He had four unmarried daughtersThe "he" refers to Philip the Evangelist, one of the seven deacons chosen in
Acts 6:5. Philip settled in Caesarea, a significant city in the Roman province of Judea, known for its diverse population and as a center of early Christian activity. The mention of his four daughters highlights the presence and role of women in the early church. Their unmarried status may indicate their dedication to ministry, as marriage was a common expectation in Jewish culture. This detail underscores the early Christian community's openness to women participating in spiritual roles.
who prophesied
The gift of prophecy was an important aspect of the early church, as seen in1 Corinthians 12:10 and 14:1-5. Prophecy involved speaking under divine inspiration, often for edification, encouragement, and comfort. The daughters' prophetic role aligns withJoel 2:28, which Peter cites inActs 2:17, indicating the outpouring of the Spirit on all people, including women. This fulfillment of prophecy demonstrates the inclusivity of the New Covenant and the active participation of women in the spiritual life of the church. Their prophetic ministry also reflects the broader theme of the Holy Spirit's work in Acts, empowering believers to spread the gospel.
Persons / Places / Events
1.
Philip the EvangelistA key figure in the early church, one of the seven deacons chosen in
Acts 6. He is known for his evangelistic work, including the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8).
2.
Four Unmarried DaughtersThese daughters of Philip are noted for their gift of prophecy, highlighting the active role of women in the early church.
3.
CaesareaThe city where Philip and his daughters resided. It was an important Roman city and a hub for early Christian activity.
4.
ProphecyThe act of speaking forth the message of God, often involving revelation or insight into God's will.
Teaching Points
The Role of Women in MinistryThe mention of Philip's daughters prophesying underscores the significant role women played in the early church. It challenges us to recognize and support the spiritual gifts of women in our congregations today.
The Gift of ProphecyProphecy is a spiritual gift that involves speaking God's truth. Believers are encouraged to seek and use their spiritual gifts for the edification of the church.
Family and FaithPhilip's household is an example of a family dedicated to serving God. This encourages Christian families to cultivate an environment where faith and spiritual gifts can flourish.
Cultural Context and Biblical TruthUnderstanding the cultural context of the early church helps us appreciate the radical nature of women prophesying. It calls us to discern how biblical truths apply in our cultural settings today.
Bible Study Questions and Answers
1.What is the meaning of Acts 21:9?
2.How can we encourage young women to use their gifts like Philip's daughters?
3.What role does prophecy play in the church today, as seen in Acts 21:9?
4.How does Acts 21:9 connect with other biblical examples of female prophets?
5.What steps can we take to nurture spiritual gifts within our families?
6.How does Acts 21:9 challenge cultural norms regarding women's roles in ministry?
7.How does Acts 21:9 support the role of women in early Christian communities?
8.What significance do Philip's four prophesying daughters have in Acts 21:9?
9.Does Acts 21:9 challenge traditional gender roles within the church?
10.What are the top 10 Lessons from Acts 21?
11.Acts 21:9 – Why is there no further historical or scriptural mention of Philip’s four prophesying daughters or their specific prophecies?
12.What does 'learn in silence' mean for women?
13.What does the Bible say about women in ministry?
14.What does "learn in silence" mean for women?What Does Acts 21:9 Mean
He hadPhilip the evangelist is the “he” (Acts 21:8). Scripture presents him as a faithful servant chosen earlier to oversee the church’s practical needs (Acts 6:5) and later as the Spirit-led missionary who preached in Samaria and to the Ethiopian official (Acts 8:4-40). His continued hospitality to Paul and his team (Acts 21:8) shows a man whose private life matched his public ministry. In keeping withJoshua 24:15, Philip’s household served the Lord together. Like Cornelius (Acts 10:24, 33) and Lydia (Acts 16:15), his home had become a center for gospel activity.
fourLuke highlights the number, suggesting abundance and confirmation.
• Multiple voices provided ample testimony, echoingDeuteronomy 19:15’s principle of “two or three witnesses.”
• The Spirit had not gifted just one daughter but “four,” displaying His lavish distribution of gifts (1 Corinthians 12:11).
