Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 21:8
And the next [day] we that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was [one] of the seven; and abode with him.
8. And the next day ] Rev. Ver. “And on the morrow.”
we that were of Paul’s company ] The Greek for the last five of these words is omitted in the best MSS. We can see at once how such a marginal comment, thought useful by the reader of an early MS., would be brought into the text without scruple by the next copyist.
unto Cesarea ] Though it was possible to have made this journey by sea, the verb seems rather to leave us to infer that it was a land journey. The road between the two places was of the best.
and we entered and abode with him ] Rev. Ver. (as Greek) “ and entering we abode, &c.” Philip is named next after Stephen in the narrative (Act 6:5) of the choosing of the seven, and though no such prominent exhibition of his zeal is narrated as of Stephen, yet we are told, that he went away from Jerusalem and was the first to carry the Gospel to the Samaritans (Act 8:5). He also was directed by the angel of the Lord to go and baptize the Ethiopian eunuch (Act 8:16-38), thus being doubly an ambassador to the Gentiles, and earning his title of “Evangelist.” He preached afterwards at Ashdod, and from the chapter before us we may conclude that he had made his home at Csarea. Such a situation, the meeting-place of Gentiles with Jews, was the proper scene for such a missionary to labour in, and such a labourer would rejoice greatly to welcome to his house the great apostle who had gone forth once and again unto the Gentiles and with such mighty blessing on his work.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
We that were of Pauls company – From this it would appear that they had been attended thus far by some persons who were going only to Ptolemais. This clause, however, is missing in many mss., and has been omitted by Bengel, Griesbach, Knapp, and others as spurious. It is also missing in the Syriac and the Vulgate.
Unto Cesarea – See the notes on Act 8:40.
Into the house of Philip – One of the seven deacons, Act 6:5. After his conversation with the eunuch of Ethiopia, he went to Caesarea, and probably there abode.
The evangelist – This word properly means one who announces good news. In the New Testament it is applied to a preacher of the gospel, or one who declares the glad tidings of salvation. It occurs only in two other places, Eph 4:1; 2Ti 4:5. What was the precise rank of those who bore this title in the early Christian church cannot perhaps be determined. It is evident, however, that it is used to denote the office of preaching the gospel; and as this title is applied to Philip, and not to any other of the seven deacons, it would seem probable that he had been entrusted with a special commission to preach, and that preaching did not pertain to him as a deacon, and does not properly belong to that office. The business of a deacon was to take care of the poor members of the church, Act 6:1-6. The office of preaching was distinct from this, though, as in this case, it might be conferred on the same individual.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Act 21:8-15
And the next day we came to Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the Evangelist.
Paul at Caesarea
I. Paul visits Philip. Learn–
1. That fidelity in our present calling is the highway to promotion to a more important one. Philip had acquitted himself well in the lowest ecclesiastical office, that of deacon, and was now promoted to one of the highest, that of evangelist–the founder of new churches, and the stimulater of existing ones.
2. That every converted daughter should be at work in endeavouring to bring others to the Saviour. Philips daughters were decided Christians, and engaged in active service for Christ. In the Apostolic Church women did great service in the gospel cause. See Pauls list of useful women in Rom 16:1-27.
II. Agabus visits Paul. We have here–
1. An instance of intense human love and sympathy; beautiful traits of sanctified human nature; but mark, these must not be carried so far as to interfere with our friends calls to duty.
2. Pauls tenderness of heart. He was an intellectual giant, but he had a womans tenderness of heart. Every tear and sob went to his soul. Illustrate further by other instances of his compassion and tears.
3. Pauls unalterable determination. Duty called and he obeyed. Wherever duty called he went, despising all toil and danger. He was a man. He could say No. Imitate. Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. (Christian Age.)
St. Paul in Philips family
1. Philip, at the conclusion of the missionary tour which succeeded the conversion of the eunuch, had settled at Antioch, which, from its being the centre of political influence, and from the extensive commerce facilitated by its harbour, was a most important sphere of missionary operations. Caesarea, too, was the place where, by the conversion of Cornelius, the door of faith was first opened to the Gentiles.
2. In this last notice of Philip, the evangelist falls into the background, and the eye of the reader is fixed on Paul. Planetoids, many of which are wandering about in space, sometimes come within the attraction of a comet, and are drawn in towards the larger body; and here the evangelist is drawn into the apostles orbit and quenched there.
3. It was natural that Paul should go to the house of Philip–a man like-minded with himself; and there was another who would take as much delight in Philips company–Luke, the writer of the Acts, for which history he was now collecting materials; and we cannot doubt that he here obtained the narrative of the conversion of the eunuch. How remarkable this gathering. Paul and Luke wrote the greater part of the New Testament; Philip had taken the place of Stephen, to whose death Paul had consented; yet here are the colleague and the murderer each emulating the martyrs example, We can well understand the refreshment and nerve for future effort which must have been gained by such intercourse.
4. Philip had four daughters, in whom Joels prediction had received a literal accomplishment (Joe 2:18), and who may have given the first intimation of the disasters which threatened the apostle. Thus the fourfold ministry of Eph 4:12 was here represented–the apostle Paul, the evangelist Philip, the teacher Luke, the prophetesses Philips daughters.
5. Whether these women made the prediction or not, it was certainly made under the same roof by Agabus, who began with one of those symbolic actions which the old prophets were accustomed to use, by which the senses were impressed with the truth they were commissioned to convey. A religion wholly devoid of symbolism would not be a religion adapted to the wants of man. Man, though a spiritual being, is not a purely spiritual being, and is more vividly affected by a truth exhibited to the eye than spoken in the ear. To meet this constitution of our nature God has made the sacraments an essential part of Christianity, and chosen the Incarnation as His mode of manifestation to the senses of men. But on the other hand this principle, as all Church history shows, may be easily carried to mischievous lengths. The limits are admirably traced in the discourse Of Ceremonies prefixed to the Prayer Book.
6. The prophecy of Agabus aroused great anxiety, and Paul was entreated by those instigated by the Spirit to alter his purpose. Yet the apostle persisted. And not from obstinacy, for on two occasions, at Damascus and Ephesus, he had yielded to the solicitations of the brethren. Nor was he a man of stoical insensibility (verse 13). The reason for the apostles persistency is indicated in Act 19:21; and to this obligation he adverts in Act 20:22. He was not going to Jerusalem without the direct sanction of the Spirit, by which Agabus had spoken. He must, then, act upon his own light, Nor was Agabuss prediction without its attraction for the apostle (Act 9:16; Php 3:10). If he was to be bound at Jerusalem, etc., was there not here the closest conformity to the fate of his Master? His friends eventually desisted, not doubting that he had made up his mind under the influence of the Spirit. They had been praying that if it were possible the cup might pass from their beloved apostle. Now, in the spirit of their Divine Master, they added, Nevertheless, not our will, but Thine be done.
7. From this explanation of the motives of Paul in declining to listen to the advice of his friends, we may gather the important practical lesson that in matters of duty every man must be guided by the light which his conscience affords. He must take every method of enlightening his conscience, but he must never defer to the conscience of another when it prescribes a course at issue with his own convictions. (Dean Goulburn.)
And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.
Prophecy
Teachers possessing in a special manner the inspiration of the Spirit of God indicated in some peculiar supernatural gift as that of healing or of foretelling. Observe that in the Apostolic Church women are not only teachers (Act 18:26), as in the Jewish Church (Act 22:14), but also inspired teachers. The prophet was not necessarily a foreteller. The Hebrew word is derived from a root signifying to boil or bubble over, and simply conveys the idea of the bursting forth, as of a fountain of truth, with which God has inspired the soul. The early English kept tolerably near this original idea. Thus Jeremy Taylor, in the reign of Elizabeth, wrote a treatise on the Liberty of Prophesying–i.e., of preaching. In the classics the Greek word is used to describe those who interpreted the unintelligible oracles, and, metaphorically, the poets as interpreters of the gods or muses. In both the Old Testament and the New Testament the prominent idea in prophecy and prophesying is not prediction, but inspiration–not telling before what is to happen, but delivering messages of warning, instruction, comfort, helpfulness–such as are commissioned by or given under the inspiration of the Divine Spirit. This characteristic of prophecy appears very clearly from the titles given to the prophet in the Scriptures. He is called the interpreter, the messenger of Jehovah, the man of Spirit, the man of God; and it is declared that the Spirit of Jehovah enters into him, or clothes him, or, as here, that he speaks by the Spirit. In the New Testament Paul gives some detailed description of prophesying, which is distinguished from what we should call preaching only in that the presence and power of God is, perhaps, more prominent. (E. Abbott, D. D.)
There came down from Judaea a certain prophet named Agabus; and when he was come to us, he took Pauls girdle, and bound his own hands and feet.–
The girdle of Paul
An admonitory memorial for all his successors, to remind them of the–
I. Apostolic fidelity, with which he was bound to the Lord, even to death.
II. Apostolic bonds, in which he must experience the hatred of the world.
III. Apostolic zeal, with which he was at all times girt, to hasten to the combat appointed to him. (K. Gerok.)
The only bonds by which a servant of God feels himself to be indissolubly bound
I. Not the bonds of his own flesh and blood, which he has torn asunder by the power of the Spirit.
II. Not the bonds of human force and enmity (Paul bound at Jerusalem), which cannot injure him contrary to the will of God.
III. Not the bonds of brotherly love and friendship: for whosoever loveth brethren and sisters more than the Lord is not worthy of Him.
IV. But only the bonds of love to the Lord, to whom he is bound in grateful love and childlike fidelity even unto death (K. Gerok.)
