunuch had read and Philip
preached. When the publicans demanded of our Savior and Peter the payment of taxes, and He sent
Peter to the sea to catch that fish with the money in its mouth, the statement of Peter’s going down
to the sea is precisely identical with the Greek in this passage. Hence if you do not believe that Peter
waded into the sea to catch the fish, you need not believe that Philip and the eunuch waded into the
sea in order to the baptism. Suffice it to say, reader, God has made plenty of water. So take all you
want in your baptism. If you are not satisfied, go on till your conscience is perfectly satisfied (1 Peter
3:21). You had better live and die without water-baptism than to receive it under the popish heresy
of baptismal regeneration, which is very likely to so blind your eyes that you will never see the
Savior, live and die ignorant of God and make your bed in hell. So pay no attention to baptism nor
anything else, but fly to the Savior, get intelligently saved and receive the Savior’s baptism with the
Holy Ghost and fire. There abide, keeping your eye on Jesus, and assuredly He will keep His hand
on you. When you are thus clearly and intelligently saved and sanctified, consciously baptized by
the Savior with the Holy Ghost and fire, witnessed clearly and unmistakably by the indwelling Holy
Spirit, then we can safely tell you to take all the water you want and any way you want, fully
satisfying all of your convictions, as then there is no danger of your becoming a poor, superstitious,
deluded devotee of Satan’s water-god like multiplied millions, who have thus been side-tracked by
the devil into idolatry and lost their souls. We have not a word of criticism for immersion, trine
immersion, copious effusion or simple sprinkling, pursuant to your convictions, if you only receive
the “one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5), i.e., the baptism of the Holy Ghost administered by the Savior.
What was the character of the eunuch’s conversion? It is simply preposterous to conclude that this
man was a sinner.
(a) He was a man of sterling integrity, actually entrusted with the money of the kingdom;
(b) he was a Jewish proselyte, a bona fide member of God’s Church in his dispensation;
(c) he actually traveled fifteen hundred miles to worship God in His temple on Mt. Moriah in the
holy city;
(d) he loved his precious Bible, so that he carried it with him and even read it as he rode along;
(e) he hailed God’s prophet with delight, gave him a seat by his side and received with enthusiasm
the thrilling tidings that the Christ of prophecy, whom he worshipped and trusted for salvation, had
already come into the world in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, suffered and died on Calvary’s cross,
risen and ascended into heaven.
The argument even favors the conclusion that he was a sanctified man, as we see not a vestige of
prejudice, bigotry or jealousy rising to eclipse his eyes to the truth which Philip preached. The case
is clear and even demonstrative that he was a pious and faithful member of the Jewish Church, like