Feb ’12 | Blossom 51
(1) All Christians know the importance of the gospel books of the New Testament that lay out the life of Jesus Christ. Only from them do we get to know the teachings and events that happened in the life of our saviour. Truly, not only from his direct teachings, we also learn a lot from the events that happened in the life of Jesus and in the ways he handled them. That being the case, the only book the gives us some details about the life of Apostles and early Christians is Acts of the Apostles. We do learn about certain aspects of the life of apostles and early Christians from other books of the New Testament but they predominantly contain teachings and do not provide detailed information about the life of apostles and early Christians. It is only through the record of Acts of Apostles that we get to know how early Christians lived, what were the troubles that arose in their gospel ministry, how they faced them and many other such useful details. Thus, we are able to learn many inspiring and beneficial lessons from their lives. That being the case, Philip is one among the many early Christians who are recorded in Acts of the Apostles. God deemed it worthy to record some events that happened in Philip’s life in the Holy Bible. In this issue, we are going to learn the worthy lessons that we can learn from those events of Philip’s life. Since there was an apostle of Christ who was also called Philip, we should not confuse the two (Mark 3:13-19). We are going to see about the man who is called as Philip the Evangelist in Acts of Apostles (Acts 21:8). He was not one of the twelve apostles of Christ.
I. The Times of Philip
II. Friction in the Early Church
III. Philip’s Humility
IV. Philip’s Zeal for the Gospel
V. Philip’s Mission to the Ethiopian
VI. Philip the Evangelist
(2) To fully understand the life of Philip, we need to travel to his times. What was his time and how was it like? Philip gets introduced to us in the sixth chapter of the Book of Acts of Apostles (Acts 6:5). This was before the martyrdom of Stephen and the subsequent conversion of Paul (Acts 7:54-59; 9:1-19). We saw in an earlier issue of Grace that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ happened in the month of April of 33 A.D and that Paul’s conversion must have happened either in late 33 A.D or in early part of 34 A.D (See Grace – Blossom30:June10,para08). Hence, Philip gets introduced to us just a few short months after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Those days were days of excitement and zeal for believers in Christ. Though, believers were initially sent into sorrow and dismay by the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, they were later energized by the resurrection of Jesus Christ and also by the obtaining of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Hence, the believers lived together in Jerusalem, preaching the gospel with great enthusiasm and increased in numbers (Acts 2nd Chapter). It was a time when apostles were performing great miracles and powerfully witnessing the gospel of Christ (Acts 3rd chapter, 5:12-16). The Jewish authorities had not expected such a rapid growth of the Christian faith and thus it was also a time when they started to threaten and persecute the believers in Christ (Acts 4:1-22; 5:17-40). But, apostles and other believers were not bothered by such threats and persecution, so they continued to preach the gospel in the Jerusalem temple and even house to house (Acts 5:41,42). In those times, we see that all believers pooled in all their money, wealth and lived together a life preaching the gospel with a close fellowship of love – ‘All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all’ (Acts 4:32,33 & Acts 2:42-47). God has deemed this information important to be recorded in the Bible only to show us that churches everywhere should aim to have the same kind of gospel zeal as well as live in such loving fellowship. Hence, without giving ourselves any excuses (like ‘in this day and age we cannot live like that’), we should strive to have the same gospel zeal and close fellowship found in early Christians. Truly, the fact that some today feel that we cannot live like the early Christians is an indication of the degraded state of many churches of present day. Anyway, it was during such times of love and great deeds for the gospel by early Christians that Philip gets introduced to us. His introduction however is amidst a tale of friction.
