Because God had not yet revealed that salvation would come through Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection.
Faith is taking God at His Word, and no one can believe what God has not yet spoken. In Jesus' earthly ministry and up through the early chapters of Acts, the only confession required was that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. The death, burial, and resurrection as the gospel was later revealed to Paul by the ascended Lord.
John 11:27 — Martha's confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, shows the confession expected during Jesus' ministry.
Acts 8:37 — The Ethiopian eunuch confessed only that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, not His death and resurrection.
Luke 18:34 — The disciples understood none of Jesus' prediction of His death and resurrection because it was hid from them.
In the Gospels, people confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. When Martha was asked if she believed Jesus was the resurrection and the life, she answered, 'Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world' (John 11:27). Similarly, the Ethiopian eunuch's confession in Acts 8:37 was, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.' Neither confession mentioned His death, burial, or resurrection. Even when Jesus plainly told the twelve that He would be delivered to the Gentiles, mocked, killed, and rise again, Scripture records that 'they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken' (Luke 18:34).
Les Feldick explains that throughout history, God only expects people to believe what He has explicitly revealed. Faith cannot operate before God speaks. He states, 'You can't take God at His Word until He speaks it' (Clip 1). Since God had not yet revealed the gospel of His death, burial, and resurrection to anyone before Paul, no one could believe it. Peter, Martha, the Ethiopian eunuch, and even Saul of Tarsus at his conversion all confessed only that Jesus was the Son of God. That confession was sufficient for that time because it was all that God had revealed (Clips 2, 4, 5).
The confession expected was that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter made this confession (Matthew 16:16), Martha made it at Lazarus's tomb (John 11:27), and the Ethiopian eunuch made the same confession (Acts 8:37). In each case, the confession ended with 'Period'—there was no mention of Jesus' death, burial, or resurrection as the basis of salvation.
Les teaches that everything concerning the gospel was still hidden in the mind of God. He says, 'You cannot believe something that someone has never said. And how can you believe something that God hasn't said?' God had not yet said that He would save the human race based on the shed blood, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Therefore, even Peter could not proclaim it.
It was revealed to Paul by the ascended Lord, not by Christ during His earthly ministry. Paul received it after the finished work of the cross was behind. The gospel of Christ's death for our sins according to the Scriptures was part of God's preordained plan, but it was not made known to people until God spoke it through Paul.
The Ethiopian Eunuch's Confession
Les points out that the eunuch's confession was simply that Jesus Christ is the Son of God—he said nothing about death, burial, and resurrection.
Saul's Ignorance and Faith
Saul of Tarsus, like Peter before the cross, knew nothing of the death, burial, and resurrection as God's plan of salvation because faith requires God to speak first.
Martha's and the Eunuch's Confession
Martha and the eunuch both confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God—period, with no mention of His death or resurrection.
Paul's Revealed Gospel
The gospel of Christ's death for our sins was delivered to Paul by the ascended Lord, not from Christ's earthly ministry, showing it was not yet revealed earlier.
Only What Was Revealed Was Expected
Jesus' contemporaries were only expected to believe and confess that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God, because that was all God had revealed.
Same Confession Everywhere
Peter, Martha, the Ethiopian eunuch, and Saul at conversion all confessed Jesus as the Son of God without mentioning death, burial, and resurrection.
God Had Not Yet Said It
God had not revealed salvation through Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, so no one could believe it; Peter could not say what God had not said.
Disciples Did Not Understand
Despite Jesus predicting His death and resurrection, the disciples understood none of it because God had not yet revealed it to them.
John 11:27: She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
Martha's confession shows what believers were to confess at that time—Jesus' identity, not His death and resurrection.
Acts 8:37: And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
The eunuch's confession of faith mirrors Martha's, proving the expected confession was about Jesus as the Son of God.
Luke 18:34: And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.
Even after Jesus plainly predicted His death and resurrection, the disciples could not understand because it was hidden from them.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4: For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
This is the later-revealed gospel that Paul preached, showing that the death, burial, and resurrection were not the message during Jesus' earthly ministry.
Martha believed Jesus would rise again at the last day, but her personal confession was only that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. She did not confess His death, burial, and resurrection as the means of salvation because that truth had not yet been revealed.
The eunuch's confession, as recorded in Acts 8:37, was, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.' He did not mention death, burial, and resurrection because that gospel had not yet been given; it was revealed later through Paul.
According to Les Feldick, faith always responds to what God has said. If God has not spoken, there is nothing to believe. Therefore, no one was expected to believe in the death, burial, and resurrection as the basis of salvation until God revealed it to Paul.
Watch the Teaching: What Did the Ethiopian Eunuch Actually Believe? Acts 8