The evangelist: Philip and the gospel on the road

Acts is the second volume of a work addressed to Theophilus (Luke 1:1-4; Acts 1:1). Early tradition names the author as Luke, the doctor and companion of Paul (Colossians 4:14; the 'we' passages from Acts 16:10). The book ends with Paul under house arrest in Rome, which leads many scholars to date it to the early 60s AD; others, who think Luke drew on Mark and wrote after Jerusalem fell, argue for the 80s. Acts 1:8 gives the outline: witness 'in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.' Chapter 8 is the hinge between the first stage and the second.

The chapter follows the death of Stephen. Stephen was one of seven men the Jerusalem church chose to oversee the daily distribution of food (Acts 6:1-6), and Philip, the central figure here, was another of the seven (6:5). The persecution after Stephen's death scattered the church out of Jerusalem, 'all except the apostles' (8:1), so the gospel travelled on the roads taken by refugees.

Two settings matter. Samaria lay between Judea and Galilee. Its people were of mixed descent, worshipped on Mount Gerizim and accepted only the five books of Moses. Jews and Samaritans were openly hostile (Luke 9:52-54; John 4:9). The second scene is on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, and its main figure comes from 'Ethiopia,' the Greek name for the land south of Egypt along the upper Nile (the Old Testament Cush, roughly Nubia), not the later highland state of that name.

Acts is historical narrative. It shows what happened and why Luke thought it mattered, and it does not always say that an event is a pattern for every church. The reader asks what Luke is doing in each scene before asking what it teaches about the church. Here he shows the gospel crossing a boundary, first to Samaritans and then to a foreigner, under the direction of God (an angel, 8:26; the Spirit, 8:29, 39) and with the oversight of the apostles (8:14).

That rule governs the chapter's puzzles. The delay of the Spirit in Samaria is told as a moment in the story of Acts, and whether it also states a norm is a question the churches answer differently. In the same way, Philip's work is evidence for what an evangelist did, but a title cannot be built from a story alone. That is why this class sets Acts 8 beside the other places where the word 'evangelist' occurs.

The chapter is a pair of contrasting scenes: a crowd in a city with signs and a rival sorcerer, then one man in a chariot with a scroll. Both end in baptism. The Scripture Philip uses, Isaiah 53, is quoted in the form of the Greek Old Testament, which the official, like most readers around the Mediterranean, would have used.

Verses 1–4

'A great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem.' The word for 'scattered' (diesparesan, from diaspeiro) is a farming word, to sow in all directions. Saul 'began to destroy the church,' going 'from house to house.' Then comes the key line: 'Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.' The verb is euangelizomai, to announce good news, and Luke applies it to ordinary believers, not to a named class. Announcing the good news is something many do.

Verses 5–8

'Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ to them.' Luke now uses ekeryssen (kerysso, to proclaim as a herald). The message is a person and a title: the Christ, the promised Messiah. The crowds attend 'to Philip's message and to the signs they saw him perform,' and the result is 'great joy.' The signs accompany the word and confirm it.

Verses 9–13

Simon had practised sorcery and claimed to be 'someone great,' and the people called him 'the Great Power.' Philip preached 'the gospel of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ,' and 'they were baptized, both men and women.' Simon himself 'believed and was baptized.' The verb 'astounded' is used of Simon's old work in verse 9 and of his own reaction to Philip's signs in verse 13. The detail prepares for what follows.

Verses 14–17

'The apostles in Jerusalem... sent Peter and John' (apostello, to send, the root of 'apostle'). They prayed that the Samaritans 'receive the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized.' Then 'Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.' Luke marks the delay as unusual by the word 'yet.' In other conversions in Acts the Spirit comes with or immediately after faith (2:38; 10:44).

Verses 18–25

Simon 'offered them money' for 'this power.' Peter answers: 'May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!' The word for gift, dorea, means a free present, which cannot be bought. Simon has 'no part or share in our ministry' (logos, 'matter' or 'word'), because his heart is 'not right.' Peter still says 'Repent... Perhaps He will forgive you.' Simon asks only for prayer that nothing happen to him, and Luke does not say whether he repented. Trading spiritual office for money was later called simony, after him. Peter and John then return to Jerusalem 'preaching the gospel in many of the Samaritan villages.'

