Acts 8...interpretations about Philip

One Sunday, my SS class was studying Acts and we embarked on a study of Philip, the Apostle.

First, here is the story as it is accounted for in The Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 8: 4-40:

Philip in Samaria

Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there.  When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said.  For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city.

Simon the Sorcerer

 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. 12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God,they sent Peter and John to Samaria.  When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit,  because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!  You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.  Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”

 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.

Philip and the Ethiopian

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”  So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian[a] eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
    and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
    Who can speak of his descendants?
    For his life was taken from the earth.”[b] 

The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?”  Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.  When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

This account explores the evangelistic activity of the Apostle Philip, also known as Philip, The Evangelist. He apparently started his evangelistic work, first in Samaria, home of the "half breed" culture derived from the Assyrian invasion over 600 years before. 

Generally speaking, the Jews had absolutely nothing to do with Samaria or its culture. They were highly suspicious of the unclean Samaritans. It may be analogous to the relationship of the USA to Mexico.

The class discussion centered around how the Gospel was breaking down barriers, of race, as it had to do with Samaritans, and of material gain and personal profit, in the story of "Simon Magus" the locally famous magician who had a 'going concern'/ magician business amongst the Samaritans. 

Then the chapter lists Philip's encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch who was riding in his chariot, heading back home after having gone to Jerusalem on a religious pilgrimage. The account records how the eunuch was reading Isaiah 53, and how Philip helped the eunuch to see the connection between this prophetic account and Jesus who became the Christ. The account then relates how Philip, with the eunuch's consent baptized the man, by immersion. Here is another account of how the Gospel broke down barriers-- this one being the barrier of blemish, as eunuchs were castrated and according to Jewish law, were blemished-- that is, unable to become acceptable to God or to their temple tradition.

It hit me during the class, "why isn't Philip more highly regarded, equal to or more prominent than Peter, John, and James?"

Could it be that Philip, who saw no barriers as to race or blemish, also saw no barriers as to gender?

In Acts 21, Paul is said to have lodged with Philip, in Caesarea, with his 4 daughters who were prophetesses...was he a first century champion of women as ministers?

Also, there is some scholarly debate as to whether Acts, chapter 8 Philip is the same as the original Apostle, and whether or not he was the one associated with the Gospel of Philip, which was the Nag Hammadi text( discovered in 1945) which is singled out as the gospel which identifies Mary of Magdala as the Apostle to the apostles, and the one who frequently kissed the Master "on the mouth". Scandalous!

This could be why not much emphasis has been placed on Philip by the western, patristic tradition.

Instead the tradition went with Peter as the first Pope, and John, the disciple whom Jesus loved!

Despite these omissions by hard core patristic converted Jews, still I think Philip was a powerful leader.

It may be that early misogyny led the church away from this leader who saw women as equals in the eyes of Christ, and in the church. One can only speculate, as theologians do!

I am not surprised, if that be the case.

I think Philip is a very strong Apostle and deserves our attention, if for nothing else than to contemplate Philip's God ordained apostleship for these times(2015- forward) in history.