A EUNUCH — literally 'bed-keeper' (eunē, bed + echō, to hold), from the role of guarding a royal harem; in the Greek Old Testament it also just means a court official, whether or not castrated (Potiphar is called one, and he has a wife). ⚠ Matthew 19:12 names three kinds, and the third is the argument: those born so, those made so by others, and those who 'made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of the heavens' — read from very early on as voluntary celibacy. At least one famous reader took it literally: Eusebius reports that the young Origen castrated himself on the strength of this verse and later regretted it. Note how carefully the surrounding sentences fence it: 'not everyone can make room for this word,' and 'let the one who is able.' The Ethiopian of Acts 8 is the New Testament's other memorable eunuch — a man the Law barred from the assembly (Deuteronomy 23:1), baptized without discussion. → first discussed at Matt 19:12