• The scene anticipatesActs 21:10-11, where another prophetic voice, Agabus, steps in; together they form a chorus of God’s guidance for Paul.
unmarried daughtersTheir singleness (literally “virgins”) underscores purity and undivided devotion. Paul later commends this state for ministry flexibility (1 Corinthians 7:34). Like Anna, the prophetess who served night and day in the temple (Luke 2:36-38), these young women could focus on the Lord’s work without the normal cares of marriage and family. Scripture values both marriage (Hebrews 13:4) and celibacy for Kingdom purposes, demonstrating that every life stage can be leveraged for God’s glory.
who prophesiedProphecy is Spirit-empowered speech that “speaks to men for their edification, encouragement, and comfort” (1 Corinthians 14:3). Their gift fulfillsJoel 2:28, quoted by Peter at Pentecost: “Your sons and daughters will prophesy” (Acts 2:17).
• Women exercised prophetic gifts throughout Scripture—Miriam (Exodus 15:20), Deborah (Judges 4:4), Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), and the daughters of Philip—affirming God’s choice of instruments while maintaining the divine order of church leadership (1 Timothy 2:12).
• Their ministry complemented, not competed with, apostolic authority. Agabus soon delivers a directional prophecy (Acts 21:11), while these daughters likely offered ongoing encouragement to believers in Caesarea.
• The presence of genuine prophetic voices also warns against despising prophecy (1 Thessalonians 5:20) yet calls for discernment (1 John 4:1).
summaryActs 21:9 illustrates a Christ-centered household where the Holy Spirit’s gifts flourish. Philip’s four single daughters, devoted wholly to the Lord, provide multiple prophetic witnesses that confirm God’s ongoing guidance for His church. The verse affirms the value of family discipleship, the legitimacy of women’s Spirit-directed ministry, and the rich variety of gifts God grants to build up His people—proving once more that every detail of Scripture is both accurate and instructive for faith and practice today.
(9)
The same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.--Both elements of the description are full of interest as throwing light on the life of the Apostolic Church. (1) The four daughters were "virgins." The word then, as afterwards, probably indicated, not merely the bare fact that they were as yet unmarried, but that they had devoted themselves, if not by irrevocable vows, yet by a steadfast purpose, to that form of service. In the organisation of women's work in the Church they formed apparently a distinct class, the complement of that of the widows of
1Timothy 5:10. St. Paul had distinctly sanctioned such a life, as presenting a higher standard of excellence than the duties of domestic life (
1Corinthians 7:8), and on grounds which, in their general character, went beyond the "present distress" of a time of persecution (
1Corinthians 7:26;
1Corinthians 7:34). It was, indeed, a matter on which he had no commandment from the Lord (
1Corinthians 7:25), and in which he was therefore open to the teachings of experience, and these seem to have modified his judgment at a later date, and led him to the conclusion that it was better that the younger "widows" should marry (
1Timothy 5:14), and that they should only be received into the list of those who were maintained by the Church in return for their services as "widows," at a more advanced age (
1Timothy 5:9). The order of "virgin," however, continued to exist, and the term
Virgo,sometimes with
Ancilla Domini (the handmaid of the Lord; comp.
Romans 16:1) added to it, is found in the inscriptions from the catacombs now in the Museums of the Collegio Romano and the Lateran. So Pliny, in his letter to Trajan (
Ep. 10 ? 6), speaks of the women who were then called
ministrae among the Christians, the latter term being probably used as the equivalent for "deaconesses." (2) These virgins "prophesied." The word comprised much more than mere prediction of the future, and included all words that came into the mind of the speaker as an inspiration, and to the hearers as a message from God. (Comp. Notes on
Acts 2:17;
Acts 19:6;
1Corinthians 14:24-25.) In other words, they preached. We ask when, and where? Did they prophesy in the assemblies of the Church? It is true that St. Paul had forbidden this at Corinth (
1Corinthians 14:34), and forbade it afterwards at Ephesus (
1Timothy 2:12); but the very prohibition proves that the practice was common (see also
1Corinthians 11:5), and it does not follow that St. Paul's rules of discipline as yet obtained in all the churches. It is perfectly possible, however, that they may have confined their ministrations to those of their own sex, and, accompanying their father in his missionary journeys, have gained access to women, both among Jews and Gentiles, and brought them to the knowledge of the Truth. It is obvious that the services of women, acting as deaconesses, would be needed as a matter of decorum in the baptism of female converts. . . .
