8: And the next day
we that were of Paul's company departed and came to Caesarea and we entered
into the house of Philip the evangelist which was one of the seven[1]
and stayed with him 9: And the same man [Phillip] had four daughters,
virgins, who did prophesy[2]
[1] Acts 6:3-6 describes the ordination of
Philip as one of the seven. Though they are commonly known as deacons, and most
Christians are taught that the story of the seven is the ordination of the
first deacons, the Bible never calls them diakonos,
so it is simply conjecture whether or not The Seven were the first deacons (diakonos) or not. They could have been
and likely were. It is worth noting that a woman, Phoebe, is directly referred
to as a diakonos in Romans 16:1. Misogyny
in translation prevents Phoebe’s status as a deacon (she is not called a
deaconess but a deacon [diakonos G1249])
from being read correctly in most English versions.
[2] For Luke to state that Phillip’s
daughters were New Testament prophets Romans 12:6, 1 Corinthians 12:28,
Ephesians 4:11-13, means the gifts of the Holy Spirit and calling of God
on these women was recognized and respected. Some denominations define prophesying as preaching. So be it. The daughters of Phillip the
evangelist were preachers. They spoke publicly and authoritatively to anyone God called them to—including
men. Nowhere, do we read in the scriptures that the gifts of the Holy Spirit
are distributed according to gender.
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