Prophetic warnings
I. Instances of–
1. Joseph warning Pharaoh (Gen 41:32-33).
2. Moses warning the Israelites (Exo 4:29-31).
3. Moses warning Pharaoh (Exo 9:29-30).
4. Joshua warning Israel (Jos 3:9-13).
5. Nathan warning David (2Sa 12:7-10; 1Ki 1:22-25).
6. A prophet warning Ahab (1Ki 20:38-39).
7. Elisha warning Jehoshaphat (2Ki 3:11-13).
8. Jonah warning the Ninevites (Jon 3:4; Mat 12:41).
9. John the Baptist warning the Jews (Mat 3:1-2; Luk 3:3).
10. Agabus giving warning of a famine (Act 11:28-29).
11. Agabus warning Paul of danger (Act 21:10-11).
II. Inspired by–
1. The visions of God (2Ch 26:5; Eze 1:1).
2. The writing of God (1Ch 28:19).
3. The Word of God (Luk 3:2).
4. The words of God (Jon 3:1; Hab 2:2).
5. The Spirit of God (1Sa 10:6; Joe 2:28; Act 2:4).
6. The various agencies of God (Heb 1:1).
III. Nature of–
1. A gift of Christ (Eph 4:11; Rev 11:3).
2. Christ usually the subject of (Act 10:43; 1Pe 1:10-11).
3. Concerning the need of repentance (Mar 1:4).
4. Regarding present safety (Act 21:11).
5. Concerning eternal salvation (Rev 14:13).
6. Regarding future events (Gen 49:1; Num 24:14). (S. S. Times.)
And when we heard these things we besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.—
Anti-Christian prudence
The poorest advice in the world to a man in time of danger is, counsel to shun the path of duty. If he is a pliable man, it may work his ruin. If he is a determined man, the foolish entreaty only tends to break his heart, or to increase his trial. If duty points a man to Jerusalem, let all who love him point in the same direction. Let the mother tell her son to be truthful and honest, if he starves. Let the wife urge her husband to pay his debts, if his family must be turned into the streets because of his fidelity. Let the teacher commend his scholars for their purpose of daring everything for the right. Let every Christian man and woman speak words of cheer to every other Christian who must face danger at the call of God. Let none beseech a brother not to go where he ought to go; but let the word sound in heartiness, Be thou strong, and show thyself a man. And if friends try to swerve us from a right purpose, let us be firm against their strongest persuasions. If they weep, and our hearts break in consequence, let us keep our faces as a flint towards the right, and if we fall, let it be in the path in which God has called us to be. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. We that were of Paul’s company] This clause is wanting in ABCE, and many others; the Syriac, Coptic, Vulgate, Armenian, &c.
Came unto Caesarea] This was Caesarea of Palestine, already sufficiently described, See Clarke on Ac 8:40.
Philip the evangelist] One of the seven deacons, who seems to have settled here after he had baptized the eunuch. See Clarke on Ac 8:40.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Caesarea; that which was called Caesarea Stratonis, to distinguish it from Caesarea Philippi, at the foot of Mount Libanus, as also from another city of that name in Cappadocia; they having been all so called in honour of Caesar, to flatter and perpetuate that family. The Caesarea here spoken of was in Palestine, and is mentioned Act 10:1; 18:22.
The evangelist; whose office and charge it was to publish the gospel, which Timothy is exhorted to do, 2Ti 4:5. This office is placed between that of an apostle and of a pastor and teacher, Eph 4:11, and was not so confined to a certain place or people as the latter of these were.
One of the seven; of the seven deacons; of which see Act 6:5. Which office of a deacon Philip having well discharged, did purchase to himself this good degree, as 1Ti 3:13.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8-10. next daywe that were of Paul’s company departed(The words “thewere of Paul’s company” are omitted in the best manuscripts.They were probably added as the connecting words at the head of somechurch lessons).
and came to Csareaarun along the coast, southward, of some thirty miles.
Philip the evangelistaterm answering apparently very much to our missionary[HOWSON], by whoseministry such joy had been diffused over Samaria and the Ethiopianeunuch had been baptized (Ac8:4-40).
one of the sevendeacons,who had “purchased to himself a good degree” (1Ti3:13). He and Paul now meet for the first time, some twenty-fiveyears after that time.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the next day we that were of Paul’s company departed,…. From Ptolemais, as Sopater, Aristarchus, Secundus, Timotheus, Tychicus, Trophimus, and Luke, the writer of this history; see
Ac 20:4
and came unto Caesarea; not Caesarea Philippi, mentioned in
Mt 16:13 but that Caesarea which was formerly called Strato’s tower, and was a very good sea port; see Ac 8:40.
and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist; not a writer of a Gospel, but a preacher of the Gospel, and perhaps not an ordinary one, but was one of those spoken of in Eph 4:11 which was an office inferior to an apostle, and yet above an ordinary pastor and teacher; this man, very likely, was the same that taught in Samaria, and baptized the eunuch, and who after that settled at Caesarea; see Ac 8:40.
which was one of the seven; of the seven deacons of the church at Jerusalem, Ac 6:5 and abode with him; so long as they continued at Caesarea.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Prophecy of Agabus; Paul’s Adherence to His Resolution to Visit Jerusalem. |
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8 And the next day we that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto Csarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him. 9 And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. 10 And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Juda a certain prophet, named Agabus. 11 And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. 12 And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. 14 And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.
We have here Paul and his company arrived at length at Csarea, where he designed to make some stay, it being the place where the gospel was first preached to the Gentiles, and the Holy Ghost fell upon them,Act 10:1; Act 10:44. Now here we are told,
I. Who it was that entertained Paul and his company at Csarea. He seldom had occasion to go to a public house, but, wherever he came, some friend or other took him in, and bade him welcome. Observe, those that had sailed together parted when the voyage was accomplished, according as their business was. “Those that were concerned in the cargo staid where the ship was to unlade her burden (v. 3); others, when they came to Ptolemais, went as their occasions led them; but we that were of Paul’s company went where he went, and came to Csarea.” Those that travel together through this world will separate at death, and then it will appear who are of Paul’s company and who are not. Now at Csarea.
1. They were entertained by Philip the evangelist, whom we left at Csarea many years ago, after he had baptized the eunuch (ch. viii. 40), and there we now find him again. (1.) He was originally a deacon, one of the seven that were chosen to serve tables, ch. vi. 5. (2.) He was now and had long been an evangelist, one that went about to plant and water churches, as the apostles did, and gave himself, as they did, to the word and prayer; thus, having used the office of a deacon well, he purchased to himself a good degree; and, having been faithful in a few things, was made ruler over many things. (3.) He had a house at Csarea, fit to entertain Paul and all his company, and he bade him and them very welcome to it; We entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, and we abode with him. Thus does it become Christians and ministers, according as their ability is, to use hospitality one to another, without grudging, 1 Pet. iv. 9.
2. This Philip had four maiden daughters, who did prophesy, v. 9. It intimates that they prophesied of Paul’s troubles at Jerusalem, as others had done, and dissuaded him from going; or perhaps they prophesied for his comfort and encouragement, in reference to the difficulties that were before him. Here was a further accomplishment of that prophecy, Joel ii. 28, of such a plentiful pouring out of the Spirit upon all flesh that their sons and their daughters should prophesy, that is, foretel things to come.
II. A plain and full prediction of the sufferings of Paul, by a noted prophet, Act 21:10; Act 21:11. 1. Paul and his company tarried many days at Csarea, perhaps Cornelius was yet living there, and (though Philip lodged them) yet might be many ways kind to them, and induce them to stay there. What cause Paul saw to tarry so long there, and to make so little haste at the latter end of his journey to Jerusalem, when he seemed so much in haste at the beginning of it, we cannot tell; but we are sure he did not stay either there or any where else to be idle; he measured his time by days, and numbered them. 2. Agabus the prophet came to Csarea from Judea; this was he of whom we read before, who came from Jerusalem to Antioch, to foretel a general famine, Act 11:27; Act 11:28. See how God dispenseth his gifts variously. To Paul was given the word of wisdom and knowledge, as an apostle, by the Spirit, and the gifts of healing; to Agabus, and to Philip’s daughters, was given prophecy, by the same Spirit–the foretelling of things to come, which came to pass according to the prediction. See 1Co 12:8; 1Co 12:10. So that that which was the most eminent gift of the Spirit under the Old Testament, the foretelling of things to come, was under the New Testament quite outshone by other gifts, and was bestowed upon those that were of less note in the church. It should seem as if Agabus came on purpose to Csarea, to meet Paul with this prophetic intelligence. 3. He foretold Paul’s bonds at Jerusalem, (1.) By a sign, as the prophets of old did, Isaiah (ch. xx. 3), Jeremiah (Jer 13:1; Jer 27:2), Ezekiel (Eze 4:1; Eze 12:3), and many others. Agabus took Paul’s girdle, when he laid it by, or perhaps took it from about him, and with it bound first his own hands, and then his own feet, or perhaps bound his hands and feet together; this was designed both to confirm the prophecy (it was as sure to be done as if it were done already) and to affect those about him with it, because that which we see usually makes a greater impression upon us than that which we only hear of. (2.) By an explication of the sign: Thus saith the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of prophecy, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and, as they dealt with his Master (Mat 20:18; Mat 20:19), shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles, as the Jews in other places had all along endeavoured to do, by accusing him to the Roman governors. Paul had this express warning given him of his troubles, that he might prepare for them, and that when they came they might be no surprise nor terror to him; the general notice given us that through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God should be of the same use to us.
III. The great importunity which his friends used with him to dissuade him from going forward to Jerusalem, v. 12. “Not only those of that place, but we that were of Paul’s company, and among the rest Luke himself, who had heard this often before, and seen Paul’s resolution notwithstanding, besought him with tears that he would not go up to Jerusalem, but steer his course some other way.” Now, 1. Here appeared a commendable affection to Paul, and a value for him, upon account of his great usefulness in the church. Good men that are very active sometimes need to be dissuaded from overworking themselves, and good men that are very bold need to be dissuaded from exposing themselves too far. The Lord is for the body, and so we must be. 2. Yet there was a mixture of infirmity, especially in those of Paul’s company, who knew he undertook this journey by divine direction, and had seen with what resolution he had before broken through the like opposition. But we see in them the infirmity incident to us all; when we see trouble at a distance, and have only a general notice of it, we can make light of it; but when it comes near we begin to shrink, and draw back. Now that it toucheth thee thou art troubled, Job iv. 5.
