Teach the Person in Front of You

An angel directs Philip to a desert road from Jerusalem to Gaza (8:26). There he meets an Ethiopian official, a treasurer under the queen of the Ethiopians, returning home after worshipping in Jerusalem. The man is sitting in his chariot reading the prophet Isaiah (8:27–28). The Spirit tells Philip to go near.

Philip runs to the chariot and hears the man reading. Rather than launching into a speech, he asks a question: “Understandest thou what thou readest?” (8:30). The official answers honestly, “How can I, except some man should guide me?” and invites Philip to sit with him (8:31). The passage is Isaiah 53:7–8, describing one led as a sheep to the slaughter.

The official asks whom the prophet is speaking about—himself or someone else (8:34). Then “Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus” (8:35). Philip started where the man was, with the text he was already reading and the question he was already asking, and showed how it pointed to Jesus.

This scene offers a pattern for teaching. Ask, rather than assume. Listen to the actual question. Explain clearly, starting from where the person is. Philip does not mock the man's lack of understanding or make him feel foolish. The official is respected, curious, and treated with dignity. Good teaching never humiliates the learner.

Whether you are helping a child with a Bible story, answering a coworker's question, or leading a study, the person in front of you matters more than your prepared outline. Plain, everyday language—followed by checking whether you were understood—helps truth land.