Acts 21:9

And the same man had four daughters,.... So that he was a married man, which may be observed against the Papists, who forbid marriage to ecclesiastics: and they were, virgins: not under any vow of

And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. (see And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy - in fulfillment of Joe 2:28. (see the note at Acts 2:18).

Virgins; by their father’ s and their own voluntary determination, as ; neither is it said whether they continued in that state, but they were so. Which did prophesy; not by expounding the prophecies or word of God, for no woman is suffered to teach publicly, ; but rather foretelling things to come, which gift God did not debar that sex from; especially it having been promised, , and in part fulfilled before, in ; by which God would show the enlargement of his mercies, and plenty of his Spirit, reserved for the times of the gospel.

9 And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. Ver. 9. Did prophesy] That is, they had the gift of foretelling future things by divine inspiration. This was every way extraordinary.

(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 1 Timothy 5:10. St. Paul had distinctly sanctioned such a life, as presenting a higher standard of excellence than the duties of domestic life (1 Corinthians 7:8), and on grounds which, in their general character, went beyond the “present distress” of a time of persecution (1 Corinthians 7:26; 1 Corinthians 7:34). It was, indeed, a matter on which he had no commandment from the Lord (1 Corinthians 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 (1 Timothy 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 (1 Timothy 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 ministræ 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; 1 Corinthians 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 (1 Corinthians 14:34), and forbade it afterwards at Ephesus (1 Timothy 2:12); but the very prohibition proves that the practice was common (see also 1 Corinthians 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.

Verse 9. Four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.] Probably these were no more than teachers in the Church: for we have already seen that this is a frequent meaning of the word prophesy; and this is undoubtedly one thing intended by the prophecy of Joel, quoted Acts 2:17-18, of this book. If Philip's daughters might be prophetesses, why not teachers?

9. And the same man … prophesy] Rev. Ver. “Now this man had, &c.” The family of the Evangelist were walking in their father’s steps. These daughters, instead of resting at home, took upon them the hard duty of publishing the message of the Gospel. The English word “prophesy” has come to have, since about the beginning of the seventeenth century, only the one sense of “to predict what is yet to come.” In the time of Queen Elizabeth “prophesyings” meant “preachings,” and Jeremy Taylor’s famous work on the “Liberty of Prophesying,” was written to uphold the freedom of preaching. These women were, in their degree, Evangelists also.

Which did prophesy - See the notes on Acts 2:17; Acts 11:27. That females sometimes partook of the prophetic influence, and foretold future events, is evident from various places in the New Testament. See the notes on Acts 2:17.

6. At Cesarea—Philip and Daughters—Agabus, Acts 21:9-14.9. Virgins—Not nuns, devoted by a vow to celibacy.