IV. The holy bravery and intrepidity with which Paul persisted in his resolution, v. 13.
1. He reproves them for dissuading him. Here is a quarrel of love on both sides, and very sincere and strong affections clashing with each other. They love him dearly, and therefore oppose his resolution; he loves them dearly, and therefore chides them for opposing it: What mean you to weep and to break my heart? They were an offence to him, as Peter was to Christ, when, in a like case, he said, Master, spare thyself. Their weeping about him broke his heart. (1.) It was a temptation to him, it shocked him, it began to weaken and slacken his resolution, and caused him to entertain thoughts of tacking about: “I know I am appointed to suffering, and you ought to animate and encourage me, and to say that which will strengthen my heart; but you, with your tears, break my heart, and discourage me. What do you mean by doing thus? Has not our Master told us to take up our cross? And would you have me to avoid mine?” (2.) It was a trouble to him that they should so earnestly press him to that in which he could not gratify them without wronging his conscience. Paul was of a very tender spirit. As he was much in tears himself, so he had a compassionate regard to the tears of his friends; they made a great impression upon him, and would bring him almost to yield to any thing. But now it breaks his heart, when he is under a necessity of denying the request of his weeping friends. It was an unkind kindness, a cruel pity, thus to torment him with their dissuasions, and to add affliction to his grief. When our friends are called out to sufferings, we shall show our love rather by comforting them than by sorrowing for them. But observe, These Christians at Csarea, if they could have foreseen the particulars of that event, the general notice of which they received with so much heaviness, would have been better reconciled to it for their own sakes; for, when Paul was made a prisoner at Jerusalem, he was presently sent to Csarea, the very place where he now was (ch. xxiii. 33), and there he continued at least two years (ch. xxiv. 27), and he was a prisoner at large, as appears (ch. xxiv. 23), orders being given that he should have liberty to go among his friends, and his friends to come to him; so that the church at Csarea had much more of Paul’s company and help when he was imprisoned than they could have had if he had been at liberty. That which we oppose, as thinking it to operate much against us, may be overruled by the providence of God to work for us, which is a reason why we should follow providence, and not fear it.
2. He repeats his resolution to go forward, notwithstanding: “What mean you to weep thus? I am ready to suffer whatever is appointed for me. I am fully determined to go, whatever comes of it, and therefore it is to no purpose for you to oppose it. I am willing to suffer, and therefore why are you unwilling that I should suffer? Am not I nearest myself, and fittest to judge for myself? If the trouble found me unready, it would be a trouble indeed, and you might well weep at the thoughts of it. But, blessed be God, it does not. It is very welcome to me, and therefore should not be such a terror to you. For my part, I am ready,” etoimos echo—I have myself in a readiness, as soldiers for an engagement. “I expect trouble, I count upon it, it will be no surprise to me. I was told at first what great things I must suffer,” ch. ix. 16. “I am prepared for it, by a clear conscience, a firm confidence in God, a holy contempt of the world and the body, a lively faith in Christ, and a joyful hope of eternal life. I can bid it welcome, as we do a friend that we look for, and have made preparation for. I can, through grace, not only bear it, but rejoice in it.” Now, (1.) See how far his resolution extends: You are told that I must be bound at Jerusalem, and you would have me keep away for fear of this. I tell you, “I am ready not only to be bound, but, if the will of God be so, to die at Jerusalem; not only to lose my liberty, but to lose my life.” It is our wisdom to think of the worst that may befal us, and to prepare accordingly, that we may stand complete in all the will of God. (2.) See what it is that carries him out thus, that makes him willing to suffer and die: it is for the name of the Lord Jesus. All that a man has will he give for his life; but life itself will Paul give for the service and honour of the name of Christ.
V. The patient acquiescence of his friends in his resolution, v. 14. 1. They submitted to the wisdom of a good man. They had carried the matter as far as they could with decency; but, “when he would not be persuaded, we ceased our importunity. Paul knows best his own mind, and what he has to do, and it becomes us to leave it to himself, and not to censure him for what he does, nor to say he is rash, and wilful, and humoursome, and has a spirit of contradiction, as some people are apt to judge of those that will not do just as they would have them do. No doubt, Paul has a good reason for his resolution, though he sees cause to keep it to himself, and God has gracious ends to serve in confirming him in it.” It is good manners not to over-press those in their own affairs that will not be persuaded. 2. They submitted to the will of a good God: We ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done. They did not resolve his resolution into his stubbornness, but into his willingness to suffer, and God’s will that he should. Father in heaven, thy will be done, as it is a rule to our prayers and to our practice, so it is to our patience. This may refer, (1.) To Paul’s present firmness; he is inflexible, and unpersuadable, and in this they see the will of the Lord done. “It is he that has wrought this fixed resolution in him, and therefore we acquiesce in it.” Note, In the turning of the hearts of our friends or ministers, this way or that way (and it may be quite another way than we could wish), we should eye the hand of God, and submit to that. (2.) To his approaching sufferings: “If there be no remedy, but Paul will run himself into bonds, the will of the Lord Jesus be done. We have done all that we could do on our parts to prevent it, and now we leave it to God, we leave it to Christ, to whom the Father has committed all judgment, and therefore we do, not as we will, but as he will.” Note, When we see trouble coming, and particularly that of our ministers’ being silenced or removed from us, it becomes us to say, The will of the Lord be done. God is wise, and knows how to make all work for good, and therefore “welcome his holy will.” Not only, “The will of the Lord must be done, and there is no remedy;” but, “Let the will of the Lord be done, for his will is his wisdom, and he doeth all according to the counsel of it; let him therefore do with us and ours as seemeth good in his eyes.” When a trouble is come, this must allay our griefs, that the will of the Lord is done; when we see it coming, this must silence our fears, that the will of the Lord shall be done, to which we must say, Amen, let it be done.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
On the morrow ( ). Another and the more common way of expressing this idea of “next day” besides the three in 20:15 and the one in 21:1.
Unto Caesarea ( ). Apparently by land as the voyage () ended at Ptolemais (verse 7). Caesarea is the political capital of Judea under the Romans where the procurators lived and a city of importance, built by Herod the Great and named in honour of Augustus. It had a magnificent harbour built Most of the inhabitants were Greeks. This is the third time that we have seen Paul in Caesarea, on his journey from Jerusalem to Tarsus (Ac 9:30), on his return from Antioch at the close of the second mission tour (18:22) and now. The best MSS. omit (we that were of Paul’s company) a phrase like that in 13:13.
Into the house of Philip the evangelist ( ). Second in the list of the seven (6:5) after Stephen and that fact mentioned here. By this title he is distinguished from “Philip the apostle,” one of the twelve. His evangelistic work followed the death of Stephen (Ac 8) in Samaria, Philistia, with his home in Caesarea. The word “evangelizing” () was used of him in 8:40. The earliest of the three N.T. examples of the word “evangelist” (Acts 21:8; Eph 4:11; 2Tim 4:5). Apparently a word used to describe one who told the gospel story as Philip did and may have been used of him first of all as John was termed “the baptizer” ( , Mr 1:4), then “the Baptist” ( , Mt 3:1). It is found on an inscription in one of the Greek islands of uncertain date and was used in ecclesiastical writers of later times on the Four Gospels as we do. As used here the meaning is a travelling missionary who “gospelized” communities. This is probably Paul’s idea in 2Ti 4:5. In Eph 4:11 the word seems to describe a special class of ministers just as we have them today. Men have different gifts and Philip had this of evangelizing as Paul was doing who is the chief evangelist. The ideal minister today combines the gifts of evangelist, herald, teacher, shepherd. “ We abode with him ” ( ‘ ). Constative aorist active indicative. (by his side) is a neat idiom for “at his house.” What a joyful time Paul had in conversation with Philip. He could learn from him much of value about the early days of the gospel in Jerusalem. And Luke could, and probably did, take notes from Philip and his daughters about the beginnings of Christian history. It is generally supposed that the “we” sections of Acts represent a travel document by Luke (notes made by him as he journeyed from Troas to Rome). Those who deny the Lukan authorship of the whole book usually admit this. So we may suppose that Luke is already gathering data for future use. If so, these were precious days for him.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
We that were of Paul ‘s company. The best texts omit.
Philip. See ch. 8.
The seven. The first deacons. See ch. Act 6:5.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And the next day,” (te de epaurion) “And on the morrow,” the following day after the stop off at Ptolemais, Act 21:7.
2) “We that were of Paul’s company departed, and came to Caesarea:” (ekselthontes elthomen eis Kaisareian) “Departing our party or missionary company entered into Caesarea,” Paul’s third visit to the city, Act 9:30; Act 18:22. The trip was a distance of about 30 miles, made overland south from Ptolemais.
3) “And we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist,” (kai eisilthontes eis ton oikon Philippou tou evangelistou) “And we entered into the residence of Philip the evangelist.” The term “evangelist” attached to him because of his soul-winning work in Samaria and with the Eunuch, Act 8:5; Act 8:12; Act 8:26-30. The term “evangelist” refers to a special work, not an office, or office in the church, Eph 4:11; 2Ti 4:5.
4) “Which was one of the seven;” (onos ek ton hepta) “Who was of the seven,” first elected deacons to the ministry of caring for material needs of widows in the Jerusalem church, that the apostles might be liberated to the ministry of the word and prayer, Act 6:1-7. He had won a good degree of honor to himself, 1Ti 3:13.
5) “And abode with him.” (emeinamen par auto) “We remained with him.” Paul is believed to have met and conferred with Philip the evangelist here at Caesarea for the first time, a quarter century after Philip’s first selection among the seven deacons, Act 6:5.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
20.
CAESAREA. Act. 21:8-14.
Act. 21:8
And on the morrow we departed, and came unto Caesarea: and entering into the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, we abode with him.
Act. 21:9
Now this man had four virgin daughters, who prophesied.
Act. 21:10
And as we tarried there some days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus.
Act. 21:11
And coming to us, and taking Pauls girdle, he bound his own feet and hands, and said, Thus saith the Holy Spirit, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.
Act. 21:12
And when we heard these things, both we and they of that place besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.
Act. 21:13
Then Paul answered, What do ye, weeping and breaking my heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
Act. 21:14
And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.
Act. 21:8-9 It was some thirty or forty miles from Ptolemais to Caesarea. One days journey would see them within the city gates.
Here we meet an old friend, Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven. How long it has been and what a multitude of experiences have taken place since we were with him on that road that goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza. But we did read that Philip was found at Azotus and passing through he preached the gospel to all the cities till he came to Caesarea. (Act. 8:40)
And here he is in this same city, still the evangelist of Christ. It must have been eight or ten or even more years since he made his home here. The reason for his stay could possibly be found in the family of four virgin daughters who prophesied. These young ladies must have been but small girls when he first came to this wicked town.
