Philip Is in the Bible — Twice, and Both Said “Come and See”

Philip is in the Bible — twice over, and both men are remembered for the same thing: bringing somebody to Jesus and then getting out of the way.

The name is Greek, Philippos, from philos, friend or lover, and hippos, horse. Friend of horses.

Lover of horses. It was a Macedonian royal name long before it was a Christian one — Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, carried it — and horses in that culture meant cavalry, which meant power.

A grand name, then, with nothing devotional about it. What made it Christian was two men in the New Testament who wore it.

Yes, and this is one of the few pages on this site where the answer is a straightforward one.

There is Philip the apostle, one of the twelve. And there is Philip the evangelist, one of the seven appointed in Acts to make sure the Greek-speaking widows were fed — the same list that gave us Stephen and Nicolas.

Two men, one name, and a habit in common.

The apostle’s best moment is very early. He has just been called himself, and within a verse he has gone to find his friend Nathanael.

He tells him they have found the one Moses wrote about — Jesus of Nazareth. And Nathanael, who is evidently a man with opinions, replies: Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?

Philip does not argue. He does not produce evidence or take offence on his Lord’s behalf.

He says: Come and see.

Three words, and they have done more work over two thousand years than most sermons. He is confident enough in what he has found to let Nathanael look for himself.

The other Philip has an even better scene.

He is sent to a desert road, where an Ethiopian official — a court treasurer, a foreigner, a man who has been to Jerusalem to worship — is riding home reading Isaiah aloud and not understanding it.

Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Philip ran. And then he asked a question rather than making a speech.

By the end of the road the man is baptised at the first water they pass, and Philip is gone. The Ethiopian goes on his way rejoicing, and Scripture does not tell us they ever met again.

Both Philips do the same thing. They notice somebody, go to them, ask rather than assert, and then leave the person with Jesus rather than with themselves.

Neither founds anything. Neither writes a letter. The apostle’s other appearance is the hillside, where he correctly calculates that two hundred days’ wages would not feed the crowd.

Men who ran up to chariots and said come and see.

May we be quick to go where we are sent, and quicker to ask than to explain.

May we have the confidence to say come and see rather than arguing somebody into agreement.

And may we be glad to disappear from the story once the person we brought has found what they were looking for.

• Stephanie Is Not in the Bible — but Stephen Is, and He Was First
• Nicole Is Not in the Bible — but Nicolas Is, in Acts 6
• Is Your Name in the Bible? A Directory of 231 Names