Acts 6 (Bible Study) (Stephen)
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32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.
Acts 6:1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews[a] among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
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Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”
2 To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. 3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’[a]
4 “So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6 God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated. 7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’[b] 8 Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
9 “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.
11 “Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food. 12 When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit. 13 On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. 15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. 16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.
17 “As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased. 18 Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’[c] 19 He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.
20 “At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child.[d] For three months he was cared for by his family. 21 When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.
23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’
27 “But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28 Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’[e] 29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.
30 “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31 When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’[f] Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.
33 “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’[g]
35 “This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness.
37 “This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’[h] 38 He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us.
39 “But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’[i] 41 That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made. 42 But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:
“‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?
43 You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek
and the star of your god Rephan,
the idols you made to worship.
Therefore I will send you into exile’[j] beyond Babylon.44 “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. 45 After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, 46 who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.[k] 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him.
48 “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:
49 “‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
Or where will my resting place be?
50 Has not my hand made all these things?’[l]51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”
The Stoning of Stephen
54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
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Acts of Jesus through the Apostles
Introduction to Stephen
Stephen is the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the church. In Acts 1-5 we had the history of the Jerusalem church (Jewish). Now, God prepares the church for ‘the ends of the earth.’ Stephen's message shows an awareness that the gospel is for all, and his death begins a persecution that forces Christianity out into all the world. Stephen's message and death also had a great impact on Saul (Paul), who would be the Apostle to the Gentiles and lead God's global mission.
‘We have an advocate with the Father, one who speaks in our defence: Jesus Christ the Righteous One.’ 1 John 2:1
1. Acts 6:8-15. This passage tells us about outstanding features of Stephen’s ministry and why it was effective.
a) First, he had a firm and clear grasp of the gospel of grace. Acts 6:13 “This fellow never stops speaking… against the law.” (v.13) Stephen was proclaiming that we are saved by grace, not by keeping the law.
b) Second, he had remarkable skill in sharing this gospel. We are told that his opponents “could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke” (v.10). This means that in open, public debate, Stephen always “won” for two reasons. On the one hand his reasoning/answers were compelling (“the wisdom”). Secondly, there was a spirit of confidence and power about him that all could see (“the Spirit by whom he spoke”). This means our non-verbal presence (tone of joy, boldness, yet loving sensitivity) is as VIP as our verbal (logic, illustration, brevity).
c) Third, he was full of both “grace and power” (6v.8). These are characteristics that seem opposed to each other. Stephen has the Spirit (6:6) of Christ, who is both a Lion and a Lamb (Rev.5:5-6). Only the Spirit produces humble-boldness. Stephen knew the word and the Spirit shone from him when he spoke (6v15) He was a man who was overflowing with God. The gospel tells us we are helpless sinners (creating humility) but we are accepted in Christ (creating a boldness). Thus it produces both grace and power. In short, Stephen knew the gospel and the unique character that the word produces shone out in his demeanour when he spoke. Thus we see that before his final sermon, “his face was like the face of an angel” (v15). He was a man who was just overflowing with God. He was “full”. Whenever he spoke, his joy and deep sense of the gospel’s richness was obvious to anyone looking at him.
2. Acts 6:13-14. Summarise Stephen’s message from his accusers. How does the gospel change the way we look at the temple and the law? Why is it significant that the future apostle Paul listened to this Stephanic gospel presentation (8:1)?
The charge against Stephen was that he was preaching that Jesus made the temple obsolete, and that Jesus also made the law of Moses obsolete. Clearly, this was alarming to the religious leaders of Israel.
Jesus did teach that he made both the temple and the law of Moses obsolete. He claimed to replace the temple (John 2:18-19)- one of the accusations that led to his execution (Mark 14:58). When he died, God ripped the veil in the temple to show that Jesus was right (Mark 15:38).
Jesus also said that the Mosaic ceremonial laws were obsolete in him. The dietary laws and the various customs that made someone “clean” for entering the temple were merely symbolic methods to show worshippers that they needed spiritual cleansing to go in to a holy God. But Jesus said that these external rituals could not make someone clean (Mark 7:1-20). But it is Jesus who makes us “clean” by his works and efforts, not by ours (John 1:12).
In Peter’s preaching of the gospel, up until now, this theme of works-v- faith has been muted. Stephen evidently pressed home that Jesus is our temple and Jesus is our “cleanness” before God. Jesus had fulfilled the law, so we were not saved through law-keeping. “What Jesus taught, then, was that the temple and the law would be superseded… that they would find their God-intended fulfilment in him… Jesus was the replacement of the temple and the fulfilment of the law.” (Stott, The Message of Acts, p.129.) This kind of language is always interpreted as law-lessness by religious people when they first hear it. No wonder it got Stephen killed.
It is interesting that Stephen’s face shone radiantly (6:15) just as Moses’ face shone when he came down from Mt.Sinai with the law (Exodus 34:29). Was this God’s way to show that Stephen’s message of the gospel was not dishonouring to the law but the very message of God? Is it possible that Paul had Stephen and Moses in mind when he said that the giving of the law came with such glory that no one could look upon Moses’ brightness (II Cor.3:7-8) but that the gospel message brings an even greater radiance (II Cor.3:9-11)?