Philip must have had quite a house to accommodate this whole evangelistic party. However much Paul and his company were anxious to go to Jerusalem, they could not leave Philip without visiting and even helping out in the work of the Lord in this place.
822.
What old friend do we meet in Caesarea? How long had he been there?
823.
How did Philips daughters become prophetesses?
Act. 21:10-14 Speaking of old friends in the narrative of the book of Acts, who is this one who comes as a prophet from Jerusalem? Can this be the same man that came once before from the Holy City? Remember the visit of one Agabus to Antioch of Syria? He there reported that a famine was coming over the whole world. The circumstances seem to be somewhat similar for the disciples in Judea are again in want. Whether this is right or wrong we do know that Agabus has a dramatic method of delivering his divine message.
Picking up a girdle that is lying nearby he binds it around his feet, then taking it off he attempts to tie up his own hands. Upon so doing he makes his divine prediction in these words:
Thus saith the Holy Spirit: So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him unto the hands of the Gentiles.
His actions remind us of the prophets of the Old Testament days.
Upon this announcement a great concern took hold of the hearts of Luke and Aristarchus as well as the other brethren. They had all learned to love Paul very dearly and to hear of his being bound pained them greatly. The only recourse was to stop Paul from going to Jerusalem. This was a divine warning to deter him from this purpose, so thought the brethren in Philips house. They besought him with the strongest words and emphasized them with the tears that streamed down their faces.
These words were not without effect on the apostle, but he did not so interpret them. Paul felt and knew that God wanted him in Jerusalem and to Jerusalem he would go. This word of Agabus and the other warnings were but to better prepare him for the experience.
And so it was that the apostle expressed in emphatic words his determination. The love and sympathy of his friends touched him, but he had a higher call that he must answer.
What do ye, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
To these words there was only one right response: The will of the Lord be done.
824.
Tell where and when you heard of Agabus before.
825.
Who foretold that Paul was going to be bound in Jerusalem?
826.
What was the interpretation placed upon the words of Agabus by Luke and Aristarchus?
827.
How did the brethren attempt to hinder Paul from going to Jerusalem? Did it affect Paul? In what way?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(8) We that were of Pauls company departed.Better, simply, we departed. The Greek which answers to the intervening five words is wanting in the best MSS., and seems a needless interpolation, there being no apparent reason for any change in the writers previous phraseology, or for his distinguishing Pauls company from some other person or persons unknown. In some of the MSS. in which it is found, the verb is in the third person: They that were of Pauls company came . . . .
Came unto Csarea.Comp. Act. 8:40; Act. 10:1. This was, it will be remembered, St. Pauls third visit there (Act. 9:30; Act. 18:22), and we may well believe that he was simply renewing the intercourse of a previous friendship with Philip.
Philip the evangelist.The title given to him is interesting as showing that the work of serving tables, i.e., of superintending the distribution of alms, had been merged in the higher work of a missionary preacher. (See Note on Act. 6:3.) He was no longer known, if, indeed, that title had ever been applied to him, as Philip the deacon, but as Philip the evangelist. The office so described is recognised by St. Paul in his enumeration of spiritual gifts and functions, in Eph. 4:11, as coming next in order of importance to those of apostles and prophets, and before pastors and teachers. It would seem, accordingly, to have been distinct from the orders, in the later sense, of presbyter or deacon, though capable of being united with either of them. Timotheus was exhorted by St. Paul when he was left at Ephesus, with the authority of a bishop, or, more strictly, of a vicar apostolic, to do the work of an evangelist, as that to which he had been called (2Ti. 4:5). It followed, from the nature of the office, as analogous to that of the missionary of later times, that, though residing mainly at Csarea, Philips labours extended beyond its limits; and we have seen reason to trace his work (see Notes on Act. 8:40; Act. 15:3; Act. 21:3; Act. 21:7) all along the coasts of Palestine and Phoenicia. As far as we know, Philip and St. Luke had not met before, and we can imagine the satisfaction with which the latter, himself, probably, an evangelist in both senses of the word (2Co. 8:18), and already contemplating his work as an historian, would welcome the acquaintance of the former, how he would ask many questions as to the early history of the Church, and learn from him all, or nearly all, that we find in the first eleven chapters of this book.
Which was one of the seven.We note how entirely the Seven of Act. 6:3 are regarded as a special or distinct body. If the term deacon had ever been applied to them, which is very doubtful, it ceased to be applicable by its wide extension to the subordinate functionaries of the churches throughout the empire.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Departed Left first the ship, and then the city, and took the land route to Cesarea. “Issuing from the southeastern gate, in ten minutes they would cross the Belus, now the Nahmen; then for three hours would proceed along the beach with the surf breaking at their feet; at the base of Carmel would ford the mouth of the Kishon, (El-mukatta,) and, turning that headland, follow the line of the coast of Cesarea. The distance hither from Akka (Ptolemais) is about forty miles.” Hackett.
Cesarea (See note on Act 8:40.)
Philip the evangelist (See notes on Act 8:26-40.) Residing at Cesarea, Philip may have still performed the work of an evangelist, or Gospel-preacher, wherever he was providentially called.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And on the morrow we departed, and came to Caesarea, and entering into the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, we abode with him.’
Leaving Ptolemais they arrived in Caesarea, where they went to stay with Philip the evangelist, one of ‘the seven’ of the early days (Act 6:3-6). He had probably been ministering here for many years. (He was not the same as the Apostle).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Act 21:8. Philip One of the seven deacons, ch. Act 6:5 and who had settled at Caesarea after he had baptized the eunuch, ch. Act 8:40. Concerning Caesarea see the note on ch. Act 8:40.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Act 21:8-9 . .] See on Act 8:40 .
What induced the travellers to make their journey by way of Caesarea? Baumgarten thinks that, as representatives of the converted Gentiles, they wished to come in contact on the way only with Gentile churches. No; simply, according to the text, because Philip dwelt in Caesarea, and with this important man they purposed to spend some time in the interest of their vocation.
. ] Since it was not his former position as overseer of the poor, but his present position as evangelist, that made him so important to the travellers, namely, through his participation in the calling of a teacher , the words are not to be rendered: because he was one of the seven , Act 6:5 (comp. Winer, p. 127[E. T. 168], de Wette); but the comma after . is to be deleted (so also Tisch. Born.), and the whole is to be taken together: who was the evangelist out of the seven . He was that one of the seven, who had embraced and prosecuted the calling of an evangelist. The fact that he now dwelt at Caesarea presupposes that he no longer filled the office which he held in Jerusalem. Perhaps the peculiar skill in teaching which he developed as an emigrant (Act 8:5 ff., Act 8:26 ff.) was the reason why he, released from his former ministry, entered upon that of an evangelist. To regard the words . as an addition of the compiler (Zeller), and also to suspect (Steitz in the Stud. u. Krit . 1868, p. 510), there is no sufficient reason. Evangelists were assistant-missionaries , who, destined exclusively for no particular church, either went forth voluntarily, or were sent by the apostles and other teachers of apostolic authority now here and now there, in order to proclaim the of Jesus Christ, and in particular the living remembrances of what He taught and did, [117] and thereby partly to prepare the way for, and partly to continue, the apostolic instruction, Eph 4:11 ; Eus. H. E. iii. 37.
Euseb. iii. 31, 39, v. 24, following Polycrates and Caius, calls this Philip an apostle , which is to be regarded as a very early confusion of persons, going back even to the second century and found also in the Constitt. ap . vi. 7. 1, and is not to be disposed of, with Olshausen, to the effect that Eusebius used in the wider sense, which, considering the very sameness in name of the apostle and evangelist, would be very inappropriate. But Gieseler’s view also ( Stud. u. Krit . 1829, p. 139 ff.), that the apostle Philip had four daughters, and that Act 21:9 is an interpolation by one who had confounded the apostle with the deacon, is to be rejected, as the technical evidence betrays no interpolation, and as at all events our narrative, especially as a portion of the account in the first person plural, precedes that of Eusebius.
] virgin (intactae) daughters . On the adjective , comp. Xen. Mem . i. 5. 2 : , Cyrop . iv. 6. 9; Lobeck, ad Aj . 1190.
.] who spoke in prophetic inspiration , had the of . See on Act 11:27 .
The whole observation in Act 21:9 is an incidental remarkable notice , independent of the connection of the history; [118] to the contents of which, however, on account of its special and extraordinary character, the precept in 1Co 14:34 , 1Ti 2:12 , is not to be applied; nor yet is any justification of the life of nuns to be founded on it, with the Catholics (see Cornelius a Lapide). Comp. Luk 2:36 . Baumgarten thinks that the virginity of the daughters corresponds to the condition of the church, which looks forward to her betrothal only in the future. This is exegetical trifling. [119]
[117] They had thus in common with the apostles the vocation of the ; but they were distinguished from them, not merely by the circumstance that they were not directly called by Christ, and so were subordinate to the apostles (2Ti 4:5 ), and did not possess the extraordinary specifically apostolic ; but also by the fact that their ministry had for its object less the summing up of the great doctrinal system of the gospel (like the preaching of the apostles) than the communication of historical incidents from the ministry of Jesus. Pelagius correctly remarks: “Omnis apostolus evangelista, non omnis evangelista apostolus, sicut Philippus.” See generally, Ewald, p. 235 f., and Jahrb . II. p. 181 ff. Nothing can be more perverse than, with Sepp, to interpret the appellation evangelist in the case of Philip to mean, that he had brought the Gospel of Matthew into its present form. The evangelists were the oral bearers of the gospel before written , gospels were in existence.
[118] If this circumstance was meant to be regarded (in accordance with Joe 3:1 [Act 2:28 ]) as “a sign of special grace with which the Holy Spirit had honoured this church in the unclean Caesarea “(Baumgarten), Luke must of necessity have indicated this point of view. The suggestion, that we ought to be finding purposes everywhere without hint in the text, leads to extravagant arbitrariness.
