Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 21:8

"And on the morrow we departed, and came unto Caesarea: and entering into the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, we abode with him." — Acts 21:8 (ASV)

We that were of Paul’s company departed.—Better, simply, we departed. The Greek that corresponds to the intervening five words is missing from the best manuscripts and seems to be a needless interpolation, as there is no apparent reason for any change in the writer’s previous phraseology, or for distinguishing “Paul’s company” from some other unknown person or persons. In some of the manuscripts in which it is found, the verb is in the third person: They that were of Paul’s company came...

Came to Caesarea.—Compare Acts 8:40; Acts 10:1. This was, it will be remembered, St. Paul’s third visit there (Acts 9:30; Acts 18:22), and we may well believe that he was simply renewing his association with Philip from a previous friendship.

Philip the evangelist.—The title given to him is interesting as showing that the work of serving tables, i.e., superintending the distribution of alms, had been merged into the higher work of a missionary preacher. (See Note on Acts 6:3.) He was no longer known—if, indeed, that title had ever been applied to him—as Philip the deacon, but as Philip the evangelist.

The office so described is recognised by St. Paul in his enumeration of spiritual gifts and functions, in Ephesians 4:11, as coming next in order of importance to those of apostles and prophets, and before pastors and teachers.

It would seem, accordingly, to have been distinct from the “orders” (in the later sense) of presbyter or deacon, though capable of being united with either of them. Timothy was exhorted by St. Paul when he was left at Ephesus, with the authority of a bishop or, more strictly, a vicar apostolic, to do the work of an evangelist, as that to which he had been called (2 Timothy 4:5).

It followed from the nature of the office (analogous to that of the missionary of later times) that, though residing mainly at Caesarea, Philip’s labours extended beyond its limits; indeed, we have seen reason to trace his work (see Notes on Acts 8:40; Acts 15:3; Acts 21:3; Acts 21:7) all along the coasts of Palestine and Phoenicia. As far as we know, Philip and St. Luke had not met before. We can imagine the satisfaction with which Luke—himself probably an evangelist in both senses of the word (2 Corinthians 8:18) and already contemplating his work as an historian—would welcome acquaintance with Philip. He would then ask many questions about the early history of the Church and learn from Philip all, or nearly all, that we find in the first eleven chapters of this book.

Which was one of the seven.—We note how entirely the Seven of Acts 6:3 are regarded as a special or distinct body. If the term “deacon” had ever been applied to them (which is very doubtful), it ceased to be applicable due to its wide extension to the subordinate functionaries of the churches throughout the empire.