Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
disciple of Christ, and entitled as such to received, not as a servant but above a servant, as a brother
in the faith. The Epistle to Philemon has one peculiar feature—its aesthetical character it may be
termed—which distinguishes it from all the other epistles. The writer had peculiar difticulties to
overcame; but Paul, it is confessed, has shown a degree of self-denial and a fact in dealing with
them which in being equal to the occasion could hardly be greater.
Philetus
(beloved) was possibly a disciple of Hymenaeus, with whom he is associated in (2 Timothy
2:17) and who is named without him in an earlier epistle. (1 Timothy 1:20) (A.D. 68-64) Thep
appear to have been persons who believed the Scripture of the Old Testament, but misinterpreted
them, allegorizing away the doctrine of the resurrection and resolving it all into figure and metaphor.
The delivering over unto Satan. seems to have been a form of excommunication declaring the
person reduced to the state of a heathen; and in the apostolic age it was accompanied with
supernatural or miraculous effects upon the bodies of the persons so delivered.
Philip
(lover of horses) the apostle was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter, (John 1:44) and
apparently was among the Galilean peasants of that district who flocked to hear the preaching of
the Baptist. The manner in which St. John speaks of him indicates a previous friendship with the
sons of Jona and Zebedee, and a consequent participation in their messianic hopes. The close union
of the two in John 6 and 12 suggests that he may have owed to Andrew the first tidings that the
hope had been fulfilled. The statement that Jesus found him (John 1:43) implies a previous seeking.
In the lists of the twelve apostles, in the Synoptic Gospel, his name is as uniformly at the head of
the second group of four as the name of Peter is at that of the first, (Matthew 10:3; Mark 5:18; Luke
6:14) and the facts recorded by St. John give the reason of this priority. Philip apparently was among
the first company of disciples who were with the Lord at the commencement of his ministry at the
marriage at Cana, on his first appearance as a prophet in Jerusalem, John 2. The first three Gospels
tell us nothing more of him individually. St.John with his characteristic fullness of personal
reminiscences, records a few significant utterances. (John 6:5-9; 12:20-22; 14:8) No other fact
connected with the name of Philip is recorded in the Gospels. He is among the company of disciples
at Jerusalem after the ascension (Acts 1:13) and on the day of Pentecost. After this all is uncertain
and apocryphal, According tradition he preached in Phrygia, and died at Hierapolis.
Philip The Evangelist
is first mentioned in the account of the dispute between the Hebrew and Hellenistic disciples
in Acts 6. He is one of the deacons appointed to superintend the daily distribution of food and alms,
and so to remove all suspicion of partiality. The persecution of which Saul was the leader must
have stopped the “daily ministrations” of the Church. The teachers who had been most prominent
were compelled to take flight, and Philip was among them. It is noticeable that the city of Samaria,
is the first scene of his activity. Acts 8. He is the precursor of St. Paul in his work, as Stephen had
been in his teaching. The scene which brings Philip and Simon the sorcerer into contact with each
other, (Acts 8:9-13) which the magician has to acknowledge a power over nature greater than his
own, is interesting. This step is followed by another. On the road from Jerusalem to Gaza he meets
the Ethiopian eunuch. (Acts 8:26) ff. The History that follows is interesting as one of the few records
in the New Testament of the process of individual conversion. A brief sentence tells us that Philip
continued his work as a preacher at Azotus (Ashdod) and among the other cities that had formerly
belonged to the Philistines, and, following the coast-line, came to Caesarea. Then for a long
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William Smith