The Disciple of the Fourth Gospel, and a Name Easily Confused

Philip appears in all four lists of the twelve, but only the Gospel of John gives him anything to say or do. There he is from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter's town; he is called with the words follow me and at once brings Nathanael, answering his doubt with come and see. At the feeding of the five thousand it is Philip whom Jesus tests, where are we to buy bread?, and it is Philip, with Andrew, through whom certain Greeks ask to see Jesus. At the last supper he asks Lord, show us the Father, drawing one of the Gospel's central sayings in reply.

A persistent confusion attaches to him. The Acts of the Apostles features a different Philip, one of the seven deacons appointed to serve the Greek-speaking widows, the evangelist who preaches in Samaria and baptizes the Ethiopian official. The New Testament keeps the apostle and the deacon distinct, but from early times the two were run together, and much of the later legend of the apostle borrows episodes that Acts assigns to the evangelist. His Greek name, like Andrew's, reflects the mixed culture of Galilee, where a Jewish fisherman might bear the name of a Macedonian king.