13:23 Can the Leopard Change Its Spots?
The Change in the Ethiopian Eunuch. Bede: Also, he showed so much
love in his religion that, leaving behind a queen’s court, he came from the
farthest regions of the world to the Lord’s temple. Hence, as a just reward,
while he sought the interpretation of something that he was reading, he found
Christ, whom he was seeking. Furthermore, as Jerome says, he found the church’s
font there in the desert, rather than in the golden temple of the synagogue.
For there in the desert something happened that Jeremiah declared was to be
wondered at, an Ethiopian changed his skin, that is, with the stain of his sins
washed away by the waters of baptism, he went up, shining white, to
Jesus. Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 8:27a.
The Prophetic Word Can Lead to Faith. Jerome: By the reading of the
prophet the eunuch of Candace, the queen of Ethiopia, is made ready for the
baptism of Christ. Though it is against nature, the Ethiopian does change his
skin, and the leopard his spots. Letter 69.6.
The Fountain of the Gospel. Jerome: Then immediately quickening her
pace, she began to move along the old road that leads to Gaza, that is, to the
“power” or “wealth” of God, silently meditating on that type of the Gentiles,
the Ethiopian eunuch, who, in spite of the prophet, changed his skin and, while
he read the Old Testament, found the fountain of the gospel. Letter 108.11.
The Irreligious Cannot Easily Change. Athanasius: For as the
prophet speaks,” If the Ethiopian changes his skin, or the leopard his spots,”
then will they be willing to think religiously who have been instructed in
irreligion. You, however, beloved, on receiving this, read it by yourself. If
you approve of it, read it also to the brethren who happen to be present, that
they, too, on hearing it, may welcome the council’s zeal for the truth and the
exactness of its sense and may condemn that of Christ’s foes, the Arians, and
the futile pretenses, which for the sake of their irreligious heresy they have
been at the pains to frame among themselves. Defense of the Nicene Definition
7.32.
Some Refuse to Practice Virtue. Chrysostom: Moreover, what did the
prophet say? “If the Ethiopian changes his skin and the leopard its spots, this
people will be able to do well, when it has learned evil.” He did not mean that
it was impossible for them to practice virtue, but that they did not wish to do
so; therefore, they could not. Homilies on the Gospel of John 68. (Jeremiah,
Lamentations, ed. Dean O. Wenthe [Ancient Christian Commentary on
Scripture; Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2009], 110-11)
