The Apostles: The Biblical Pattern

[Jerome]

As an evangelist, Deacon Philip conducted a mass evangelism meeting in Samaria (Acts 8), with many saved and baptized.

Was Philip still a Deacon then? How about in Acts 21?

 

[John of Japan]

Was Philip still a Deacon then? How about in Acts 21?

There is a controversy about that going back to the early church. I believe that there were two Philips, an apostle and a deacon, and that the deacon Philip was the evangelist Philip mentioned in Acts 21, but Apostle Philip is the one said to have become a cross-cultural missionary in the ancient sources. Some believe there was only one Philip who was both the evangelist and the apostle, or that it was the deacon who became the missionary.

 

[Anthony Pritchard]

There is a controversy about that going back to the early church. I believe that there were two Philips, an apostle and a deacon, and that the deacon Philip was the evangelist Philip mentioned in Acts 21, but Apostle Philip is the one said to have become a cross-cultural missionary in the ancient sources. Some believe there was only one Philip who was both the evangelist and the apostle, or that it was the deacon who became the missionary.

That is clear, the Philip in Matthew was numbered with the Apostles, one of the twelve, in Acts that Philip is Philip the Deacon/Evangelist, one of the seven.

 

[JD731]

I believe there are only three God ordained offices in the New Testament era thus maintaining the trinitarian fingerprint of God on the church. They are apostles, prophets, and pastors. It is not hard to see that the main calling for the apostle and prophet was evangelism and church planting and, lastly, for that of the pastor, teaching the great doctrines of the faith to the local body. The work of the evangelist is to preach to the unsaved and make Jesus Christ known. The pastor, though not identified as an evangelist, is associated with them by doing the work they did. The deacon is a calling of the church and it is the church who chooses and ordains them. The church age is a progressive age with specific and ordered transitions.

There is no way to view the church without seeing the trinitarian image. Jesus Christ, the head, the church, the body, the Holy Spirit indwelling. Then there is the church composed of Jew, gentile, and the Holy Spirit in one body. There is the cornerstone, the foundation, and the superstructure. There is no separate office and calling of evangelist in the scriptures. It is an occupation. This mirrors the image of the Godhead.
1 Cor 12
4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.

I think the formation of the church of Jesus Christ is the eternal purpose of God in this age and is the spiritual part of the kingdom of God which has a heavenly destination. It is an ongoing building process of placing individual believers in the body as God sees fit in the creation process. I believe his purpose will be exactly as he planned in the end in spite of the opposition of men and angels in rebellion and unbelief. I believe God acts providentially in forming his church and not by the restriction of a sovereign will that would restrict him as well as men and women who need to be saved. God can and does change tactics but he never compromises his holy nature. Ethnic Israel remains the physical in Gods kingdom while the church is spiritual and heavenly with the same Spirit indwelling both. So there is one kingdom on earth and in heaven and God is all in all.

God would have formed his church in this age no matter what took place in previous ages because it was purposed in eternity past. God appoints times with preset beginnings and endings for his work. This fact makes me a dispensationalist.

The time following this age is appointed as well.

Acts 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
31 Because he hath appointed a day (that would be the day of the LORD, the day of his wrath), in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

 

[Ascetic X]

I believe there are only three God ordained offices in the New Testament era thus maintaining the trinitarian fingerprint of God on the church. They are apostles, prophets, and pastors.

Ephesians 4

8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

 

[JD731]

Ephesians 4

8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

I am making my conclusions on the basis that apostles and prophets and pastor teachers had particular ministry credentials. The evangelist had none. Philip was definitely not the apostle Philip, otherwise it would render as insane the reasoning for appointing him as a helper with the widows when you compare the following two verses.

Acts 6:2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.
Acts 5 .......and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:
6 Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.

What Israel needed at this critical time was men who had seen Jesus after he was raised from the dead. This fact would, it seems to me, make the prospect of him being a prophet much less likely. However, he was an evangelist by deed in that he evangelized Samaria and baptized them. However he could not perform that which the apostles had been commissioned to do and he left without them having received the Holy Ghost. What is the significance of this? well, I will let you read what authority the apostles had been given on resurrection Sunday in John 20.

21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

Read Acts 8. Those whose sins were remitted by Peter and John received the Holy Ghost having already been baptized, so we can see that baptism is not in the equation of salvation. Peter also retained the sins of a man named Simon saying this to him.

23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.

The things that are written in scripture are not given to fill up a page. They have meaning and God illustrates his truths.

So I do not consider Philip to be commissioned as either an apostle or a prophet. Later, he did not impart the Holy Spirit to the Ethiopian when he believed but he did baptize him in water. Those who were receiving the Holy Spirit at that time were those who were of the stock of Abraham through Jacob. This Ethiopian was not baptized in the name of Jesus Christ but he said plainly that he believed Jesus is the Son of God. That is what believers in the gospels before the crucifixion of Jesus believed for heir justification. But no one is "saved" until they receive the Holy Ghost through faith in the name of the crucified and resurrected Jesus Christ. Peter had not opened the door of faith to gentiles until Acts 10 with Cornelius. This is Acts 8.

Acts 14:27
And when they were come (to Antioch), and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.

He is speaking about the events in Acts 10 with the conversion of the first gentile.

Follow the narrative closely and believe the words because the Acts is a book of transition history and it has structure.