Verse 9.- Now this man for
and the same man, A.V.
Virgins. This certainly conveys the impression that they had dedicated their lives to the service of God (
1 Corinthians 7:34-38).
Which did prophesy. The question arises - Did they exercise their gift of prophecy in the Church or in private? The passage
1 Corinthians 11:5 seems to indicate that in the Church of Corinth women did pray and prophesy in the congregation, while, on the other hand,
1 Corinthians 14:34, 35 seems peremptorily to forbid women to speak or teach in Church, as does
1 Timothy 2:11, 12. How, then, is this apparent contradiction to be reconciled? It must be either by supposing
(1) that the gift of prophecy spoken of here and in1 Corinthians 11:5 was exercised in private only; or
(2) that the prohibition did not apply to the extraordinary operation of the Holy Spirit speaking by prophet or prophetesses as the case might be. The latter seems the most probable (seeActs 13:1, note). On the office of prophets in the early Church, seeActs 11:27;Acts 13:1;Acts 15:32;Acts 19:6;Romans 12:6;1 Corinthians 12:10, 28, 29;1 Corinthians 13:2, 8;1 Corinthians 14:6, 29, etc.;Ephesians 3:5;Ephesians 4:11;1 Thessalonians 5:20 (see Alford, onActs 11:27). As regards these daughters of Philip, there are conflicting statements in early Church writers. Eusebius ('Eccl. Hist.,' 3:30) quotes Clement of Alexandria as saying that both Peter and Philip among the apostles were married and had children, and that Philip moreover gave his daughters in marriage to husbands. But in the next chapter
(3) he quotes Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus at the end of the second century, as saying that Philip the apostle and his two daughters, who had grown old in their virginity, were buried at Hierapolis; and that another daughter of his, "who had her conversation in the Holy Spirit," was buried at Ephesus. Eusebius himself thinks that these daughters of Philip the evangelist were meant. If they were, it does not necessarily follow that those who, according to Clemens Alexandrinus, were married were of the four mentioned here. They might be sisters. Polycrates seems to speak of three sisters who lived a religious life (in the technical sense); the fourth may have died young. But it is quite possible that Clemens may really be speaking of Philip the apostle, and Polycrates also; the more so as Philip the apostle, according to the tradition recorded by Nicephorns, suffered martyrdom at Hierapolis. However, the confusion between the two Philips is quite certain in the Menaeum (or Calendar) of the Greek Church, where we read, "On the 4th of September is the commemoration of Saint Hermione, one of the four daughters of the Apostle Philip, who baptized the eunuch of Candace. She and her sister Eutychis came into Asia after the death of the Apostle John. She was buried at Ephesus." A fragment of Caius (in Eusebius, 'Eccl. Hist.,' 3:31) increases the confusion by speaking of" the four daughters of Philip, prophetesses, who were buried in Hierapolis" (see Routh's 'Reliq. Sac.,' vol. 1. pp. 378-380).
Parallel Commentaries ...
Greek
[He]τούτῳ(toutō)Demonstrative Pronoun - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3778:This; he, she, it.hadἦσαν(ēsan)Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 1510:I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.fourτέσσαρες(tessares)Adjective - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 5064:Four. Or neuter tessara a plural number; four.unmarriedπαρθένοι(parthenoi)Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 3933:Of unknown origin; a maiden; by implication, an unmarried daughter.daughtersθυγατέρες(thygateres)Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 2364:Apparently a primary word; a female child, or descendant.who prophesied.προφητεύουσαι(prophēteuousai)Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 4395:From prophetes; to foretell events, divine, speak under inspiration, exercise the prophetic office.
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NT Apostles: Acts 21:9 Now this man had four virgin daughters (Acts of the Apostles Ac) 