II. Friction in the Early Church
(3) The Church of Jerusalem at that time was filled mostly with Jewish Christians. In fact, it was only after the ministry of Apostle Paul that a large amount of gentiles became Christians. That being the case, there were two groups among the Jewish Christians of that time. Truth be told, this division existed in the broader Jewish society of that time itself. A majority of one group were Jews who lived predominantly in Judea or nearby areas. They were known as Hebraic Jews. They used the Hebrew Old Testament and gave importance to Jewish traditions. On the other hand, a majority of the other group were Jews who had travelled, lived in other distant places and have now come back. Since it was Greek culture and Greek language that was prominent in those surrounding places, these people used the Greek Old Testament also known as the Septuagint. Moreover, they were greatly influenced by Greek culture and were called as Hellenistic Jews. Due to the cultural differences between these two groups of Jews, occasionally there arose frictions and arguments between them. In fact, these two groups even met in separate synagogues. But, as the Christian faith spread, both Hebraic Jews and Greek Jews became Christians. Hence, people who were used to meeting in separate synagogues, now met together in one place as Christians. But, after sometime there arose a problem between them. The early Christians took care of widows, orphans and others in need (Acts 2:44,45). This is something even today’s churches need to do (James 1:27 & See Scripture Study – Blossom19:August11,para13). In this scenario, the Hellenistic Jews complained that the Hebraic Jews discriminated against their widows in food distribution (Acts 6:1). One can say that this was the first major problem that arose amidst the zealous early church. Truly, when a church is active in preaching the gospel and serving God with passionate enthusiasm, Satan will use such tactics to dampen their zeal and fervour. Hence, the overseers of a church should be careful that they do not let any murmuring or complaint pester and work to solve all frictional issues immediately, however small they may look like in the beginning. That is exactly how the apostles handled this problem, swift, wise and decisive. They called upon the entire church and told them that since they had to preach the gospel, they cannot spend time to wait on tables and henceforth they asked the church to select seven men among them to oversee food distribution such that they can spend their entire time preaching the gospel (Acts 6:2-4). This does not in any way mean that the apostles considered waiting on tables to be a demeaning or a lesser work. Whatever be the nature of work needed for the spread of Gospel or in our church, each believer must be ready to do that with no regard for status. Yet, since they were provided with special powers and clear knowledge to preach the gospel at that time, the apostles wanted to spend their entire time preaching the gospel. Heeding to the advice of the apostles, the believers selected seven men to act as supervisors of food distribution. Apostles prayed and appointed them to do that service (Acts 6:5,6). It is as one of these seven that we get introduced to Philip (Acts 6:5). Since the name Philip is a Greek name, it is highly probable that he might have been one of the Hellenistic Jews.
(4) It is not recorded in the New Testament how this Philip became a Christian. Since, apostles asked the church to select only those full of the spirit and wisdom to wait on tables; we are able to know that Philip was a man full of the spirit and wisdom. Another thing to be noted here is that even to wait on tables, apostles wanted to have people who were full of the spirit and wisdom. Truly, no matter what be the responsibility that arises in our church, we need to give it only to those who are full of the spirit and wisdom. Instead, if we give any responsibility, even a small one, to someone who is not full of the spirit and wisdom, then we will only be inviting trouble for our church. Philip on the other hand, was a man full of the spirit and wisdom. As we noted earlier, this introduction of Philip in Acts 6, happens just a few months after the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, it is highly unlikely for anyone to have converted into Christ and achieved a reputed name as a man full of the spirit and wisdom within those few short months. Hence, it is possible that Philip was with Christ as one of his disciples before his crucifixion. It is probable that Philip could have been one among the seventy disciples that Jesus sent to preach the word at one point during his earthly ministry (Luke 10:1-4). Whatever be his background, we see that this Philip, who was full of the spirit and wisdom, did not consider waiting on tables as a menial work but readily and humbly accepts it in order to enable the apostles to concentrate on their service to the gospel. This is notable because Philip himself had the ability to preach the gospel effectively. After all, this is the same man who was so effective and successful in preaching the gospel that later he came to be called as Philip the evangelist (Acts 21:8). Thus, Philip did have the talent to preach. But, at that point of time in that particular church, in order to enable the apostles to focus on their gospel ministry, the need was for a few responsible people to wait on tables. Thus, Philip humbly accepted that post for the sake of the larger benefit to the gospel ministry and that church. He had the maturity to serve based on the need of the hour instead of insisting on what he might have desired personally. This is a great lesson for us as well. We too should not be satisfied with serving the gospel and our church based on our talents alone. We should find out the particular needs of our church or the gospel ministry, and no matter what the need be, we should be ready to serve accordingly. Philip was such a man and this we can see with more clarity as we explore more and more about Philip’s life. Many times, we are satisfied by serving the gospel or our church in the ways we prefer or we are comfortable with. We should not be like that and take a leaf from Philip’s life. Whatever be the need of our church or the gospel ministry, we should strive to fulfil it, even if it is out of our comfort zone. Sometimes, such needs can look menial from a worldly point of view like waiting on tables. But truly, even the menial needs that arise in our church or gospel ministry are opportunities to serve and thus they are not menial in the sight of God. Philip was a man who perfectly understood this and is a great example for us to follow.
