evangelist Summary and Overview

a "publisher of glad tidings;" a missionary preacher of the gospel (Eph. 4:11). This title is applied to Philip (Acts 21:8), who appears to have gone from city to city preaching the word (8:4, 40). Judging from the case of Philip, evangelists had neither the authority of an apostle, nor the gift of prophecy, nor the responsibility of pastoral supervision over a portion of the flock. They were itinerant preachers, having it as their special function to carry the gospel to places where it was previously unknown. The writers of the four Gospels are known as the Evangelists.

(publisher of glad tidings). In the New Testament the "evangelists" appear on the one hand after the "apostles" and "prophets;" on the other before the "pastors" and "teachers." They probably stood between the two. #Ac 21:8; Eph 4:11| The work of the evangelist is the proclamation of the glad tidings to those who have not known them, rather than the instruction and pastoral care of those who have believed and been baptized. It follows also that the name denotes a work rather than an order. Its use is nearly like our word missionary. The evangelist might or might not be a bishop-elder or a deacon. The apostles, so far as they evangelized, #Ac 8:25; 14:7; 1Co 1:17| might claim the title, though there were many evangelists who were not apostles. If the gospel were a written book, and the office of the evangelists was to read or distribute it, then the writers of such books were pre-eminently THE evangelists. In later liturgical language the word was applied to the reader of the gospel for the day.

EVAN'GELIST (a messenger of good tidings). In the N.T. the word means a preacher of the gospel who was not fixed in any place, but who travelled as a missionary to preach the gospel and establish churches. Acts 21:8; Eph 4:11; 2 Tim 4:5. The evangelists seem to have been an order of ministers standing between the apostles and the pastors and teachers. They could not impart the Holy Ghost. Acts 8:15. They were liable to be sent upon sudden errands. Acts 8:26. They might be officers in a particular church, yet evangelists, as was the case with Philip, who is the best known of the class. Acts 6:5. We find the evangelists commonly in the service of the apostles as their "helpers" and "fellow-laborers." Paul made most use of them, as was to be expected; on his last journey to Jerusalem he was accompanied by no less than seven of them. Acts 20:4-5. They were the "vicegerents" of the apostles. Thus, Timothy was sent by Paul to report the condition of the Philippian church, Phil 2:19-23, completed the organization of the Ephesian church, and repressed the growth of errors during the absence of Paul. 1 Tim 1:3; 1 Tim 3:14-15; 1 Tim 4:13. The discourses of the evangelists were historical in their matter and turned chiefly upon the main facts of Christ's life. This fact gave rise to the later application of the term to the authors of our written Gospels, who are commonly called "the four Evangelists." To Matthew is assigned as symbol the face of a man (because he traces the human descent of Christ, the Son of man); to Mark the lion, (because he sketches Christ as the conquering Lion of the tribe of Judah); to Luke the ox (with reference to Christ as the Victim slain for the sins of the world); and to John the eagle (because of his bold flight and steady gaze at the eternal Son of God).

An order of ministers, "given" among other church officers by Christ, as one of the fruits of His ascension, to His church on and after Pentecost. Not only the office, but the men, were a divine gift: "He gave some to be apostles, and some to be prophets (inspired forth-tellers, not fore-tellers), and some to be evangelists," i.e. itinerant missionary preachers, whereas "pastors and teachers" were stationary (Ephesians 4). The evangelist founded the church; the teacher built it up in the faith. The ministry of gifts preceded the ministry of orders. The irregular "evangelist" prepared the way for the regular "pastor." Apostles (Acts 8:25; Acts 14:7; 1 Corinthians 1:17) or vicars apostolic, as Timothy (2 Timothy 4:2-5), might "preach ("herald", keerussein) the word," and so "do the work of an evangelist." Philip had been set apart as one of the seven (Acts 7; 8; 21) by the laying on of the apostles' hands. Christ gave him to the church, additionally, in the capacity of an "evangelist" now in one city, now in another. So others scattered by persecution (Acts 8:4) "went everywhere evangelistically preaching (euangelizomenoi) the word." The "pastors" taught and exhorted; the "evangelists" preached the glad news which prepared the way for the pastorate. It was therefore a work rather than an order. The evangelist was not necessarily an apostle, bishop-elder, or deacon, but might be any of these. Evangelist, in the sense "inspired writer of one of the four Gospels," was a later usage. Eusebius (H. E., 3:37) in the third century says: "men do the work of evangelists, leaving their homes to preach Christ, and deliver the written Gospels to those who were ignorant of the faith." The transition step appears in 2 Corinthians 8:18-19, "the brother, whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches," probably Luke, well known throughout the churches as Paul's companion in evangelistic work, and at that time with Paul (Acts 20:6). Of all Paul's "companions in travel" (Acts 19:29), Luke was the most prominent, having been his companion in preaching at his first entrance into Europe (Acts 16:10). Paul probably helped Luke in writing his Gospel, as Peter helped Mark. This accounts for the remarkable similarity between Paul's account of the institution of the Lord's supper (1 Corinthians 11:23) and Luke's account, an undesigned coincidence and mark of genuineness. So in 1 Timothy 5:18 Paul says, "the Scripture saith, The laborer is worthy of his reward," quoted from Luke 10:7; but Matthew 10:10 has "his meat;" whereby he recognizes the Gospel according to Luke as inspired "Scripture," and naturally quotes that one of the Gospels which was written by his own evangelistic helper. Luke's Gospel had then been about eight or nine years in circulation. Our home and foreign missionaries correspond to the primary "evangelists"; they traveled about freely where their services were needed, either to propagate the gospel or to inspect and strengthen congregations already formed. Timothy was such a missionary bishop or vicar apostolic at Ephesus (1 Timothy 1:3; 2 Timothy 4:5).