Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!
So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. The place in the Scripture which he read was this: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He opened not His mouth. In His humiliation His justice was taken away, and who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.” So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. (Acts 8:30-35)
The narrative of the Apostle Philip of the Seventy helping the Ethiopian eunuch understand the Jewish scriptures tells us something about evangelism and the role believers must play in helping the non-Christian to comprehend the Scriptures. The Scriptures are not self-interpreting as some wishfully allege. They really do require a knowledgeable believer to help uncover their meaning. This is one role the Church is supposed to play in the world in fulfilling its task to be a light to the nations. Whether or not the Church brings the Scriptures to others, if others are already reading the Scriptures (as in the narrative of the Ethiopian eunuch), the Church is to help the reader find their way to the Truth.
Orthodox scripture scholar Fr Theodore Stylianopoulos gives us some insight into how this might happen. Before leading others to understand the Scriptures, the believers themselves must be diligent seekers of the Truth (John 14:6) found in the Scriptures:
Believe first of all that these things are true and in accordance with the holy Scriptures and, by studying the latter thoroughly, know that here, already, the seal of the Holy Spirit is given to those who believe. And, having believed, pursue it so that you may obtain it. . . . Run, fight, pursue, seek, knock, ask, and incline toward nothing else until you have obtained it. . . . until you hear: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much‘ [Matt 25:21]; until you have become children of the light and of the day [Ephesians 5:8]. (St Basil the Great)
Search the scriptures so that you may learn about faith, and hope, and love. . . . Why should we busy ourselves with matters which are beyond us, in particular when in truth we fail to see things which lie at our very feet? (St Symeon the New Theologian) (ENCOURAGED BY SCRIPTURES, pp 40-41, 45)
We who are already in the Church are supposed to diligently “pursue, seek, knock, ask” when it comes to the Scriptures. They contain many mysteries and some hard to comprehend truths. They challenge our normal way of thinking about things. We are not to fear questions about the Scriptures – whether those of others around us, those asked to disprove the truth of the Bible, or questions/doubts which arise in our own hearts and minds. Seeking the truth is not just an activity of those who are lost or who have not yet come to Christ. That is supposed to be part of the spiritual growth of believers as well. As St Symeon says we don’t have to occupy ourselves with things which are too great and marvelous for our own level of thinking (Psalm 131:1), there are plenty of issues to consider “which lie at our very feet”- issues of how we are to live our daily lives in the world. We can help those who are not yet of the faith deal with their questions and concerns by ourselves being seekers of the Truth, and gaining the wisdom of how to apply them to our daily lives.
[In some Orthodox traditions the Ethiopian eunuch is named as a saint of the Church – Simon/ Simeon Niger. I’m not sure why this isn’t broadly accepted in the Orthodox world which provides a name, for example, to the Samaritan Woman – Photini, which is also not given in the bible.]
Fraternized 