For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.
Home, name, ministry
- Lived in Bethsaida (also the home town of Peter and Andrew).
- Likely a former disciple of John the Baptist.
- Listed fifth among the apostles.
- Named after father of Alexander the Great, Philip II of Macedon. His name means "horse-lover." Another piece of trivia: a philippic is any speech or discourse of bitter denunciation. Origin of the term: Athenian orator Demosthenes delivered orations against Philip of Macedon (4th century BC).
- Not the same individual as Philip the Evangelist (Acts 6:5, 8:5ff, 21:8). There is another Philip in the N.T., Philip the Tetrarch (Luke 3:1; Mark 6:17), one of the sons of Herod the Great.
- Greek-speaking.
- Matthew 10:3, 14:3; Mark 3:18, 6:17; Luke 6:14; John 1:43-44, 6:5-7, 12:21-23, 14:8-9; Acts 1:13.
Glimpses of Philip
- Obeys Jesus' call to follow, and then introduces Nathanael to Jesus (John 1:43-46). When questioned, his reply was "Come and see."
- Sensible assessment of the hungry crowd (John 6:5-7). Yet he sees the problem before he sees (by faith) the solution.
- Introduces some Greeks to Jesus (John 12:21-23) -- natural, given his own Hellenic background.
- Wants to see the Father, not quite realizing that whoever has seen the Son has seen the Father (John 14:5-9).
- What kind of person was he?
- Level-headed
- A people-person, possibly a networker
- Spiritually thirsty yet sometimes missing the obvious (I think I'm not being unfair with this comment)
Tomb discovery
- Philip's tomb identified in Hierapolis, 2011. Read the Fox newsarticle.
- He died somewhere between 80 and 90 AD.
- Note, however, the Roman Catholic claim that his body was acquired from Hierapolis by Pope John III (560-572 AD) and interred in a church in Rome.
Further traditions
- Tradition and legend place him in Greece, Syria, Phrygia, and Hierapolis.
- He was sometimes confused with Philip the Evangelist.
- The Gospel of Philip (a Gnostic next from Nag Hammadi, discovered 1945)
- The Acts of Philip (4th C?)
- Two execution traditions: beheading and crucifixion upside down.
What we learn from Philip
- He is willing to follow Jesus.
- Though he may not initially understand, he sticks around and gets the answer.
- He realizes the answer lies not in himself, but in Christ (2 Corinthians 4:5).
- Accordingly, he is happy to introduce others to Jesus.