[119] According to Clem. Al. Strom , vi. 52 (and in Euseb. iii. 30. 1), some of the daughters at least were married.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
XII
PHILIP TO THE FRONT
Act 8:4-40
You will find in the four lists of the twelve apostles the name of Philip (see Mat 10:2 ; Mar 3:18 ; Luk 6:14 f; Act 1:13 f). Was the Philip we are to discuss here, Philip, the deacon of Act 6:5 , or was he Philip, the apostle, and what the proof? My answer is: (1) In Act 8:1 it is declared that in the persecution conducted by Saul of Tarsus, all of the congregation was scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles, and these latter were not scattered; (2) Act 8:14 locates the apostles still at Jerusalem when they heard of Philip’s work in Samaria; (3) Act 8:40 carries this Philip to Caesarea; (4) Act 21:8-9 shows that many years later he was still living at Caesarea where he entertained Paul, and expressly declares that he was one of the seven deacons. I submit this circumstantial proof of identity because Romanist traditions confound him with Philip the apostle, just as they confound James (Act 15:13 ) and Jude (Jud 1:1 ), half-brothers of our Lord, with the apostles James, the son of Alpheus (Luk 6:15 ), and Judas, the brother of James (Luk 6:16 ). The scriptures concerning this Philip are Act 6:5 ; Act 8:4-13 ; Act 8:26-40 ; Act 21:8-9 , which show that he was a Hellenistic Jew, and that he is said to have had four daughters who prophesied.
It is well just here to locate on a map the Azotus of Act 8:40 and trace a line to Caesarea. Gaza is near to Azotus, the most southern of the Palestinian cities on the Mediterranean coast, and going up that coast to Caesarea, straight up the coast line, you have the line of Philip’s travels, and the cities in which he preached. On this same line are Lydda (Act 9:32 ) and Joppa (Act 9:36 ). This shows that Philip’s work probably led to Christ the disciples whom Peter found at these two cities.
In Act 10:37 Peter declares that Cornelius, the centurion at Caesarea, already knew the word published about our Lord. It is quite probable that through Philip’s preaching at Caesarea he had obtained some of the knowledge which prepared him to receive Peter, as he is the only preacher that we know of at that time preaching in Caesarea.
Now, trace a line on the map from Tyre through Ptolemais to Caesarea. Tyre is in Phoenicia, the northern part of the Mediterranean coast of Judea. Going from Tyre south of Caesarea, an intervening seaport between Tyre and Caesarea is Ptolemais. It is probable that the congregations at Tyre and Ptolemais found by Paul (Act 21:3-8 ) were established by Philip. If we connect Act 2:17-18 (Joel’s prophecy), that on the handmaidens should the Spirit of God be poured out, with Act 21:9 , “Philip had four daughters who prophesied,” and Mar 16:17-18 , and connect, “These signs shall follow them that believe,” with Act 2:43 , which tells us that the apostles gave many signs and wonders, with Act 8:7 , where Philip works miracles, it is evident that both Philip and his daughters had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
With these facts and probabilities before us, let us give a summary” of the scriptural history of the life and labors of Philip. He was a Hellenistic Jew, attending the Passover at which our Lord was crucified; was in the great audience addressed by Peter on the day of Pentecost (Act 2:5-11 ); was converted, with his daughters, and all received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and were well-known factors in all the marvelous history of that series of great meetings, lasting for three-and a-half years, recorded in Act 2:5-8:4 . Being well known to all the multitude of the disciples, he was by them elected to the office of deacon, and was second of the seven. But when the persecution of Saul ended the great series of meetings, dispersed the congregation, and thereby left no deacon’s work to do, he became an evangelist, and boldly carried the gospel to the Samaritans, as our Lord himself had done (Joh 4 ), and under Spirit-guidance went into the desert near Gaza, and led the Ethiopian treasurer, a Jewish proselyte, to Christ, through which convert, according to history and tradition, Ethiopia was evangelized. Then, under the same Spirit-guidance, he carried the gospel to the whole Mediterranean coast of Judea, from Azotus to Tyre, establishing congregations at Saroaria; Peter following him at Lydda, Sharon, Joppa, and Azotus, Lydda, Sharon, Joppa, Caesarea, Ptolemais, and Tyre, thus influencing the tides of commerce and merchants that through these great seaports reached all the western world.
The remarkable things in these labors are: (1) He commenced at the important city of Samaria, on the great northern thoroughfare from Jerusalem to Galilee, Damascus, and the Euphrates. (2) Then near Gaza on the great thoroughfare from Jerusalem to Africa. (3) Then the coast line of the Mediterranean, whose seaports were the starting points of the sea thoroughfares over which travel and commerce reached northern Africa, Asia Minor, and all Europe. (4) With headquarters at Caesarea, the Roman capital of the East, he was in touch with all the thought, official power, and intercommunication of imperial Rome, the mistress of the world. (5) The selection of these strategical positions was not accidental, but Spirit-guided in every instance; so we see from the record that he was to be the forerunner of the Jerusalem apostles and of Paul, Peter, and John following him to the city of Caesarea; Paul following him at Tyre, Ptolemais, and Caesarea. (6) He was the first, after our Lord himself, to openly carry the gospel to the Samaritans, thus breaking down the wall of partition that had stood between Jews and Samaritans since Assyria conquered and led away into captivity the ten tribes, and repeopled the city of Samaria with aliens, and put over the country captive priests that established a rival worship to Jerusalem (2Ki 17:23-24 ), which later, in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, opposed the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple, and persisted in hostility and alien worship until the days of our Lord (Joh 4:9-26 ). The hostility that had stood that long, all through these centuries of strife, was now broken down by the preaching of Philip in that city of Samaria.
His position in the spread of the kingdom is between Stephen and Paul in understanding that in Christ there can be neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, bondmen, nor freemen, “but Christ is all in all”; he stands between Stephen and Paul in following worldwide lines of evangelization. Just here we are interested to know what were the themes of Philip’s preaching in Samaria.
The record says that he preached Christ unto them (Act 8:5 ); and he preached unto them concerning the kingdom of God in the name of Christ. These themes indicate that Jesus died to save Samaritans, and that the kingdom of heaven was intended to include Samaritans. The record also says that demons were cast out, and malignant diseases cured as signs of this man’s preaching. Then followed a most remarkable result. When those of the city of Samaria understood that Christ had died for them, and that they were included in the scope of the kingdom of heaven, and this was attested by such remarkable signs, then they all were of one accord, giving attention to the preaching of Philip, “And there was much joy in the city” (Act 8:8 ).
For a long time there had been a man in Samaria named Simon, a magician, or sorcerer, who dominated Samaria, and who claimed to have the great power of God. He had bewitched these people by his sorcery, so that they held him in regard as the messenger of God in their city. No doubt the bewitching by sorcery included all of these magical arts and tricks of legerdemain, and even pseudomiracles, in order to attest him, so that the city of Samaria, when Philip reached it, was thus full of malignant forms of diseases. It was demon-possessed, diseased and deluded by sorcery.
In this connection we notice that Act 8:12 says that those who had been subject to Simon, when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, were baptized, both men and women. You learn from that, that faith must precede baptism, and, therefore, subjects of baptism must be people able to repent and believe and hence they are here said to be men and women. From Act 8:13 we learn that a mere demagogue, when the crowd won’t follow him, will follow the crowd. When Simon’s flock all left him, he jumped over the fence.
There are some exceedingly fine lessons concerning Simon Magus that will come out in the next chapter; so I gather just this one here. Later we will take up this theme: “The apostles following Philip.” Then we will consider Simon Magus in connection with Peter. The only lesson to which I call attention here is that when the true miracles of God come in touch with pseudomiracles, they show up the pseudomiracles. Simon saw that Philip had a power which he did not possess, and that when the crowd left him he followed the crowd, and was filled with wonder at these signs of Philip they were so different from his, so manifestly genuine, so much more to the point, while his were so manifestly demerited in their intent just as when Paul came to a certain island there was a sorcerer, Elymas, who dominated the island and influenced the government, but he was rebuked and smitten with blindness by Paul, and sorcery gave way before the power of the gospel. Just as in the city of Ephesus, the people who had been deluded by books of magic, when the true gospel of Jesus Christ came in conflict with it, the magic was abandoned and their books piled on the street, though very costly, and made into a bonfire, whose sparks ascended to the skies, announcing the triumph of the word of God over the delusions of Satan.
PHILIP AND THE EUNUCH Act 8
The great moral lessons of this section are the following:
(1) God sometimes calls men from preaching to crowds in a city to preaching to one man in a lonely place. Just so we trace Philip. There, in that big meeting in Samaria, he receives a call to pass Jerusalem by, going down into the desert a strange direction of God. When he gets there his audience is just one man.
(2) Men sometimes get less from a heterodox and hypocritical Jerusalem than from a wayfarer in a desert place. This treasurer of the queen of Ethiopia was a proselyte, not a Jew, but a proselyte to the Jews. He had been attending the great feasts in Jerusalem, and was now returning. He found no light in Jerusalem. He had made a long trip, and out there on his way back he meets a solitary man in the desert and gets light and life and salvation from him.
(3) The third moral lesson is that the conversion of one man may revolutionize a nation. There are more results abiding today from this desert meeting of two men than from the great meeting in the city of Samaria. History tells us that this man, after his conversion, being so influential, became a preacher of the gospel in his own country, Ethiopia, which answers to Abyssinia of the present day; that the whole country was brought to Christ through this man, and in Abyssinia today there is more religion than there is in Samaria where this big meeting was, and it is a purer religion. So God understood what he was doing.
Once a pastor preached a sermon somewhat on that line on Sunday, and a man in the audience was greatly distressed at heart, and it seemed that it would be a great difficulty to get him to move away from a great position of usefulness to loneliness. He came back from hearing the sermon saying, “Maybe God wants me to lead somebody to Christ like that Ethiopian eunuch,” and he may revolutionize a nation.
(4) There is much profit in an inquirer’s study of God’s Word. This was a very sincere man. He did not go to Jerusalem except for religious purpose; and driving along, back home in his chariot he was reading God’s Word. What great good comes to a man from a study of God’s Word!
(5) Where one wants to understand, and is in desperate earnestness about it, an interpreter will be found. You may rest assured that in your study of God’s Word, when you come to matters that you cannot explain, if you really want to understand them if you are desperately in earnest about them God is sure to bring you somebody that can explain every case of perplexity.
(6) The docile spirit will receive instruction from any competent source. This man had the teachable spirit. Here he is accosted by a stranger: “Understandest thou what thou readest?” And he said, “How can I, except some one shall guide me?” “And he besought Philip to come up and sit with him,” whereupon this traveler climbed up into his chariot to expound that passage of God’s Word.
