Philip the Evangelist, Acts 8

As we continue in our reading thru the New Testament in a Year we come to Acts 8:1-40. Take your time and as you read, what are the questions that it creates for you? What insights do you gain from the stories of how God uses this man, Philip.  Come back and we’ll walk through the passage together.

The end of the last chapter said, “...and Saul approved of killing him.” It serves as the beginning of chapter 8 when Luke writes “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judaea and Samaria” (8:1). On the surface, all was not well. Vs. 3 says “Saul began to ravage (ESV), destroy (NIV), the church, going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.” It had to be an anxious time for many of the early church’s believers. Once again, in success, the enemy strikes back and if all we had were these first three verses we might despair of what is to come.

While the Jewish authorities strike at the church, two results come to pass. First, the Jewish leaders are forcing Christians out of the Jewish religion and forcing them to live according to a new identity - as Jesus' followers, Christians. Second, the persecution forces Christians out of the nest of Jerusalem and scatters them across the country-side of Israel to the neighboring area of Samaria. 

Jesus had instructed the Apostles to take the Gospel from Jerusalem to Judaea, to Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the earth. The spreading of the Gospel was always in the plan and heart of God’s purposes for the church. While we cannot be absolute about it, persecution becomes the cause of the Gospel being proclaimed beyond Jerusalem. 

Perhaps the early church’s leaders thought that the way the church would grow was by God bringing people from all nations to Jerusalem...it was not! The Church grew not by staying still, but by going out - missions, evangelism - is the engine of the dissemination of the Gospel to all people, as Jesus had said, “go into all the world” (Matt. 28:18-20).

Philip is introduced, by Luke, first as one of the original seven men chosen as Deacons (6:5). After Stephen was martyred and the persecution broke out, Philip did not run away from the fray but stepped in his place to take the Gospel message into Samaria. Luke does not name the city he entered, but when he did arrived in Samaria, he “proclaimed” the message of Jesus as Messiah. The word Luke uses is different from the word evangelism, as it means he “heralded”, “preached”, “proclaimed” the good news in the public square. A missionary adapts to the culture they enter into, while never losing sight of the message they carry. That was Philip. 

Samaria was not a place Jews normally went to. Jesus had an encounter with a Samaritan woman (John 4), but, on another trip through Samaria, a village would not welcome Jesus - causing John and James to ask Jesus if they should call down fire to wipe the village out, something Jesus rebuked them for! Samaritans were considered “half-breeds”, hated by faithful Jews because they were descendants of exiled Jews and Gentiles who intermarried with them. The hatred was mutual as Samaritans established their own brand of Judaism and their own Temple in the northern regions of Israel.

This trip into Samaria was the first cross-cultural missionary movement and as crowds gathered to hear Philip, God-breathed his life into Philip’s proclamation of Jesus to the Samaritans. God also used him to do miracles and wonders of healing and deliverance, of which Luke writes “there was great joy in that city” (vs8).

Where the seed is sown - Jesus said in his famous parable - so also the enemy comes to sow his seed. A man enters the story named Simon who was a sorcerer and history later records he claimed a certain form of deity among the Samaritans. As Philip proclaims Jesus, a great number of Samaritans come to believe and are baptized, including Simon.

When the Apostles in Jerusalem learn of the successful missionary work of Philip in Samaria they send Peter and John to find out what has happened. Luke describes Peter and John’s coming as the means by which the Samaritans receive the Holy Spirit.

It’s an interesting story but without having either time or space to deal with all the possible explanations for what happens here, I steer you back to a principle of bible discovery - namely, that there’s a difference between "description" and "prescription" in stories within the Scripture. To “describe” is to faithfully tell what happened, but to “prescribe” is to take what happened and make it a doctrinal or theological principle that is true for all time.

We come then to this question: Why the two stages that Luke describes? Why did the “believing and baptizing” come first, but the Holy Spirit come later? In “describing” this Luke tells a story that has served to divide many Christian churches even to today. Even though on opposite ends of the theological spectrum, Catholics and Pentecostals (many Charismatic churches) tend to see the two stages as normative. They espouse a theological opinion that God first draws a person to faith, even baptism accompanies that, but then later a second blessing of the Spirit comes to fill and empower that faith.

