When the carriage arrives at some water, the eunuch exclaims, "Behold water! What is hindering me from being baptized?" (NIV Why shouldn't I be baptized?). One of Luke's great concerns is that obstacles of age (Lk 18:16), religious tradition, old or new (Lk 9:49-50; 11:52), race or ethnic origin (Acts 10:47; 11:17), or physical condition (8:36, if the eunuch were one physically) must not keep people from hearing and applying to themselves the gospel of salvation. His ideal is found in the closing phrase, indeed the closing word, of Acts: "Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ" (28:31).

The eunuch is baptized as Philip stands with him in the water. Is it by immersion (Williams 1985:148) or pouring (Stott 1990:162)? The account will accommodate both understandings. The act's theological significance is cleansing for sin and incorporation into the fellowship of those who have experienced Christ's salvation blessings (Lk 24:47/Acts 2:38-39; 10:47-48; 16:31-33).

Though Philip is taken away suddenly, the eunuch goes on his way rejoicing. For Luke and us, joy is a manifestation of a person's salvation (8:8; Lk 6:23; 10:20), particularly of reception of the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:52).

The episode ends as it began, with divinely guided and empowered outreach. Miraculously transported over thirty miles to the seacoast town of Azotus (Old Testament Ashdod), Philip continues his witness on non-Jewish soil until he comes to Caesarea (compare 21:8).

The conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch graphically demonstrates the inclusiveness of the gospel. No apparent obstacle—whether physical defect, race or geographical remoteness—can place a person beyond the saving call of the good news. Athanasius, in his comments on Psalm 68:31, marvels that "by `Kushites' God indicates the end of the earth. . . . For how Kush ran to the preaching is possible to see from the believing Ethiopian. God shows that all the other nations also believe in Christ with their kings" (quoted in Martin 1989:116). For persons of black African lineage, the eunuch's conversion means the "inclusion of black Africans among the charter members of the faith . . . all of which symbolizes from the beginning the African involvement in the new faith that spread throughout the world" (C. E. Lincoln 1984:24).