3rd Missionary Trip - Lorin

een home for home for at least two decades.
He is identified as τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ, ὄντος ἐκ τῶν ἑπτά, the evangelist, being one of the seven. The term
εὐαγγελιστής, evangelist, only shows up three times in the entire New Testament. In 2 Tim. 4:5 Timothy is called
an εὐαγγελιστής by Paul. 279 In Eph. 4:11, εὐαγγελιστής is among the τοὺς δὲ προφήτας, τοὺς δὲ εὐαγγελιστάς,
τοὺς δὲ ποιμένας καὶ διδασκάλους, the prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers who serve the local congregation.
By the etymology of the word, the central idea is that an εὐαγγελιστής εὐαγγελίζεται τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, an evangelist
preaches the Gospel. What is never clarified in the New Testament is how the work of an εὐαγγελιστής differs from
that of a κηρύξ, preacher, or a διδάσκαλος, teacher. Philip seems to have been given this tag in part at least because
of his preaching of the Gospel in Samaria and Gaza (Acts 8). Part of our difficulty may well be that we are
looking at these labels as those they are ‘hats’ while the New Testament sees them functionally as emphasizing
different aspects of one Christian ministry that can be carried out by a single individual. In that light, εὐαγγελιστής
would stress the preaching of the Gospel, especially to the unconverted.
Philip is also identified as ὄντος ἐκ τῶν ἑπτά, being one of the seven. This label comes out of the appointment
of seven men to oversee the benevolent responsibilities of the Jerusalem church in Acts 6:1-7, but does not
seem to be a label used apart from these seven individuals. It distinguishes them from the apostles in Acts 6.
Most intriguing about Philip are his four daughters: τούτῳ δὲ ἦσαν θυγατέρες τέσσαρες παρθένοι
προφητεύουσαι, He had four unmarried daughters who had the gift of prophecy. The four daughters are referred to
as παρθένοι. 280 That they were virgins may or may not be connected to their Christian ministry of prophesying.
281 When Luke shifts to the single episode of this visit that he records, the ministry of Agabus helps define
not only what Agabus did but also what these daughters of Philip did, that is, declare the will of God as it was
expected to unfold in coming days. Thus in the Christian community of Caesarea these four daughters followed
in the footsteps of their father in proclaiming God’s will and plans to the believers. This comes in part as
fulfillment of the prophesy quoted by Peter from the OT in his sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:17): καὶ
προφητεύσουσιν οἱ υἱοὶ ὑμῶν καὶ αἱ θυγατέρες ὑμῶν, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Also note v.
18: καί γε ἐπὶ τοὺς δούλους μου καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς δούλας μου ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου,
καὶ προφητεύσουσιν, Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall
prophesy. Not to be overlooked is that this prophesy comes from the OT book of Joel with the idea of prophesy in
terms of the eighth century Israelite definition of forth-telling, rather than predicting the future as a fortune teller.
What these daughters of Philip were doing was declaring the will of God to His people, with a central emphasis
on how that divine will would unfold in the coming days.
What an interesting visit for Paul this must have been as he interacted with Philip and his daughters!
Luke does not give a specific number of days that this visit lasted, just that it extended out over several
279 “Eusebius seems to have regarded it as a term applicable to those who assisted and followed the apostles in the work
of mission preaching and founding churches (see especially HE 3:37:2, τοὺς … προκαταβληθέντας ὑπὸ τῶν ἀποστόλων θεμελίους
ἐπῳκοδομοῦν … ἔργον ἐπετέλουν εὐαγγελιστῶν; also 2:3:1; 3:31:2–5; 3:37:4; 3:39:9; 5:10:2; 5:17:3). Bultmann is probably right in
saying that the word come into use as the term ἀπόστολος came to be confined to the Twelve, and in adding, ‘Als gebräuchlicher Titel hat
sich εὐαγγελιστής nicht durchsetzen und halten können, weil allmählich die Gemeindebeamten das Amt der Wortverkündigung übernahmen’
(Theologie 458). Knowling (444) is probably right with ‘a work rather than an order’. Calvin (2:194): ‘In my opinion evangelists
were half-way between apostles and teachers.’ This is not really helpful. Roloff (310): ‘Eher umschreibt sie [die Bezeichnung εὐαγγ.]
hier wie in 2 Tim 4:5 die Funktion des Gemeindeleiters’—a function which in fact we never see Philip exercising. For possible non-
Christian use of the word see MM 259; and cf. Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis 3:52–54.” [C. K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical
Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004), 993.]
280 “From Jerome, Epistles 108:8 we learn that his correspondent Paula saw in Caesarea the house of Cornelius, now turned into
a church, and the house of Philip, with the chamber of the daughters.” [C. K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts
of the Apostles, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004), 994-95.]
281 “The four prophesying daughters (use of the participle προφητεύουσαι suggests that for Luke prophecy was a function rather
than an office) were virgins. It is hard to tell whether Luke relates this as a simple fact or sees a connection between their prophesying
and their virginity. If they had not been virgins would they have prophesied? If they had been married would they have been allowed to
prophesy? It is noteworthy that in 1 Cor. 14:35, where women (γυναῖκες) are bidden to keep silence in the assemblies, they are told that
if they wish to learn anything they must ask their own husbands at home. It is assumed that they are married; is it implied that different
regulations would apply to the unmarried? There is nothing else in Acts that bears directly on this subject, but it may be recalled that Priscilla,
who taught Apollos (18:26), was married, and that the prophetess Anna (Lk. 2:36) was a widow who had lived with her husband
seven years from her virginity. Luke provides no ground for Calvin’s observation (2:195), ‘One may well believe that they prophesied
at home, or in a private place, outside the public meeting.’ Bengel (471) is more interesting: ‘Philippus evangelista: filiae prophetantes.
propheta major est, quam evangelista. Eph. 4:11.’” [C. K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles,
International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004), 994.]
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