Nothing like this had existed in previous accounts in Acts as believers were always given the gift of the Spirit as they came to faith in Christ. Neither is there a suggestion in the rest of Scripture of separate stages of belief (we will see that later in our readings of the Epistles). In my opinion, what is described here isn’t prescribed as truth for how God gives his Spirit in the salvation of a believer.

Then what happened? I think the more fruitful answer is that this is an unusual event (replicated one other time later in Acts) where the need for authenticity, as well as unity, are paramount concerns, such that God does something in an exceptionally different way than what is normal.

Peter and John are “sent down from Jerusalem” where the Apostles still lead from. As they arrive in Samaria, they see the fruit of this missionary endeavor and because they affirm it as genuine, they pray for the gift of the Spirit. It seems that God delayed the gift of the Spirit for the sake of the Unity of the Church - after all, remember how Jews understood Samaritans and vice versa? This action then confirms, both ways, that the two groups were indeed one in Christ Jesus. It is a story that describes the Church’s advance from Jerusalem, Judaea to Samaria...and it will soon also be going to the uttermost part of the earth! It is an exceptional story because it serves as a bridge from what once "was" to what now "is". It is a description of an unusual event for a specific reason, but not a normative pattern of how we understand what happens in salvation.

The last part of this encounter in Samaria reveals to us how the Church began to see that its Mission would at times be tempted by deception and error.  Simon, who Luke had written previously had believed and was baptized, now reveals his motives for believing. He sees the gift of the Spirit come upon the Samaritan believers and offers Peter and John money in order to do what they did. He reveals his belief...it is phony. Peter’s response is a necessary one: “may your money perish with you...” (vs 20). Peter rebukes his request in no uncertain terms and when Simon - seemingly - repents and asks Peter to pray for him, Luke does not describe whether Peter did that or not. It is not in the text that we learn more about Simon. Early Church Fathers writing in the 2nd century name him Simon Magus and report that he became a heretic within the church in Asia, promoting a Gnostic view of Jesus - that Jesus was not truly God, but only seemed to be God.

Perhaps we can realize why Luke does not record Peter saying anything to him after Simon asks Peter to pray for him. Simon doesn’t repent of what he asked for, he only asks Peter to pray for him. I cannot pray repentance in place of a person’s own need to do so.

It’s worth noting that this is the first time that Luke gives us insight into the nature of faith that believes, but does not have true faith. True faith encompasses “believing”, but goes beyond intellectual assent, or even regarding a word as truth. I can believe in Jesus, believe he was a real historical person, believe he was a good person who did amazing things and taught amazing truths...and still not believe “in” Him. The word “believe” in Greek is “pisteuo” and it goes beyond intellectual assent to one of complete “trust in”, “commitment to” - that I believe is “saving faith”. It is not religious faith that goes through the religious motions to earn the right to be saved; it is the confession of true faith that is committed to Jesus as the only way, truth, and life - there is no other way to be saved.

The second half of Philip's story is in vss 26 - 40.  After the events of Samaria were completed, God sent an Angel to Philip to direct him to go south...way south...to a desert road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza. The journey is from the north-central part of Israel to the south-western part of Israel on the main road in the Gaza area that leads to Egypt. The distance is close to 50 some miles, at least a 2 days journey on foot. Philip, who was used to break down the Jewish-Samaritan racial barrier, is now told to head south...but he has no idea of where, or who he was to meet. As he travels this desert road he comes upon a chariot whose occupant is an Ethiopian court official., i.e., an African,...the treasurer of the Queen. This Ethiopian is a eunuch. Court officials of this time enlisted young men to serve the Queen or King, but castrating them was a typical condition of entering the court. It served to prevent many problems for the court with issues of sexuality, treachery, and temptations to participate in rebellions. This court official was returning from Jerusalem because he was a Jewish convert who had “gone to Jerusalem to worship”...an African man who perhaps had made regular trips from his country to Israel to participate in the annual festivals such as Pentecost. His chariot is on this road returning back to Ethiopia when he stops it - perhaps at one of the several needed watering holes in the desert - wadis - that would provide water for his animals and his entourage, and as he waits he picks up a scroll that contains a section of the Old Testament Scriptures from the book of Isaiah.

