Philip the Evangelist

Biblical Record

Philip appears three times in the Acts of the Apostles.

• Chosen as one of the seven (Acts 6:1–6): When complaints arose over the daily distribution of relief, the Jerusalem church chose seven men. They were "men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom" (Acts 6:3), and Philip is listed immediately after Stephen. The apostles prayed and laid their hands on them.
• Mission in Samaria (Acts 8:4–25): After Stephen's martyrdom, persecution broke out and the believers were scattered. Philip went down to a city of Samaria and preached Christ. Signs followed: unclean spirits departed and the sick were healed, and Simon the sorcerer also believed and was baptized. When the Jerusalem church heard the news, it sent Peter and John; when the two apostles laid their hands on the Samaritan believers, they received the Holy Spirit.
• The Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26–40): At the direction of the angel of the Lord, Philip went to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. There he met the Ethiopian eunuch, who was reading the book of Isaiah, and explained that the passage pointed to Jesus (Acts 8:32–35). The passage is the Suffering Servant text of Isaiah 53. After baptizing the eunuch, Philip was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord. He then appeared at Azotus and preached the gospel in the towns along the way until he came to Caesarea.
• His house in Caesarea (Acts 21:8–9): Many years later, Paul and his companions stayed at his house in Caesarea. The text calls him "Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven" (Korean Bible translations render this as "one of the seven deacons") and records that he had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.

Significance Within Scripture

Acts 1:8 sets out the pattern of the gospel spreading "in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Within this pattern, Philip is portrayed as the first to bring the gospel to the Samaritans and to a person from a distant Gentile land. He is the only person in the New Testament whose name bears the title "evangelist."

Interpretation and Points of Debate

• Distinction from Philip the Apostle: He is distinct from Philip the Apostle, one of the Twelve. However, some early church traditions preserved in Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History reportedly appear to conflate the two men.
• Were "the seven" deacons?: Acts 6 uses only the verb "to serve" and does not give these men the title of an office. Korean Bible translations and many denominations, including Presbyterian churches, read this passage as the origin of the office of deacon. Other interpreters hold that the seven did not occupy the same office as present-day deacons but were given a special task suited to the circumstances of the time.
• The Samaritan believers' reception of the Spirit: Pentecostal and charismatic interpreters cite this passage as support for a baptism in the Holy Spirit that comes as a separate experience after one comes to faith. The Reformed tradition interprets it as a unique, transitional event intended to unite the Samaritan church with the apostles and the Jerusalem church.
• Mode of baptism: Baptists cite the phrase "they went down both into the water" (Acts 8:38) as support for baptism by immersion. Other denominations hold that the mode cannot be determined from this expression alone (see Baptism and Immersion).
• Acts 8:37: This verse, in which the eunuch confesses his faith, is absent from many ancient manuscripts. For this reason, some modern translations omit it from the main text and place it in a footnote.
• The four daughters: Acts 21:9 is a text addressed by both sides in the debate over the ordination of women.
• Philip is commonly described as a Hellenistic Jew. This is an inference drawn from the fact that all seven names are Greek; the text does not state it directly.

In the Korean Church

Korean churches commonly refer to him as "Deacon Philip." He is frequently cited as a model for church officers in sermons at deacon ordination services. The story of the Ethiopian eunuch is widely used in sermons and Sunday school curricula as an example of one-on-one evangelism in obedience to the Holy Spirit's leading.