IV. Philip’s Zeal for the Gospel
(5) A man named Stephen was another one of the seven chosen to wait on tables along with Philip. This Stephen was doing great miracles as witness to the gospel (Acts 6:8). From this we learn that even those who were chosen to wait on tables and fulfilled that responsibility, were not merely satisfied by doing that but also found other ways to serve the truth. We too must not become satisfied just because we do one service at our church or in gospel ministry but must always be in constant search to find newer ways to serve the truth and confirm our calling. After all, only if we offer our entire lives as living sacrifices for the sake of the gospel can we win eternal glories! (Mark 8:35, See Grace – Blossom48:November11; Blossom49:December11). The Jewish leaders of that time became irritated with the bold ministry of Stephen and they set up false witnesses against him and made him stand before the court (Acts 6:9-15). At that time, Stephen fearlessly witnessed the gospel to them and was stoned to death, with the permission of Saul, who later became Apostle Paul (Acts 7:1-59; 8:1). Truly, Stephen’s life and death has been an inspiring story for the church for nearly 2000 years. After, Stephen’s stoning, the Jewish authorities led by Saul, launched a great persecution on the church at Jerusalem (Acts 8:2,3). As a result of that, except the apostles, all other believers were scattered to Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1). Those who were such scattered preached the gospel in the places they went (Acts 8:4). Philip was one among them. Philip left Jerusalem, went north to a town in Samaria and preached the gospel there (Acts 8:5). On a casual read, some may miss the significance of this but if we think for a moment, going back to their times, we can feel the passion and zeal Philip and other early Christians had for the gospel. There is high probability that Philip saw in person the stoning of Stephen who was appointed along with him to wait on tables. For sure, Philip must have seen the dead corpse of Stephen. He must have also seen and been part of the persecution that followed Stephen’s stoning. In fact, it was because of that persecution, Philip had to leave Jerusalem. Thus, Philip knew first hand that preaching the gospel could get him killed and persecuted. Yet despite that, Philip went on preaching the gospel even in the places he got scattered to. What a zeal for gospel did he have! Truly, even in our gospel ministry, there will be times when there will be persecutions and sorrows but during those times we should never lose our courage or heart knowing that the narrow way is one filled with tribulations and persecutions. We should be like the early Christians and Philip who marched ahead in their service to the gospel despite troubles and persecutions. In fact, they were inspired by such troubles and persecutions (1 Peter 4:12). Sometimes, we are struck with troubles in our family lives, relationships and careers as well. They also disturb us but even during such times we should keep walking along without any distraction in our gospel ministry keeping in mind that all the troubles will be rectified in the coming Kingdom of God. We can see that quality in Philip who was not at all distracted or held back by the death of Stephen but kept on preaching the gospel. The good news of the gospel reaching Samaria was a fulfilment of the prophecy Jesus gave before he ascended to heaven – ‘you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’ (Acts 1:8). In general, the people of Judah looked down upon the people of Samaria and did not like to have any relations with them (See John 4:9). This was for a reason. It was in the regions of Samaria that the erstwhile northern kingdom of Israel had existed but it was destroyed by the Assyrians in 723 B.C. The Assyrians immediately started settling their own people in Samaria. As a result, the local Jews of Samaria intermingled with the Assyrians and hence were looked down upon by the people of Judah as people who had become mixed with gentiles. The people of Samaria too acquired many gentile cultural aspects along with their traditional Jewish beliefs. They did not feel the need to go to Jerusalem to worship God but had their own temple in Samaria at Mount Gerizim (See John 4:19,20). But, Jesus proclaimed to a Samarian woman during his ministry that since his time itself a time had come when all can worship God from anywhere – “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks (John 4:21-23). Philip had understood this. By the fact that he went on proclaiming the good news of the gospel to the people of Samaria, we can know for sure that he knew for sure that there is no Greek or Jew before the gospel of Christ. We too need to be ready and eager like Philip to take the gospel to people of all nations, creeds, castes, languages and religions. Moreover, when a Samarian sorcerer named Simeon wanted to become a follower of Christ, pulled by the miracles done by Philip, we see that Philip was ready to give him baptism, not hindered by his dubious past (Acts 8:9-13). We too need to be like Philip in accepting anyone who turns toward Christ, no matter how sinful or dubious their past life is. We should see them only as a new creation in Christ. Philip’s preaching of the gospel had enormous impact in Samaria and on hearing that, apostles of Christ, Peter and John came to Samaria to see it for themselves (Acts 8:14). At that time, on seeing that the authority to grant others the power to exercise the gifts of the Holy Spirit rested with the apostles alone, Simeon seeks to get that power from them using money as a lure (Acts 8:18,19). The apostles admonished him and he repents (Acts 8:20-24). From this, it gets confirmed that the authority to grant the power to exercise the gifts of the Holy Spirit rested only with the select apostles of Christ. We saw this in detail in an earlier issue of Grace (See Grace -Blossom08:October08,para05). Philip who was doing great miracles as witness to the gospel must have got those powers from the apostles. But since Philip was not one of those select apostles of Christ, even he was unable to grant others the power to exercise the gifts of the Holy Spirit. That is the reason, Simeon; a man who got baptised by Philip did not ask him for that power but only the apostles of Christ.