(7) The next moral lesson is that the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. He was reading a prophecy, and the place where he read was this: He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before his shearer is dumb, So he openeth not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: His generation who shall declare? For his life is taken from the earth.
(8) The next lesson is that from any text in the Bible the shortest road leads to Jesus Christ. Philip took that very scripture which was puzzling this man, and showed him that the shortest road from that scripture would bring him to the very same Jesus Christ that he was reading about in that scripture. He is the lamb, the sheep, which openeth not his mouth. This was Jesus, as thus fixed by the Spirit of interpretation, and shows the deep significance of that famous fifty third chapter of Isaiah.
(9) When one is converted he seeks to obey. The eunuch says, “What doth hinder me to be baptized?” In other words, he says, “You preached Christ to me; I have taken him. Why not let me obey Christ right now? Why wait till I get back home?”
Here the question arises, Why could not the Jews at Jerusalem expound Isa 53 ?
This eunuch was up there, where were priests, rabbis, and all the Jewish people of Judea. Why could not they tell him what the prophet meant? The answer is that the Jews believed only those prophecies to be messianic that spake of the conquests of the Messiah, and as making the Jews the nation of the world. They refused to attribute to him the humiliating passages those that told of his suffering and of his death. Some Jews even said that there had to be two Messiahs one the great leading Messiah that was to be the great king of the dews, this conqueror of the world and the other a Messiah of suffering.
This passage has a bearing on the act, subject, and administrator of baptism. The passage says that they got down from the chariot and that they both went down into the water, and that Philip baptized him, and that they came up out of the water. That certainly has a very decisive bearing on the “act” of baptism, as to what it is. In the preceding verse, when the eunuch said, “What binders me from being baptized?” Philip replied, “If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest.” That means that it is not lawful unless one believes with all his heart. But it is very doubtful indeed whether verse 37 is a part of the text; it is certainly not in the oldest manuscripts. It was doubtless first written on the margin by some copyist and afterward got into the text.
Alexander Carson said that it was impossible for man or Satan to keep this witness from saying that immersion is baptism. Then he said that a fool once followed a wagon all the way from Glasgow to Edinburg to see if the hind wheel would ever catch up with the fore wheel. “That fool,” he said, “had an errand in all that long journey, though a fool’s errand, but whoever will take both the baptizer and the baptized down into the water for the purpose of sprinkling him has not even a fool’s errand.”
Old Dr. Fisher, with whom I had a debate in Waco, and also at Davilla in Milam County, in commenting on this passage, said, “If Philip preached an immersion sermon he had a sprinkling text,” and quoted from Isa 53 : “He shall sprinkle many nations.” I replied by saying that the word “sprinkle” in that scripture, meant astonish, or startle, and proved it by the scholarship of the world, and that the word in Greek was thaumazo: “So shall he astonish many nations,” and that it was evident by the very word astonish, which also is implied from the context: “Like as many were astonished at thee [his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men], so shall he startle [or astonish] many nations.” That was my reply to him.
It may here be asked, Was the baptism of the eunuch authoritative as to the administrator? If so, why cannot a deacon baptize now? This deacon, Philip, was the evangelist at this time, and not a deacon. He had become a preacher. I have known deacons to become preachers, and I have known, in some cases, a good deacon to be spoiled to make a mighty poor preacher, but it was not so in this case.
Philip went ahead and prepared the way under God, for the apostles. We have already seen that after he baptized the eunuch he was found at Azotus, and then it is said that he preached in all the cities up the coast to Caesarea, among which were Lydda and Joppa, which Peter afterward visited and found a congregation already there, just as he had followed Philip into Samaria. He never thought to go to Samaria himself to preach, but when he heard that Philip had reached there, he and John went over to look into it. So he followed Philip to Lydda, Joppa, and Caesarea; and we see from Act 21 that Paul, returning from a foreign missionary tour, stops at Tyre, finding a congregation, and at Ptolemais, also finding a congregation, and at Caesarea, where he found another congregation. Paul also stopped at the house of Philip, the evangelist. It is astonishing how that after the persecution of Saul of Tarsus, the pressure generally took hold of the people. They went everywhere preaching the word. They carried the gospel to Samaria, to Lydda, Joppa, Caesarea, Ptolemais, Tyre, Phoenicia) and Antioch. They are the ones that changed the tone of the preaching from Jews only, to Gentiles as well, and the apostles could hardly keep up following. They were getting there after these men had broadened the lines, lengthened the cords, and strengthened the stakes.
In Act 8:26-29 it is said that the angel and the Spirit spoke to Philip, and, in Act 8:39 , the Spirit caught away Philip. Now, how did the angel and the Spirit thus deal with Philip? Doubtless the angel of the Lord spake to Philip in a vision; doubtless the Spirit of the Lord spake to Philip by an inside impression, and doubtless the Spirit of God moved on Philip powerfully to go to a new place.
QUESTIONS 1. Was the Philip of this section the Philip of Act 6:5 , the deacon, or the apostle Philip? What the proof?
2. Why submit this circumstantial proof of identity?
3. Group in order the scriptures concerning Philip.
4. From these scriptures was he probably a Hebrew Jew or a Hellenist Jew?
5. What do we know of his family?
6. Locate on the map the Azotus of Act 8:40 , and trace a line to Caesarea.
7. Are Lydda (Act 9:32 ) and Joppa (Act 9:36 ) on this line?
8. Then whose work probably led to Christ the disciples whom Peter found at these two cities?
9. In Act 10:37 Peter declares that Cornelius, the centurion at Caesarea, already knew the word published about our Lord. Is it probable that through Philip’s preaching at Caesarea he had obtained some of the knowledge which prepared him to receive Peter?
10. Trace a line on map from Tyre through Ptolemais to Caesarea.
11. Connect Act 2:17-18 , Joel’s prophecy that on the handmaidens shall the Spirit of God be poured out, with Act 21:9 , “Philip had four daughters who prophesied,” and Mar 16:17-18 , and connect “These signs shall follow them that believe” with Act 2:43 , which tells that the apostles did many signs and wonders, with Act 8:7 where Philip works miracles, and then state the relation of Philip and his family to the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
12. With these facts and probabilities before us, what is a summary of the scriptural history of the life and labors of Philip?
13. What the remarkable things in these labors?
14. What then is his position in the spread of the kingdom?
15. What were the themes of Philip’s preaching in Samaria?
16. What do these themes indicate?
17. How was this preaching attested?
18. What was the remarkable result?
19. Who at this time dominated Samaria, and how, and what is meant by sorcery?
20. What lesson do we gather from Act 8:12 on the relation between faith and baptism, and consequently on the subjects of baptism?
21. What lesson do we gather from Act 8:13 which says, that when the crowd left him, Simon also believed and was baptized, and followed Philip, wondering at the miracles that he wrought?
22. What are the great moral lessons of this section?
23. Why could not the Jews at Jerusalem expound Isa 53 ?
24. What is bearing of this passage on the act & subject of baptism?
25. What said Alexander Carson of this passage?
26. What about that verse Act 8:37 : “If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest?”
27. What said a Methodist preacher about this?
28. Was the baptism of the eunuch authoritative as to the administrator? If so, why cannot a deacon baptize now?
29. Show how Philip went ahead and prepared the way under God for the apostles?
30. Explain how the angel and the Spirit spoke to Philip (Act 8:26 ; Act 8:29 ), and how the Spirit caught away Philip (Act 8:39 ).
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
8 And the next day we that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him.
Ver. 8. Philip the Evangelist ] He was at first but a deacon; but having well used that lower office, he was advanced to this. A fruitful man shall not sit long in a low place: God will call him forth to a higher employment, and make him master of much, that was so “faithful in a little” Luk 16:10 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
8. . . .] It is possible that he may have had this appellation from his having been the first to travel about preaching the gospel: see ch. Act 8:5 ff. The office of Evangelist, see reff., seems to have answered very much to our missionary : Theodoret, on Eph 4:11 , says, : and Euseb. H. E. iii. 37, , , . The latter could hardly have been part of their employment so early as this; nor had in these times the peculiar meaning of a narrative of the life of Christ , but rather embraced the whole good tidings of salvation by Him , as preached to the Jews and Heathens. See Neander, Pfl. u. L., pp. 258, 264.
Euseb., iii. 31, apparently mistakes this Philip for the Apostle : as did also (see Valesius’s note, Euseb. l. c.) Clement of Alexandria and Papias.