The themes that Stephen hits on were developed by Paul. Probably, “Saul”, never forgot that sermon. Stephen had a short ministry, but through his impact on Paul, he influenced millions. We must remember, as we minister, that we might reach someone who will be much more productive for Christ than we.
3. 7:1-50. How does Stephen’s very long speech answer the original question (v.1)? How does each section about Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and Solomon advance his basic argument? How does he adapt his argument to the premises and nature of his audience?
Stephen’s speech is very long, and most of it does not seem to be answering the question! The question is: “are these charges true — do you teach that the temple is unnecessary?” (7:1; cf. 6:13-14). But the argument of Stephen is this: God is a living god, not confined to a building. His glory presence is available without travelling to Jerusalem to a building. God is on the move!
NB he begins by addressing them as “brothers and fathers” (v.2) and by identifying heavily with them. He does not refer to Jesus at all until the end. Stephen uses the teaching of the OT to show that the temple must point beyond itself. He shows that for Abraham, for Moses, and for others, it was possible to come into the presence of God. He quotes Isaiah. In other words, he seeks to say, “Your own authorities, prophets and law show that the temple-building is not the ultimate way to meet God. It is only a copy of a pattern, an object lesson to teach us. It is not final.” He uses only the authorities they subscribe to. A powerful argument.
The structure of Stephen’s speech is as follows, and he makes this argument at each place.
Acts 7:2-8 Covers Abraham up to the Patriarchal Age. Long before there was a Holy Place or a temple, God visited Abraham in a pagan land and sent him out. He finally brought him to the land of Israel, but he never received “even a foot of ground” (Acts7:.5) there. God was not confined to Israel.
Acts 7:9-19 Covers Joseph up to the exodus. Joseph was sold into slavery in a pagan land, but again “God was with him” (v.9). God is not confined to Israel.
Acts 7:20-43 Covers Moses and the wilderness wanderings. God comes to Moses on “holy ground” (v.33), though it is outside of Palestine. God is not confined to Israel.
Acts 7:44-50 The history of the tabernacle and temple from Moses to David and to Solomon. When Moses builds the tabernacle, it is only a pattern Moses saw on Mt.Sinai (v.44). When Solomon built a house for God, God was not confined to any “house made by men”. Stephen cites Isaiah 66:1,2 wrt this. There God forcefully says that he is not confined to Israel, and that his “face” is available without going to the temple.
4. 7:37-43. How do these verses address the place of the law in Israel? 7:51-53 How does this charge follow from his whole speech?
7:39-43. Stephen’s accusers had accused him of “speaking against the law” (6:13), and here is his defence. He says, “I do not disregard the law — it is you who do so.” Here in Acts7:38 Stephen shows that he believes Moses is divinely called and brought God’s words of truth to us. But then Stephen shows that from the very beginning, Israel has failed to obey the law. This happened under Aaron (v.40-42), and continued under the prophets who condemned Israel for their continued disobedience to the law. (In vv.42-43 he quotes Amos.) But Stephen shows from the entire history of Israel that every prophet and leader was persecuted by their own people — Joseph, Moses, David. So there is no way that Israel is going to be saved by obeying the law!
Finally, the charge of Acts 8:51-53 brings the whole argument down to one point. He says that their concern for external rituals (like circumcision) is vain because they are uncircumcised in their hearts — they need, a new birth. And the evidence is that they have rejected and persecuted Jesus just like all the others. This shows that they cannot possibly obey the law (v.53) unless they get new hearts (v.51). A whole different way of salvation must be found.
The name for Jesus may be chosen carefully, in line with the speech’s argument. He is called the Righteous One, because he is the fulfiller of the law who thus opens the way into God. He is the fulfiller of the law and the temple.
5. Acts 7:54-8:1. What happens to Stephen to prepare him for death so well? Why does it lead to courage and forgiveness (v.60)? How can we know more of this ourselves?
When Stephen was dragged before a human court, he was condemned unjustly and was about to be executed. But he was “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:55). What happened? He saw “Jesus, standing at the right hand of God” (v.56). What was the significance of that? There are other places in the Bible where Jesus is seen seated at the right hand of God (Hebrews 1:3), with “sitting” representing a finished work. But here Jesus is standing. The best guess is that this refers to his work as our Intercessor (Heb.7:25). The Bible speaks of his intercessory work as an ongoing work, in which he stands before the Father as our representative so that we are regarded by God in him. 1 John 2:1 ‘we have an advocate with the Father, one who speaks in our defence — Jesus Christ the Righteous One.’
At the very moment that an earthly court was condemning him, Stephen knew the heavenly court was commending him. At that moment, he got a powerful sight of what he already knew - that in Christ we are beautiful in God’s sight and free from condemnation (Col.1:23). He faced his accusers with boldness, calmness, joy (v56) and forgiveness (v60).
To the degree we are aware of Jesus’ work as our advocate, as our righteousness before the Father, we will have courage, love and power. How can this grow in us? There are many answers that will depend on a person’s specific circumstances. But Stephen had these conditions. First, he was daring in witness. God gave him this help because he had stepped out for Christ. Second, he knew the Scripture — he was soaked in it. Third, he “looked” to heaven (v.55). Did he look because he saw something, or did he see something because he had looked? We have to take time to really cry out to God to send the Spirit so that things we know intellectually become things that we spiritually “see”.