V. Philip’s Mission to the Ethiopian
(6) Later, an angel of the Lord asked Philip to leave Samaria and head to the desert road in the south that ran from Jerusalem to Gaza (Acts 8:26). Like he accepted the responsibility of waiting on tables without any questions, Philip obeyed the angel of the Lord too without any hesitance or doubts. We too should always be eager and ready to go to new places where there is a need in gospel ministry. Hence, Philip went down to Jerusalem and travelled further along south in the desert road that led to Gaza. Therein, he meets an Ethiopian eunuch, who was an important official in the treasury of the Ethiopian ‘Kandake’ (Acts 8:27). The Ethiopia of that time was some 200 miles south west of Jerusalem. ‘Kandake’ was the title given to the Ethiopian queens of that time. Amanitere was the Kandake (queen) of Ethiopia during the 30s of first century. This Ethiopian eunuch was in charge of her treasury and thus was a very important person in Ethiopia. During the ancient times, in order to prevent the high officials of the state from having relationships with royal women and bear children whom they can later use to claim the throne, many high officials were made eunuchs. The Ethiopian Philip saw could have also been made eunuch for the same reason. Many wrongly think that during the times of the Old Testament, God was a God only to the people of Israel and nobody else. When the gentile city of Nineveh repented of its sinful ways, God embraced it, thus showing clearly that even during the times of the Old Testament, God was willing to be a God to anyone who sought Him (Jonah 3:10; 4:10,11). Even in the Law Covenant that was given to the Jewish people, there were provisions showing how the gentiles can worship the one true God. There is biblical and historical evidence indicating that many gentiles did worship God using them during Old Testament times. This Ethiopian eunuch was one such gentile worshipper. Even though he was a gentile, he had gone to Jerusalem to worship God and was returning to Ethiopia (Acts 8:27). On his way, he was reading the Book of Isaiah in his chariot (Acts 8:28). God’s spirit urged Philip to go near that chariot. Immediately, Philip ran up to that chariot and asked the Ethiopian who was reading the Book of Isaiah whether he understood what he was reading (Acts 8:30). The Ethiopian exclaimed how could he understand without someone explaining it to him and asked Philip to come up his chariot (Acts 8:31). Later, using the very same portion of Isaiah he was reading, which was Isaiah 53:7,8, Philip explained the gospel about Christ to that Ethiopian (Acts 8:32-35). Even we too must seek to be well versed in all the books of the Bible such that we can explain the good news about Christ with courage and confidence making use of such 
opportunities like Philip. In fact, that is the reason, in the issues of Scripture Study, we are studying both the Old Testament and New Testament, verse by verse. On the way of the chariot, there came a place with water and the Ethiopian asked Philip whether he can get baptised therein (Acts 8:36). Philip said to him that if he believed with his heart the gospel then he could get baptised for which the Ethiopian replied in affirmative saying that he believed Jesus to be the son of God (Acts 8:37). A belief in Jesus means an understanding and belief in the foundational doctrines about Jesus as listed by Paul (1 Corinthians 3:11, Hebrews 6:1-3, See Grace – Blossom43:June11). Only people with a full understanding of the foundational doctrines of Christ are worthy to be baptised. Since the Ethiopian had acquired such an understanding, he stopped the chariot and got baptised (Acts 8:38). From this incident, we can also confirm that the church is indeed a predestined class. Just as the call of the church came to Saul, a man chosen from his mother’s womb by God, when he was on his way to Damascus and he later became the great apostle Paul, it was only because this Ethiopian had also been predestined that the call of the church went out to him in the middle of a desert (Acts 9:3,4, Galatians 1:15, Romans 8:28-30). Moreover, Philip was popular among believers in Samaria because of his service to gospel there. Yet when God called him to travel several miles just to witness to one man, Philip did not murmur or protest. In fact, we see that he ran with enthusiasm behind the chariot of that Ethiopian and witnessed the truth to him. We too must be ready like Philip to go anywhere, anytime to preach the gospel. Also, Jews did not think well or highly of gentiles and that too eunuchs (Deuteronomy 23:1). In later times, in order to make Apostle Peter go to the house of gentile Cornelius, God had to show him many signs (Acts 10:9-48). But, we see that Philip showed no hesitance to ride along with that gentile Ethiopian eunuch and to preach him the gospel. This once again confirms that Philip understood clearly that there was no Greek, Jew or eunuch before the gospel. That is why God was able to use him greatly.