. ] See ch. Act 6:5 , and note. Meyer and Winer (edn. 6, 20. l. c.) well remark (see De Wette also), that the participle without the article implies that the reason why they abode with him was that he was one of the seven: ‘ut qui esset,’ &c. and in English being (one) of the seven . The fact of Philip being settled at Csarea, and known as , seems decisive against regarding the occurrence of ch. Act 6:3 ff. as the establishment of any permanent order in the church.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 21:8 . . .: the title, as Wendt and Hilgenfeld think, may have been given to Philip on account of his evangelising work, cf. Act 8:12 ; Act 8:40 ; “the Evangelist”: the honourable title gained by some signal service to the Gospel; and the two incidents noted in his career, his preaching to the Samaritans, and to the Ethiopian eunuch, each mark an advance in the free development of the Church (Lightfoot, Galatians , p. 299). He had originally been set apart for other work, Act 6:2 , but both he and St. Stephen had been called to higher duties, and it is not sufficient to say that he was called an “evangelist” to distinguish him from Philip the Apostle, for that would have been done sufficiently by calling him “one of the Seven”. The word only occurs twice elsewhere in the N.T., Eph 4:11 , 2Ti 4:5 . In the former passage the Evangelists are placed between the Apostles and Prophets on the one hand, and the Pastors and Teachers on the other. The latter two offices suggested those who were attached to a settled community, whilst the Apostles and Prophets were non-local. Between the two pairs stood the Evangelists, whose work like that of Philip was to preach the Word. But it is to be carefully noted that as the title is used of the work of Philip, “one of the Seven,” and of that of Timothy, an Apostolic delegate, 2Ti 4:5 , it may have denoted an employment rather than an office, “a work rather than an order,” and it might be truly said that every Apostle was an Evangelist, but that not every Evangelist was an Apostle. At the same time their work may well have been more restricted locally than that of the Apostles, cf. Theodoret on Eph 4:11 , and also Eusebius, H.E. , ii., 3, iii., 37, itinerant work of an Evangelist, “Evangelist,” B.D. 2 . The title is not found in the Apostolic Fathers or in the Didach , and the latter omission Harnack would explain on the ground that the “Apostles” in the Didach were just Evangelists; but it would seem, if we admit the reference to 2Ti 4:5 , that the title was already in general use, and that it was not limited to Apostles. Meyer sees in the Evangelists those who transmitted orally the facts of our Lord’s life and teaching, before the existence of written Gospels; but however tempting this view may be, we can scarcely define the Evangelists’ work so precisely, and still less thus distinguish it from that of the Apostles; but see, however, as favouring Meyer’s view, “Evangelist,” Hastings’ B.D. Ewald’s remarks on Philip as an Evangelist are still of interest, Die drei ersten Evangelien , i., 48 ff.; on the mistake which confused this Philip with Philip the Apostle, see Salmon, Introd. , 313. .: on two occasions St. Paul had already visited Csarea, Act 9:30 , Act 18:22 , and he would probably have met Philip previously; but we have no knowledge of any previous meeting between St. Luke and Philip. We can conceive something of the importance of such a meeting when we remember the advantage which the latter’s knowledge of the events in the early history of the Church would possess for the future historian. Philip’s presence in Csarea at once connects itself with the notice in Act 8:40 , and thus indicates a unity of authorship in the whole book. : the notice shows us how the early part of the book is taken for granted by the writer of the latter part (so Lightfoot and Salmon). This is surely more intelligible and satisfactory than to refer the words to the “author to Theophilus,” or to regard it with Clemen as a later addition perhaps by his R., who already betrayed, Act 14:8 , a knowledge of the sources of the first part of the book, or perhaps by R.J., who then connected Historia Petri and Historia Pauli . Jngst refers the notice in Act 8:40 to a Reviser who thus seeks to connect the Philip of chap. 8 with Csarea, and so to identify him with the Philip here.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Acts
DRAWING NEARER TO THE STORM
PHILIP THE EVANGELIST
Act 21:8
The life of this Philip, as recorded, is a very remarkable one. It is divided into two unequal halves: one full of conspicuous service, one passed in absolute obscurity. Like the moon in its second quarter, part of the disc is shining silver and the rest is invisible. Let us put together the notices of him.
He bears a name which makes it probable that he was not a Palestinian Jew, but one of the many who, of Jewish descent, had lived in Gentile lands and contracted Gentile habits and associations. We first hear of him as one of the Seven who were chosen by the Church, at the suggestion of the Apostles, in order to meet the grumbling of that section of the Church, who were called ‘Hellenists,’ about their people being neglected in the distribution of alms. He stands in that list next to Stephen, who was obviously the leader. Then after Stephen’s persecution, he flies from Jerusalem, like the rest of the Church, and comes down to Samaria and preaches there. He did that because circumstances drove him; he had become one of the Seven because his brethren appointed him, but his next step was in obedience to a specific command of Christ. He went and preached the Gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch, and then he was borne away from the new convert, and after the Spirit had put him down at Ashdod he had to tramp all the way up the Palestinian coast, left to the guidance of his own wits, until he came to Caesarea. There he remained for twenty years; and we do not hear a word about him in all that time. But at last Paul and his companions, hurrying to keep the Feast at Jerusalem, found that they had a little time to spare when they reached Caesarea, and so they came to ‘the house of Philip the evangelist,’ whom we last heard of twenty years before, and spent ‘many days’ with him. That is the final glimpse that we have of Philip.
Now let us try to gather two or three plain lessons, especially those which depend on that remarkable contrast between the first and the second periods of this man’s life. There is, first, a brief space of brilliant service, and then there are long years of obscure toil.
I. The brief space of brilliant service.
Now these seven are never called ‘deacons’ in the New Testament, though it is supposed that they were the first holders of that office. It is instructive to note how their office came into existence. It was created by the Apostles, simply as the handiest way of getting over a difficulty. Is that the notion of Church organisation that prevails among some of our brethren who believe that organisation is everything, and that unless a Church has the three orders of bishops, priests, and deacons, it is not worth calling a Church at all? The plain fact is that the Church at the beginning had no organisation. What organisation it had grew up as circumstances required. The only two laws which governed organisation were, first, ‘One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren’; and second, ‘When the Spirit of the Lord is come upon thee, thou shalt do as occasion shall serve thee.’ Thus these seven were appointed to deal with a temporary difficulty and to distribute alms when necessary; and their office dropped when it was no longer required, as was probably the case when, very soon after, the Jerusalem Church was scattered. Then, by degrees, came elders and deacons. People fancy that there is but one rigid, unalterable type of Church organisation, when the reality is that it is fluent and flexible, and that the primitive Church never was meant to be the pattern according to which, in detail, and specifically, other Churches in different circumstances should be constituted. There are great principles which no organisation must break, but if these be kept, the form is a matter of convenience.
That is the first lesson that I take out of this story. Although it has not much to do with Philip himself, still it is worth saying in these days when a particular organisation of the Church is supposed to be essential to Christian fellowship, and we Nonconformists, who have not the ‘orders’ that some of our brethren seem to think indispensable, are by a considerable school unchurched, because we are without them. But the primitive Church also was without them.
Still further and more important for us, in these brief years of brilliant service I note the spontaneous impulse which sets a Christian man to do Christian work. It was his brethren that picked out Philip, and said, ‘Now go and distribute alms,’ but his brethren had nothing to do with his next step. He was driven by circumstances out of Jerusalem, and he found himself in Samaria, and perhaps he remembered how Jesus Christ had said, on the day when He went up into Heaven, ‘Ye shall be witnesses unto Me, both in Jerusalem and in Samaria , and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.’ But whether he remembered that or not, he was here in Samaria, amongst the ancestral enemies of his nation. Nobody told him to preach when he went to Samaria. He had no commission from the Apostles to do so. He did not hold any office in the Church, except that which, according to the Apostles’ intention in establishing it, ought to have stopped his mouth from preaching. For they said, when they appointed these seven, ‘Let them serve tables, and we will give ourselves to the ministry of the word.’ But Jesus Christ has a way of upsetting men’s restrictions as to the functions of His servants. And so Philip, without a commission, and with many prejudices to stop his mouth, was the first to break through the limitations which confined the message of salvation to the Jews. Because he found himself in Samaria, and they needed Christ there, he did not wait for Peter and James and John to lay their hands upon his head, and say, ‘Now you are entitled to speak about Him’; he did not wait for any appointment, but yielded to his own heart, a heart that was full of Jesus Christ, and must speak about Him; find he proclaimed the Gospel in that city.
So he has the noble distinction of being the very first Christian man who put a bold foot across the boundary of Judaism, and showed a light to men that were in darkness beyond. Remember he did it as a simple private Christian; uncalled, uncommissioned, unordained by anybody; and he did it because he could not help it, and he never thought to himself, ‘I am doing a daring, new thing.’ It seemed the most natural thing in the world that he should preach in Samaria. So it would be to us, if we were Christians with the depth of faith and of personal experience which this man had.
There is another lesson that I take from these first busy years of Philip’s service. Christ provides wider spheres for men who have been faithful in narrower ones. It was because he had ‘won his spurs,’ if I may so say, in Samaria, and proved the stuff he was made of, that the angel of the Lord came and said to Philip, ‘Go down on the road to Gaza, which is desert. Do not ask now what you are to do when you get there. Go!’ So with his sealed orders be went. No doubt he thought to himself, ‘Strange that I should be taken from this prosperous work in Samaria, and sent to a desert road, where there is not a single human being!’ But he went; and when he struck the point of junction of the road from Samaria with that from Jerusalem, looked about to discover what he had been sent there for. The only thing in sight was one chariot, and he said to himself, ‘Ah, that is it,’ and he drew near to the chariot, and heard the occupant reading aloud Isaiah’s great prophecy. The Ethiopian chamberlain was probably not very familiar with the Greek translation of the Old Testament, which he seems to have been using and, as poor readers often do, helped his comprehension by speaking the words he sees on the page. Philip knew at once that here was the object of his mission, and so ‘joined himself to the chariot,’ and set himself to his work.
So Christ chooses His agents for further work from those who, out of their own spontaneous love of Him, have done what lay at their hands. ‘To him that hath shall be given.’ If you are ambitious of a wider sphere, be sure that you fill your narrow one. It will widen quite fast enough for your capacities.
II. Now let me say a word about the long years of obscurity.
Here is a beautiful instance of the contented acceptance of a lot very much less conspicuous, very much less brilliant, than the early beginnings had seemed to promise. I suppose that there are very few of us but have had, back in the far-away past, moments when we seemed to have opening out before us great prospects of service which have never been realised; and the remembrance of the brief moments of dawning splendour is very apt to make the rest of the life look grey and dull, and common things flat, and to make us sour. We look back and we think, ‘Ah, the gates were opened for me then, but how they have slammed to since! It is hard for me to go on in this lowly condition, and this eclipsed state into which I have been brought, without feeling how different it might have been if those early days had only continued.’ Well, for Philip it was enough that Jesus Christ sent him to the eunuch and did not send him to Cornelius. He took the position that his Master put him in and worked away therein.
And there is a further lesson for us, who, for the most part, have to lead obscure lives. For there was in Philip not only a contented acceptance of an obscure life, but there was a diligent doing of obscure work. Did you notice that one significant little word in the clause that I have taken for my text: ‘We entered into the house of Philip the evangelist , which was one of the seven’? Luke does not forget Philip’s former office, but he dwells rather on what his other office was, twenty years afterwards. He was ‘an evangelist’ now, although the evangelistic work was being done in a very quiet corner, and nobody was paying much attention to it. Time was when he had a great statesman to listen to his words. Time was when a whole city was moved by his teaching. Time was when it looked as if he was going to do the work that Paul did. But all these visions were shattered, and he was left to toil for twenty long years in that obscure corner, and not a soul knew anything about his work except the people to whom it was directed and the four unmarried girls at home whom his example had helped to bring to Jesus Christ, and who were ‘prophetesses.’ At the end of the twenty years he is ‘Philip the evangelist.’