Philip has been on a two-day journey walking, praying, thinking... “where Lord are you sending me?” He hears the voice of the Spirit of God within, “Go to that chariot...stay near it.” The Spirit doesn’t tell him to interrupt the Ethiopian, but to be close enough to hear what is going on. As he comes closer Philip can make out what he is speaking...he is reading Isaiah 53.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? (Isa. 53:7-8)

Philip doesn’t intrude with a “let me tell you about this passage”, but instead asks: “do you understand what you are reading?” Insightful, careful, wise, is how Philip acts to this Ethiopian official. The man answers honestly, “I don’t understand it...and won’t unless someone explains it to me”. What makes this so intriguing is not that Philip was led to him by the Spirit of God, but that Philip was led to him at just the perfect time of his life when he’s asking salvation questions. “I don’t understand, but I’d like to...” - believe me, that is not a typical response by anyone, and is a seeker’s response...a seeker who is being drawn by God’s Spirit to ask...to want to know what this Scripture speaks of.

“Tell me, is the Prophet speaking of himself, or someone else?” Isaiah is writing in a section of his book called “the Suffering Servant”. It begins in Isaiah 42 and goes through Isaiah 53. Isaiah is laying out the case that the “Servant of the Lord”, the Messiah, will not come in victory, but come to suffer and die...as a lamb led to slaughter. It is a prophetic passage written some 700 years before, and Jesus made it clear that his mandate was to fulfill that passage - “for the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). Philip steps into a chariot where the Spirit of God has already been, at work preparing this Ethiopian court official’s heart for the Gospel.

The court official listens as Philip shares Jesus with him. This story is reminiscent of Luke’s story at the end of his Gospel when Jesus comes alongside 2 men walking on a road on the day of his resurrection, and Jesus opens their eyes to the Scripture where Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms all speak of the Messiah who would suffer and die, and then be resurrected. I would have loved to watch this man’s heart, mind, soul drink in the words of the Gospel, and then as it becomes so clear as Philip explains it to him: “Jesus died for your sins also - would you believe, put your faith personally and wholly in Him?” YES! There, in the chariot, on a road 50 miles south of where Philip had successfully shared the Gospel - with an entire city who had turned by faith to Jesus - he now sees one individual say “Yes” to Jesus.

The Ethiopian official asks, “Here is water, is there any reason I cannot be baptized?” Two things happen: The Ethiopian believer - the first black man in the church perhaps - enters the water with the Deacon Philip and is baptized. It is a beautiful picture of what follows belief in Jesus - to publicly declare that faith in water baptism. Jesus had said to his disciples, “Go, make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:28-30), and this court official’s life in Christ is fully begun. The Ethiopian Court official “went on his way rejoicing”...it’s an amazing picture of what happens in new-found faith of commitment to Jesus...Joy, unspeakable Joy settles in.

The other thing that happens is Philip is “suddenly ‘snatched’ (suddenly took, NIV) and finds himself 20 miles to the north in a place called Azotus. I have often wondered... he walked 50 miles to find the Ethiopian official, and then after a Gospel encounter, he is amazingly transported by the Spirit 20 miles to the north - sort of an “I’ll not make you walk to get you to where I want you next” moment. Philip, at one moment, is in the water and in the next moment, he is in another city. As we sometimes say, “what a trip?” Philip is atypical, but in an amazing way demonstrates what God can do in our lives that go beyond our abilities and understanding.

What do we walk away having learned? God uses people who are sensitive, knowledgeable, willing, and most of all available. Commit your life to Christ and say “let your Kingdom come, let your will be done Lord, I want to serve you”...and you’ll find God directing you to people and conversations and new life. When you get there, don’t talk about religions, or your church, or even your own experiences...talk about Jesus and the Spirit of God will take care of the rest of it. Philip walks his way from Azotus to Caesarea, a distance again of about 50 miles, preaching the Gospel of Jesus to cities along the way. We meet him again 20 years later in Acts 21...he’s 20 years older, but still living for Jesus.

Peace