Philip the Evangelist
One of the seven deacons of Jerusalem, whose Spirit-directed ministry carried the gospel from Samaria to the desert road — and through a single question, changed a man’s life forever.
Chosen to Serve
Philip first appears in Acts 6, where the rapidly growing Jerusalem church faced a crisis: the Greek-speaking widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. The apostles called the whole congregation together and asked them to choose seven men — men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom — to oversee this ministry of service so that the apostles could devote themselves to prayer and the word.
Philip was one of the seven chosen. His name is Greek, suggesting he was himself among the Hellenistic Jewish community. The seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed and laid hands on them. It is worth noting: the seven were chosen specifically for table service — and Philip became one of the most powerful evangelists in the entire book of Acts. In the kingdom of God, faithfulness in the mundane often precedes the extraordinary.
The Mission to Samaria
When Stephen was martyred and a great persecution scattered the Jerusalem church, Philip went north to Samaria — a region Jews typically avoided. He preached Christ to the Samaritans with remarkable results. The text records miracles accompanying his ministry: unclean spirits cried out and departed, the paralyzed walked, the lame were healed. The whole city heard and rejoiced.
Acts 8:6–8
“And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy in that city.”
Among those baptized was Simon Magus, a sorcerer who had amazed the Samaritans for years and claimed to be someone great. When Philip preached, Simon believed and was baptized — and followed Philip everywhere, marveling at the signs and miracles.
When Peter and John came from Jerusalem to lay hands on the new converts that they might receive the Holy Ghost, Simon attempted to purchase the gift with money. Peter rebuked him sharply: “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.” The episode introduced the word simony into church history — the sin of treating sacred things as commodities. Philip’s mission had opened Samaria; it also exposed the difference between authentic conversion and spiritual consumerism.
The Desert Road
At the height of his Samaria mission — with a whole city rejoicing and the apostles coming to assist — the angel of the Lord told Philip to leave and go south, to the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza. No explanation. No destination. Just: arise and go. Philip arose and went.
On that desert road, he encountered a man of remarkable standing: an Ethiopian eunuch, an official of great authority under Candace the queen of Ethiopia, who was in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship — a long and expensive pilgrimage — and was now returning home, sitting in his chariot and reading aloud from the scroll of Isaiah.
The Spirit said to Philip: “Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.” Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah 53. He asked a question so simple and so perfect that it changed everything: “Understandest thou what thou readest?”
Understandest Thou What Thou Readest?
The eunuch had been reading Isaiah 53:7–8 — the suffering servant passage: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth.” The eunuch’s reply is one of the most honest statements in all of scripture:
Acts 8:31
“How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.”
The eunuch knew he did not understand. He was humble enough to admit it and hungry enough to ask for help. Philip climbed into the chariot. He opened his mouth and, beginning from that same scripture, “preached unto him Jesus.”
Isaiah 53 — the lamb led to slaughter, silent before those who afflicted him, cut off from the land of the living — was the story of Jesus. The servant who bore the iniquities of many, made intercession for transgressors, was wounded for our transgressions. Philip explained what the eunuch had been reading, and the eunuch heard it and believed.
As they traveled, they came to water. The eunuch spoke up: “See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?” Nothing hindered him. They both went down into the water. Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away — the eunuch saw him no more — and the eunuch went on his way rejoicing.
The Significance of the Ethiopian
The Ethiopian eunuch is a figure of double exclusion. As a Gentile, he stood outside the covenant people of Israel. As a eunuch, he was excluded by Mosaic law from the full assembly of the Lord (Deuteronomy 23:1). Yet Isaiah had spoken of a day when such exclusions would end: “Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree” (Isaiah 56:3).
Philip’s encounter on the desert road was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s promise. The one who had been told he could not fully belong was baptized into full membership. The gospel crossed the ancient boundary of racial and physical exclusion, carried south toward Africa by a man who went home rejoicing — alone on a chariot, full of the Spirit, forever changed.
Philip’s Continuing Ministry
After the Spirit transported Philip, he appeared at Azotus (the ancient Ashdod on the coast) and preached through all the cities until he reached Caesarea. Years later, when Paul and his company passed through Caesarea on their way to Jerusalem, they stayed at the house of Philip — now called “Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven.” He had four daughters who prophesied.
Philip’s life illustrates the movement of the Spirit: from Jerusalem to Samaria to the desert road to the coastal cities — ever outward, ever crossing boundaries, ever following the call to arise and go. He is the New Testament’s great picture of a man whose ministry was entirely Spirit-directed, who never seemed to choose his own appointments. He was told where to go, he went, and the results were extraordinary.
Key Scriptures
Key Scriptures
- Acts 6:1–6 — Philip chosen as one of the seven to serve the Jerusalem church
- Acts 8:4–13 — Philip preaches in Samaria; miracles and joy; Simon Magus
- Acts 8:26–40 — The desert road; the Ethiopian eunuch; Isaiah 53; baptism; Philip caught away
- Acts 21:8–9 — Paul stays with Philip in Caesarea; Philip’s four prophesying daughters