Acts 8:35

‘And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him Jesus.'

Then Philip took the chapter he had been reading and applied it to Jesus, and his explanation on this chapter is stated to have been only the ‘beginning'. We do not know how long his explanation went on for, but he had plenty of time in which to tell him of the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus, and to draw attention to how it fulfilled the Scriptures, and to mention some of the teaching of Jesus contained in the tradition of the church, including such words as Mark 10:45, ‘the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many' (compare Acts 20:28), applying it all to Isaiah 53 and other Old Testament Scriptures. The man was on a long and wearisome journey and Philip, having been sent here by God, had all the time in the world.

Much has been made by some of a suggestion that Luke fails in general to draw attention to the atoning significance of the cross. But this is in fact not a strictly accurate assessment of his writings, for there are certainly a number of occasions when he demonstrates that the atonement underwrites what he says. Some of these are as follows:

1) Coming to the end of his Gospel he cites, ‘This is my body which is given for you' and speaks about ‘the new covenant in His blood' (Luke 22:19), the latter a reference with clear sacrificial and atoning significance (see Exodus 24:8; Zechariah 9:11). He would know that any ancient Israelite sacrifice, even a covenant sacrifice, included an atoning element. So Jesus had clearly there offering Himself as an atonement.

2) In Luke 22:37 he specifically cites the words of Isaiah 53:12, ‘he was reckoned among the transgressors' as referred by Jesus to Himself, and the atoning significance of this idea in the context of Isaiah could hardly be overlooked. Jesus was not just saying that He would be hung between two thieves, He was indicating the depths of what He was to face on behalf of others.

3) In Luke 24:46 he informs us that Jesus pointed out that ‘the Messiah should suffer, and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all the nations' (Luke 24:46). Here the ideas of His death and resurrection are connected with the possibility of forgiveness being available.

So his whole Gospel is given atoning significance by these references (we would not really expect the body of the Gospel to contain much in the way of atoning references because it was only during and after the death of Jesus that such a significance was fully understandable).

4) In Luke 23-24 he describes in full detail the events leading up to Jesus' death and burial, an emphasis which can only confirm that he sees Jesus death as very significant, and when seen in the light of 1) to 3) above, atoning.

5) In Acts itself he writes in Acts 20:28 of the church of God as having been ‘purchased with His own blood'. Here he goes right to the heart of redemption, paralleling Mark 10:45.

6) While he might not have seen the presentation of the doctrine of the atonement as his main purpose, except generally in his emphasis on the cross to which he devotes two Chapter s in Luke, in Acts he certainly proclaims that it is through the death and resurrection of Jesus that men find life (Acts 2:23; Acts 2:33; Acts 2:38)

7) In Acts 13:29 with 37-39 he declares that the death and resurrection of Christ are the means of men's justification apart from the Law, and this in preaching which offered eternal life (Acts 13:46).

8) In Acts 15:10 he emphasises that salvation is by the grace of God and not through circumcision and legalism (Acts 15:10).

Furthermore in many other places the connection with atonement is simply assumed. Thus we can confidently say that while Luke does not put a great stress on the atonement, for that was not his purpose, he does make clear that it lies behind all he says. He tends to let his sources speak for him, but indicates that he is not shy of the atonement put in its baldest terms (Acts 20:28).

Luke thus undoubtedly would recognise that Philip not only proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah, but did so in the context of atonement. That is the reason for mentioning Isaiah 53 at all. He was introducing Jesus as the Man of Sorrows and Saviour of the world.