There is patient perseverance at unrecompensed, unrecorded, and unnoticed work. ‘Great’ and ‘small’ have nothing to do with the work of Christian people. It does not matter who knows our work or who does not know it, the thing is that He knows it. Now the most of us have to do absolutely unnoticed Christian service. Those of us who are in positions like mine have a little more notoriety-and it is no blessing-and a year or two after a man’s voice ceases to sound from a pulpit he is forgotten. What does it matter? ‘Surely I will never forget any of their works.’ And in these advertising days, when publicity seems to be the great good that people in so many cases seek after, and no one is contented to do his little bit of work unless he gets reported in the columns of the newspapers, we may all take example from the behaviour of Philip, and remember the man who began so brilliantly, and for twenty years was hidden, and was ‘the evangelist’ all the time.
III. Now, there is one last lesson that I would draw, and that is the ultimate recognition of the work and the joyful meeting of the workers.
So there was no envy in Philip’s heart of the younger brother that had so outrun him. He was quite content to share the fate of pioneers, and rejoiced in the junior who had entered into his labour. ‘One soweth and another reapeth’; he was prepared for that, and rejoiced to hear about what the Lord had done by his brother, though once he had thought it might have been done by him. How they would talk! How much there would be to tell! How glad the old man would be at the younger man’s success!
And there was one sitting by who did not say very much, but had his ears wide open, and his name was Luke. In Philip’s long, confidential conversations he no doubt got some of the materials, which have been preserved for us in this book, for his account of the early days of the Church in Jerusalem.
So Philip, after all, was not working in so obscure a corner as he thought. The whole world knows about him. He had been working behind a curtain all the while, and he never knew that ‘the beloved physician,’ who was listening so eagerly to all he had to tell about the early days, was going to twitch down the curtain and let the whole world see the work that he thought he was doing, all unknown and soon to be forgotten.
And that is what will happen to us all. The curtain will be twitched down, and when it is, it will be good for us if we have the same record to show that this man had-namely, toil for the Master, indifferent to whether men see or do not see; patient labour for Him, coming out of a heart purged of all envy and jealousy of those who have been called to larger and more conspicuous service.
May we not take these many days of quiet converse in Philip’s house, when the pioneer and the perfecter of the work talked together, as being a kind of prophetic symbol of the time when all who had a share in the one great and then completed work will have a share in its joy? No matter whether they have dug the foundations or laid the early courses or set the top stone and the shining battlements that crown the structure, they have all their share in the building and their portion in the gladness of the completed edifice, ‘that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
next. Here the common word epaurion is used. Compare “following”, Act 21:1.
of Paul’s company. Literally about (Greek. peri. App-104,) Paul.
Caesarea. See note on Act 8:40. About sixty miles from Tyre by the coast road.
the seven. See Act 6:5.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
8. . . .] It is possible that he may have had this appellation from his having been the first to travel about preaching the gospel: see ch. Act 8:5 ff. The office of Evangelist, see reff., seems to have answered very much to our missionary: Theodoret, on Eph 4:11, says, : and Euseb. H. E. iii. 37, , , . The latter could hardly have been part of their employment so early as this; nor had in these times the peculiar meaning of a narrative of the life of Christ, but rather embraced the whole good tidings of salvation by Him, as preached to the Jews and Heathens. See Neander, Pfl. u. L., pp. 258, 264.
Euseb., iii. 31, apparently mistakes this Philip for the Apostle: as did also (see Valesiuss note, Euseb. l. c.) Clement of Alexandria and Papias.
. ] See ch. Act 6:5, and note. Meyer and Winer (edn. 6, 20. l. c.) well remark (see De Wette also), that the participle without the article implies that the reason why they abode with him was that he was one of the seven: ut qui esset, &c. and in English being (one) of the seven. The fact of Philip being settled at Csarea, and known as , seems decisive against regarding the occurrence of ch. Act 6:3 ff. as the establishment of any permanent order in the church.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 21:8. , to Cesarea) It is here especially that Pauls imprisonment is foretold to him; and this was the place, moreover, where he was about to go as a prisoner: ch. Act 23:33.- , the Evangelist) ch. Act 8:5; Act 8:35; Act 8:40.-) who was one of the Seven: ch. Act 6:5. It is probable that Paul had some communications (dealings) with Philip as to the care of the poor, Act 21:15 ( referring to the alms, with which they were entrusted for Jerusalem): although there was no community of goods, except at Jerusalem: nor did it last, save only until the scattering abroad, of which ch. Act 8:1 treats; at which time, we may suppose that whatever resources were ready to their hand were divided among those who departed from Jerusalem and those who remained in it, according to the extent of their distress (need). Otherwise Philip would not have been able to have departed from it [his services as a deacon for distributing the alms would have been still needed at Jerusalem]: Act 8:5; Act 8:40.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
we that: Act 16:10, Act 16:13, Act 16:16, Act 20:6, Act 20:13, Act 27:1, Act 28:11, Act 28:16
Caesarea: Act 8:40, Act 9:30, Act 10:1, Act 18:22, Act 23:23
Philip: Act 6:5, Act 8:5-13, Act 8:26-40
the evangelist: Eph 4:11, 2Ti 4:5
Reciprocal: Neh 3:12 – he and his daughters Act 12:19 – he went Act 21:16 – of the Act 24:23 – his Act 28:14 – we found
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
8
Act 21:8. This traveling was done by land, bringing them to Caesarea which was the headquarters of the Roman government in Palestine. Philip was one of the deacons appointed in chapter 6. He is called the evangelist because of such work as he did as recorded in chapter 8.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 21:8. And came to Csarea. The little company now travelled by land. Their route led them round Carmel along the coast for some thirty to forty miles to Csarea. This was the third visit St. Paul had paid to this city: (1) On his journey from Jerusalem to Tarsus (chap. Act 9:30); (2) on his return to Antioch from his Second Missionary Journey (Act 18:22); (3) in his last mission to Jerusalem now about to be described. For an account of Csarea see note on chap. Act 8:40.
And we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven. We have already met with this Philip. In the early years of the Churchs story, seven men were chosen by the believers in Jerusalem as assistants to the Twelve; of these seven two seem to have come rapidly into great prominence, Stephen and Philip. The first of these, Stephen, after acquiring a fame unequalled in the first years of the faith, endured a martyrs death, and thus followed his Master. The second, Philip, like Stephen, became a great preacher. We read of him in Samaria (chap. Act 8:5), and again on the way to Gaza (chap. Act 8:26), then as preaching in many nameless cities (in all the cities, chap. Act 8:40), and finally apparently settling in Csarea. This was about A.D. 35-36, nearly a quarter of a century before the visit of St. Paul to the home of Philip on his way to the Holy City.
As regards the first title of Philip, a deacon , the inferior title and also the original duties of the office had, in the case of the seven chosen assistants of the Twelve, been quickly forgotten, owing doubtless to the important work which rapidly fell to the lot of these favoured men; with Philip the lesser duties had become merged in the higher ones which belonged to the office of evangelist.
The evangelists of the early church are thus described by Eusebius (H. E., iii. 37): After laying the foundation of the faith in foreign parts, as the peculiar object of their mission, and after appointing others as shepherds to the flock, and committing to them the care of those that had been recently introduced, they went again to other regions and nations with the grace and co-operation of God. They were thus the missionaries of the first days, to use the words of Dr. Westcott (Introduction to the Gospels, chap. 3): The evangelist was not the compiler of a history, but the missionary who carried the good tidings to fresh countries; the bearer and not the author of the message. Till the end of the first century, and probably till the time of Justin Martyr (about A.D. 140), the Gospel, Evangel, uniformly signifies the substance and not the records of the life of Christ. We can thus trace how, when the story of the life of Christat first only told orally by the evangelist or missionarywas written down in the form of narrative, the inspired writers became known as the evangelists: after the four written records became widely known, it is probable that the title Evangelist was appropriated only to them.
Professor Plumptre has an interesting note here on the meeting which must have taken place between Philip and Luke the companion of Paul: As far as we know, Philip and Luke had not met before, and we can imagine the satisfaction with which the latter (Luke), himself probably an evangelist in both senses of the word (2Co 8:18), and already contemplating his work as an historian, would welcome the acquaintance of the former (Philip); how he would ask many questions as to-the early history of the Church, and learn from him all or nearly all that we find in the first eleven chapters of this book.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
8, 9. The single day spent with the brethren in Ptolemais was sufficient for the solemn admonitions which Paul was leaving with all the Churches, and for another painful farewell. (8) “And the next day we departed, and went to Csarea. And entering into the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, we abode with him. (9) Now he had four daughters, who were virgins, and who prophesied.” When we parted from Philip, after the immersion of the eunuch, he had prosecuted an evangelizing tour through Azotus and the intermediate cities, to Csarea. It was probably while he was engaged in this tour that Peter had come to Csarea, and immersed the family and friends of Cornelius. When Philip arrived, he found the nucleus of a Church, and here we still find him, after a lapse of more than twenty years. He seems never to have returned to Jerusalem, to resume his position as a deacon of that Church, but accepted the providential arrangement by which he was thrown out into a wider field of usefulness, and thenceforward was known as Philip the evangelist. That he had four maiden daughters, who had the gift of prophesy, indicates the strict religious training which he had given to his family.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 8
We that were of Paul’s company; that is, the whole company, including Paul himself.–Seven; seven deacons.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
21:8 And the next [day] we that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was [one] of the {b} seven; and abode with him.
(b) He speaks of the seven deacons which he mentioned before in Act 6:1-7 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Caesarea (Meritima) was 40 miles farther south, and Paul’s party could have reached it by sea or by land. It was the capital of the province of Judea and the major port of Jerusalem. Philip may have settled in Caesarea after evangelizing the coastal plain of Palestine 20 years earlier (Act 8:40; cf. Act 6:5). This man was not the Philip of the Gospels, who was a disciple of Jesus and one of the Twelve. His four daughters had the prophetic gift. According to early Church tradition, Philip and his daughters later moved to Hierapolis in Asia Minor. There these women imparted information about the early history of the Jerusalem church to Papias, a church father. [Note: Eusebius, 3:39.] It seems unusual that Luke would refer to these daughters as prophetesses without mentioning anything they prophesied. Perhaps they gave him information as they did Papias. [Note: Longenecker, p. 517; Neil, pp. 216-17.]