Verses 26–31

An angel sends Philip from a thriving city to a desert road, trading a crowd for one man. He is 'an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official in charge of the entire treasury of Candace.' Candace (Kandake) is usually understood as the title of the Nubian queen mother. He had been to Jerusalem 'to worship' and was reading Isaiah aloud, as ancient readers did. Philip asks, 'Do you understand what you are reading?' The answer is, 'How can I... unless someone guides me?' The Greek verb hodegeo, to lead along a road, names the evangelist's task as that of a guide.

Verses 32–35

The text is Isaiah 53:7-8 on the silent lamb. 'Who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?' 'Then Philip began with this very Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.' Luke's verb takes Jesus himself as its object: Philip 'evangelized Jesus' to him.

Verses 36–40

The official sees water and asks what prevents his baptism. Verse 37 is not in the oldest manuscripts, which is why the Berean Standard Bible omits it; some later copies add a short confession of faith, and the account stands without it. Philip baptizes him, 'the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away,' and the official 'went on his way rejoicing.' Philip appears at Azotus (Old Testament Ashdod) and preaches 'in all the towns until he came to Caesarea,' where he is found settled twenty years or so later (Acts 21:8).

The New Testament defines the evangelist by what he announces: the Christ (Acts 8:5), the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus (8:12), Jesus from the Scriptures (8:35). Paul's summary of the gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Christ 'according to the Scriptures' (1 Corinthians 15:3-4), and he says Christ sent him 'to preach the gospel' (1 Corinthians 1:17). The response expected is faith and baptism.

The noun 'evangelist' is rare. Acts 21:8 calls Philip 'the evangelist, one of the Seven.' Ephesians 4:11 lists evangelists among the gifts the ascended Christ gave the church. In 2 Timothy 4:5 Paul tells Timothy, his delegate at Ephesus (1 Timothy 1:3), to 'do the work of an evangelist,' so for Timothy it was one task of his charge. These uses show a function that could belong to a servant of the church (Philip), a gift given by Christ (Ephesians) and a duty of a teacher-leader (Timothy). None describes how an evangelist was appointed or whether the title was a permanent office. Philip had been appointed to serve tables (Acts 6:5-6); his work as preacher and baptizer follows the Spirit's direction, and Luke reports no further appointment. He itinerates in Acts 8 and is settled in Caesarea in 21:8, and his four daughters there prophesied (21:9).

The chapter also shows the reach of the gospel. Samaritans, long outside Israel's worship, receive 'the word of God' (8:14). A eunuch, whom Deuteronomy 23:1 excludes from the assembly, is baptized. Isaiah had promised foreigners and eunuchs who hold fast to the covenant a place in God's house (Isaiah 56:3-5). Luke does not quote that text, so it is offered as scriptural background. Luke also says only that the official went home rejoicing. Eusebius (fourth century) and Ethiopian tradition make him the first evangelist of his own people, but that is later history, not Acts, and Nubia is not the same place as the kingdom of Aksum that became Christian in the fourth century.

The clearest connection is fulfillment. The Ethiopian reads Isaiah 53:7-8 about a lamb led to slaughter and silent before its shearer, and Philip begins there and preaches Jesus (Acts 8:35). The New Testament makes the same link: Peter applies Isaiah 53 to Jesus' silence under abuse and his bearing of sins (1 Peter 2:22-25), Matthew sees Jesus' healings as fulfilling Isaiah 53:4 (Matthew 8:17), and John the Baptist calls him 'the Lamb of God' (John 1:29). Philip is giving the reading Jesus himself taught the apostles (Luke 24:25-27, 44-47).

The chapter also shows Christ keeping his word. In Acts 1:8 he promised witnesses in Judea and Samaria, and in John 4 he himself had stayed two days in a Samaritan town where many believed. The welcome of a eunuch fits Isaiah 56:3-5, a promise whose fulfillment arrives with Christ's church; the link is an echo, not something Luke states.

Christ is also the first evangelist. Jesus said he must announce the good news of the kingdom of God (Luke 4:43, euangelizo), and in Ephesians 2:17 Christ 'came and preached peace' to those far off and those near. The same Christ who is announced is the one who gave evangelists to the church (Ephesians 4:8, 11).