Philip and the Ministry of the Word
The ministry of the Word saturated the first generation of elders and preachers as depicted in the book of Acts. Philip in Acts 8:25–40 gives us one example of such ministry. Though the account is used more often to discern the mode and subjects of baptism, the backbone of the passage demonstrates a proper ministry of the Word. Below, we discover four aspects of Philip’s practice for our own encouragement and use.
Philip’s ministry is consistently Christ-focused.
Philip is ministering with other saints in Jerusalem when the messenger of God moves him to leave his congregation for a journey down a desert road (8:26). The account presents Philip as prepared and ready to engage in preaching ministry when the Spirit prompts him to go. He is thus moved to a different place but does not assume a different mantle. Rather, with an eye for ministry he looks to a man who seemingly has everything; the Ethiopian is described as one who has all the finances of Ethiopia’s queen Candace at his disposal. Philip does not shrink from the noticeable socio-economic disparity (8:29). He runs alongside the chariot and hearing the passenger reading from Isaiah 53, Philip recognizes that God has blessed him with an exceptionally Christocentric text. Without the necessity of psychoanalyzing the Ethiopian man, Philip ministers through the consistent exposition of God’s Word. As Andrew Fuller wrote, “The preaching of Christ will answer every end of preaching. This is the doctrine which God owns to conversion, to the leading of awakened sinners to peace, and to the comfort of true Christians. If the doctrine of the cross be no comfort to us, it is a sign we have no right to comfort. This doctrine is calculated to wake up the sluggard, to draw forth every Christian grace, and to recover the backslider.”[1] Philip was consistent in the means of conversion. Holding fast to the gospel with consistent regard—the calling of the Christian to “make them see Jesus”—is an early charge testified to through Philip.
Philip’s ministry presupposes preaching.
It doesn’t matter if there is an audience of one, the Lord designed preaching to be a means of accomplishing the gospel call. After arriving on the road, Philip is not told what he is to do to be useful to the Lord’s prompting. The text presupposes for us the continued preaching ministry of Philip. This is the mentality of an evangelist, as Geoff Thomas notes, to Philip, one man is worth as much as whole city. Thomas further considers the difficulty we don’t see within the story but what so many of us may experience, a man who would leave a congregation for a desert road must have depended upon the strength of Christ’s assurance that this prompting has a purpose we may not even see on this side of heaven.[2] By keeping the gospel consistent in his life, and by preparing to make Christ known, Philip offers an answer when the Ethiopian asks for understanding. Here, Philip found not a target, but a human called of God for such a time as this. We know that Philip preached “the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” (8:12). Christian, are you ready to give an answer no matter the text? Do you hold, as Philip did, that the preaching of the Word is the means God uses to save sinners? If this is true, then we must be ever ready to the ministry of the Word.
Philip’s ministry guides others according to Scripture.
The Baptist confession teaches that Scripture interprets Scripture, and so it is on display for us in Philip’s exposition. Twice in this passage Philip necessarily underscores utilizing God’s Word. He could have easily told the Ethiopian to roll up the scroll while he gave a nice testimony or played an emotionally driven song, but instead the power of the Spirit is displayed in the work of drawing out the text—God’s chosen ordinary means. He starts at the passage opened before the Ethiopian. Next, he opens his mouth (see this significant phrase used likewise in Matthew 5:2), “and beginning at this Scripture, [Philip] preached Jesus to him” (8:35).
The Ethiopian recognizes his own insufficiency to be made right with God. The Holy Spirit has convicted him. John Gill writes, “Now it is the work of the Spirit of God, to lead souls into the love of God, directly, at once, in a straight line … [and after] set persons in the road of obedience.”[3] The Ethiopian is pressed with the gospel worthy of acceptation: Philip asks, “Do you believe with all your heart?” And the man answers, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God” (8:37). In obedience, he then receives baptism. Christian, our message has not changed nor has the Spirit who brings power to the ministry of the Word. This account of Philip is an encouragement to us today that we are to be guides for Scripture just as we preach guided by that same Scripture.
Philip’s ministry perseveres no matter the circumstance.
Following his encounter with the Ethiopian, Philip is whisked away by the Spirit seemingly without warning. Even so, the ministry of the Word continues. We read nothing of Philip’s astonishment at this experience (though it is hard to believe he wasn’t amazed!), rather, Philip continues in the same vocation of preaching the Word in Azotus. Highlighted here is the fact that experience and mysterious occurrences are at best secondary to the ordinary means of God’s work in the transformation of His chosen. When Philip “was found at Azotus … he kept preaching the gospel” (8:40). Should there be one soul saved, should there be one village that has not heard the gospel, the circumstances only provide further fodder for preaching. Philip perseveres in the work and is enriched all the more in his communion with the Lord.
Are we amazed that God would cultivate a mission to just one individual so far away? With reverence we rejoice that we are not in service to a statistician but to a sovereign Savior. Philip persevered on the desert road and persevered again in Azotus, a place where no specific results are brought to our attention—still we know God’s hand was there scattering the seeds. Robert Hall wrote on the warrant for evangelism, “However remote you are, however great the distance from him, he kindly invites you to view him as the almighty Saviour; saying, ‘Behold me; Behold me!’”[4] Rather than waiting to perceive a person’s readiness, the Spirit indicates to Philip that God is in charge of salvation—even for one man on a desert road miles away. God’s spectacular love is shown to this eunuch as it was shown to us who were just as far away.
Philip’s ministry of the Word reminds us, as surely as there is no inch void of the Spirit in the Christian’s life, there is no circumstance void of His power. Every circumstance is pregnant with gospel experience. Such truth is what compels the preacher to take to the highways and byways, to cultivate a ready answer no matter the text—and to do so with assurance that he is never alone nor bereft of the Comforter. God’s Word teaches the prudence of consistently focusing on Christ, practicing the ordinary means of preaching, guiding others from Scripture, and persevering no matter the circumstance. The example of the first century assures us all the more that it is the Spirit who makes us useful for His ministry.
About the Author
Christopher Ellis Osterbrock (DEdMin. in Biblical Spirituality, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; PhD Student in Historical Theology, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary) is senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Wellsboro, PA. He is author of What is Saving Faith? (March, 2022), as well as editor of several reprints.
[1] Andrew Fuller, Preaching (1833; reprn., Peterborough, ON: H&E, 2018), 57.
[2] Geoffrey Thomas, Philip and the Revival in Samaria (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2005), 94.
[3] John Gill, “The Love of God Considered,” in Sermons and Tracts, vol. 4 (1814; reprn., Choteau, MT: Old Paths Gospel Press, 1997), 29.
[4] Robert Hall, Help to Zion’s Travellers: Being an Attempt to Remove Various Stumbling Blocks Out of the Way, Relating to Doctrinal, Experimental and Practical Religion (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1851), 126.
This blog post is authored by a student of Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary.