(7) After baptising the Ethiopian, Philip was taken away by the Spirit of the Lord and the Ethiopian went on his way with great rejoicing. Since, he was an important official in Ethiopia; he must have proclaimed the gospel there with great efficiency. Many wrongly think Cornelius to be the first gentile to have accepted Christ or to whom the calling of gospel went. The truth however is bit more complex for we can never know for sure who was the first gentile to whom the calling of the gospel went. But what is for sure is that the call of the gospel reached this gentile Ethiopian much before it reached Cornelius and thereby making it clear that it’s a fallacy to think that Cornelius was the first gentile to whom the calling 
of the gospel went. Philip reached the town of Azotus. From there he went north, to the town of Caesarea and throughout his journey, he kept on preaching the gospel (Acts 8:39,40). Thus, Philip did not rest thinking that he had finished the duty for which God had brought him south. We too should never be satisfied with our service to the gospel. We who know that serving the gospel is our spiritual race and fight of faith, should be like Philip and Paul who were ready to serve the gospel, anytime, anywhere and without any rest. Only then can we win the crown of life in the end (Mark 8:35). We should not serve the gospel in the free time of our earthly lives but rather weave our earthly duties around our gospel ministry. As we saw earlier, these incidents happened to Philip in late 33 A.D or early 34 A.D. The Bible does not record what happened to Philip after he reached Caesarea. But, the Bible does record one more telling thing about this same Philip, some 25 years later. At that time, i.e. around 58 A.D., it is written that Paul and his fellow travellers stayed in the house of Philip the Evangelist in Caesarea (Acts 21:8). The fact that he is introduced as ‘one of the seven’ there makes it clear that it is the same Philip. Reflect on this! 25 years have passed but nothing had changed in the life of Philip in all those years. The Philip who went into Caesarea preaching the gospel in 33/34 A.D, still was referred to as an evangelist even after 25 long years. This makes it clear that Philip was preaching the gospel for all those years. We too should not become weary or satisfied after serving the gospel for a few years but keep in mind that only if we serve the gospel till our last breath, shall we win eternal glories. Moreover, we see that at that time, Philip had four unmarried daughters who had the gift of prophecy (Acts 21:9).Truly, it seems like Philip pressed his daughters as well to dedicate themselves to the gospel. Today, many true Christians have getting their children married or settle in life as top priority instead of encouraging them to serve God and many more fail to give the option of serving the gospel without marrying, like Paul advised, to their children, especially to their daughters (1 Corinthians 7:8,32,33, See Grace – Blossom39:March11). Philip on the other hand knew that the only real good he can do to his children/ daughters is encouraging them to serve the gospel. All Christian parents should be like Philip in this regard.
(8) We do not know what happened to Philip after that. But, even from the few incidents that are recorded in the Bible about his life, we are able to learn many wonderful lessons. At a time of unfaithfulness, when few are so blind or so audacious that they even question the need for serving the gospel despite Jesus’ direct words in Mark 8:35, the life of Philip and early Christians stand as silent testimonies showing us how a Christian life should be, a life filled with zeal and service to the gospel. Truly, the call of the church is to preach the gospel till the end of this world and since that is our fight of faith, let us not forget that it is only by imitating the zeal for gospel that early Christians had, can we win the crown of life. Amen.