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What Philip Baptizing the Eunuch Means for Today
The eunuch did not have to change to be accepted
Acts 8:26–40 tells the story of Philip converting an Ethiopian eunuch — a castrated person who did not fit into the categories of “male” and female.”
The ancient Hebrew and Greek words translated as “eunuch” could refer to someone born with nonbinary traits, someone castrated, or someone serving a king or queen in a role typically associated with eunuchs.
Which was the Ethiopian eunuch?
Acts 8 describes the man both as a eunuch and as an important official for the Ethiopian queen. The dual description suggests the man was a castrated eunuch. If he were only an official, then only one of the descriptions would have been necessary.
According to theologian and historian Megan DeFranza, ancient rabbinic law recognized four different categories of biological sex. Jews also distinguished between “natural-born” eunuchs and castrated eunuchs.
Jesus Himself refers to these categories in Matthew 19:
For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others — and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs [unmarried] for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should…
